MTL - Almighty Game Designer (Almighty Video Game Designer)-Chapter 57 The secret of the profit of card games

Is it really not fun to make a domestic card game?

This is a matter of opinion, different players have different tastes.

Many people criticize card games, such as rude, monotonous, and repeated content. Indeed, this is true.

But it is to make money.

To make money, it means the player recognizes.

Why do players recognize? Because the player thinks it is fun.

This is a very strange phenomenon, the player licks it while saving money for it.

Why do card games make money? Where is it fun?

This is a relatively empty proposition. If you let Chen Mo write a paper that specifically describes the core of the card game, it is estimated that you can write tens of thousands of words.

In short, the fun of domestic card games comes mainly from three aspects.

The first is the fun of collecting cards and developing cards.

This is based on the player's recognition of the card character.

Once a mobile game company made a first-generation card of "One Piece" theme (completely flipped "My name is mt"), a local tyrant did not say that he directly rushed a few thousand pieces, just to draw an eagle Eye Mihawk.

There is also an unknown three-country card game, still in the test stage, a local tyrant into the game did not say that the anger of five thousand, in order to draw a piece of Zhuge Liang, the result has not been Zhuge Liang this general.

Finally, the game company urgently worked overtime and made Zhuge Liang.

Like "My name is mt", many players make daily copying, smashing purple card fragments, or throwing thousands of coins every day, in order to get the cards they want.

The game designer will also deliberately adjust the card skills and combat power to the extent of the plot (or fine-tune according to the character's popularity), these are to cultivate the player's recognition of the card character.

Only by establishing this sense of identity will this card become valuable and the player will pay for it.

Once the value system of this card is established, it means that there is a difference between different cards, and the player's desire to collect and cultivate will be satisfied, and he will feel that the money is worth the money.

Therefore, the key to the profitability of card games is to establish a card value system that allows players to identify, just like collecting stamps, constantly selling new cards to players.

After the player gets the card he wants, in order to make the card stronger, he will continue to charge for it to upgrade, upgrade the star, upgrade the skill and so on. Every upgrade of the card can make the player feel the growth, so that he feels that the money is not white.

This is also an expression of the “numerical stimulus” that was mentioned before.

This is the core fun of all cards. It is a very mature and reusable model, so the previous game card game will be so rampant.

The second is to explore the lineup and the fun of self-developing combat strategies.

The combat system of a card game seems monotonous, but it is actually quite rich. In "My name is mt", each card has three kinds of abilities: normal attack, skill attack and passive. In the character design, there is a World of Warcraft battle system as a blueprint, and the skills of each character are also different.

The same range of damage skills, there are storm-type (full-screen attack), cyclone type (three units in the front row), lightning chain (random three units), penetrating shooting type (vertical two units), etc. .

Skill damage is divided into spells, physics, and differences between individuals and groups.

The same is true for the treatment skills. There is a single milk and a group of milk.

In addition, there are a variety of combat capabilities such as injury reduction, rebirth, and continuous injury. Basically, various skills can be thought of, and there are ways to force the battle system into a card.

Coupled with the complex factors of card position, shot sequence, attribute restraint, captain skills, etc., the combat system of the card game is greatly improved.

Of course, this combat system can't be compared with the end game, but for the mobile game players, it is enough.

This combat system can perfectly cover most of the world view, such as pirates, Huoying, or martial arts novels, by changing the packaging.

There are cyclical restraint relationships between various combating abilities, such as single milk gram spike, spike gram milk, group milk gram range damage and so on. Players really want to find the five cards that match the most in dozens of cards, which requires very long attempts and repeated experience sharing.

Because the acquisition of rare cards is strictly controlled, either spending money or spending time, trying to test the actual combat power of each card requires a lot of investment.

This process is also fun and fulfilling for the player. Therefore, the battle system of the card game is perfectly matched with the card training system. As a long-lasting classic combat system, it is enough for the player to play for 3 to 5 years without being tired.

The third is marketing strategy and numerical stimulus.

This is a very broad content, such as operational activities (seven days landing, check-in, growth fund, etc.), daily benefits (maintaining diamonds, sending physical strength, online rewards, etc.), pre-valued architecture...

Of course, these contents are not only exclusive to card games, which is basically the standard for all domestic mobile games, and is also widely used in other game types such as slg (strategy game) and fps (shooting game).

However, to say the earliest origins, it should be sprouted in the page tour, Daxing in the card game, and eventually spread to all domestic mobile games.

Of course, this "Pavlov"-style numerical stimulus has been sprayed by countless players and game reviewers, but there is hardly any mobile game company dare not do these things.

why? Because it is simple and effective, once it is removed, game data and revenue will drop significantly.

This "numerical stimulus" system works like this.

First of all, the game must be free, as much as possible to attract the most players into the game, these people may not intend to spend money at all, it does not matter, advanced to say.

After coming in, there will be very detailed novice guidance, so that players can experience the core fun and gameplay of the game as soon as possible, and at the same time, do not make any difficulty in the value, so that players can all the way.

This is the same reason as the 300,000 words in front of the web, free of charge, and post-paid. Experience the first payment, not satisfied with not collecting money.

However, this situation cannot be maintained for too long. It is a week long and a short three days. Players must encounter some setbacks.

In this kind of game, recharge players and non-recharge players are naturally unequal. In order for players to pay, they must set card points.

The so-called card point is to get the players stuck, let them encounter setbacks, let the players pay for the purchase power and continue to challenge the higher levels.

But this creates a problem. If it is a player who is not willing to spend money, what should I do if I encounter a card? He has a high probability of giving up this game and not playing.

How do you let these players stay? Very simple, send money.