Cold thinking after the continuous heating of Chinese horror games

Text | Garlic fragrance horn

On the day of the Chinese Yuan Festival, "Paper Wedding Dress 4" is considered to understand marketing.

As a Chinese -style horror game IP, "Paper Wedding Dress" has received market attention since its launch at the beginning of last year. Several series of works have also been well -known in the market. The top three works on TAPTAP reached the average score of 9.4. There was even a variety show that plagiarized the topic of "Paper Wedding Dress" and rushed to Weibo hot search.

Therefore, this time the popularity of "Paper Wedding Dress 4" is not difficult to imagine. On the one hand, the related topic rushed to the hot search topic of Weibo, and on the other hand, the download volume soared. According to Qimai data, from August 8th to August 14th In one weekend, the live video made by station B. The live video produced by Xiaoyao Sanren also reached 3.82 million playback volume.

In the summer of this year, Chinese horror games are continuously heating up. First, the "Renren Diary" released a 13 -minute real -machine demonstration video, and then the first DEMO of "Receiving: Secret File", and the moonlight cockroaches produced "Fireworks" also announced the development progress of the new work "Three Volume" ... This way Look, the Chinese horror game seems to show a prosperous momentum, but how long this momentum can last is what to worry about in this field.

Chinese story blessed by horror elements

Looking back at the domestic stand -alone games that have attracted attention in the mass market in the past two years, there is a common point of the high topic brought by the strong resonance. From "Chinese Parents" to "Black Myth: Goku" The deconstruction of parent -child relationships in Chinese families is either a new interpretation from traditional Chinese cultural content. It is the key to discussing these games in the market.

This feature is also established on the Chinese horror game.

Most Chinese horror games take the game route of horror+decryption. In terms of gameplay, players only need to click interactive. There are few action fighting operations, and it is difficult to get started. Therefore, the scene rendering and storytelling ability in the game has become attracting players key. In this regard, Chinese horror games bring "Chinese elements" to the extreme.

One is the elements of terrorist, paper people, coffin, spells and other symbols, coupled with the background of folk monsters, feudal etiquette, and scenes in the lives of mountain villages and old houses, support the atmosphere manufacturing in most Chinese horror games. Especially these Chinese elements will also be integrated into the process of game decryption, such as the "Paper Wedding Dress" series, which can determine the correct placement of the yin and yang attributes of the object, so that Chinese players can experience " I heard that the culture that has never been seen "is one of the reasons why such Chinese horror games have been praised by the market.

Second, most of the stories of Chinese horror games occur in modern times, and there are stories backgrounds that are more susceptible to the same body of Chinese people, such as the laid -off and population trafficking background in "Fireworks", the background of the population trafficking in "Three Volume" "Qigong fever", relying on the "Hong Kong Strange Records" of the legendary city of Hong Kong, the feudal superstition and abandoned baby girls in "Paper Wedding Dress", the story background of these structures in social reality not only increases the horror of such games , Make players more immersed, and at the same time give these games the value of thinking more than just playing.

Like the comments on Douban on Douban, almost all focused on the story. Some people feel that the characters in the game have not been dug in the game. The favorite sentence.

Chinese horror games can get attention in the market. First of all, strong Chinese elements are used as the starting point. The threshold for the game is reduced as much as possible, so that people who are interested can enter the game. After entering the game The user's feelings have attracted more attention and discussion of players. In other words, the highlight of Chinese horror games in the story is in the story. Players are not forgetting and wishing the next work because of the story, but maybe, this has become a double -edged sword for the current development of Chinese horror games.

From the story to the gameplay, the phenomenon of homogeneity has been apparent

It is a challenging thing to tell the story. Since good stories can attract people, then the story will make Chinese horror games lose its value and lose the market. This is why we mentioned the double -edged sword.

In particular, the horror story is really difficult to tell. Look at the horror movies in the market in recent years, not only the horror clip is too low, but the logic of the story is not smooth. The reputation of domestic horror movies has plummeted.

Although the current Chinese horror story has not yet fallen to domestic horror movies, high reputation works such as "Paper Wedding Dress" still have user dissatisfaction after the series reaches the fourth part.

The score of "Paper Wedding Dress 4" on TAPTAP reached 9.2, which looks like a high score, but compared with the 2 and 3 works, "disappointment" is an evaluation given by many old fans. As for the reason, TAPTAP users Chunye mentioned in the evaluation, "Whether it is from the person, or the plot, there is a feeling of being very busy and busy with the end", that is, the story and character telling of this work have declined.

Of course, the quality of the story is only one of the issues to be solved in the development of Chinese terrorist games. In addition, it is innovation, and Chinese terrorist games have to be strengthened.

The first is that the game type is single, which is mainly decrypted. Through interaction, dialogue, etc., the clue decryption is obtained to promote the level, and then some small games are interspersed to provide a sense of interaction. After more and more similar games are launched, it will naturally be due to the launch of the same type The problem of homogeneity makes the market lose fresh. Secondly, the classic horror story bridge section is also repeatedly used. Campus legend, ancient house adventure, hospital shock and other terrorist story bridges are very common, and the innovation of game innovation on the terrorist bridge will make players lose thrilling. Some players mentioned in "Paper Wedding Dress 4" that many thriller solutions have been scary without triggering.

On the one hand, if you want to go well in Chinese horror games, on the one hand, you insist on ensuring quality in the story, and on the other hand, you must be innovative. In our game industry, follow -up is often greater than innovation. After two consecutive years, Chinese horror games break into the public's vision, we can only look forward to developers of various Chinese horror games. , Pursuit of innovation.

Chinese horror games can be a good business

In terms of rationality, the road of Chinese horror games is not easy to go. On the one hand, the quality must be done well, and on the other hand, its return is not so considerable. Why does the quality of the story decline in "Paper Wedding Dress 4"? It may still be related to its business model.

As a small factory's heart and interoperability, the "Paper Wedding Dress" series is currently the company's head IP. Although the company is developed with this IP as the focus, the advertisement is the only income of the "Paper Wedding Dress" series. For short works of 2-5 hours, if you want to ensure the healthy operation of the company, it seems that only new works are resolved. Then the time of time is heavy, the quality of the story is difficult to guarantee.

In addition, even if the quality is good, it does not mean that Chinese horror games are so profitable. At present, Chinese horror games are either sold in the form of single purchases, or they are available for free to get commercial returns with ads in the game. Both models actually rely on the number of player groups. Although Chinese horror games are very promising, it is normal for not calling. After all, "Clustering" is very common in Chinese horror games.

There is a threshold for horror games. If you dare not play but are interested, you will often choose to watch live broadcasts online, watch the video "Yunzhong", and the decryption game like Chinese horror games. After playing again, there is almost no need to play in person, which means that the user of the "Cluster Customs" will not be consumed for the game.

And many Chinese horror games are considering the consideration of the market, and they will actively find the UP owner or the game large marketing cooperation. For example, "Paper Wedding Dress 4" found a lot of head games on station B to make games video to make games videos This also increases the number of cloud players, which indirectly affects game income. From this point of view, the commercial development of Chinese horror games is really difficult.

On the whole, although the current Chinese horror game is prosperous, there are many problems behind it to be resolved. The innovation in content will affect the size of the market, and the model innovation will affect the future of its development. However, to read the entertainment Jun, there is still a chance for Chinese horror games.

The major shareholders of the Heart Entertainment are Tianxiang Interactive Digital Entertainment. The Tianxiang interaction is held by 99%of the Shanghai Zhongyuan Network, and this Shanghai Zhongyuan is an iQiyi related company. This background seems to reveal why the heart of the heart is intertwined entertainment preferences The type of Chinese horror game is deeply deepened, after all, the stories are likely to do secondary development.

Therefore, if the Chinese horror game is considered a business, it is difficult to do, but it is really valuable.

*Original articles, reprinting needs to indicate the source

- END -