Chapter 226: Drawing Cards
In the early days of online games, there was no such thing as making quick money.
Because online games at that time were chargeable, and most of them were charged by card. The characteristics of paid games are destined not to make quick money.
The income from card-based games mainly depends on the number of players and online time. The more players, the more online time, and the more game income will be.
So the concept of making games at that time was, firstly, to attract as many players into the game as possible, and secondly, to keep players logged into the game as long as possible, in order to make money.
For example, in the early version of "Legend", the upgrade speed was very slow. Above level 30, I don't know how many all-nighters I had to stay up to get to the next level.
This is because "Legend" charges point cards, and Shanda hopes to prolong players' gaming time, so it has modified the experience required for upgrades, allowing players to spend a lot of time going to scenes to gain experience.
The Korean original version of "Legend" can be upgraded much faster than the national server, because Korean online games at that time mainly charged monthly cards, and the Korean version of "Legend" hoped that players could use PK as the basis. The main gameplay is not to go to the scene to gain experience.
But the PK gameplay of "Legend" is too simple, there is no tactical system, and the operability is not high, so this game has not become popular in South Korea.
Games of the same era as "Legend" almost all have this system. In the middle and late stages, upgrades are very slow and require a lot of time to clear monsters in order to keep players online.
But it is also very boring to grind monsters when you go online. There are too many games of the same type, and players find it boring. At this time, game developers will work hard from the perspective of gameplay, setting up some new gameplay to increase players' online time.
The earliest one was "Westward Journey", which included ghost hunting missions, heavenly missions, etc. In addition to boring monsters in the wild, players had other game options.
Then "Fantasy Westward Journey" continued its efforts to develop a division system, which gave relatively high rewards. Players who completed division tasks every day naturally had to go online every day. There are also weekend activities, which allow players to spend all Sunday afternoon soaking in the game.
An example is the dungeon system of "World of Warcraft". Various equipment can be obtained in the dungeon. In order to get good equipment, players must spend time to download the dungeon.
Moreover, the dungeon requires the cooperation of multiple professions to complete. It is equivalent to one dungeon, allowing multiple players to consume a large number of point cards at the same time.
In this kind of point card charging game, players can only stay offline for 24 hours at most. The game company can only make money from this 24-hour point card payment. This is definitely making quick money.
As for those so-called "free games", although there is no charge for the game, all the props and equipment in the game are chargeable. Coupled with some probabilistic gameplay, it can be said that there is no upper limit for recharge.
If you are lucky, you will meet a rich boss from the top, and you can recharge hundreds of thousands or hundreds of thousands. This is quick money!
Before the emergence of "Journey" in 2006, game developers did not have this kind of thinking of making quick money. Everyone was thinking about how to make the game well and how to design interesting gameplay to attract more players. Stay online for a long time, rather than finding ways to make players earn money.
A steady flow of water was the thinking of online game development at that time. If you spend millions to develop a game client, you can earn hundreds of thousands of point card money every month, and it takes two years to recover the cost, it is considered a successful game.
So when Yao Xiaoguang heard about "games to make quick money", he was immediately confused.
When Zhang Wei asked about web games, Yao Xiaoguang became even more confused.
"I've played web games before. What does it have to do with making quick money?" Yao Xiaoguang asked.
“The web games you play are the ones with lines of text, right?” Zhang Wei chuckled, and then said: “This is not the web game I’m talking about. You’ll know when I get back! ”
In fact, as early as the early days of the development of the Internet, there were web games, but the web games at that time were presented in the form of text.
A simple game interface, a bunch of text, and a few pictures constitute a game. The way to play is to constantly refresh the page.
But in the era when the Internet just emerged, this kind of game attracted a large number of novice Internet users and became their only pastime when surfing the Internet.
Japan is a leader in the field of web games. From the mid-1990s to the early 21st century, that is, the era of the Internet, many Internet companies specializing in the development of web games were born in Japan, and even many classic games were PS games have been moved to the web.
Clicking on the wrong technology tree is also what Japan is best at. When Japan was vigorously developing web games, other countries were making client-side games.
With the emergence of various client-side online games and directly suppressed web games, Japanese online game companies suddenly went cold. Coupled with the bursting of the first Internet bubble, Japan had no way to transform to client-side games, but it could only be turtled. Keep your console games at home.
Many people have this question. Japan is a big game country and the network conditions are very good, but why do Japanese people play console games and not computer games?
One of the important reasons was that I clicked the wrong technology tree back then.
Look at Japan now. Mobile games are also booming. The streets of Akihabara are full of advertisements for "Genshin Impact". Japanese companies have also developed many interesting mobile games, and their sales in Japan are also increasing. very nice.
This shows that as long as the technology tree is clicked correctly, Japanese players are also normal people.
After the Internet bubble burst, client-side games dominated the market. Before 2006, there was no market for web games at all.
After 2006, some simple flash games gradually emerged, but these flash games were not profitable.
Web games during this period were also developing in the direction of leisure and entertainment. Many small game websites, such as 4399, also emerged in this era.
After 2009, krypton gold web games gradually emerged. At first, they were simulation business games, then strategy games, then role-playing games, and then directly " "Legend" was moved to the web page, so there was "Brothers and Brothers Are Coming to Nibble on Me".
......
In the afternoon of the same day, Zhang Wei flew back to the capital. After getting off the plane, Zhang Wei did not bother to rest and dragged his luggage to Yao Xiaoguang's residence.
Seeing Zhang Wei's dusty appearance, Yao Xiaoguang felt warm in his heart. He asked Zhang Wei to sit down, poured him a glass of water, and said, "You are in this posture, and you still have luggage. You have just got off the plane, right?" br>
"After leaving the airport, I took a taxi to come to your place. You finally agreed to register a company, and I was afraid that you would regret it!" Zhang Wei said and drank the water in the glass.
"At this time, it is too late to go to the Industrial and Commercial Bureau. If you want to register a company, you have to wait until tomorrow!" Yao Xiaoguang looked at the sky outside, and then asked: "Have you had lunch? If not, Shall I make you a bowl of noodles?”
“I ate on the plane. Although I’m not full, I’m not hungry either.”
“Let’s go out to eat later! How about eating shabu-shabu? You can’t get that in Japan.”
"You can eat anything. As long as it's Chinese food, it's better than Japanese food." Zhang Wei said, taking out a plan from his schoolbag and handing it to Yao Xiaoguang.
"Let's take a look. This is what I call a web game for making quick money. I made a plan."
Yao Xiaoguang took the plan and took a look at the cover first. There are several big characters written on it: "The Biography of the Generals of the Three Kingdoms".
"I have played the Legend of the Three Kingdoms before. What is the Legend of the Three Kingdoms? Is the gameplay the same as the Legend of the Three Kingdoms?"
"Of course it is different. This is an online game. , It’s different from a stand-alone game. It’s a strategy game,” Zhang Wei replied with a smile.
Yao Xiaoguang opened the plan and read it carefully. The general outline of the game is that the player plays a lord in the Three Kingdoms and can recruit generals from the Three Kingdoms to conquer cities and territories. There is nothing unusual about this setting.
"The core gameplay of your game is for both sides to send generals to PK, right? Isn't this a bit too monotonous?" Yao Xiaoguang asked. "Why is it too complicated to make a quick money game? Just do it!" Zhang Wei replied.
“Can this dry gameplay attract players? Nowadays, the gameplay of online games is becoming more and more abundant. The gameplay is too monotonous and no one plays it at all.”< br>
“The game is free, so it will definitely attract players! I think most people still don’t want to spend money when playing games.”
"Free?" Yao Xiaoguang's eyes widened with an incredulous expression, and then asked: "Didn't you say you want to make money with this game?"
"Free games can make big money!" Zhang Wei He smiled slightly and continued: "You will understand if you read on."
In the early 21st century, playing online games was quite expensive.
For example, "Legend" starts charging after you upgrade to level 7. In 2001, a point card cost 35 yuan and could be played for 120 hours. The salary at that time was only 35 yuan. One yuan is enough for a week's worth of food, and you can also eat meat.
Another example is "Westward Journey" and "Fantasy Westward Journey". At that time, a point card cost 15 yuan, which contained 150 points. 4 points were deducted for an hour in the game, which means that it would cost 4 points to play for an hour. dime.
This does not include the cost of Internet access. At that time, most people went to Internet cafes to play games. Ordinary Internet cafes cost one yuan an hour, and some well-equipped Internet cafes cost one, five to two yuan.
That is to say, playing "Fantasy Westward Journey" for an hour will cost you at least one yuan and forty cents. Even if I go online every day without PK, I can't finish the daily tasks in two or three hours.
If there is an event on the weekend, why do we have to be online for five hours? If we fight again in the evening, it will take another three hours, which adds up to eight hours, and 11 yuan will be gone!
In 2005, if you were not in a big city, 11 yuan was enough for one day's living expenses. For many student parties, they have to go without eating or drinking for a whole day before they can play games happily on Sunday.
If the game is free, the money you save by playing the game for a day will be enough for a bowl of beef noodles.
So at that time, the fact that it was free alone was enough to attract players.
Yao Xiaoguang also knows that free can attract players, but Zhang Wei said that free can make a lot of money, but Yao Xiaoguang still can't understand it.
He did not express an opinion, but continued to read the plan. When he saw the word "draw a card", his expression suddenly froze.
"Drawing cards? What does this mean?" Yao Xiaoguang asked.
"It is written later that the generals in the Three Kingdoms are all graded. The lowest is the white card, then the green card, blue card, red card and gold card. The white card generals are the weakest. General Jinka is the most powerful.”
Yao Xiaoguang nodded suddenly: "According to this, Lu Bu must have a gold card!"
"That's wrong, the ordinary Lu Bu only has a red card, and the unparalleled Lu Bu has a gold card!" Zhang Wei said with a smile.
"Unparalleled Lu Bu? What is this?"
"He is more powerful than ordinary Lu Bu. In addition, there are unparalleled Zhao Yun, unparalleled Guan Yu, and unparalleled Zhang Fei! In short, All the first-rate military generals in the Three Kingdoms get the Unparalleled Gold Card. "
"In other words, if you want to get powerful generals, you have to get them through this card draw? It feels like you just used to play Little Raccoon. Face!" Yao Xiaoguang understood immediately.
"Yes, and set the probability. The probability of gold card is definitely the lowest, and the probability of white card is the highest."
"In this case, wouldn't there be too many white cards?"
" So add a synthesis system, ten white cards are randomly synthesized into one green card, ten green cards are randomly synthesized into one blue card, and so on."
"That is, ten thousand white cards can be synthesized. A gold card? "
"Of course it can't be that simple. The higher the level, the higher the chance of failure. If it fails, you will lose a card. "
"Well, it sounds like an online game." Yao Xiaoguang paused, then asked: "Then where do these cards for drawing cards come from? Are they doing tasks?"
"Set Set a few tasks, and you will be given cards after completing them every day, but the number must be limited. In addition, you can directly draw cards by recharging, and the minimum guarantee is a green card. You can also get a VIP card, and the minimum guarantee is a blue card.”
"Wait a minute, I don't quite understand. What you mean is that the game is free, but there is a fee for drawing cards, so our profit point is drawing cards?"
"Yes, this is called a free game, but a fee for items! "Zhang Wei replied with a smile.
"Is this possible? Although the game is free to play, it can indeed attract many players. But what if the players are not willing to spend money to buy props?" Yao Xiaoguang looked noncommittal.
"Of course it's impossible to make every player spend money. Even most players don't want to spend money and just want to have sex for free. But as long as a small number of people spend money, there will always be people who follow suit." Zhang Wei said with a look on his face. Definitely.
Yao Xiaoguang has never experienced the era of free games, and he has no idea how lethal card drawing is!
Those games where you can directly spend money to buy equipment and props in the game mall are actually relatively low-level. This is just the initial stage of paying for free props in the game.
The truly high-end gameplay is to play with odds!
Buy props directly with money. The bosses spend money, but they can only enjoy it for a while, and they will soon lose interest. After all, what money can buy is not exciting at all. After a long time, it will become boring. It's boring.
But the chance of playing is different. You never know what it will be like in the next second. You will be full of expectations when playing, and there is also the opportunity to make big gains with small things. How exciting!
This is the same as playing scratch tickets. If you don’t win a big prize, you always feel that the next one is probably the big one, and you can’t help but want to scratch another one. If you scratch a big prize, you always feel that you can win again. Once, I couldn't help but want to shave ten more times.
It’s too easy to get fooled by playing with odds!
Zhang Wei planned to make quick money through web games, so he naturally had to use this method of chance play.
The cost of developing web games is definitely much lower than developing client games. Simple web games don't even need a game engine.
For more complex web games, if they do not require combat operations, they do not need physical simulation and collision detection. They only need to complete the animation system and audio processing.
In other words, just show pictures during normal times, and show animations during battles. Add in the soundtrack, and you can create a so-called large-scale web game!
This is also the reason why Zhang Wei chose to make a web game. After typing the code and finding a few better artists, even if it is done, it may be easier than developing an APP now.
A web game like this can be developed with a research and development cost of hundreds of thousands or two hundred thousand, plus the cost of renting a server, the game can be launched online within half a million. If it were a client game, it wouldn't be possible without three million.
The first reason for choosing the Three Kingdoms theme is because it is a familiar IP, and the second reason is to draw cards.
For things like drawing cards, of course you have to choose characters that everyone is familiar with. For example, the Little Raccoon crispy noodles back then were paired with One Hundred and Eight Generals from Water Margin. Many primary school students would buy crispy noodles just to get a Water Margin card.
If it were replaced by Yuntai Twenty-Eight Generals, would the noodles still sell so well? How many names of the twenty-eight generals of Yuntai can an ordinary person name? If you can't even pronounce your name, who would buy crispy noodles?
Three Kingdoms is obviously a bigger IP than Water Margin. There are too many familiar stories in it, and the characters in it have also given birth to too many allusions.
There are enough characters, and ordinary people know these characters. It is perfect for drawing cards!
(End of this chapter)