What does "Buddha Frog" rely on to crush the King of Glory when it comes online?

This seemingly simple game subtly touches the emotions of young people. Is it a buzz among friends?

On January 22, "Travel Frog" ("Travel Frog") surpassed "Honor of Kings", Douyin, and WeChat, and became the free list of App Store China without a Chinese version. First; as of January 25, the Weibo topic reading number of # traveling frog has exceeded 800 million - and this game does not have a distribution agent in China.

Why is this game, which has only two interfaces and can even be called rudimentary, so popular in China?

Baidu search index of "Traveling Frog"

1. Place gameplay and make use of players' fragmented time

Most games hope to occupy as much of the user's time as possible and money, while The Traveling Frog chose a completely opposite route.

In "Travel Frog", each player owns a frog; players hardly need to spend any time or money except harvesting clovers, preparing lunches for the frogs, and entertaining the small animals that occasionally come to their door. The frog will read, write, and travel in the house, but these are not controlled by the player - the player never knows what it will do next, nor what gifts it will bring back.

This can be regarded as a typical "placement game": players can completely place it, and the game system will automatically run according to the calculation rules and get the game results. Therefore, this type of game is naturally not affected by language barriers and can attract a large number of users in a short period of time.

Since downloading "Travel Frog", 23-year-old Xiaotian has turned on his mobile phone to watch "Frog Son" whenever he has free time. She said that she is not really a game enthusiast. She has completely avoided the previously popular "Love and the Producer", "Onmyoji" and "Glory of Kings", but "Traveling Frog" is the one she has devoted her life to in recent years. The game with the most energy: ""Love and Producer" is too far away from reality, and "Honor of Kings" requires at least ten minutes of fighting to get rewards. And "Traveling Frog" is hardly more complex than Alipay's Ant. Forest."

Chen Guanglong, founder of the "Traveling Frog" game interface game forum, said: "This kind of placement gameplay can effectively use fragmented time, which is considered a breath of fresh air in the domestic market that tends to focus on heavy games. . This is the main reason why "Traveling Frog" is so popular in China."

2. Play without spending money, a breath of fresh air

The only way to commercialize the game is to gain privileges through in-app purchases. and development IP. The single gold point is one of the reasons why "Traveling Frog" has almost zero negative reviews on TapTap. Compared with most domestic games, the commercialization of "Traveling Frog" appears to be very restrained: clover, the currency in the game, can be obtained by harvesting or purchasing it, but the purchase of clover does not exceed RMB 25, and the frog does not have any equipment. You can travel even if you don’t have food. Whether you have krypton gold or not does not have much impact on the progress of the game.

The second profit point of "Traveling Frog" is that players can obtain lottery tickets by watching built-in advertisements, but it is the player's choice whether to watch them.

“Traveling Frog has a single gold point, and the logic is similar to the only payment point in FGO. In the current environment where game gold points tend to be complex and diverse, it is very important to players (especially the increase in the game industry). user) friendly," said Chen Guanglong.

3. The painting style is healing

“Cute” and “healing” are the labels most frequently given to “Traveling Frog” by players.

The color tone of the game is mainly green, and the image of the cartoon frog is not aggressive; the behavior is highly anthropomorphic, even if you are sleepy, you still have to read a book, and you have to wear a green straw hat when going out; and It makes friends with small butterflies, snails, crabs, etc., and will send players postcards and souvenirs during their travels. The design of the game's utensils is also full of childishness, and the transparent bowl is actually used for "rowing". This relaxing and healing style of painting has attracted many female players, and it is also in line with the psychological needs of busy and impetuous urbanites who long to return to tranquility.

4. Play hard to get

Poke your loneliness

Chen Guanglong believes that "Travel Frog" is mainly young users who have more fragmented time. According to According to the "Portrait of Empty Nest Youth" report released by NetEase in May 2017, the post-90s generation is the main force of empty nest youth. The lonely and Buddhist emotions of young players are cleverly poked at by this game.

Netizen @梦小黑 wrote in a review of the "Traveling Frog" game: "I suddenly felt that my world was so small, so small that in this city with all the connections and all the internal organs, I was left with All I have is simple apartments, industrial-style office buildings, and long ramps connecting them." This loneliness was cured in "Traveling Frog": in the photos sent back, the frog always wears a straw hat. Having a calm face; leaving whenever you want, going wherever you want; making many friends; having a quiet courtyard and a cozy cabin - isn't this the life that most empty-nest youths dream of?

The restrained interaction design of "Traveling Frog" has become the most important element in activating the inner sustenance of lonely urbanites - in the game, the only thing players can do for the frog is to name it and prepare luggage. . Where the frog goes and what gifts he brings back are not under the player's control, which arouses the players' inner expectations and sustenance. This kind of interaction allows "Buddhist" players to experience virtual intimacy without being harmed by real people. Many players even call themselves "worried mothers" and think more about family ties.

Zhihu netizen @一二狗 commented: "When I went on a trip, I still thought about you and sent you photos and gifts. I was a little touched. It feels good to be valued. I hope we can all cherish it. Everyone around me thinks of us when there is something good."

"Traveling Frog" is like a mirror in which players see themselves. Rather than raising frogs, it is better to say that they see their ideal living conditions through frogs.

5. Weak social attributes

The uncertain game settings give "Travel Frog" a weak social function. The photos and specialties that "Frog Son" sends back from each trip are uncertain. After players obtain unexpected results, they often share them on social networks to further spread the game. "This kind of gameplay that is not controlled by you can arouse curiosity. Every once in a while, you want to see what it is doing. When I receive a rare postcard, I can't help but share it with my friends," Xiaotian said.

Imagine if you could control "Frog Son" to send back a certain postcard on a regular basis, would the entire game become boring?

6. Brands take advantage of opportunities

Mutual achievements

The use of opportunity marketing by subcultures and various marketing brands has boosted the popularity of "Traveling Frog". On January 23, the player of "Love and Producer" posted the "Frog Searching Enlightenment" on the LED of Hangzhou Tower as "Mrs. Li Zeyan": The baby frog stayed away all night, and your father Zeyan and I are waiting for you to come home. Afterwards, Durex, Midea, Zhihu, Renrenche, etc. took advantage of the opportunity to launch print advertisements.

It can be said that the popularity of "Traveling Frog" is not only due to the trend of lightening domestic games, but also the social satisfaction of players, the projection of loneliness in real life, and the self-comfort of being accompanied by electronic pets.

Game developer Uemura revealed in a recent interview with the media that he is planning to update the frog’s travel destinations, specialties (brought back gifts), photos, etc. in the game; in order to allow players outside Japan to enjoy it, They plan to localize the game, focusing on Chinese players.