文 / 手游那点事 Jimmy
If you want to write a "Chronicle of Chinese Mobile Games", then "Tencent Happy Mahjong", which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, must be one of the products that cannot be avoided.
It is one of the earliest products to enter the domestic mobile game market: as early as 2014, "Happy Mahjong" was the first to enter the market, and it has never fallen behind in the following ten years, and it is still firmly in the first echelon of the chess and card category until today.
Now, the cumulative number of registered users of the game has also unconsciously exceeded hundreds of millions (including App, PC, mini games and other product forms), which not only has always led the market share in the mahjong category, but also in the entire mobile game market, products with this level of player base are rare.
It's hard not to wonder: what kind of magic can make generations of new players "go to the table" in an endless stream?
01
Continue to expand the disk with a cooler and more interesting "innovative mahjong".
Since the development of mahjong culture, a set of rules recognized by the public has been formed, but the innovation of gameplay has not stopped. Mahjong players around the world are constantly trying to create new ways to play in their lives, and "Happy Mahjong" has found a greater breakthrough from this player UGC phenomenon, combined with the technical advantages of online games, to achieve a special experience that physical mahjong cannot have, and to create more unique and innovative gameplay.
These innovative gameplay retains the core features of Mahjong and injects new vitality, allowing old users of Happy Mahjong to have a new mahjong experience, while continuing to attract new users and broaden the user base of the entire category.
First of all, "Happy Mahjong" pioneered the "2V2" team gameplay for acquaintances to socialize. After two players form a team, they can reveal cards to each other, pass cards and feed cards, so that the interaction between teammates is stronger, and the cooperation between the two is more emphasized. According to the official, every year during the Spring Festival or the beginning of the university season, the active data of the 2V2 game has been significantly improved, which shows that the expansion of team ability effectively meets the needs of mahjong socialization.
Of course, not all players play mahjong for socializing, so Happy Mahjong has also worked on the rules of single-player play. For example, in response to the needs of users in different places for the identification of mahjong technical level, the game has established a ranking system and a local regional card competition system for various local play genres, which meets the mahjong competition demands of many users. In addition, it has also explored several sets of "new mahjong" games with their own characteristics.
For example, the well-received "Variety Fighting Brand". In this game, players touch the wall of cards exclusive to a single player, and are not allowed to touch, kong, eat, or play the opponent's cards. In the case of independent cards, the "Fighting Cards" set up a stage for card skill competition, where four players each showed their talents and built their hands towards a larger fan, competing for the efficiency and quality of the build. Once a hand is won, it will be difficult to change the hand, which is a huge challenge for the player's choice and decision.
"My hand doesn't seem to be good enough!" – this is something that players often hear in Variety Cards, hence the Variety Cards. Each "Variety Card" can be changed three times, randomly turned into a card, players can choose to change the card directly, or keep it first, depending on the situation before use, and the Variety card can be used after the winning card, to change the winning card. This design not only increases the strategy of the gameplay, but also lowers the threshold of the gameplay, and the player retains the opportunity to turn the game under the wrong decision, ensuring the upper and lower limits of the gameplay.
In the Variety Fight, players can make up the type of hand to make by changing cards
At the same time, the "Variety Fighting Card" also added new special beard types such as "Northwest Wanzhong Mountain" and "Peacock Flying Southeast", and they are all equipped with exclusive special effects, which makes the game experience "doubling the cool".
Another feature of the "Four Dragons Mahjong" that has been praised by players is a new zodiac-themed gameplay launched during the Spring Festival of the Year of the Dragon this year, where the four-color "Dragon Card" makes a new appearance. On the basis of the traditional 1~90,000, tube, strip cards, the increase of the "dragon card" with suit, and can be used as "0" or "10", while bringing a special type, players need to break through the original mindset in the process of the card, more imaginative use of dragon card characteristics, in order to become a big winner.
In addition, the "Four Dragons Mahjong" has pioneered the addition of "Changing Zone" and "Keeping Zone", the "Changing Zone" can replace three cards randomly, and the "Keeping Zone" can keep the cards that are not needed for the time being, instead of throwing them directly into the card pool. The emergence of these functions allows players to be more comfortable in the process of playing cards, no longer have to worry about playing cards slowly or playing the wrong cards, reduce the cost of decision-making, and make it easier to make a big move, so that the delicacy of strategizing and the pleasure of making cards complement each other.
When the dragon card is played for the first time and no other player touches the bar, the special effect of the "Charging Dragon" will be triggered and you will enjoy an additional bonus, which is similar to the special rules of the "Charging Chicken" in Guiyang's "Catching Chickens" gameplay.
It can be found that these gameplay methods are actually based on the mature mahjong gameplay rules to make micro-innovations, making the game more interesting at the same time, bringing more variables to players more "trading" feeling, the original mahjong short flat fast experience to further strengthen, the game becomes more exciting, and the feedback is naturally stronger.
What's even more rare is that the understanding and threshold of these gameplay are actually not high, under the dual effect of low threshold + strong feedback, in addition to the old users who are addicted to continuing to be active, the conversion rate of new users has also been significantly improved, and many new users have more intuitively felt the fun of mahjong in these new gameplay, and have become a steady stream of "living water" that continues to be injected into "Happy Mahjong".
02
Online hemp rubbing can also be very "fan"
In addition to continuous innovation in the gameplay, "Happy Mahjong" is also continuing to make new breakthroughs in the visual experience, so that the game has been synchronized with the user's game habits and aesthetics in the visual link.
On the one hand, the "poker table" is the scene that finches are inseparable from and most familiar with in every game. "Bird Realm" breaks the visual fatigue in the previous games in the way of dynamic tables, and also carries different theme elements such as different nodes, seasons, and even humanities, providing a more immersive game experience and making the original square mahjong table more lively and flexible. Moreover, the beautiful meaning of each card table has been more intuitive and flexible, which not only broadens the boundaries of scene design, but also makes the mahjong table a carrier of more cultural elements. Since the release of the first "Sparrow Realm" in 2022, each theme has received praise from many players.
Taking the "Dragon Prosperous" dynamic card table launched during the Spring Festival of the Year of the Dragon as an example, the design is inspired by the decorative pattern of "two dragons playing with pearls" in the traditional culture of the mainland, which has an auspicious and festive meaning. Not only does the whole table have a dynamic flow of water, but the dragon is also dynamically presented, which looks lifelike.
On the other hand, the dynamic effect of the table also makes the game more "stylish" in terms of visual experience, such as the content marketing links such as short videos and live broadcasts that have emerged in recent years.
At the same time, "Happy Mahjong" also launched more "big special effects" with limited-time gameplay. Different from the previous fan type special effects, the new large fan type special effects are based on the original design of the fan type, and the special effects that will continue to trigger the full screen when winning the card will be stronger, and it can also stimulate the player's desire to explore and collect, which improves the playability of the game.
"Big Four Happiness" special effects
"True Dragon · Million Stones" fan-shaped special effect
"Hard Nine Lotus" fan-shaped special effects
These visual effects optimizations not only make "Happy Mahjong" have its own recognition, but also continue to bring freshness to players and even the audience, and finally make "Happy Mahjong" maintain a leading edge in the chess and card category.
03
Strive to interpret the "new quintessence"
In addition to the optimization and potential exploration of the "foundation" of gameplay and experience of these board and card games, in terms of "soft power", "Happy Mahjong" also closely follows the current young people's interest in traditional Chinese culture, finds a new breakthrough interpretation form for traditional culture, and makes itself a bridge connecting traditional culture and users.
Taking the recently officially released "New Quintessence" Peking Opera cultural linkage as an example, "Happy Mahjong" specially invited Shi Yihong, a Meipai Daqing Yi of the Shanghai Peking Opera Company, and Xu Chaohao, an outstanding martial arts actor, to cooperate and guide and launch the "Good Show" theme set.
Tencent Happy Mahjong 10th Anniversary Celebration "More Drama with You"_Board Game Chess and Card Popular Video
Two professional Peking Opera performers also participated in the art design of the linkage suit, integrating the characteristic elements of "Tsing Yi" and "Wusheng" into the design of the men's and women's suits, which not only restored the charm of Peking Opera, but also made appropriate innovations in combination with modern aesthetics to ensure the consistency of the aesthetics and professionalism of the linkage suit.
In this cooperation, the two Peking Opera performers not only personally designed the text of the voice pack of the newspaper board, but also recorded the voice, skillfully combining Peking Opera culture with mahjong gameplay, bringing players an immersive audio-visual experience. This kind of quintessence culture co-creation content allows players to feel the charm of Peking Opera culture in the game, so that they can like and understand this traditional quintessence more.
In the official linkage interview, I learned that the two professional Peking Opera actors are also very open and positive about this linkage with "Happy Mahjong", and hope to make new breakthroughs in the dissemination and interpretation of Peking Opera culture through the carrier of "Happy Mahjong".
"Happy Mahjong" "New Quintessence" Peking Opera Culture Linkage Interview "Link"
It is not difficult to find that while striving to improve the quality of its own game content, "Happy Mahjong" is undoubtedly actively exploring the integration of mahjong and traditional culture, and striving to interpret the "new quintessence". In this process, both "Happy Mahjong" and traditional culture have produced more common languages with players, making mahjong and traditional culture closer to the "audience", and also helping cultural inheritance to go further.
04
In the next decade, there will be more "drama"
Although the attention and discussion of the game market are more occupied by MOBA, MMO, shooting and two-dimensional categories, board games are relatively low-key, and "Happy Mahjong", which has a decade of glorious history and hundreds of millions of users, has undoubtedly surprised many people.
There are always many players in the market who like "short, flat and fast" games such as chess and cards, and the key is how to attract and retain them. Today's achievements of "Happy Mahjong" are inseparable from a stable product strategy and a positive expansion attitude, so that we can continue to consolidate and expand our user base.
As conveyed by the theme of its 10th anniversary edition "More Fun with You", Happy Mahjong is committed to enhancing the user experience on the one hand to embrace a wider community of mahjong enthusiasts, especially the new generation of young people.
On the other hand, the glorious history of "Happy Mahjong" in the past ten years is naturally inseparable from the support and companionship of the majority of players. Players are not only witnesses to the development of the game, but also participants. In the future, there is still a lot of room for players to participate and support Happy Mahjong, and we also believe that this "quintessence" will become more interesting and playful in the next decade.