Travel Frog beats Honour of Kings and PUBG in 45 days - why? Plus a full set of frog-raising tips
This is the frog↑
Without any official promotional campaign, it took just 45 days to push aside Honour of Kings, PUBG, and Mr. Love: Queen's Choice, and jump to the number one spot on the AppStore free games chart!
On December 6, 2017, the Japanese company Hit-Point released "Tabikaeru," translated into Chinese as "Travel Frog" (iPhone users, please copy this to download the official version: Tabikaeru; Android users can download the Chinese-localised version)
On January 21, 2018, "Travel Frog" reached number one on the AppStore free games chart. On the game community taptap it received a perfect score of 10.
Its WeChat Index reached 13 million, 5 times that of "Mr. Love: Queen's Choice" and 10 times that of "PUBG."
"Travel Frog" was able to shoot to fame quickly in a short time, charming women of all ages.
Whether they love games or don't love games, from students to office workers, from teenage girls to housewives, all willingly got hooked and refused treatment.
Just what is its secret?
1. Character identification
Character identification is a major reason for the popularity of "Travel Frog." Most users call their frog "son, my boy, little one," and call themselves the old mother/father waiting for the frog to come home.
This game demands very little of the user's intelligence. Players have only 4 tasks: harvest clover, buy travel items, pack the suitcase, and entertain guests.
And this frog, who holds the hearts of millions of young women, at home only does 4 things: eat, read, write letters, and whittle wood.
When the frog goes out travelling, players sometimes receive a postcard from their frog. When the trip ends, they may also receive a souvenir and a gift.
The gameplay is very simple, and the time demands are extremely low. Users only need to open it and tap a couple of times in their spare time.
Check whether our son has gone out, check whether our son has come back, check whether we've received a postcard from our son...
Many netizens said that after playing this game they finally understood their parents' feelings. When the son is at home they complain that he doesn't go out; when the son has been gone a long time they nag, "Why hasn't he come home yet?"
Posting the son's photos to Moments to show off is a daily routine, and by the way checking whether other people's kids are at home.
"Neko Atsume" (Cat Backyard), also made by Hit-Point, is another quite popular idle-raising game.
"Neko Atsume" and "Travel Frog" share many similarities, but compared with each other "Travel Frog" comes out ahead. The reason is the psychological attachment brought by the mother/father role identification.
Just like how Blackberry Jam can't help opening it at work to see whether my son has come back (shh, don't tell my boss...)
This kind of attachment psychology becomes a huge source of stickiness between users and the game.
The time users spend on game operations is extremely small, but their attachment to their "son" can last all day.
And this attachment shows itself most directly on various social platforms, such as Moments and Weibo...
2. Buddhist-style care
Starting last month, the term "Buddhist youth" swept across the internet. It refers to a life attitude of "anything goes, not too invested, taking everything lightly," liking to do things in your own way and at your own pace.
Finding marriage troublesome... finding romance costly in money, time and energy... finding having a son too much hassle...
So rather than dating, raise a CEO; rather than having a son, raise a frog.
Another hit romance-and-nurturing game, "Mr. Love: Queen's Choice," is also a women-targeting machine in the mobile game world.
It likewise used the character identification method mentioned above to capture the hearts of countless Buddhist-style young women, but many users, unhappy at being pressured by the CEOs to spend money, said raising 2D men is worse than raising a frog, and plunged into the empty-nest frog-raising Buddhist circle
Players of "Travel Frog" can't control the direction of the game, and don't know when their son will go out or when he will come home.
This randomness in the game's feedback fills the playing process with little moments of anticipation.
And the son's sudden return and the occasional postcard sent back unexpectedly satisfy the player, matching the psychology of Buddhist-style youth.
This game launched right at the Buddhist-style trend, going along with today's current, which is also a reason for its rapid rise to fame.
3. Fresh and slightly cute
This game has only four screens: the courtyard, inside the house, the storage room, and the shop.
The controls are very easy, completely intelligence-defying, and the art style is fresh and bright.
The postcards the frog son sends back are even more impossible to put down.
And the frog's image is cheeky-cute, matching current popular aesthetics, especially those of female players.
Many netizens let their rich imaginations run wild and made lots of meme stickers, which spread like wildfire in Moments and became the hit meme stickers of the moment.
The fresh, bright art style with a touch of cuteness gives players an excellent gaming experience, which is also one of the reasons many players refuse treatment.
Looking across the more popular mobile games of recent times, "Neko Atsume" has as many as 68% female users, "Mr. Love: Queen's Choice" has as many as 94% female users, and "Travel Frog" has over 80% female users...
It can be seen that women-oriented mobile games are ushering in an explosive period worldwide. Especially in China, the gold-rush era for women-oriented mobile games is arriving.
It can be said that whoever wins women wins the mobile game world - this saying is not exaggerated at all.
Has your frog come home?
Blackberry Jam's privately kept frog-raising tips
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