The 170,000 qualifications for the deleted file test were snatched up in a few seconds. It was opened for pre-download before going online, and it topped the iOS free list. "Time Hunter 3" developed by Yinhan Technology and exclusively distributed by Bilibili Games is online. Thi

’s 170,000 qualifications for the file deletion test were snatched up in a few seconds. It was open for pre-download before going online, and it topped the iOS free list.

"Time Hunter 3", developed by Yinhan Technology and exclusively distributed by Bilibili Games, is online. This sequel to a well-established IP with ten years of accumulation adds a bright color to the game industry in the first half of 2022, and also opens its own era of side-scrolling mobile fighting games. Even if we look back at the end of the year, this product should be a focus that cannot be ignored this year.

In fact, before the launch of "Time Hunter 3", many people were worried about whether it would "overturn", because the more classic an IP is, the more difficult it is to adapt it to match the new game environment. How does "Time Hunter 3" retain its own characteristics while embracing young users? What changes has it made to adapt to the times? We can interpret it from two aspects: content and distribution.

The picture performance is younger and the content and gameplay are fragmented

Previously, Game Daily had an in-depth experience with the early test version of "Time Hunter 3" (you can click here to jump to view) . At that time, the game gave people the greatest excitement The feeling is "emotion + innovation". On the basis of continuing the Space-Time Hunter IP, many innovative measures have been made, including more cool skill effects and fighting scenes, as well as character drawing and modeling settings that are more in line with young users, etc. .

Now "Time Hunter 3" is officially in public beta. After several tests and optimizations in the middle, the game has also undergone more changes. The most intuitive thing is the vertical drawing of the characters. Compared with before, the lines of the vertical drawings are much softer, and the facial expressions of the characters have also become richer. Take the recently exposed new character "Shou Wang" as an example. With her pink hair and rimless glasses, combined with her slightly raised mouth, she shows a "tsundere girl" temperament.

"Time Hunter 3" has also improved a lot in the details of the character paintings. For example, the details of the characters are exquisitely drawn, and the costumes and props are all available. The characters' movements of stretching and holding glasses during dynamic display are obvious compared with before. changes.

The new character "Watch"

In terms of the overall picture quality of the game, "Time Hunter 3" adopts the "anime + science fiction" which is a very popular picture style at the moment. Therefore, in the demonstration of game scenes and cutscenes, it can I can clearly feel the popular elements contained in this game, and overall it is more in line with the mainstream aesthetics of the current era.

In addition, in terms of content beyond the visual level, in order to adapt to the trend of the fragmented era, "Time Hunter 3" also takes various measures as much as possible to reduce the intensity of the game while ensuring the richness of the game content.

On the surface, "Time Hunter 3" has various PVE gameplay such as endless tower and abyss challenge, as well as PVP gameplay such as ladder match and hegemony match, plus the equipment, weapons, chips, and star energy that exist in the game itself. The six development systems of , talent and star core seem to take a lot of time to develop and develop characters every day. But after actual experience, you will find that this is not the case, because there are many load reduction settings in the game, and the "liver" problem can be easily solved.

For example, in the PVE gameplay, the supply gameplay that produces various resources can be swept away with one click after clearing the level once. There are also gameplays such as the abyss challenge that drops equipment and the core hunting operation that produces chips. You can match teammates with one click. Easily complete the collection of materials needed to develop a character, which conforms to the playing habits of players in the fragmented era.

It is worth mentioning that while catering to the younger market, "Time Hunter 3" also retains many classic settings. The guild battle system, free open transactions, etc. that are still fresh in the memory of old players will be in the game. Presented one by one, for example, the "battleship defense" and "nest siege" gameplays in the guild system require you to work with guild members to complete challenges. Does this remind you of the years when you fought side by side with your friends 10 years ago?

Generally speaking, in terms of game content, "Time Hunter 3" still continues the "emotion + innovation" framework setting. While embracing young users, it also takes care of the feelings of old fans of the Time Hunter IP.

dominates most of the live broadcast circles. Are all the top anchors "old fans"?

In addition to the content, the marketing strategy of "Time Hunter 3" can also see the trend of the game embracing young users.

At the publicity level, "Time Hunter 3" has chosen the current mainstream full-platform live broadcast, including Bilibili, Douyu , Huya , Douyin and Kuaishou and other major live broadcast platforms, all of which have been launched simultaneously. Public beta live broadcast activities, live broadcast recruitment, top game anchor PK activity competitions, etc.

Taking station B, which is a gathering place with many young users, as an example, "Time Hunter 3" on this platform not only invited Deyunse "Xiaoxiao" and "Xika", a pair of veteran game anchors, to hold a bounty competition, PK invitations are issued to all players. At the same time, " a certain fantasy king ", " Xiaoyaosanren " and "Katya", the top UP hosts of the younger generation, are also among the invitations. Judging from the lineup of invited anchors, it covers Live streaming users of all ages.

In addition to inviting anchors to participate in activities, "Time Hunter 3" also simultaneously launched a creative incentive competition and a track challenge competition at Station B. The latter is to invite more young users to join the second creation of "Time Hunter 3", such as participating in cover singing competitions, homophonic stem creation competitions, etc., using activities as a guide to attract more pan-two-dimensional users to pay attention to the game .

In addition to Bilibili, "Time Hunter 3" is also available on live broadcast platforms such as Douyu and Huya. It has also launched various marketing and promotion strategies in line with the platform's positioning. For example, Douyu has made " Zhou Shuyi " and " Da Two leading game anchors of "Sima " conducted a blind box punishment PK, and Huya invited e-sports commentator "Rita" and game anchor "Xiaoyu" to conduct a live broadcast of Lianmai teaching, etc. This multi-platform, all-field marketing approach is also currently a fairly mainstream way of promoting products.

Of course, the advantages of this marketing strategy are also very obvious. In addition to gathering core users through some veteran game anchors who have played the IP works of Time and Space Hunter, more importantly, it uses major core user groups such as Bilibili and Douyin. A relatively young platform can effectively broaden the boundaries of game products and reach more users in a wide range of fields.

Classic IP is a double-edged sword, how to use it is very important

Looking at the entire game industry, it has become a common problem in the industry that classic IP sequels are prone to overturning, and similar incidents often occur in foreign game markets. The reasons for this kind of situation are also very simple. One is that players’ expectations are too high. Maybe they played the previous IP more than 10 years ago. In that era, the tolerance for product quality was much higher than now, so this is buried in The deepest memories are also subtly affecting us more than 10 years later.

The second reason is the misjudgment of the market by manufacturers. When some manufacturers release sequels based on classic IP, they are unable to accurately target the core users of the product due to various reasons, thus going against the market development trend. Furthermore, when making products, the "nostalgic" elements are usually expanded, thus losing the favor of the current mainstream user groups. Putting the cart before the horse eventually leads to IP sequels opening high but falling short.

Finally, it is "conservative" at the content level. It is true that sequels to classic IPs will inevitably have some emotional content in the game, but emotions do not mean being conservative. Maybe the game content that was popular among players more than 10 years ago, It has been eliminated by the market now. Forcing nostalgia on such a basis will only be counterproductive in the end.

"Time Hunter 3" has obviously found a path that suits itself in this regard. As its planners said in previous interviews with the media, they continued the classic gameplay of the previous game while also creating some new content. In terms of vision, feel and specific operation and gameplay, they are all very different from the previous game. Overall, although "Time Hunter 3" still belongs to the horizontal version of the action genre, the overall action design is very different.

The content level maintains the "emotion + innovation" research and development strategy, and at the operational level, the person in charge of the operation of "Time Hunter 3" also told Game Daily that the subsequent operations of the game will always put user experience first, while also combining The world view of the game (homes are destroyed, relatives leave, but hunters are actively facing difficulties, full of hope and enthusiasm), conveys more positive energy to users, so when launching new hunters, both image design and background setting will continue this positive worldview.

Finally, the person in charge of the operation of "Time Hunter 3" also revealed that they will plan to provide more social gameplay from the operational level, including guild battles, high-end team gameplay, etc., which are already under planning. They We also hope that in this way, users can find a comfortable and suitable position in the game and feel the warmth of the game.

Overall, after many previous tests and surveys, "Time Hunter 3" has already prepared a set of content operations and methods that can not only satisfy core IP users, but also adapt to the younger market. As for this set How far the gameplay can support the game and whether there will be more changes in the future needs to be verified by the market.