On July 26th, the 21st China International Digital Interactive Entertainment Exhibition (ChinaJoy) in 2024 officially opened at the Shanghai New International Expo Center.
At the ChinaJoy exhibition, greedy games appeared with a "original intention" that has a deep bond with countless players, that is, the new work "Douluo Continent: Legend of Evil Spirit", which got the version number last year. Judging from the current mobile game market, the IP-related products of "Douluo Continent" can be described as varied, and they also cover a variety of common gameplay, and it is difficult to imagine how difficult it is to make achievements on this already somewhat crowded track. Prior to this, greedy games have also launched an MMORPG "Douluo Continent: Shrek Academy" around the IP of "Douluo Continent", and where is the competitiveness of the new product "Douluo Continent: Legend of Evil Punishment" that was first exposed this time? This has to start with Douluo IP itself.
The huge and exciting Douluo IP needs richer gameplay to reflect
At the ChinaJoy exhibition, "Douluo Continent: The Legend of the Evil Cult" appeared with the game's first exposure of the actual machine screen and the coser team, and many players in the audience had already guessed the origin of the characters without seeing the game information, after all, "Douluo Continent" is too famous. Since it began to be serialized in 2008, it has been extremely popular, and in more than ten years of precipitation, it has developed into a super IP spanning novels, animation, comics, film and television, and games, covering users of multiple ages, and constantly absorbing the attention of young fans.
(Photo: ChinaJoy exhibition site)
Yihui, the producer of "Douluo Continent: The Legend of the Evil Spirit", once mentioned in an interview his original intention to develop the game, "Douluo Continent" novel began to be serialized when he had just graduated and entered the game industry, every young person has experienced the stage of entering the society and forging ahead, this online work is like a light, making him feel the unique hustle and bustle and tranquility in ordinary life, and also allowing him to have a constantly changing and developing cognition of culture, entertainment, and games. For him, making a Douluo game is not only the pursuit of career achievements, but also a gift to dreams, perseverance and love, hoping to make more players who resonate with him and find comfort and courage in the story of Douluo Continent happy.
He is not the only one who has such an idea, as far as the game industry is concerned, "Douluo Continent" is also one of the most successful representatives of IP, from 2011 to the present, 16 of its derivative game products have obtained version numbers, and in the 2022 China Literature financial report, it was mentioned that the game adapted from "Douluo Continent" has exceeded 10 billion yuan. In addition to the domestic market, there are also game works that have achieved outstanding market performance overseas.
(Picture: Douluo Game that got the version number)
However, while the popularity of IP games remains high, we can also see that the Douluo games in the current mobile game market cover almost all types of gameplay, considering the rapidly developing market environment and the game habits of the player group, such as the early traditional data vs. bomb card gameplay, or only showing the design of some classic plots in "Douluo Continent", it can no longer meet the expectations of the new Douluo fans. In the era when the new animation of "Douluo Continent" has been fully upgraded, players are also eager for a gorgeous turn of Douluo game.
In this environment, the groundbreaking Douluo game will be more competitive, and the advantage of "Douluo Continent: The Legend of the Evil Spirit" is also this, its choice is to use the open world gameplay to reflect the excitement of Douluo IP.
The open world of "Douluo Continent: Legend of Evil Punishment", what magic of Douluo Continent will fans experience?
Different readers may have different emotional projections in "Douluo Continent", everyone has impressive plot passages, in Yihui's words, these classic story fragments carry the common memories and feelings of readers for the world of Douluo. If you want to make a different Douluo game, it should not be confined to restoring a certain moment and a certain period of excitement, but should inspire new inspiration and imagination while making people reminisce, so as to further inherit and sublimate those values in "Douluo Continent".
This kind of design can only be better demonstrated by the infinite possibilities of the "open world". "Douluo Continent: The Legend of the Evil Spirit" won the dual IP authorization of the novel and Tencent Animation, and the scenes, soul masters, soul beasts and other settings were strictly reproduced and restored in strict accordance with the Douluo world view, and the original team of animation dubbing was invited to dub, and cooperated with a professional music team to create BGM in different areas of the game. Through these audio-visual experiences, the atmosphere of the game can be better immersed in the game.
On the one hand, the game gives players plenty of freedom, abandoning automatic pathfinding, automatic combat and other assembly-line operations, so that players can put aside the sense of pressure of "being urged to complete the next goal" in the game, and restore themselves to a small transparent into the Douluo world, groping for growth, and looking for the excitement in this strange world; On the other hand, the game also takes into account the realistic needs of players, and strictly controls the liver, so that the fun of the game comes entirely from the player's inner satisfaction and free choice, rather than the endless chain of tasks.
Yihui mentioned that in "Douluo Continent: The Legend of the Evil Spirit", there is a real-time weather system to create a magnificent scenery with the changing seasons, there are chariot and horse stations full of ancient charm in the original book, and there are also flying anchors and space secret arrays across the entire continent, and under the feeling of "vast freedom", personalization has also been highlighted, so that players can get the fun of "becoming the protagonist of Douluo Continent".
Loyal to the original IP and full of innovation, such a Douluo world is undoubtedly the dream of every fan who has been touched by the story in the book. At the ChinaJoy exhibition site, the official first exposure information sold a pass, but we can fully imagine how many interesting "side lines" there will be waiting for players to discover in such an open world. Perhaps, when more information is announced in the future, the curiosity of Douluo fans and players will be further satisfied.
From MMORPG to open world, greedy games need to create different boutique features of Douluo IP
"Douluo Continent: Legend of Evil Spirit" is not the only Douluo IP product under the greedy game, at the ChinaJoy exhibition, "Douluo Continent: Shrek Academy", which was first released in January this year, also ushered in a half-anniversary celebration during the exhibition. The goal of this game during the development of this game is also to jump out of the conventional Douluo IP game design, and from the perspective of "breaking the shackles of fans, so that more passers-by can also enter the pit without thresholds to experience the charm of Douluo", the classic MMORPG mode was used to adjust the content in the original work, and achieved good results.
What makes players talk about is not only the content design of "Douluo Continent: Shrek Academy", but also the ingenuity of the game in marketing. Spokesperson Huang Zitao's "real · player" character design, questioning and planning to explain the content of the new version in detail, and the multiple publicity of the incarnation of Sausage Martial Spirit Oscar have better combined the star effect and game characteristics, creating another classic marketing case of greedy games.
(Photo: "Shrek Academy" spokesperson Huang Zitao's "multiple identity" design)
We can say that the results of "Douluo Dalu: Shrek Academy" in 2024 fully verify the R&D strength of greedy games, whether it is the analysis of the theme, market research or user affinity, there is a strong control, such greedy games naturally make Douluo fans and players more trusting. With Douluo IP in hand, greedy games will not rest on their laurels to consume players' feelings, but will rely on their own control to create different products with their own characteristics, so that Douluo fans and players with different needs can be happy.
Today, the "open world" has been quite mature in the mobile game industry, with the blessing of technology, seeing the right time to enter the game is the best choice made by greedy games, "Douluo Continent: The Legend of the Evil Spirit" debut, is not only another expansion of Douluo IP, but also will bring new competitiveness to the entire mobile game market.