Recently, a WeChat game called "Sheep has a Sheep" has become popular throughout the network. The server collapsed three times in two days due to too much fire, and the authorities began to rush for back-end server development.
Game screen of the first level of "sheep has a sheep"
"In fact, the game is very simple, that is, you can click to eliminate three of the same patterns. If you can't get three of the same patterns together, they will be placed in the seven fields to be selected at the bottom first. If the seven slots are full, the game will fail." Wang, who started playing at 11:30 p.m. and still refused to put down his phone at 1:30 p.m., said.
Why don't you learn about the "sheep have sheep" of Xinnet Technology ”！
The reason why this little game is so popular is not how novel it is, but how difficult it is to pass the customs.
The first level of the game is actually a play tutorial, but when the player comes to the second level, the difficulty rises straightly. According to the official introduction, "Sheep has a sheep" is a super difficult clearance elimination game, with a clearance rate of less than 0.1%.
Many game enthusiasts said frankly: "After playing the game for so many years, I haven't met the situation that I can't pass the second level of the game." Some people teased and said: "The first level feels that it is insulting my IQ, and the second level feels that it is still insulting my IQ."
How does "sheep have sheep" make players addicted?
The popularity of WeChat games is not an exception. The "Jump" of WeChat apps launched in 2017 was also popular. QuestMobile data shows that as of March 2018, "Jump" has accumulated 390 million players, creating a "precedent" for WeChat mini games.
At the same time, the game of "sheep have a sheep" has taken shape for a long time. No matter the earliest arcade Chinese dragon, or the later emergence of mahjong pairing and other elimination games, they all have similar game cores.
Tang Yu, the mobile game entrepreneur and the head of Kaitian Chuangshi Group and Kaitian Boutique Studio, analyzed and said in an interview with Guoshi Express that although there are similarities between "sheep and sheep" and other elimination games, it is more because of the psychological characteristics of players who are becoming more and more brave, and the extremely powerful social attributes that help open up the blue ocean market and bring about "viral" communication.
From the perspective of Xinnet Technology, there are three reasons for the popularity of "sheep have sheep":
——Accumulate the frustration of players, make them more frustrated and more brave, and improve their sense of achievement in customs clearance. Before that, there was no small game in China that could really make users feel so frustrated, thus amplifying the sense of excitement step by step. "A sheep has a sheep" is the first one.
Compared with the game products of Nintendo, Ubisoft and other big companies, we have to admit that the game experience of "sheep has a sheep" is not as good as the former. But why is it so popular?
Tang Yu believes that "sheep have a sheep" draws on the user psychology of well-known games such as "wolf" and "black soul", increases the difficulty of "Boss", accumulates the frustration of players, and makes players more frustrated and more brave. At the same time, users are encouraged to try and make mistakes in the game, leaving plenty of suspense, and always giving users a psychological hint that they can successfully pass the customs.
——Powerful offline social competition mechanism. When users play games, most players have the competitive mentality of "standing out" and "being the boss". "A sheep has a sheep" has successfully captured this part of users' mentality and divided user groups by provinces.
In the game start interface, the front page of "the strongest king" is displayed. As of the morning of the 17th, the "Shandong Sheep Team" had occupied the first place among sheep. Since the front page of the "strongest king" was divided by provinces, some players in the same province had set up some WeChat groups to play games. Not only has it stimulated the social competition among users in different provinces, but also users who pass the game will feel the "virtual honor" from the social field.
——The level is highly reflective. Tang Yu believes that the rhythm control of sharing and watching videos is particularly good. Disrupt the bricks, clarify the fields to be selected, and cancel the bricks. Each game can only share or watch the video once. After the "slot is full" of the fields to be selected, there is also a function of reviving through sharing or watching the video once.
Most players who are stuck in the second level will think when playing the game: "If I go wrong, should I consider using props, sharing or watching videos to make up for the mistakes in the game?" In the process of continuous trial and error, it will naturally improve the stickiness of users to the game.
How long can the popularity of "sheep have sheep" last?
"A sheep has a sheep" also attracted curses behind the fiery. Some game commentators believe that this game is "plagiarism" and "just luck". What's more, it is said that "sheep have a sheep" has destroyed the Chinese game.
The relevant person in charge of the company that developed the game of "sheep have sheep" denied the idea of plagiarism. The person in charge said that the most basic game playing method was used in the game of "sheep meet sheep". If the playing method of "three in a row" was plagiarized, there would be too many such games.
A screenshot circulated on the Internet shows that the income of the small program "Sheep has a Sheep" reached more than 4.68 million yuan on September 14, while this month's income reached more than 25.65 million yuan. Later, Ma Huateng commented in the relevant circle of friends: it was verified that it was forged for PS.
How long can the "sheep have a sheep" that has experienced "server crash", "plagiarism", "alarm Ma Huateng" and other news last?
Some commentators of Zhihu believe that "sheep have a sheep" is a successful game at present, the essential reason is luck+routine blessing, but it cannot guarantee that the combination of hot search+difficult games+rankings based on geographical location will continue to be successful.
From the perspective of the user end, it is difficult to continue the mode of promoting click advertising by increasing the difficulty. After a while, it is difficult to continue to spend time on small games. The advantage of small games is that they are simple. Even if they add more peripheral content, it is still unknown whether they can keep users.
Zhihu commentator "Krypton teacher" also said that in recent years, some games on STEAM platform are designed to "bring pain to players", such as "Jump King" or "dig for promotion", but these game levels can still be passed. "A sheep has a sheep" has really made a level that is almost impossible to pass in mechanism. In a sense, this is a violation of some basic principles of game design.
"Next, there may be many imitators. It is also possible that more people will follow this idea and change to another game prototype." "Krypton teacher" said frankly.
Xinnet Technology also believes that "the 'sheep have a sheep' 'viral spread among social media has successfully brought most people into the pit. But the game itself is too lack of core competitiveness, and it is unrealistic to continue to be popular just by improving the difficulty of the game. Today, 'sheep have a sheep' is popular in the whole network. Tomorrow, other game companies can follow suit and launch 'pigs have a pig' and 'cattle have a cow' at any time. How to retain users then? "
