“Happy New Year啊，老细！”
Last Wednesday (10), I was on a business trip when I received a very happy phone call, and when I was searching for a call from a friend in Guangdong, a sentence "I am An An" came out of the phone, which reminded me that this was probably a recall call from "Back to the Future: 1999" (hereinafter referred to as 1999).
On the phone, the popular characters Li An'an and Su Fubi sang and harmonized, and took great pains to promote the highlights of the New Year version of "1999" "Shuo Ri Notes", which made me laugh. Due to the early plot setting of the game, I am more accustomed to the English accent of the characters in "1999", and I am still slightly unfamiliar with the Chinese voice this time. However, the Chinese voice call also indicates that the New Year version of "1999" will present the national style content under the occult world, how can you not look forward to it?
Apparently the support for the 1999 New Year Edition is strong. After the version 1.6 update, "1999" returned to the top 10 best-selling games on the App Store, reaching out to No. 7, and is still at the top of the best-selling list today. "1999" once again stood out from the new game pile and ushered in the highlight moment.
"1999", as a strategy RPG game featuring Western occultism as its world view, has been operated in multiple versions after its launch, and has led players to tour through British monster thieves, American thriller movies, Indian astronomical astrology, ancient Greek mathematical philosophy, and even Australian red earth and other overseas niche cultures, while the oriental occult culture has always been a lot of discussion among players.
The long-awaited content, finally on the eve of the New Year of the Dragon, Deep Blue Interactive finally brought out the national style culture that players are most familiar with, and at the same time introduced the concept of oriental occultism and the Dushuo Festival adapted from the Classic of Mountains and Seas, and the timing node was just right.
Seeing that the production team cooked a unique flavor of national style content, and also wanted to extend the oriental occult as a setting plan in the game, I couldn't help but sigh that the production team's creativity and production capacity really couldn't see the boundary.
01
Not taking the usual path, Tang Fengzhi is a legend
Different from the current popular national tide style on the market, the national style content of "1999" is more ancient, but in order to fit the structure of the world view, a novel similar to "The Story of the Peach Blossom Spring" is specially arranged, which fits the overall atmosphere of "1999", thus bringing players a experience that is neither inconsistent nor different.
· Antique "worn-out" art style
Through PV or actual play, it is not difficult for players to find that the oriental city "Peicheng" in the "Shuo Ri Notes" is a typical Tang Dynasty town.
In the open city gate and the bustling market, the men are dressed in Tang-style felt hats, and the women are dressed in high-waisted skirts with collars and high buns, and their slender figures are more in line with modern aesthetics. As soon as the camera turns and steps into the interior, details such as the iconic mullioned windows and rough kisses of the Tang Dynasty are clearly visible, and it can be seen that Deep Blue has made a lot of research on the characteristics of the dynasty in the early stage of creation, and has been very careful.
The passers-by NPCs in Peicheng have simple and elegant costume designs, and they must have referred to many archaeological materials of the Tang Dynasty in their paintings, and even imitated the characteristics of the techniques of Tang Dynasty painters, and restored them in place.
The initial portrait of the Chinese New Year limited character "Qu Niang" is one of the best, with a collared blouse with a high-waisted skirt tattooed with brocade, draped in a bright shawl, and a little jewel under the reflective decoration, just like a lady from the Tang Dynasty. However, considering that it should fit the world view, Qu Niang did not really use the Chinese painting brushwork, but insisted on the unique stylization of "1999", and the presentation in the game did not violate the sense of harmony, full of lightness and cuteness.
Qu Niang's opening screen animation
The traditional national style is not only reflected in the "clothing road", but also in the animation at the end of the plot, which is presented in ink painting, with the red-maned deer running between the green mountains and green waters, bringing players pure ink and wash enjoyment.
I think the production team deliberately used antique art expression techniques to bring a pure Tang style experience, which is obviously different from other second-tour Chinese style content on the market.
· The plot story of the legend of the monster
"1999" has a natural affinity with the legend of the Tang Dynasty with the new weird story framework with the occult as the core. The plot of the event incorporates the legendary elements of Zhiwei, which is more Tang style.
Not long after the plot opens, the protagonist's partner changes from a human to a "horse", and then a flying birdman appears in the sky, setting the tone for the monster. In the subsequent plot, many people disappeared in Peicheng on the eve of the festival, setting up a suspenseful background common in Zhiwei novels. And the suspense of what "Xiangrui" is has always driven the development of the plot and captured the player's interest to read down. Until the moment when the suspense was finally revealed, I did have a sense of "I see" suddenly realized that it was so.
The narrative technique of the event, the integration of 2D and 3D cinematic shots, and the three-dimensional presentation of a legend of Tang Zhiwei mixed with occult elements in front of the player's eyes, impressed me deeply.
· Welfare supply of feeding
In addition to the art and plot, I gained a different experience from usual, and the benefits of adding materials in the New Year version made me feel "different this time".
First of all, players can log in to get a limited pool of 10 draws, and subsequent check-in tasks will also give 20 draws. In the second half of the event, there will also be Chinese New Year's Eve gifts from the game characters, a large number of pure raindrops (diamonds), and Chinese architecture in the home.
What attracted me more was naturally Li An'an's free new skin "Songyun". The way to get it is also very simple, log in during the event and get it, there are no extra additional unlock conditions, pure benefits. Not only that, but the production team worked hard to design a new special effect animation for Li An'an's new skin, which is really conscientious.
Version 1.6 series skins
After experiencing the Chinese New Year version, I deeply feel that the artistic performance of "1999" has always been outstanding and continues to be of a consistently high standard, and the accumulation of atmosphere creation skills has created the unpopular Tang Zhi style immersively, showing the top development strength of the "1999" production team.
02
Step by step, word of mouth is rising
After half a year of hard work, the reputation of "1999" has finally returned to the ranks of high-scoring games, and after nearly 40,000 ratings, its rating on TapTap has risen to 8.0 points, and the long reviews of players' true feelings have also emerged in an endless stream, and they are not hesitant to express their praise and criticism and encouragement for the game. High-quality content performance, constantly updated and optimized system & gameplay, and new welfare outputs have made Deep Blue Interactive win playful titles such as "Deep Blue Brother & Light Red Sister".
Just a few months ago, the TapTap rating of "1999" was hovering around 7 points, and it was also negatively rated on other community platforms. In this era when players are becoming more and more strict about the operation of the game, in a limited time, it can completely reverse the trend of the decline in the game's word-of-mouth, and finally successfully break through in the second game battle royale in 2023.
· Version 1.2 has seen a significant rebound
In the early days of the open beta, "1999", as the first self-developed and self-produced product of the cutting-edge team Deep Blue Interactive, once caused a decline in word-of-mouth due to the immature operation rhythm. Fortunately, Brother Deep Blue did not collapse on this, but sorted out the problem, humbly accepted all kinds of opinions from players, and launched the 1.2 version of "Green Lake Nightmare", which has been praised countless times so far, and the reputation has ushered in a significant rebound.
Version 1.2 "Nightmare in Green Lake"
Version 1.2 adds two new six-star "Tooth Fairy" and "Jessica", the character design is distinctive, and the memory is profound: the tooth fairy wears a special style of braces, which adds to the mystery, but she is a conscientious dentist who dares to throw a heavy punch at the wicked; Jessica's appearance is still considered to be the top vertical painting in 1999, and the first impression is that she is a simple fawn girl. But in-depth study of the plot and character design will find that her natural black and contrasting cuteness have countless fans.
The plot of the event is densely integrated with the elements of horror movie stalks, and there is a sense of pleasure of being in the script after reading through it. At the same time, the character creation is brilliant, especially the description of the "friendship" between Jessica & Jinmi's daughter, which touched many players.
Naturally, 1999 won back the hearts of its players with its excellent performance in version 1.2.
The follow-up version 1.3 "Journey to Molupunka" continues to maintain player popularity and high-quality reputation. Under the skin of India and stargazing culture, a story about "Ye Wenjie who didn't press the button" is told, which is well-known for both the art and the quality of the plot.
At the same time, Brother Deep Blue still insists on continuously optimizing the game functions in each version, expanding the depth of gameplay, and laying the foundation for word-of-mouth turnaround.
Version 1.3 "Journey to Morupanca"
· Version 1.4 ushered in an explosion of word-of-mouth
If versions 1.2 and 1.3 are the game's reputation to stop falling and rebound, then version 1.4 "Prisoner of the Cave" is a wave of praise. And "1999" also took this opportunity to explode to 13th on the best-selling list again, which truly proves the effect of word-of-mouth.
The reason why version 1.4 was a great success was that in addition to the first preview live broadcast full of dry goods, the version PV and mainline updates feasted players' eyes, and more importantly, the current UP six-star "37" contributed greatly. When I saw the first look of the 37 paintings, I couldn't help but exclaim, "It's so beautiful!"
37
With his long flowing light blue hair, elegant beige robe, and mathematical philosophies blurted out, 37 is so clean and shining with wisdom. Sure enough, after the production team released the 37 image, many players went crazy in the barrage. 37 is not only beautiful, but also excellent in actual combat. The production team introduced a new combat mechanic "Aura" for the 1.4 version characters, and optimized the pursuit party system. 37 can not only bear the output, but also add damage to the whole team, which is a very useful group damage card.
Version 1.4 was also added with the "Parade in a Box" in-game celebration that brought a host of improvements and perks, which was well received. The excellent main story, the rave reviews of the new six-star, and the welfare activities have promoted the game's word-of-mouth to explode. After the version 1.4 update, the high-quality content has fermented in the player group, and has received a lot of praise and second-generation content on various social platforms.
In addition to the above-mentioned milestone versions, during most of the half year of operation, Deep Blue Interactive adjusted the game according to player feedback, modified the upper limit of physical strength, increased welfare output, optimized interaction logic, increased automatic battles, etc., which really improved the game experience.
A week after the launch of 1.4, "Back to the Future: 1999" was successfully tested in four language regions (Europe, America, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan), and Deep Blue Interactive officially embarked on the road of globalization. What is touching is that I thought that European and American players would not be very interested in themes like "1999", but in fact, whether it is an English-speaking region or a small language region, 1999 has gained a group of solid players.
· Version 1.6 is booming!
The topic returns to the latest version 1.6, as the New Year version vigorously promoted by Deep Blue Interactive, since the live broadcast of "New Year Special Preview Program", the related content of "Shuori Notes" has received a lot of attention around the world, in addition to the high degree of discussion on domestic mainstream platforms, there are also many fans in Youtube, X, Discord, Reddit and other overseas player communities spontaneously broadcast and praise in real time.
When version 1.6 was officially launched, the content popularity of "1999" also blossomed on multiple platforms, Weibo, Douyin, and Station B all gained a lot of attention, and appeared on many hot lists, which is enough to see that the player power is very solid.
With the blessing of word-of-mouth, content, player groups, and multi-platform content explosion, "1999" broke through to seventh place on the first-day best-selling list of games.
In addition to winning the 3rd place on the first day of the service on May 31, version 1.6 is the best result of "1999" on the best-selling list so far, and now that the gold-absorbing effect of the head game is infinitely expanding, it is also very difficult for Deep Blue Interactive to return to the top 10 of the best-selling list again.
03
The ecosystem has taken shape
While the game's reputation is booming, the game's player ecosystem is also gradually taking shape. Since the launch of "1999", I can clearly feel that the atmosphere of the game community is getting better and better, and related excellent second-generation content continues to emerge.
In Weibo super talk, I can always brush up on the hand-drawn fanart of Mrs. Fairy;Browsing comic exhibitions,I see the high-quality COS of "1999" characters more and more often;Every time after the release of the new version of "1999" trailer, there are always players who find out the provenance behind it according to the clues in the PV, and take the lead in revealing the plot puzzles. Not to mention the strategy video of the difficult levels of "1999", there is no shortage of players discussing the low-training civilian lineup play.
曲娘COS(Coser见微博名)
On the other hand, the "1999" IP derivative products are also thriving, and the sales momentum of related peripherals is booming. At present, the peripherals of "1999" have landed in a number of peripheral offline stores for players with love to choose and collect.
In the preview live broadcast of version 1.6, the production team officially announced that the "1999" Wilding three-dimensional photo frame produced in cooperation with the well-known figure label APEX is open for pre-order, and the Wilding and Sonnet Clay figures in cooperation with GSC are in production, and I believe they will meet you soon.
After the launch of "1999", it has been committed to building an ecological community for players, and various excellent second creations have emerged in an endless stream. In the upcoming Spring Festival, the first "Back to the Future 1999 New Year Party" after the open beta will also meet players. The outstanding creators will give full play to their talents and pass on their love for "1999", and I believe that it is worthy of praise from every audience member for "eating well".
04
With long-term investment,
"1999" is expected to become the next big IP
Last year was a big year for two-dimensional games, and the version number finally began to be distributed steadily, and the new second-game products that had been hoarded for several years spurted out, competing for a piece of cake that already had many people to share. The fierce competition in the form of thousands of troops crowding the single-plank bridge doomed most of the contestants to fall into the river and drown.
In fact, as expected, most of the new second game open beta publicity period will disappear from the player's sight as soon as the publicity period has passed. Luckily, Back to the Future: 1999's Deep Blue interaction with the dark blue behind it was the surviving surprise of last year's new game Battle Royale.
As mentioned earlier, the launch of "1999" was not all smooth sailing. I think the reason why "1999" was able to reverse the situation in the headwind is that Deep Blue Interactive has invested a lot in art performance, content quality, and atmosphere creation for a long time, and has also absorbed a lot of operational problems, continuously optimized the player experience, and pushed the game quality to the top line of the industry. Then the advantages of "1999" can naturally be passed on by players by word of mouth in the long-term operation process.
In addition to the in-game, in terms of external performance, "1999" has also made a lot of moves this year, and the establishment of a linkage project with the well-known catering brand Pizza Hut made me see their ambition in offline activities - the first element of operating IP, naturally, is to make this IP really shine in the real world!
I have a hunch that "Back to the Future: 1999" will become the next iconic IP of the second game with a long-term investment. I'm also looking forward to seeing the next move of Deep Blue Interactive, and I believe that it will bring more surprises to players and the industry together with Back to the Future: 1999."