It's a bit emotional to say this. I dug out my old mobile phone a few days ago and saw the Brick Break game on the Symbian system. The picture was very rough, but I had a lot of fun playing it at the time. Now when I see this game "Brick Breaker", to be honest, my first reaction is "Hey, there are still people making this kind of purely casual game now?" But after playing it carefully, I really found the pure happiness that I had back then😌
I'm not going to brag about it, but the current mobile game market is full of money-based card draws, daily tasks, and combat power rankings, making it as tiring as going to work. Like "Brick Break", you can open it and play, close it and leave. There is no cumbersome guidance or various red dot prompts, which makes people feel comfortable. This kind of design that returns to the core gameplay and simple fun is, to be honest, a rarity in the mobile game circle in 2024.
I personally feel that the mobile game industry has actually gone a bit astray in the past two years. Everyone wants to make a masterpiece, make an open world, and make a "AAA mobile game", but what is the result? The mobile phone heats up, consumes power quickly, and has large memory, making it impossible for ordinary players to play. Not to mention those games where you change pickup cards and hang up to spawn monsters. They are essentially just numerical accumulation. Is that interesting? 😅
A small, highly playable game like "Brick Break" allows me to see another possibility. It doesn't require your liver or krypton, it just "breaks the bricks" and feels great. This kind of game is actually more suitable for fragmented time, such as taking out your mobile phone to play a game while waiting for the subway or waiting in line for food. And it also has N modes and a brick upgrade system. Although it is simple, it is enough to pass the time.
Judging from industry trends, I think there may be two directions in the future: one is super masterpieces that meet the needs of high-end users; the other is small but beautiful casual games that re-emphasize basic gameplay. After all, isn't the most original mission of mobile games just to kill boring time? Although works like "Brick Breaking" are not "high-end" enough, at least they have not forgotten this original intention.
By the way, the developer is Nanjing Moxie Network. After checking, it seems that it is a small company, but it is quite rare to be able to persist in making this kind of games. The charging model is 0 yuan, and there are very few advertisements. There are really not many such conscientious works in the market today. I hope other developers can pay more attention to this "return to nature" design concept. 🙏
Having said that, do you guys still remember what was the first mobile game you played? Mine is Snake on Nokia. At that time, the screen was just black and white pixels, but I spent an entire afternoon playing it... Alas, times have changed, but some happiness remains the same.