| As soon as it is a hit, it will explode a market gap. |
Text/Isaac
Launched globally at the end of March, it entered the top 10 free lists in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and other regions, and the estimated revenue of the three parties exceeded 10 million yuan - and it is only an estimate, plus IAP revenue, the actual data will only be higher - in the eyes of most people, "Sssnaker" released by Haibi Games is a rare overseas hit in recent times. But what I see is that Roguelike+X has once again exploded the gap in the market.
Data source: Diandian Data
This kind of thing Haibi is not the first time to do it, from the previous "Legend of Bow and Arrow" (topped the global 21 regional free list), to last year's most surprising explosive "Bullet Case Special Attack Team" (the highest monthly turnover exceeded 300 million), and now "Snake Snake Gluttony", they seem to have been in four or two pounds, with extremely simple products to win results that many people dare not imagine. It is said that the R&D team of "Bullet Case Agents" has even been 5 people, and it has only expanded to 15 people after it became a hit.
So much so that many people asked: How did they do it? If you've played with these products, you'll see that the logic behind them isn't complicated.
01
It looks like a casual snake, but in fact
Moderate RPG
These three products of Haibi are essentially medium RPGs with Roguelike as the core gameplay and disguised as casual games.
Take "Snake Snake Gluttony", as long as you play it for a while, you will find that its basic form is not much different from "Legend of the Bow and Arrow". Familiar one-handed movement, familiar automatic shooting, familiar roguelike design and cultivation system... The gameplay is so clear that you can understand it at a few glances. The only difference may be that the protagonist has changed from a human to a snake.
Of course, there are some small innovations in this product, such as the snake's body turned into a section by section turret, each section can be randomly rewarded and strengthened into special turrets such as lightning and flame. In addition, the body will not be injured if touched by enemies or themselves, the player only needs to control the movement of the head. And when you put your body in a circle, you can also deal some special damage.
This design makes "Snake Snake Gluttony" fit the public's impression of gluttonous snake in terms of look and feel, but there is no need to stick to the rules of gluttonous snake in terms of gameplay. This first of all, very cleverly found an entry point into the mass market - who has not played snake?
As you progress through the game, you'll gradually find that the focus of this type of game is not roguelike, but RPG-style development. For example, in "Snake Snake Gluttony", some cultivation systems will be gradually opened, players have a total of six equipment slots, and the equipment is also divided into rare and epic grades, leaving enough space for card drawing. Coupled with the combination of "snake spirit" with special skills, this cultivation and payment depth, you know.
In addition, it also incorporates the design of Vampire Survivor in some gameplay. Apparently, after "Bullet Case Attackers" became a hit, "Snake Snake Gluttony" reused some successful experiences.
It looks more like a snake
Other products are also like this, taking casual and popular gameplay as the starting point, and gradually bringing players into a magical and long cultivation process by laying out the appropriate task rhythm and commercial design. In this way, they are fragmented, easy to decompress, and can develop in the long run; Not only are there sufficient payment points, the monetization method is flexible, and the card can even hang up when the card is closed, so it is not surprising that it can burst.
But if you only see this step, the pattern is probably still a little smaller. I privately think that practices like "Bullet Case Strike Team" and "Snake Snake Gluttony" actually indicate the future of Roguelike+ mobile games to a certain extent. And all of this starts with the niche gameplay behind them.
02
Roguelike+ the biggest of mobile games
Pain points, one word
You may be wondering why I still say roguelike niche to this day - there have been many blockbusters on the market, such as "The Labyrinth of Mystery" and "The Lantern and the Dungeon"; A large number of head mobile games, such as "Ark of Tomorrow" and "Golden Shovel War" and other products have integrated Roguelike gameplay; Coupled with the fact that there is Mihayou's quasi-explosive "Zone Zero" waiting behind, why is it niche?
But in fact, it is almost impossible to play the roguelike experience of PC works in a mobile game, the biggest reason is one word: difficult, and another recognized problem is that commercialization is difficult to do.
First of all, for non-hardcore gamers, most of the classic roguelikes on PC are too hard. Whether it was "The Marriage of Isaac", "Into the Dungeon" or "Hades", it was very discouraged for novices who had not been exposed to Roguelike in the early days. Even the Grape King, who is now addicted to such games, has broken the pit several times. Not to mention the hardcore operations, complex construction and entries, hidden rules for mass players... It's definitely as difficult as a Souls game. And soul games can repeatedly challenge the boss, roguelike often takes a whole round to cultivate and meet, this practice cost is also nobody.
This is how newbies feel↑
Therefore, most of the roguelikes presented on mobile phones today are simplified and castrated experiences, and people are so bothered by this that they even give it a new name: Roguelite - in fact, this does not make much sense, because for Roguelike to be popular, it must become simple, and it must be simple.
Only if it is simple enough can it form a completely different form. These products are typical: they simplify the Roguelike part to the extreme, the strategy is not painful, the operability is not worth mentioning, and most of the missing space is filled by the cultivation part. In this way, not only the problem of being too hardcore is solved, but also leaves a lot of opportunities for paid design.
The power of this simplification is also reflected on the PC. The original "Rogue" is actually not very operable, but most of the later roguelikes are based on action and shooting as the core gameplay, and the operability and hardcore are full at once. Since then, there have been many attempts in different directions, such as DBGs such as "Killing Spire", which are almost non-operable, but also very strategic and fun to build, which has led to more products and players beginning to contact Roguelike.
And "Vampire Survivor", which was launched last year, is like a bomb that has a subversive effect on this process. It cost only 1,000 euros to develop, but it has sold millions of copies so far, the mobile game has been online for three months, and it has been downloaded more than 5 million times. If you want to say how fun it is, it's really not that exaggerated - the experience of Grape Jun is often that in the later stages of play, only numbness, headaches, and a trace of happiness that he does not have photosensitive epilepsy. Oh yes, and the despair of seeing that the suit that I have fixed cannot be replaced, but it is not strong enough, so I can only die slowly.
But its most powerful thing is that it has achieved the ultimate simplification, basically abandoning the plot and packaging, removing most of the operational and strategic elements, and retaining only a small part of Roguelike. This makes it basically not difficult for mass players to play, and the combination of props can be found everywhere, but it is extremely simple and direct in terms of pleasure, and it is finished.
For Haibei, such a design is almost a clear road to explosion. Under the premise of paving the way with products such as "The Legend of the Bow and Arrow", they have fully mastered the operation idea of simplification + retraining, so it is logical that "Bullet Case Special Attack Team" was painlessly delivered from "Vampire Survivor".
For those small and medium-sized teams that are not sure of the direction, this kind of thinking is a clear direction that can be replicated and innovated. So at least on the track of roguelike + mobile games, there will be a lot of simplistic + re-cultivated products in the future.
03
Why is everyone underestimated
The possibility of roguelike
At this point, it may no longer be said that Roguelike itself is a dark horse track, after all, it has been dissected and reassembled too many times. I think it would be more accurate to say that for the entire industry, fully incorporating randomness to improve the experience of game content has become a topic that cannot be ignored.
But beyond that, I still think we may not be fully aware of the possibility of roguelike. Because throughout history, you will find that the evolution of Roguelike itself is like the construction of a Roguelike game - every time a product makes an interesting fusion iteration, it will directly open up a new direction or even category, and explode a market gap.
Such cases abound, and the influence of an elder like "The Union of Isaac" on all Roguelike teams needs no elaboration; A more obvious example is that "Killing Spire" opened up DBG Roguelike, which led to a large number of product imitations and improvements, and until recently, there were products with similar gameplay; "Vampire Survivor" created "Vampire Like", and even made mobile game manufacturers gain a lot.
Interestingly, after Vampire Survivor simplified Roguelike to the extreme, the product has evolved in some different directions based on it. For example, "20 Minutes Before Dawn" adopts a more distinct art style, "Potato Brothers" optimizes the genre, and "Tongshen List" enriches the characters and plot... There are too many to list, but you can see from this that Roguelike has endless potential after that.
On the one hand, it will continue to go through a simplification, purification of the experience, and the process of combining with a more long-term system such as cultivation, gradually occupying a higher position in mobile games, after all, its help to the experience is too valuable;
On the other hand, it will also go down the original iterative path. This is divided into two routes: the seeker of stability improves the quality, makes more attempts in the subject matter, or polishes more strongly in narrative, art, and combat; Newcomers are constantly evolving on the embryo of products on the market, integrating completely different ways of playing and categories, just like those products that explode new markets.
After seeing the power of so many products, I have unlimited expectations for the future of Roguelike.
Game Grape Recruitment Content Editor,
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