Text: Yan Jinyan

"If you don't listen or don't listen, just play Fuxing."

"Lucky Star Lucky Star, delirious."

In recent days, the friends around Grape Jun have been addicted to "The Battle of the Golden Shovel". As a casual question, it turns out that everyone is crazy about the latest return of the "Chosen Lucky Star" season.

Player-made memes

As soon as the "Chosen Lucky Star" season was launched, it dominated the hot searches on major social platforms.

The whole network and multiple platforms have been on the hot search list

For a moment, it was as if I was surrounded by lucky stars.

With the huge impact of the Fuxing version, "The Battle of the Golden Shovel" quickly climbed to the top 2 of the iOS best-selling list.

App Store best-selling list

It is worth noting that this is not the first time that "The Battle of the Golden Shovel" has achieved such good results.

As early as the Spring Festival of 2024, it topped the iOS best-selling list, and hit a new high in Q1 of the same year. At the same time, its daily active users have already exceeded 15 million, and the growth rate is extremely fast when looking at the entire gaming circle. In recent years, "The Battle of the Golden Shovel" has also been frequently praised by Tencent's financial reports and Tencent's senior management, and the project team has won Tencent's annual business breakthrough award many times.

Promotional image of the "Chosen Star" version

After "The Chosen Lucky Star" became popular again, Grape Jun also contacted Ye Jing, the executive producer of the distribution of "The Battle of the Golden Shovel", for the first time, and conducted an in-depth discussion on the achievements of the product during the Spring Festival, as well as the operation concept and development ideas in the past three years.

After the interview, Grape Jun's first thought was: Our impression of "The Battle of the Golden Shovel" is really going to be refreshed. It is competing with all the giants in the whole track, and even quietly reshuffled the top list of the domestic game circle.

01

Every year of return is a Chinese New Year carnival

Let's start with the craze for the return of lucky stars.

In the past, when everyone talked about the word "lucky star", they thought of a symbol of auspicious status, but now when it comes to lucky stars, more young people may subconsciously think of the "lucky star fetters" in "The Battle of the Golden Shovel". Subtly, "The Battle of the Golden Shovel" has given birth to a language system that belongs to young people.

Players use the "Lucky Star" game record to convey blessings

Alipay also struck while the iron was hot and cooperated with "The Battle of the Golden Shovel" to launch a linkage blessing activity, which shows its national influence.

Alipay x "The Battle of the Golden Shovel" linkage Jifu

When we look back, perhaps the elements of "The Battle of the Golden Shovel" have long permeated all aspects of life. For example, the signboard of the convenience store on the street uses the enhanced rune stalk of "The Battle of the Golden Shovel".

The gold shovel that is the sign of the store

In the gym, many people will put a tablet playing "Golden Shovel Battle" in front of the spinning bike to help them get through the boring time of fitness.

A golden shovel shovel as a fitness partner

For another example, now on TV and Weibo, more and more celebrities can be seen indulging in this kind of "cyber chess".

While imperceptibly influencing people's lifestyles, "The Battle of the Golden Shovel" has become a new trend IP. So here's the problem, the attributes of early auto chess are recognized as hardcore and heavy strategy, and when "The Battle of the Golden Shovel" was launched, it was no longer the most popular node in the category. But why can it catch up and be evergreen?

First of all, all products want to be Dacheng, they are inseparable from their own product strength.

From this point of view, the gameplay design of "Golden Shovel Battle" is solid, the core gameplay is authorized from the "League of Legends Genting Game Mode", continuing the advantages of IP, season and other content, and in the basic rules of auto chess, it incorporates a series of mechanisms that balance "entertainment" and "technology". Different seasons and very different themed mechanics, such as power-up runes, random encounters, magic staffs, unit mutations, and more, rack your brains to make sure that every season is fresh and interesting. At the same time, some differentiated gameplay designs have also been made for domestic players, such as double seasons, 100-person mode, red and blue competition, Wishing you prosperity, etc., making it more suitable for the domestic market.

The "Chosen Star" version of the enhanced rune

At the same time, because of the difference between the mobile operation and the PC side, "The Battle of the Golden Shovel" has also done a lot of detailed design to optimize the user's mobile experience. For example, it can be directly combined into a costume in the equipment bar to reduce the complexity of touchscreen operations; Another example is the sorting of preparation areas, swiping down to sell, draft stick movement, quick pickup of coins, and free switching between tablet and mobile phone modes.

In terms of lowering the threshold for players to get started, "Battle of the Golden Shovel" has also made a lot of measures, such as in the game, they will make personalized lineup recommendations according to the needs of different players, taking into account the learning and growth needs of different players. There is also a one-click import function of lineup codes, which is convenient for players to "copy homework" in the early stage. In the community, use live broadcast platforms, short videos, and official accounts to provide rich strategies, teaching, and live broadcast content to help users understand game skills.

There are also a large number of lineup recommendations in the game

However, "Golden Shovel Battle" is different from MOBA, chicken, MMO and other products with inherently social attributes, why can it attract so many players to socialize? Ye Jing believes that today's golden shovel shovel is more like a way of life for players, and it has derived a kind of empathetic socialization with easy companionship.

On the one hand, Golden Shovel strives to become a game with a very good single-game environment, no verbal aggression and no anxiety and oppression, which makes the social chain of "Golden Shovel Battle" very relaxed, which is also in line with today's social environment - social pressure is high, traditional social ties are dissolved, and people seek relatively relaxed social relationships without too much emotional burden, especially young people are more inclined to choose social experiences that have common interests and maintain a certain boundary.

The rise of "Shovel Pair" is the extension of the popular "Shovel Pairing Culture" among young people in the game field, and compared with other competitive games, the social interaction of Golden Shovel is more simple. No matter what the level of the game is, as long as you can chat, you can start playing chess together with friends, and the two-row game will not put a lot of social pressure on each other, and can provide users with a more relaxed social experience.

Combined with the trend of light socialization among young people, the low threshold and stress-free characteristics of shovel are very suitable for diffusion in the form of pairing social.

"Shovel-and-hit" socialization can be seen everywhere

On the other hand, with the popularity of Golden Shovel Battle, it can also give players more social motivation. For example, if you play particularly well, it proves that you have a unique understanding of strategy, and you can share your strong lineup on social platforms to gain a sense of achievement; If you're not playing that well, you can also post a D shovel to take you to the score.

In the end, the combination of these factors gives "The Battle of the Golden Shovel" the potential to continuously expand its users.

02

Every season is a new release

In the course of more than three years of operation, another key point to the success of "Golden Shovel Battle" is that it is good at "capturing user needs".

There are so many examples. "The Battle of the Golden Shovel" has gradually determined the stable update of the main season, the parallel of two seasons, and the interspersed gameplay of entertainment, so as to satisfy players' desire for freshness and avoid the long grass period after the game content is exhausted. At the same time, it can also fill the nostalgia of players for the classic season. In a conversation with Ye Jing, she mentioned that "The Battle of the Golden Shovel" is a season system, and every time the season is updated, it will be released as a new product for the project team.

More nuancedly, "The Battle of the Golden Shovel" understands what players want. Take the return of Fuxing as an example. It's been back during the Chinese New Year for the third year in a row, but it still makes players more and more motivated. The reason for this is that every season return is not the same, and the team always makes some surprising tweaks and updates.

For example, this year, the classic Lucky Star Bond has been upgraded to level 10, adding the effect of a full screen of red envelope rain, and the reward intensity is directly full.

After the ten lucky stars were gathered, the screen was full of "red envelope rain", which aroused heated discussions among players

At the same time, in terms of content resonance, the insight of the "Battle of the Golden Shovel" team is also in place. For example, the linkage between the "Battle of the Golden Shovel" and the animation of "Battle of Two Cities" has also been recognized by players. Ye Jing said frankly that after watching the first animation in advance, the "Battle of the Golden Shovel" team quickly determined that the little hero of the character "Explosion" should be added to the linkage season of the shovel; Also during the Two Cities 2 crossover, the image of the popular character Isha was also made into a little hero, allowing Isha to reunite with Jinx on the chessboard of the Golden Shovel. After their launch, these little heroes became a huge hit and became one of the most wanted collectibles for players.

Little Heroes - Explosion

Little Hero - Isha

And when the snowball rolls up, "The Battle of the Golden Shovel" has also made efforts through various channels in recent years, building itself into a cultural wave, which is mainly divided into two directions.

First, the background of the game around the hardcore strategy strengthens the label of "brain game". In 2023, "The Battle of the Golden Shovel" will be included in the expansion event by the Organizing Committee of the 5th National Mind Games Expo, and it will become a veritable "mind sport". Including the well-known chess players Ke Jie and War Eagle, they also love to "play chess" in cyber on weekdays.

The official announcement of the expansion event of the 5th National Mind Games Expo "The Battle of the Golden Shovel"

Matching the temperament of national sports, "The Battle of the Golden Shovel" also takes the national route in e-sports. Its Open Tournament, JOC, is now in its 7th year and is open to all players.

Second, as the favorite "chess" of today's young people, "The Battle of the Golden Shovel" has also become a cultural trend that symbolizes trends and fashion. For example, Hebei Cultural Tourism once used the way of shoveling game fetters to Amway attractions during the Spring Festival in 2024.

Hebei Cultural Tourism social media release content

Last year, the official selected the fat dragon as the guide for the lucky star of the Year of the Dragon, and received tourists at the iconic attractions in many cities across the country. When people go outdoors during the Spring Festival, it is easy to capture the elements of "The Battle of the Golden Shovel".

"Chubby Dragon" meets the city's attractions

In the Spring Festival of 2025, the official and Hangzhou Cultural Tourism will jointly carry out the New Year Lucky Star Party, kicking off the New Year of the Snake in a way that young people like to see.

Hangzhou's offline activities were grand

At the same time, when the player culture has settled down, the official is also guiding and amplifying the IP resonance of the player, encouraging the player to bring his good gold shovel to the scene and give rewards.

Players come to the scene with a homemade "Golden Shovel".

"The Battle of the Golden Shovel" is not only a popular way of leisure and entertainment recognized by young people, you can see players in various familiar places in life at any time. Even, as Ms. Ye Jing said, "It has become a new type of social currency." ”

Therefore, in this Spring Festival, "Lucky Star" has a new annotation, and it is not difficult to understand.

03

Every attempt is a self-iteration

"The Battle of the Golden Shovel" has been online for more than three years, and it broke out again during the Spring Festival this year, and it has already broken through the shackles of the category and become one of the new pillars of Tencent Games, among the new evergreen games. It is precisely because of the achievements of Golden Shovel that the once silent category market of auto chess is being reactivated, and manufacturers in the industry are once again focusing on it.

When we asked the team how they see the development of the product in the past three years, Ye Jing replied: "In fact, it is a gradual iterative process, we accumulate experience in one thing after another, and constantly iterate to become a better golden shovel." For example, players voted for the most popular season to return, and the product data and word of mouth also improved. Because players are part of the Shovel family, players feel respected and willing to play, so we will continue to do this and optimize it in the future, so that everyone can get different surprises in the returning season. ”

Voting activities in the end shovel co-election

Looking back three years ago, when the auto chess category was cold, it took great courage to insist on using hardcore gameplay to challenge the mobile market. Not to mention, in the course of their three-year operation, their sensitivity to the needs of the market and players, as well as the corresponding agile development capabilities and market actions, are the keys to looking simple but actually stumping a large number of manufacturers. It is only after these continuous iterations that "The Battle of the Golden Shovel" can now become such a phenomenal product.

"Our games are not only entertainment, but also a positive companionship, a relaxed and positive part of the player's life, which is also what we want to pass on to the player." Ye Jing said in an interview that this is indeed the case.

From today's point of view, as we interviewed Su Panhui, the publisher and producer of "League of Legends" and "The Battle of the Golden Shovel", he said that "The Battle of the Golden Shovel" hopes to accompany a generation to grow up, and this goal does not seem to be out of reach.

At least this year's Spring Festival, my friends have made an appointment to barbecue, set off fireworks, and open a few shovels at the same time - in the previous generation, this reserved pastime was usually played mahjong.

And with more and more young people who love cyber chess to join this chessboard, what will "The Battle of the Golden Shovel" look like at that time? I think it should have more room for imagination in the future.

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