Text/Qiuqiu

The first crab of the national style Palu can be regarded as being eaten in the mouth of "Sword and Fairy World".

In previous rounds of testing, Sword and Fairy World has gradually figured out the core experience of the game as an open world, and uses Palu's like spirit gameplay as the driving force for players to explore the experience: we can capture all kinds of spirits in the wild, subdue them to fight together, solve puzzles and explore, or place them in a home system called "Cloud Stay" and let them work for themselves.

This set of gameplay has naturally been loved by many players, making the popularity and volume of "Sword and Fairy World" reach a new stage. During the pre-launch final test of the game today (October 15), "Sword and Fairy World" successfully topped the TapTap Hot List, New Product List and Pre-Order List;

Since the final test file, many players have been constantly leaving messages urging them, hoping that the official will bring the game to life as soon as possible, and at the same time maintain expectations and recognition of the optimization and adjustment content in this test.

As the last test before the game was launched, the product form of "Sword and Fairy World" has been relatively mature, so in addition to continuing to optimize the quality and enrich the gameplay content, the production team focused on "how to create a more self-consistent Xianxia experience", and gradually formed a top-down design idea of "animism", creating a national style open world that integrates Palu's gameplay.

"Animism" is the core proposition since the game was first exposed, and it is also an important element of everything in the world under the worldview of the fairy sword IP "Three Emperors and Five Spirits". This concept is simply to let everything in the world have thoughts and emotions and can interact freely - under the design idea of "animism", the national style Palu gameplay and open world design of "Sword and Fairy World" have self-consistent theoretical support, and the oriental romantic fantasy world created by the game also has a more vibrant "soul".

01

The core of Palu's gameplay:

Exceed expectations for an interactive experience

To be honest, since the explosion of "Phantom Beast Palu" this year, many major domestic manufacturers, including Tencent and NetEase, have set up projects to make Palu like games, or added Palu gameplay to the original products, but no matter how the product feels, it is nothing more than catching pets, collaborating, and part-time work, and few games have further explored more ways to play.

But "Sword and Fairy World" is quite iron-clad, on the one hand, it integrates the world view of Sword and Fairy IP, creates a set of national style Palu gameplay with oriental artistic atmosphere, and makes "Chinese's own Palu".

Don't say it, the national style Palu has a long history in the Fairy Sword IP.

From its worldview of the Three Emperors and Five Spirits, the Six Realms and Nine Springs, it can be found that aura is an important part of shaping all things in the world, and all things are inspired by spiritual power to become spirits, and it is also a unique signboard of the fairy sword series works, such as the monkey demon who teaches the protagonist of Sword and Fairy 3, Sedum Flying Dragon Explorer, and the five poisonous beasts that can cure all kinds of poisons...... In other words, Palu has the most reasonable, fertile and local birth background in the Sword and Fairy IP.

This is also true in "Sword and Fairy World", which is in the same vein as the Sword and Fairy IP.

From the perspective of the game's background, the people of Sword and Fairy World live in an era where humans and spirits coexist. The first stop of the protagonist's arrival in the world, Guiyun Village, looks more "primitive", the layout of the village echoes the woods and meadows, and there are spirits everywhere, the first friend we met was the flower spirit, and the NPC Bai Zang who guided our practice was the incarnation of an adult, and then we can also see the mountains, rocks, grasses, birds, and beasts to gain spirituality, helping players experience a variety of gameplay.

Under the guidance of this rationality, "Sword and Fairy World" has drastically expanded the spirit gameplay.

On the one hand, we can capture, ignite, raise, and possess spirits, and let them follow the battle, solve puzzles, and explore. For example, if you see a sapling in the wild, you can try to summon a water spirit for irrigation, or encounter a treasure chest surrounded by vines, and most likely think about summoning fire spirits to burn vines...... "Sword and Fairy World" does not dryly guide you to what characteristics each spirit has and how to use it, but uses emergent puzzles to let players naturally accept and identify with a variety of interactive experiences.

For example, before the start of a battle, if you find that there are mountains, rocks, plants and trees nearby that can be interacted with, you can also try to infusion them into spirits and let them assist in the battle - this is a new gameplay added to the final test of the game, which allows players to interact with spirits more than "catching", or injecting spiritual power into them to make it "soar on the spot".

However, the spirit is also the same as opening the blind box, in case it turns into a temperamental spirit, it will take some more energy to submit.

Ignited a grumpy spirit and gave me a few slaps

On the other hand, players can also take advantage of the characteristics of each spirit and let them participate in daily production such as farming, mining, and alchemy. "Sword and Fairy World" has a homeland scene called "Cloud Su", where players can send suitable spirits to cultivate spiritual fields, plant herbs, refine elixirs, or assist in the production and construction of home buildings.

The spirit that gave me a "part-time job".

Through the above two aspects of gameplay experience, we can find that the understanding of Palu gameplay in "Sword and Fairy World" is not only "catching pets and working", but touching the core of Palu's gameplay: giving the common content of previous games an additional interactive experience that exceeds expectations.

For example, "Phantom Beast Palu" expands the concept of pets, so that it can be used as a weapon and can be used as a part-time job, allowing players to experience a new experience that is different from the stereotypical pet gameplay. "Sword and Fairy World" spreads out this logic - can pets have more interactions? Such as possession, puzzle solving?

Furthermore, the "animism" emphasized in "Sword and Fairy World" also refers to giving more game content an additional interactive experience. For example, can NPCs participate in gameplay in addition to being used as background boards? Can I communicate freely with players? Can tables, chairs, beds and stools have more interactive experiences? Bigger, can the whole world "live" and change for the player?

This is the design idea of the game "Animist".

02

Animism:

Shifting Interaction from "Palu" to "World"

Don't say it, this final test "Sword and Fairy World" has really put a lot of effort into interaction, combining the concept of "animism" with the concept of interaction between people and the world and people in the open world.

For example, one of the characteristics of the open world is that it is free and uninhibited, advocating interaction between people and the world. However, in the past, many open-world games had strategies such as setting stamina bars for characters and using air walls to deliberately limit the player's exploration efficiency, which to a certain extent consumed the player's enthusiasm for exploring the open world.

In this regard, "Sword and Fairy World" improves the exploration efficiency from the two aspects of exploration mobility and large map design, stimulates players' desire to explore, and allows us to feel the category advantages of the open world more freely.

Among them, the most important strategy in terms of improving mobility is the unlimited "Edgeworth Flight", which allows us to explore the world freely, and we can also equip some sword spirit spirits to enhance Edgeworth's flying ability, such as increasing sprint speed and reducing sprint energy consumption.

In this final test, the game also innovatively took out the operation experience of Edgeworth Battleworth, stretching the game's combat level into three dimensions. The gorgeous sword moves and the oppressive look and feel make people really feel like they are cultivating immortals - I believe that this kind of thinking will also provide some direction for the combat dimension upgrade of other Xianxia games.

Edgeworth battles

In terms of map design, the spirits, NPCs, treasure chests, puzzles, side quests, special gameplay and other contents in the game are combined and placed in relatively appropriate distribution areas, so as to stimulate players' desire to explore the big world.

Habitats for different spirits

If you explore the habitat of the Kui Niu, you will find that you can experience a gameplay similar to "One, Two, Three Wooden Man" by possessing the Kui Niu; Or find a nearby Spirit Beast Master and have a hearty card battle.

On this basis, the production team also proposed the design concept of three-dimensional integration (visual + interaction + plot), based on the characteristics of the combination of various elements in the open world, so that the world in turn affects the player's experience.

The concept may seem a bit broad, but the design of Sword and Fairy World focuses on the correlation and variation of these three elements. For example, the narrative content is reflected through scene changes, just like in the plot of the Taohuadian Flower Demon, when the player first comes to Taohuadian, the scene will gradually be covered with a layer of pink filter, representing the protagonist entering the fantasy of the flower demon;

And in the subsequent Flower Sea Cave Heaven, it also reflects the love entanglement of the flower demon. The first level of the platform is lush with vegetation, suggesting the flower demon's former love and obsession; As the player goes deeper into the cave and progresses layer by layer, the bridge in the cave inside the flower demon begins to collapse, and the vegetation gradually withers, hinting at her despair and loss.

Another example is to use the plot to guide interaction. As you wander around town, you may suddenly encounter a bunch of NPCs who haven't boarded a boat, and the game will use a cutscene to show their intentions to take a boat, so even if you don't have too much guidance, you can use your object control skills to help each NPC get on the boat (fall overboard) according to their name and words - making the world change because of you, isn't it a kind of "spirituality"?

The side quest of Cloud Island is a typical level that embodies the three-dimensional integrated design concept of the production team. It has a complete story experience, rich scene changes, and interactive puzzle solving. One of the most attractive may be the puzzle-solving gameplay in which the protagonist possesses a book, and then uses picture cards to fill the corresponding screen of the plot according to the text plot, which deeply integrates the game plot, interactive design and visual experience, showing the design experience of the production team.

"Sword and Fairy World" also has a deep understanding of human interaction.

For example, in terms of NPCs, they set up birthday hobbies and family and social relationships for most of the characters, which not only makes the social ecology of the game more realistic and perfect, makes players more immersed, but also adds a lot of extra narrative space and fun - without reading this information, how do you know if a 40-year-old man will marry an 18-year-old wife?

Spirits also have "ID cards"

What's more interesting is that this final test game cooperated with ByteDance and connected to Doubao AI, so that most NPCs can speak and chat with players freely, from a background board with basically no sense of existence, to an electronic friend that every player may know and intersect with.

There is also a way to enlighten NPCs

The source of the picture is station B UP@ Lao Zhang upstairs

In terms of player socialization, "Sword and Fairy World" has also made innovations. The production team has divided the multiplayer social area into Hangzhou City, where players can usually choose to experience the game alone, and after entering Hangzhou City, they can seamlessly switch between multiplayer socialization and enjoy social gameplay such as chatting and interacting with other players, teaming up to trade, doing tasks, and casual games.

Seamless switch to multiplayer (Hangzhou)

Multiple people on the same screen

By dividing the area into social areas, not only does it better separate and protect the player's single/multiplayer gaming experience, but it also feels more natural: the wild is responsible for adventure and challenges, while the town is bustling with people and traffic, and there is a sense of home.

However, everyone also found that Grape Jun did not specifically introduce the various gameplay content of the game, on the one hand, the content of "Sword and Fairy Time" is quite large, including but not limited to the team, cultivation and combat of the protagonist and card characters; capture, puzzle-solving, combat, and production of spirits; the exploration and plot of the big world; Multiplayer social and online dungeons, business simulations, and UGC content...... You can only experience a portion of the game for just a few hours.

On the other hand, at present, "Sword and Fairy World" has come to the final testing stage, and simply analyzing the specific gameplay content of the game is a bit of an afterthought, and a comprehensive view of the layout of the game modules, the actual experience for players, and the differentiated competitive advantage are the keys to better judge whether this game can succeed.

Therefore, if the gameplay of "Sword and Fairy World" is split separately, some people may say that it is stitched, or that he is a bit rebellious, and the four are not like it; But a little deeper, you'll find that the game's interpretation of the concept of "animism" penetrates into each module. The IP of Sword and Fairy and the world view of the game background provide a reasonable source for it; The national style Palu gameplay provides the most intuitive experience - players can interact more with spiritual objects; The innovation of the two interactive concepts of open world people and the world and people makes "Sword and Fairy World" not only highlight Xianxia, but further become a "Xianxia Universe" with soul and in line with the ideals of Oriental people.

03

Let Xianxia return to Xianxia

Why is the "animism" of "Sword and Fairy World" the "fairy universe" in line with the ideals of the Orientals? After all, many Xianxia online games in the past may not be "Xianxia". The Xianxia in Grape Jun's understanding should be a fantasy story that originates from reality but is obviously beyond reality, showing the atmosphere of oriental art and the spiritual pursuit of the Chinese people.

That is to say, compared with reproducing history and reality, full of fantasy and reflecting the pursuit is a major proposition of the Xianxia theme - such as the concept of "animism" contained in the Fairy Sword IP mentioned above, which is a local concept that is relatively detached from reality and full of fantasy charm.

Therefore, whether a work is a fairy may depend on whether its story plot and setting content are in line with the spiritual pursuit of Oriental people, and whether it can bring positive satisfaction to the experiencer: for example, the flower demon and fox demon that represent the pursuit of love; Xuanyuan Sword, a magic weapon that represents Haoran righteousness and the pursuit of royal saints; or some episodes of eliminating demons and defending the road and sacrificing one's life for righteousness, all of which are high-quality content that can highlight the essence of Xianxia.

But nowadays, many Xianxia online games have a shallow taste of the exploration of the theme, you may be able to see some magic weapons from the game, spirits, imperial swords, Taoism and other Xianxia content, but it is in vain, the flower demon, the fox demon only has an image and no design, Xuanyuan sword, Pangu axe and other magic weapons rely on numerical value to measure the value - the experience of Xianxia games may never be able to escape from the quagmire of "numerical cultivation + PVP + social".

The actual machine picture of a Xianxia mobile game, the source network

This may also be the reason why excellent Xianxia IPs such as The Legend of Sword and Fairy, Ancient Sword and Xuanyuan Sword are basically from stand-alone, after all, there is no numerical value and competitive anxiety, so that players can better immerse themselves in the Xianxia content created by the game.

The interesting thing about "Sword and Fairy World" is also here. In my opinion, its Xianxia flavor comes from the reflection of the past Xianxia online games, and relies on the concept of "animism" to capture the Chinese people's pursuit of Chinese romance.

For example, at the macro level, the game strengthens the texture of the scene's ink painting, focusing on line drawing and blank space, making the world look more "spiritual".

Suzhou City - Shooting of the actual game scene

The Suzhou City area also integrates the intangible cultural heritage culture of Suzhou Pingtan

In terms of details, the game also infiltrates the national style into the characters, costumes, scene details and other corners. Including the auspicious cloud pattern of the character's costumes, the facial features of the characters with Chinese classical beauty; Walking on the streets of the game, you will always meet porcelain vendors, storytellers, and customers who solicit customers...... For example, in the game, Lin Yueru and Zhao Linger's appearance and clothing integrate a lot of Chinese content, the characters' facial features are narrow and coordinated, and the clothes are integrated with Hanfu, cheongsam, corset, lace trouser legs, etc., which not only retains the characteristics of the IP character image of Xianjian, but also conforms to the aesthetic characteristics of the Chinese people.

Zhao Ling'er's appearance and clothing

A vendor selling porcelain

Moreover, "Sword and Fairy World" also evolved the "sociality" of Xianxia, making the world come alive.

Although many works in the past are titled Xianxia, but in addition to fighting monsters and upgrading to become stronger, there is no Xianxia flavor in other aspects, the protagonist is in a hurry with his legs or riding a horse, the wings behind him are decorated, clothing, food, housing and transportation are no different from ordinary people, and he has to swim in the water.

However, "Sword and Fairy World" integrates the experience of Xianxia and Oriental fantasy into the daily life of the game as much as possible. For example, players use Edgeworth to fly and hurry, summon spirits to cross the waters, turn stillness into movement, light spirits to assist in combat, transform into other items to sneak attack, control NPCs with object control skills, and capture spirits to work for themselves...... After all, Xianxia is also a kind of productivity, and it is a more interesting experience to have an impact on social life.

Ride a spirit to cross the sea, and you don't need to have a physical bar

A slight leak of spiritual power can make the wine jar refined

Not only that, in order to highlight this sociality, most of the NPCs in "Sword and Fairy World" have experience of magic, supernatural and other events; Dozens of spirits come from birds and animals, mountains, rocks, plants, tables, chairs, stools and other objects, which are very oriental and strange culture; Li Xiaoyao, the protagonist of "The Legend of Sword and Fairy", has become the "idol" of many people; Players can also find stories of immortals and demons written by NPCs by flipping through the streets......

The story of "The Legend of Sword and Fairy III" is also prevalent among NPCs

Li Xiaoyao's fan sister

The NPC's brain hole is really big, and the real and fake Nuwa have been written

If these surreal contents have become the default consensus and simple pursuit of everyone in the game, then it is self-evident how strong the fairy flavor of "Sword and Fairy World" is.

But he called me a young man

04

epilogue

To be honest, Grape Jun's understanding of Xianxia may not be correct, but in the past Xianxia online games, it is really difficult for us to feel the coolness brought by the theme and story, and some are just fighting monsters, becoming stronger, and PVP - Xianxia seems to have become a gimmick that simply attracts players, and has been criticized by many people.

In the process of actually experiencing "Sword and Fairy World", the source of Grape Jun's coolness is really not the numerical strength, but the detailed and self-consistent interactive feedback guided by his "animism" concept.

For example, the aforementioned sense of accomplishment or guilt in helping NPCs get on the ship, the reaction of waving a sword and watching NPCs flee in fright, the sense of maneuvering to fly freely in the big world, and the novelty of being a wine jar or an animal eavesdropping on NPCs...... These flow experiences may have nothing to do with Xianxia, but they have formed a sufficiently self-consistent social situation, which is different from many Xianxia online games in the past.

Watching the fun of the two NPCs fighting, the things that burst out are actually mine

I was about to eavesdrop, but I "laid eggs".

Therefore, games and players should not be framed by labels, and what kind of games they think should be.

If you look at "Sword and Fairy World", you can say that it is a Palu-like game and an open-world game, but a single category cannot represent all the content, nor can it summarize the concept of "animism" proposed by the production team...... These need to be felt by the player in the actual experience.

Therefore, manufacturers may be able to put aside their reserves, think more about what the experience provided by the game and what players need, and then fill this experience gap, instead of adopting a follow-up strategy after the category is popular, and imitate the success template to grab food.

We can see that in the past, the martial arts category has been iterated and gradually returned to experience-guided design, and games such as "Against the Cold", "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun" and "Shadow Blade Zero" all show a different experience from stereotypical martial arts online games;

The Xianxia category has been buried by values for a longer time, and the theme has also entered the stage of maturity and differentiation, and there are not enough deviant Xianxia games for the time being.

In this case, the animistic oriental romantic fantasy experience of "Sword and Fairy World" satisfies players' pursuit of Xianxia with a more primitive attitude, and fills the gap in the market with higher content quality (open world) and more diverse experience modes (including cloud games, XR and other terminals), and also walks out of a differentiated track, making full preparations for the official launch.

This final test landed directly

Android, Apple, PC, and cloud gaming platforms

Not only that, "Sword and Fairy World's understanding and reflection on Xianxia" may also be extended to more labels and categories-

Martial arts, urban, two-dimensional, national style...... Have these smash hit labels really been thoroughly explored? Will there be more disruptive products in the future that break the boundaries of categories? It's hard for us to know for now, but we finally see some potential in the upcoming "Sword and Fairy World".

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