Text / Mobile game that little thing Sparrow
It's a game, and it's a photo album spanning 15 years.
For many veteran players of Sword Net 3, the day of the open beta of "Sword Net 3 Unbounded" has been waited too long, and unlike other mobile game-based MMOs, this game can be said to be highly anticipated.
However, the road has not been easy: as a veteran MMO that has been in operation for 15 years and has landed on mobile, how to balance the huge content of the game with the needs of players is a development problem; With the continuous testing of the flagship version, the experience server, and the continuous exposure of the actual machine picture, it has been urged to go online again; is close to the public beta, but it is still involved in the industry turmoil......
Fortunately, there are two sides to everything, from the spontaneous Amway craze of players some time ago, it can be seen that the influence of Jiansan's IP is still huge, and its every move also affects the hearts of many old players. To a certain extent, this also proves the sufficient product potential of "Sword Net 3 Unbounded".
"Sword Network 3 Unbounded" adopts a fair fee system for point monthly cards, does not sell attributes, and directly sells appearances, so I focus more on the game content than the cliché best-selling and paid list results. After all, doing double-end interoperability can be said to be one of the few in the entire industry, and even a unique case.
In terms of today's actual performance, "Sword Network 3 Unbounded" did not disappoint players, and its comprehensive upgrade of quality and the challenge of the parallel porting of the first terminal game on the whole network have brought an excellent reputation to the game.
This also makes us realize that the bottom factor that supports a product is always its quality itself. Rather than commenting on the game, making weak arguments and explanations, communicating on an equal footing in the face of doubts, and putting it into practice is the most sincere and most impressive behavior for players.
01
Continue to write the legend of "the first garment factory in South China".
As we all know, with the rapid iteration of MMO picture quality in recent years, players' aesthetics continue to evolve, which means that their requirements for MMO games are gradually increasing. Therefore, for "Sword Network 3 Unbounded", it is not enough to retain the characteristics and charm of the IP on the mobile terminal, but also to make an artistic expression that corresponds to it and does not even lose to the terminal game, so as to retain old players and even attract new players.
After a series of efforts by the R&D team, "Sword Network 3 Unbounded" has obviously achieved this and successfully continued the high-value characteristics of the terminal game. I think there are at least two reasons for this.
One is the aesthetic that keeps pace with the times.
For example, in the part of pinching the face, as a supplement to the remastered freehand style, the game has launched a more refined realistic style, not only depicting details from pupils, double eyelids, lying silkworms, etc., but also subdividing the bones into more complex structures.
With more room to play, this new style in the game has naturally been recognized by many female players. Before and after the open beta of "Sword Network 3 Unbounded", many players spontaneously shared and sorted out their face-pinching data, and "classical" and "oriental beauty" became the keywords that appeared the most in the comments.
Equally sophisticated is the costume design. "Sword Network 3", which has been online for 15 years, is known as "the first garment factory in South China", with 5,471 sets of optional appearances and clothing, and has its own set of standards for grasping beauty. Today, with an increasing awareness of cultural inheritance, they are also committed to integrating traditional culture with modern aesthetics and inheriting national culture.
Taking the popular "Holding the Monarch's Order" suit as an example, the men and women are respectively based on the traditional costume flying fish costume and horse face skirt, integrating modern multi-level embroidery technology, and the classic flying fish pattern and dragon and phoenix pattern are matched, which makes people think of the luxurious and elegant and capable martial arts style at a glance.
At the same time, the project team also made technical breakthroughs. In the game, players can rely on light and shadow to see the upper and lower levels of embroidery, and the patterns of flying fish and phoenixes come to life in the light, which is eye-catching.
The costumes that express the situation represent the diverse and inclusive aesthetic style of "Sword Network 3", and then show the game's adherence to and pursuit of beauty and Chinese tradition itself. And now, these art features will be delivered to the hearts of more players with the emergence of "Sword Network 3 Unbounded".
The second is the technical level of excellence.
Even if the time is turned back to 2009, "Sword Network 3" at that time can be said to be at the leading level in the industry, with a monthly active activity of 6 million to create the pinnacle of domestic martial arts online games, and then it has always maintained the pursuit of technology and content.
In 2017, in order to keep up with the pace of the times, they spent a lot of work to remake the image quality, not only the environment and character models were fully upgraded, but also the face pinching system and appearance system were also launched. Up to 67 face options, 414 ready-to-wear pieces for the season...... At the time, the volume of these contents exceeded expectations.
6 years later, "Sword Network 3" launched a "re-upgraded" flagship version on the basis of the remastered version. It is worth noting that "Sword Network 3 Unbounded" is the mobile terminal of the flagship version, and the picture quality is directly benchmarked against the PC level, and the test has been carried out for 5 months since January this year, and its material details, light and shadow atmosphere have been continuously polished, in order to provide players with a better experience.
At the same time, the official can also recognize the disadvantages,Check and fill in the gaps,Not satisfied with the current optimization,Near the start of the server, it is still announcing the optimization of image quality,It is planned to improve the picture accuracy by another 20%-40%,A series of actions undoubtedly make the core art advantages of the game fully displayed。
In general, as a mobile product that has been operating classic MMO games for 15 years, "Sword Net 3 Unbounded" has won the recognition of a large number of MMO players by virtue of its accumulation in the terminal game era and its excellent aesthetic design, coupled with its sincere research and development attitude.
On the one hand, the setting of interconnection with the terminal game allows many old players to have a more flexible time and space to experience the content of "Sword Network 3"; On the other hand, for other new players, the appearance of Sword Net 3 Unbounded represents an opportunity to experience a lower threshold and feel the charm of classic martial arts MMO games even without PC.
02
A game with the player
Large-scale "two-way running"
Based on the above-mentioned quest for the quality of "Sword Network 3", we can also see the sincerity of the project team to players: not only willing to listen to the voice of players, but also dare to put down the "official" status, and seek benefits for players through the style of doing everything.
This allows them to get the spontaneous support of countless new and old users even if they are in turmoil.
At the same time that "Sword Network 3" was deeply involved in the public opinion turmoil, the "sweet potatoes" also showed amazing cohesion online and offline: some people wrote "war songs" fancy support, some people made sect enrollment videos, some people posted promotional posters at the door of their stores, and a large number of emojis were widely circulated. They are like warriors who charge for love, playing a role in their respective fields.
And the most spectacular is still in the business districts of major cities or the large screen of the subway. "Looking forward to seeing you for the first time, and also looking forward to the return of the old people", "Rushing to the next decade together"...... In Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Nanchang and other places, you can see the "sweet potato" full of blessings.
The one who is the most out of the circle is even popular abroad. Some players bought a cos video of the game producer Salted Fish's sword in Times Square in New York, so that foreign friends could feel a little "sword three shocks".
And these supports and solidarity are not only due to their love for the game "Sword Network 3", but also because the latter is a precious memory for them, and they have rich feelings. Because of this, when "Unbounded" came out, many players who had previously AFK returned, and the emotions of each scene were reconnected after several years or even ten years.
Some people were still college students when they left the game, but when they met in "Unbounded" in a blink of an eye, they were graduate students: and the little white apprentice who didn't know anything on the road at the beginning, is now the PVE leader who can take charge of himself; The shield girl who wanted to draw became an art teacher as she wished......
(Source: Group photo of players)
These countless precious memories from the hearts of players make the product "Unbounded" more valuable, and it is also one of the reasons why "Sword Three" players attach so much importance to it. Similarly, after the official sensed these sincere and strong emotions, they also responded positively. While taking over the building to thank the players for their efforts, the Yellow Rooster Laughing Balloon was placed on the beach to pay tribute to all the players who charged for love.
On the other hand, they also silently collected 15 years of common memories with players to make a time album belonging to "Sword Network 3".
In today's mobile game where PC game IP is concentrated, we are increasingly understanding that the success of games depends on the understanding and respect of players, and if manufacturers only regard the PC game adaptation as another opportunity to "make money" and fail to meet the needs of core players, then the traditional IP with decades of accumulation may also end in failure. In terms of building trust with players, "Sword Network 3" can be said to be a sincere exchange of sincerity.
First of all, "Sword Net 3 Unbounded" is not a traditional cognitive mobile game, although it is a mobile version, it is essentially a terminal game. In other words, it is not a mobile game based on the IP of "Sword Network 3", but a product that comprehensively inherits and interchanges the data of the terminal game and presents it on the mobile terminal.
In the game reservation interface, "Sword Network 3 Unbounded" officially wrote this paragraph: "The reason why we chose to communicate with each other instead of redeveloping an independent mobile game is because we know that the unforgettable bits and pieces that everyone has experienced in the rivers and lakes, and the core data such as the role of chivalry and the list of friends, are the most unforgettable precious treasures." ”
Yes. To achieve "hand-to-hand data translation", both the cost and the difficulty of production are far more than the development of a new game, which has no precedent in the industry, but "Sword Network 3 Unbounded" is still willing to overcome difficulties to do this. Their original intention is not to "snub" or "abandon" any group of players, and to implement their own unique "persistence" with "bold" actions that others dare not try.
In order to allow players to return to the rivers and lakes to enjoy the best service, the official has also prepared the best, most vast, and most powerful welfare distribution in history: custom white hair, school uniforms, game time, mounts, and furniture blueprints are all given away for free.
Looking back, after 15 years of ups and downs, "Sword Network 3" does not forget to take care of those players who have left memories in the rivers and lakes, and impress them with exquisite content, positive emotional value, and various tolerances and satisfactions; In return, players are always willing to support the development and growth of the game. This "two-way rush", from the main creative team to all players, to the long-term companionship of the game itself, has become a successful case that is difficult to replicate in the history of the industry.
03
Only sincerity is always nirvana
The MMO track, which has been in the news since the beginning of the year, seems to be gradually "derailed". At a time when the public opinion environment is becoming more and more stringent, the products have advanced from a benign quality battle to a public opinion field, and there are always turmoil and noise from time to time.
Despite this, in the face of all kinds of controversies, "Sword Network 3" has proved several times with its own actions: sincerity is always nirvana.
At the product level, the official has always adhered to the path of "parallel transplantation of terminal games", which is to listen to the voices of players who want to "go home and see", so that more people can access the rivers and lakes of "Sword Network 3" more conveniently. In this way, old users can continue to experience the mobile game, and those players who have been lost due to objective restrictions can return to the Tang Dynasty in their memories through the mobile terminal, while at the same time, new players will also have the opportunity to learn more about the longest martial arts IP in the history of Chinese online games.
In terms of action, the planning team is still repeatedly answering questions for players online before and after the launch of the server, and doing their best to polish and optimize, and iterate from the user's point of view.
(The planning team answered players' questions live)
What's even more rare is that in an environment where everyone is trying their best to claim to be the "best", games can generously admit their imperfections and accept and listen to players' suggestions - this sincere and unpretentious attitude has become one of the few bright spots in the industry.
Therefore, we all have reason to believe that this 15-year-old PC game will enter a new stage as a result. The road ahead has just begun, and perhaps in the next fifteen years, everyone will see it become the new protagonist of the story.