In the past two years, many games for women have appeared in the domestic market. The plots of traditional women-oriented mobile games vary widely, and the core gameplay is almost the same: let female players have a strong sense of immersion, interact with different male protagonists, and promote emotional development. If you want to get players to recognize this core experience, the key is the plot and character design. If the copywriting is too awkward, players will feel that the play is out of the way. If the copywriting is too simple, players will feel that the game is not challenging. Today, when novels and films and TV series with the same theme have improved the players' taste, what should NetEase do to do "Picture Traveler in Time and Space" recently tested to gain recognition from female players?
"Love can be changed thousands of times, but it cannot be far away" - Replace the long serial with unit stories
"Picture Traveler in Time and Space" tells a college student in the art department who encountered an accident after entering school and traveled to another world with a Western fantasy background - Yesai Continent. The boy she met before in school actually appeared in that world, but had a completely different identity and personality, which started an adventure story. Compared with traditional female-oriented mobile games, the plot structure of "Painting Traveler in Time and Space" has one of the biggest features: stand-alone + parallel main line of multiple time and space. The story is started by the player, and the player also chooses the ending they will go to.
To understand this design, one issue may be considered: how the plot of online games/mobile games should be sustainable.
paid games in the mall, whether they are PC online games or mobile games, have one thing in common: they must constantly have new experiences to give players. This is also the most difficult problem to solve when adapting online games on stand-alone games. When the main line of stand-alone players ends, the players pass the level, but there is no new pursuit in online games, so players can only start planting grass.
, especially a female-oriented game with story design as the core. It does not need to be limited to conventional online game elements such as equipment, interaction, and world exploration. However, its online game attributes must allow players to always have the next expected goal. Therefore, the sustainability of the plot is indispensable, allowing players and male protagonists to feel new sweetness in the new content.
There are two difficulties in achieving this design. One is that copywriting always has talent and thoughts. The longer the story, the narrower the changes that can be made under the background setting, and the more difficult it is to surprise players. More effort is required in the plot design.
Another is that female players have different preferences. Some people like long-distance love running, while others prefer to achieve success. The long plot warms up the relationship but seems to have no end. How to satisfy the emotional demands of different players also requires different gameplay designs.
So the method of "Painting Traveler in Time and Space" is to turn a long story into a unit story. First, in terms of world view setting, the player (the heroine) has the ability to travel through parallel universes. When the plot of one unit story is over, it can also open another parallel world, unfold another completely different story, and achieve a complete ending.
These stories are not extra short stories attached to a main world (that is, the modern world in the game), but instead use this main world as a parallel main line opened by the introduction - Yesai Continent. These two worlds together form a complete story. In terms of plot length, players can complete a main line within a few days. Logically, there are reasonable explanations for the emotional changes between the player and the male protagonist, and the ending will not make people feel abrupt.
is the main line of parallelism, so the development team can continue to add more parallel universes to the subsequent content, and the sustainable development of the game has also been guaranteed.
In addition to the initial chapter, each chapter in the following corresponds to a character's personal strategy line
" and his story, the ending is chosen by me" - Replace the big fight with a selectable strategy method
The traditional "big long" main line mode of mobile games has another disadvantage, that is, the player (the heroine) has to interact with different male protagonists on this story line.
In larger female-oriented stand-alone games, players can choose to purposefully win favor with one or several male protagonists. Other male protagonists will gradually become ordinary friends or passers-by if they are not favored by players. However, in mobile games, due to hardware conditions, the number of male protagonists will not be too many, usually around 4-5, and they are all important characters in the main line. This design of one carrot and one pit determines that they do not have the situation of "the player decides whether to change from a passerby to a lover", but becomes "the player must experience emotional development with all male protagonists." Therefore, even in a plot that does not involve the "strategy goal", these male protagonists will use the attitude of the suitor to communicate and move in the process of interacting with the players, making it difficult for players to ignore the characters they don't like.
, while "Picture Traveler in Time and Space" is not the case. Another major feature of this game is that it adopts a personal line design, in which players (the heroine) will not fall into emotional entanglements with several male protagonists at the same time.
Although many players like to play the gameplay of putting all the male protagonists in their pockets, the traveler also considers the player's choice needs, so combined with the design of the parallel main line, different plots are designed for different male protagonists. Players can choose to directly guide the male protagonist and "cultivate" with him in the personal line of the protagonist to achieve the final True End.
goes a step further. This stand-alone plot structure setting gives the plot content of "Picture Traveler in Time and Space" richer levels. When players encounter important plots in the main line, they will have different choices to open different branches, which may smoothly lead to "happy end" or a regretful "BE".
A character line, every step is pitfalls
Although it is inevitable that it is a bit "unsatisfied" when you reach "BE", if you take a closer look, you will find that "Painted Traveler in Time and Space" has indeed been carefully engraved in the plot story. The endings of these branches are actually inevitable due to the character setting and the progress of the story. Therefore, it is more necessary to think more about what to do so that the lovers can finally get married. It is this choice facing the unknown future that attracts people to deeply immerse themselves in it and constantly explore possible futures. This is one of the plot charms of "Painting Traveler in Time and Space".
"Don't want to act only according to the script written by others" - Add more gameplay outside the main line
In addition to the main line design, "Painting Traveler in Time and Space" also adds more daily gameplay.
What best reflects the "self-created fun" is the gameplay of the hand puppet theater. Here, players can use the character's hand puppet to design short dramas by themselves, write lines, choose the shape of the hand puppet, and publish them into interesting storylines. Others can see the hand puppet plot works released by the player. The audience is real players, and the comments and communications they receive also come from the recognition of players. Here, players no longer substitute for performances according to the written script, but gain more room for creation and performance.
Players interpret their stories in the hand puppet theater, with a stronger sense of accomplishment
In addition, the game will also release sugar plots and many details, arranged in the daily gameplay of the modern world outside the main line for players to explore and experience. Players can receive video calls from the male protagonist, and can also cultivate favorability outside the main line, date the male protagonist, give them portraits, unlock more travel clothing, voice and scenes, etc. Reap the heart of love in these more intimate daily interactions.
travel gameplay design details that female players like
Conclusion:
also focuses on emotional advancement. "Picture Traveler in Time and Space" is no longer bound by the scenes and length of the story, but through innovative plot design, it can achieve sustainable development while taking care of the emotional needs of different players from multiple angles. In general, "Picture Traveler in Time and Space" allows players to see more possibilities for women-oriented games, which is why it can get more expectations and attention today when women-oriented mobile games are already blooming everywhere.
