Reborn in another world as a game

Chapter 398 "Traveling Frog" after the magic reform

What kind of game is "Traveling Frog"?

Its gameplay is very simple. The main character of the game is a frog who likes to travel. What the player has to do is to prepare the bag for the frog, such as bento, amulets, and props.

You need clover to buy bento, and the land in the yard is refreshed regularly, and you can pick clover to buy bento.

After packing up the bento and other things, the frog set off with his bags on his back.

And then... no more.

Ah no, there are more!

After the frog set off, players also need to regularly harvest clover to exchange for bento and other items, and then put it on the table.

The frog will sometimes come back, and if the player doesn't notice, the frog will pack up and go on its own.

When the frog returns, he will give the player the scenery photos and special items during his travels as gifts.

Through different travels, frogs will also get different travel titles (although no one knows what this thing is for)

What players really need to do is simple...

Harvest clover periodically to exchange for things like food and amulets.

In this way, the frog can go farther and see more scenery.

……

The above is the whole process of the game "Traveling Frog".

Such a simple game, any game designer will not think that it has the potential to become a big hit.

And in the previous life——

It is such an extremely simple game, but it has swept across the country at an extremely fast speed. Weibo and Moments are full of "frog sons" everywhere.

This extremely hot phenomenon, even the designer of this game finds it incredible and incomprehensible.

Because this game only accounts for less than 1% of players in their own country, its popularity can almost be said to be an "accident" in the era of Internet mobile games.

It does not have much reference value, does not have any reproducibility, and does not have much traffic.

……

It only took a very short time for "Traveling Frog" to go from being popular all over the Internet to disappearing.

Surprisingly short lifespan.

But thinking about its gameplay, it doesn't seem to be surprising.

Click, watch, place, wait.

These four words are the entire gameplay of "Traveling Frog", which instills a simple, casual, anticipating, and novel gaming experience for players.

But precisely because of the concept of "Traveling Frog", it cannot make any value-added updates on the original basis.

The gameplay is too simple. After the short-term "novelty", there is no second selling point to attract players.

Players didn't even wait for all the travel photos to be collected, and the game was already in limbo.

The fire is fast, and the death is fast.

Such is the fate of The Traveling Frog!

……

"What is the selling point that makes this game so popular?"

As an insider, Tian Moyun has his own views on this issue.

There are two main reasons why "Traveling Frog" became so popular in the previous life.

The first one: the popularity brought about by social networking on the Internet.

The biggest difference between online games and stand-alone games is not the charging mode, but the attributes of the two games.

What is the core of the word "network" in online games?
It is nothing more than interaction, confrontation, and comparison with other players.

So, to put it bluntly: online games are born with a gene: social gene.

Most of the time, when you play an online game, it’s not because it’s so fun and attractive to you, but because everyone around you is playing it, so you naturally follow along.

Or it may be: after the initial experience, when you get tired of playing, there are people you care about in the game, and groups (guilds, gangs) that you feel comfortable with, and then you will continue to play with everyone.

Unless you are a professional player or a serious obsession with online games alone, you will get tired of playing for a while.

No matter how good the online game is, the content is just that, it's obvious.

What really keeps a player going is not the game, but the social interaction in the online world.

……

"Traveling Frog" is certainly not an online game.

There is no interaction with other players, let alone any competition.

But the reason why it is popular is the same as the "social gene" mentioned above.

Such an extremely simple but unique game, once it becomes popular, it will be born with social genes.

Where do social genes come from?

This involves deeper biology and sociology.

Humans are social animals.

A sense of social/collective identity is very important to a person.

How to let the collective identify themselves has become something that everyone subconsciously thinks about and actively participates in (generally refers to most people).

Take the game "Traveling Frog" as an example——

What do you do when everyone around you is talking about this game?

Engage in uniqueness?Acting completely different from this group of "rabble"?
Or is it driven by the "sense of participation", to be curious, experience the game, and then join the discussion?

……

What Tian Moyun wants to do is of course not the simple "Traveling Frog" in his previous life.

That kind of game doesn't have much development value for him.

What Tian Moyun really wants is to use the values ​​of "Traveling Frog" to jointly launch a new pet with "My Homeland". This pet has two-way gameplay.

In the computer game "My Homeland":

The little frog is a highly interactive pet. It has the ability to automatically catch pests, has an anthropomorphic expression, and has a unique personality. Sometimes it is cold, sometimes kind, and sometimes angry. When it is in a good mood, it will hum a little song by itself Son... fully captures the cuteness of the player's pet-raising psychology.

And in "The Traveling Frog":

Like the original version, it is also a little frog who likes to travel;

As for the gameplay, on the basis of the original simplicity, some changes have been made.

For example--

Add food system: Players can harvest clover, buy gold coins in the store and put them in the little frog's luggage, and the little frog may bring you outside food when returning home;
Added historic sites and holy places: The photos taken by the little frog during his travels are the same as many well-known tourist attractions in the Great Xia Kingdom, and the delicacies brought back will also be local characteristics;

Added friend system: Players can exchange and give gifts; it is not a gift of frogs, but something brought back by the little frog, or an item to be purchased for the little frog;
……

The three settings to be added were all carefully considered by Tian Moyun.

"Traveling Frog" focuses on lightness, Buddhism, and leisure.

If it is a little more complicated, it will destroy its original game core, so every time you add a setting, you must be cautious.

Fortunately, these three settings can well explain Daxia's style, and with the modification of other settings before, today's "Traveling Frog" is already a completely national style game.

It has increased the fun and convenience without making it cumbersome and bloated, which is considered a success.

……

"Traveling Frog" after the magic reform.

The most interesting thing is that it is completely compatible with the computer game "My Homeland". You only need to plug in a data cable to share the game data between the two.

Really achieve: there is a computer to play with the computer, and when there is no computer, the game experience can be played easily on the road.

This setting is a bit like the switch of the handheld/host integration in the previous life.

(End of this chapter)