If you don't dare to gamble when you start a business, you won't even be able to get on the table."
Since the first year of 2019, Ziqi has experienced the early outbreak of small and medium-sized manufacturers entering the game, and then the head companies have been harvesting. Frankly speaking, in the author's previous opinion, this track has already locked the end game in stages.
However, after seeing the performance of "Golden Shovel Battle" in early 2024 and recently experiencing a category segment product on Steam, "Alpha Alliance", the author has more expectations for the auto chess track. Compared with traditional auto-chess, "Alpha League" is a new type of auto-chess with differentiated gameplay experience. There are no chaotic group battles in this work, only 1v1 hero duels; You don't need a series of learning inputs such as equipment, bonds, and factions, you just need to build a skill school that suits you.
To put it simply, the author believes that "Alpha Alliance" is more inclined to be an automatic battle meat pigeon RPG, which is more likely to make people have a sense of substitution for hero development.
At the same time, the author learned that the work was started by a 6-person team formed by the employees of Tianmei before yesterday. The author is also very curious about why such a small team would choose the direction of the auto chess category with a basic stereotype of market structure, so we made further exchanges with the production team, Be**eroid Entertainment. How is "Alpha Alliance" different, and whether there is still a chance for the auto chess track, let's listen to what producer Lan Yu has to say.
The classic gameplay framework is more RPG substitution
When it comes to the gameplay of auto chess, I believe that many players now have a basic understanding of it.
At present, most of the auto chess gameplay on the market is derived from "Dota Auto Chess", which mainly revolves around two parts: "lineup construction" and "economic operation". Its core gameplay is to purchase hero units in each turn, arrange lineups, equipment and bonds, and play against other players, and the final winner will be rewarded with great rewards.
"Alpha Alliance" also basically follows this gameplay framework. Specifically, that is: random map (matching buff elements in different environments) - choosing heroes (each hero has different basic attributes, talents, and ultimate) - in-game genre (attack flow, spell flow, venom flow, dodge flow, shield flow, etc., you can have more than one at the same time) + treasure (similar talents, continuous thrashing, new cloud sun, gift pack, etc.) construction - > battle. It also includes a store economy system and a draft session.
However, after actually experiencing "Alpha Alliance", the author can intuitively find that the difference between the game and traditional auto chess is that the game adopts a 1v1 battle mode, rather than a group battle of chess pieces. At the same time, the game canceled the setting of equipment, bonds, factions, etc., and mainly used skill schools as the main construction content.
This not only inherits the strategic nature of the auto chess game, but also changes the player's stereotype of auto chess, and lowers the threshold for getting started in the game. If I had to use one sentence to describe the difference between the experience of "Alpha League" and traditional auto chess, I think it may be that the former has a stronger sense of substitution.
For example, in traditional auto-chess, players will improve their hero's combat performance through card star promotion and equipment combinations, while "Alpha League" focuses on creating "genre heroes" - hero selection auto-chess.
It is undeniable that this is a way to improve the attributes of the game's RPG or meat pigeon. But the difference is that the latter uses 1v1 hero duels, which allows players to focus on a single hero, making it easier to interpret "RPG, role-playing". Secondly, the game's rich characters and skill genres can also provide players with a diversified experience.
"The biggest value is not that we want to provide a different or richer strategy experience than Genting, but more to provide players with a more popular RPG fantasy. When talking about the differentiation of the game experience, Lan Yu said, "In the Alpha League, players can gradually develop a mediocre character into a superhero with various cool skills, and this fantasy is our focus. ”
For example, the team observed that many players of the Western European server of "Alpha League" were originally core users of fighting games such as "Tekken". They didn't play much auto-chess before, and they weren't strategy games aimed at users. In this regard, the author's understanding is that many martial arts and competitive game players have become younger and their operational standards have declined, and it is difficult for them to complete their previous high-level performances. And in "Alpha League", they can train a hero to help them compete and pk, which has a fighting game-like experience.
At the same time, in some gameplay details, the game also tries to incorporate some differentiated designs. For example, the shipment rate of high-quality skill cards is not only related to the remaining card pool, but also to the level of the genre (the higher the level, the higher the shipment rate. Lv4, Rare 60%, Rare 30%, Legendary 10%). The genre level is bound to the number of skill cards (8 skill cards of the same genre, the level can be increased to lv.).2；16 Rank Lv3, up to 40 cards level lv4,)
In addition, in addition to the in-game economy related to traditional auto-chess settings such as game settlement, mobs, winning streaks, interest, etc., the talent system also affects the in-game economy.
For example, the ability to earn the "Actually Earned" talent in Phase 3 is: every time you refresh the store, there is a 50% chance of getting 40 gold (up to 30 times, cannot be obtained repeatedly). But the key point is that it originally only costs 20 gold coins per store refresh, which also means that after obtaining this skill, it is possible to farm more money. There are many "gambling dog" players who are "deeply trapped in it and can't extricate themselves" from this talent. This also greatly increases the randomness and fun of the game.
Whether it is the form of combat performance or the sense of substitution, "Alpha Alliance" can be said to bring players a different auto chess experience.
However, in addition to the differences in visual and mental experience, the most daring and special design of the game is that it breaks the traditional auto-chess mode of focusing on the construction of the game, and adds the cultivation of the outside game.
As we mentioned earlier, "Alpha League" mainly uses 1v1 hero duels, but this does not mean that the hero power of the starting player is completely fair. Specifically, heroes are divided into 15 levels, which can be upgraded to improve the effect of skills (level 15, +25% of all skill effects), increase basic attributes (such as increasing health, attack speed, and power), as well as "privileges" such as +1 for the number of treasure refreshes and the number of remaining cards to be visible.
At the same time, based on the outsider cultivation part, "Alpha Alliance" also matches a set of commercialization and resource accumulation content. These include the Seasonal Battle Pass, the Quest System (Daily, Weekly, Seasonal Missions, and Chest Quests), the Shop System (Daily Offer "Beta - Universal Currency Exchange"), the Appearance Shop "Betaby, Alpha - Deposit Currency Exchange", Universal Shards, and more.
Frankly speaking, when I saw that there was out-of-game cultivation and cultivation of commercial content, I was somewhat worried that it would affect the balance of the game. However, judging from the current experience and player feedback on the Steam platform, this part of the content does not seem to have caused much negative impact.
The author believes that there are two reasons behind it: through Battle Pass, the free mission system, or small payments, players can obtain full-level heroes through liver; The random map in the game will affect the adaptability of heroes (recommended heroes), and the in-game construction is also full of randomness, which somewhat weakens the impact of out-of-game development on the balance of in-game battles.
However, Lan Yu also frankly gave an explanation for why he combined the cultivation and commercialization of outsider cultivation and cultivation with auto-chess:
First, Be**Eroid Entertainment, the developer of "Alpha Alliance", is a six-person start-up team with a weak brand foundation and insufficient marketing budget. In addition, the game adopts a free-to-play model, and if you don't do some light numerical payment, it is difficult to maintain business in the early stage by relying only on appearance. Acquire seed users with a free model, maintain operations and retain users through light payments. In a way, this is also a bit of a helpless move.
That. Second, this kind of outsider cultivation + light payment model is not the first of its kind in "Alpha Alliance". For example, the rune system in the early days of League of Legends, and the outsider cultivation and economic system of Clash Royale. These high-profile games in the industry verify the applicability and rationality of the model. At the same time, the team hopes to continue to reduce the cost of hero development in the future, so that it becomes the free rune system of LOL today.
To be honest, I can understand this kind of design and idea to some extent. Each company faces different situations at different stages of development, and it needs strategies and means that are suitable for its current development situation. In layman's terms, only by living can there be hope and a future.
Relying on outsourcing to raise production funds, Bo has a chance
Although "Alpha Alliance" has brought players a fresh experience, the author is somewhat puzzled by the auto-chess track formed by the be**eroid "hard break" pattern. Of course, it's more about curiosity.
It is understood that be**eroid was founded at the end of 2022, which coincided with the epidemic and financial turmoil. In the absence of investors and distributors, the team relied on software outsourcing to make up the production costs. On the other hand, the auto chess category in 2022 is already quite mature. At that time, the auto-chess market was basically occupied by leading PC mobile game products such as Genting, Baye, and Golden Shovel, and even passed the stage of entry and harvesting by large manufacturers.
It can be said that the first step of the "Alpha Alliance" project is not easy, and it is destined to encounter many challenges in the future.
Talking about why he chose the auto chess track, Lan Yu confided a lot. The author has summarized a few points: 1. Blue Rain itself is a loyal fan of games such as auto chess and meat pigeon RPG; 2. In the past few years, he has observed that there is still a lot of room for growth in the auto chess market; 3. In recent years, there has been a trend of integrated gameplay products such as shooting + PVE hero skills, SLG + RPG, etc., and auto chess + is still a relatively new direction.
Judging from the current situation, the latter two points are indeed worth discussing. For example, many people previously believed that due to the constraints of auto chess gameplay, such products may have a low ceiling. However, "Golden Shovel Battle", which was launched in January 2024 for more than two years, topped the best-selling list of the game for the first time, which makes us believe that auto chess still has a lot of potential in long-term operation and expansion.
Perhaps, as the author said when communicating with Lan Yu, they actually have an element of "gambling" when they do auto-chess. But on the other hand, as Lan Yu said: "If you don't dare to gamble when you start a business, you won't even be able to get on the table." ”
Of course, behind this courage, there is also a certain amount of strength support. First of all, the ** and engine of "Alpha Alliance" are completely self-owned, and it is relatively easy to implement be**eroid for cross-platform launch, cross-terminal battles, as well as product values, battles, and content adjustments. Secondly, there are relative advantages over other products in terms of game hero selection and auto-chess gameplay, original IP, and 1GB small package.
According to Lan Yu, in addition to the Steam version that has been launched, the current epic version of the game has basically completed development, and it is expected to be launched in early March. In addition, APP, PAD versions are included, and if the resources are sufficient, it can be completed in 2 to 3 months. However, although the team has strong engineering capabilities, it does lack the funds and resources to provide more favorable support.
On the be**eroid official***, Blue Rain was open and honest, because of the lack of budget, the team faced problems such as UI design, modeling, animation and special effects, and other problems such as UI design, modeling, animation and special effects, product promotion efforts, and the direct development of multi-platform cross-terminal versions without budget. While the team and most players are generally satisfied with the current 70% finished version, they want to be able to launch it faster, more completely, and better.
When it comes to starting a small team, it's certain that it's difficult, but it's rare to be able to persevere. The author once asked Lan Yu, if you choose again, will you continue to start a business or stay in Tianmei? He replied without much thought: "The work experience in TiMi has allowed me to see the ecology of different markets and platforms, and realize the whole picture of the industry. It helped me define the role I wanted to play in the industry. At the same time, I am a more adventurous and helmsman individual, and I want to realize my ideas. ”
At present, be**eroid may still have problems such as insufficient resources and funds, and "Alpha Alliance" also needs to be further polished in terms of commercialization and gameplay content. In addition, if you follow Blue Rain's idea (more than 90% of the commercial revenue comes from appearance), the future "Alpha Alliance" should also take the road of large DAU, low ARPU, and high payment rate, which is not easy to think about.
But Lan Yu also mentioned that he learned a very important word "flexible execution" when he was in Tianmei. That is, when the product encounters a problem, the most important thing for us is to solve it through flexible execution and let the product continue to move forward. For example, there are constantly people in the industry who exchange the product design of "Alpha Alliance" with be**eroid, and there are also frequent investors who contact and discuss intentions with Blue Rain.
This six-member entrepreneurial team, which relies on outsourcing to raise production funds, seems to be developing in a good direction, and hopes that "Alpha League" can bring new vitality to the auto chess track.