Script Murders: The Form and Design of the Most Popular Tabletop Genre in China

[Music] thank you good afternoon everyone today we are bringing you scrape murders for form on the design of the most popular Tip Top in China before we start the speech Let's introduce ourselves briefly my name is Lumin I'm now work for 90 Thunder fire ux as a senior ux research manager I'm a big fan of tabletop game and have Rich experience you can call me Julia so we'll be co-presenting this speech today I'm currently the senior project manager also from netease Thunder fire ux as a font Seeker I have organized currently successful game nights for my friends and colleagues so please make sure to stay tuned in to listen out our fun stories

no let's have a look at the outline today I divide it into four parts first I will introduce you water script murders after that since we will talk about the types and operational aspects then based on the current situation I will talk about the trends of script murders in China now we will move on to the part one water script murders in China at first the script Murder Game were from the Western Board Game murder mystery many people enjoying detective stories and in such sport games the most attractive part is together Clues know the truth and finds murder based on this game design there were new changes and Evolutions in China resulting in many new content and themes of script murder game we have today the core of these games is to create social and immersive

experience making players feel like they are not just playing about the game but also part of a LARP math action joking where they can perform and fully immerse themselves so what are the key elements for an optimal game experience mainly it's involved it invoice the following Four Points quality script a layout that fits the tone of the script a DM or NPC that gets the players in the game and the right number of players when all the elements are in place let us reveal the game precise which involves four steps first under the introduction of the host players choose the characters they want to play us as the game progresses players will enjoy in the game as their choosing character after

all players have selected their characters they read the script and understand their core tasks as support enforce fires risen to other players speeches correct Clues and create their own mind maps based on the goods they have gathered now you note ideas of script murder and the game progress process in general the script Murder Game reached the peak in development under the influence of reality shows in 2017. from 2017 to 2021 the industry has been growing and overall Revenue in 2021 was 20 billion RMB it's about 2.9 billion USD however due to the impact of the pandemic the revenue for 2022 has decreased to 17 billion RMB maybe 2.5 billion USD

experts predict the big Revenue growth for 2023. meanwhile the average monthly groups of online users began to increase from 2020 with 1.7 million New Years in terms of pay audience the male prior ratio is 55 percent slightly higher than the female player ratio the co-payer group is the C generation 18 to 25 years old because they are mostly college students or recently graduates who care more about social activities and want to play games with friends according to the data we can see the social interaction is the most important reason for playing script murder games meanwhile immersive experiences and to join of solving puzzle ranked second and

third regarding specific themes the most popular ones are detective fine and emotional scripts my colleague will go into more details about the type and how to operate them not follow is yours thanks I mean uh now I would like to talk to you about the current different types of script murders in China so there are basically four types and I will go through them one by one a Taipei is a well-known detective mystery General commonly referred to as the who done it it's based on actual events and is drawn from the Japanese classification of detective novels so back in 1926 named pure detective novels as Hong kak which literally means real or true while some novels dealing with unusual themes were named henkaku which means change or variant so it was at that point that the general was really born so an example of a hudanate over Hong

Kaku is the script 1937 so it's based on actual historical events and this play depicts the war that actually took place in Nanjing at that time so the entire narrative fits perfectly with the historical context I was astounded by how far the China script writing has come after playing this group which allows me to fully immerse myself in times of chaos and feel the helplessness of people from that age another example of this type is the script Jade padent which is set in Shanghai in early 20th century at the turbulent period of China so in this script someone died in the Shanghai Nation hotel's auction house and players must search the hotel for evidence to identify the murderer because this type there is no deviation from reality so all contents could theoretically be restored in the real world then we come the second type type B which is on the other hand the supernatural so it cannot be replicated

in reality and because this time it's commonly carried in a sidekick and spiritual setting it contains additional fictional content with situations that that cannot be explained by science an example of this is the script annual ring as it contains elements that do not correspond to reality such as the phenomenon Calamity which occurs every 76 years whenever it occurs one person will be chosen to receive eternal life and the chosen one can use time container and spirit energy which will not exist in in real life to turn back in time and stop reincarnation and in those type of scripts parallel words are also featured when the time container vanished time will stop and the player will be transported to another world and the parallel words can also be merged into one and the characters will remain memories from the previous world there's also other interesting features

in this type called the wishing well which is an item and corresponds to the file elements in the traditional Chinese feng shui so when the character gathers all the five elements which include fire wood water Meadow and Earth and bring them to the wishing well they will be able to time travel to correct past mistakes so this can be used in this type of General to practice different types of fictional contents and the type C is a new mystery type which I would say is a hybrid of the previous two the word view and settings are surreal but the reasoning process will conform to the reality the script crying is an example of this type this group is set in the virtual non-existent psychic World from and you can see people where people there will be continued to Loop and there will be sacred Divine women from Thailand who can connect with gods and ghosts they

can also possess other characters bodies and control the movements however to make the deduction process easier and logical reasoning in this type easier the murder part normally matches reality meaning the murder will be down by a real person using real life weapons so you don't need to consider other fictional elements for example if this guy is possessed by another body possessed by another person to control the movement and this is easier so you can know that maybe previous settings support there are a lot of fictional elements but the final single final murder will be the follow the standard who done it pattern so in this script the final murder is actually committed with a knife so it's easier for people to Guess Who who is the final murderer at present the proportions of the previous three times I mentioned the houdani the supernatural new mystery in the Chinese market the share of them are approximately 50 20 and 30 respectively so you can still see the traditional

hudanis are still the most popular ones because of the straightforward reasoning and deduction process while the pure Supernatural generals are becoming less common in the market because it's the psychic nature and increased difficulty in the mystery solving so that's less received in the Chinese market and now we have recently started to see a very new type of squid murder which is the open world RPG it's so new that only two shops in China operate this type so far so for fans of Epic Fantasy stories like Game of Thrones and Lord of Rings this game is a must play with the duration of three hours and advanced difficulty level players will be fully immersed in the rich detailed universe that offers countless pause and endings so this script Adventure features 11 scenes and 11 NPCs making it a real world RPG experience that not only include Guild battles and open and Hero Stories but also multiple modes that combine PVP

and PVE for maximum excitement of course you can team up with your friends and establish guilds to fight with other players so there will be camps and kills to to for you to fight with each other we can actually watch a video here so you can have a better grasp of this news oh you make me crazy [Music] our players can check the map and interact with the props in the scene and also engage with MPC they will give you some tasks to fulfill and then NPCs will perform and fight with each other as well during the way and because of the multi-branching narrative you need to play the screen many times to unlock all the stages and scenes according to the owner of the

shop most groups have to play at least 50 times to unlock the 11 scenes even though there will be still a lot of places and missions untapped and Waters aren't charted because the map is so huge the shop recovers over a thousand square meters of space for exploration my colleague colleague actually brought the map to Showcase you how big the space is so you do have a lot of places to explore and there are also multiple cities located differently in the shop so each each location here represents a diversity and then each City will has its own word view players can explore interact with and solve mysteries in these cities when we first embarked on this adventure we were truly impressed and we feel three hours were not enough at all the adventure is designed for 9 to 15 players at a time and each player can expect to pay an average cost of 380 RMB which is around 55 dollars

this is actually very expensive compared to traditional scripts in China which normally only cost around 15 I will talk more about this price in the third part so to quickly conclude the second part the division of types of discrete murders in China is fairly simple so the fictional and the real one mix of the two and something completely new these different types of mystery scripts each have their own unique attributes such as emotion Joy horror detective and more each type offers a different experience so after you've learned about the types I like to show you how we carry out the script murders there are four major factors layout and cosplay script DM and MPC so the first key factor is the layout and cosplay for traditional layouts there are generally very simple and cozy with a very basic layout of a table and a script that will be sufficient

normally cosplay is not required and their experience is not as immersive however some shops now have taken a completely different approach to the layout and added other cosplay elements for the players as well for example the Japanese layout is inspired by Japanese folklore and omeo G themes it features 120 square meters room with a locked room mystery like you can see all the Shinto shrines tatami rooms and decorations that fits perfectly with the background and more photos for the record of the photos on the PowerPoint were taken by my colleagues during our team building activities and Game Nights so no content is meant for commercial use and we also got to see the American style script which was based on the true story Paradise Lost by John Milton the visual effect is attributing to The

Conjuring so it's quite frightening it has a country house with complicated magnesiums each player is assigned to a specific room and the murder is inextricably linked to the layout of the house for example you can see from here the corridor is a carefully designed secret passage that can be moved toward another room so it creates another additional space so if you don't know this trick it won't be you won't be able to solve the case so it's very crucial and more photos and this script is set during the prohibition period in the United States so you can tell by the clothing that it fits right in and here's a look at some of my lovely colleagues cosplay and as a side note most great murder shops provide cosplay clothings and makeups and some even provide a Photoshop service for photo taken that day we also had plenty of Southeast Asian

style clothing and accessories on hand for the Thai style script the service includes hair styling and the design elements are religiously inspired because cross-dressing is permitted for most of the scripts it provides a one-of-a-kind cosplay experience we had a good laugh when the male colleague dressed up as a Divine woman therefore I would say the layout and cosplay elements play a significant role in creating an immersive experience it's essential to choose the one that complements the theme and of course the key Concept in script murders however is the script itself to create a truly engaging experience the story plots characters and emotions must all be carefully crafted nowadays many shops in China provides script on iPad to be more environmental friendly and they can reuse it over and over again if it's on paper then it gets old and it doesn't feel the same way consider the script return which we also

experienced during our Leisure Time this script tells the tragic story of a skin different character with six different personalities the background is set against the turbulent 1920s in China this group is not only entertaining but it also provides a more in-depth look into the characters minds and the challenges they face and because of the clever plot we can have six people playing together without realizing that they are in fact just one person so of course price is always a factor with majority of consumers over 55 of them preferring a price range of seven dollars to 50 14 dollars the cost of oarp experience is the one we mentioned earlier with all the cosplay and other layouts those type are more expensive it's around 29 to 58 dollars per person many shops offer packages that include food drinks and makeups to enhance the

experience I heard from the other day my colleague from the Canadian brunch and then she said the average price in Canada now is around 130 dollars per person so it's actually there's a huge premium and huge price gap between China and and other countries for the earlier examples of what we've given about over the cosplay and the MPC performance this type is normally the most expensive ones so students who do not have a financial income they would normally choose the traditional one to save more money apart from cost the value of intellectual property cannot be overstated when choosing a script players like me usually look for big title or adaptation of a well-known IP for example the adaptations of a popular TV drama such as Joy Of Life can attract a large fan base while also providing exciting cross-promotional opportunities

resulting in the win-win situation a company should collaborate closely with original content creators to ensure that that adaptation is respectful and accurate another example includes a script crossovers with popular games a crossover with nalaka blade point the game which sold over 10 million copies in less than a year after this release our team helped develop the console version of the game and we're very proud to say that the game is the world's first to combine melee combat and Battle Royale with a special teams of Oriental martial arts arts flavor with such a well-known IP it has been well accepted by players after being adapted into a script murder likewise collaborations with other game IPS such as sword and fairy and Chinese ghost story is also well received in fact all three games I mentioned here are the ones that our team develop help

port and operate so they are all quite famous before being adapted into the script murder or other type of board games and come back to the third factor is the DM or the the MPC so DM we also call dungeon master is the host in his great murder who drives the story and is the key player in the game and the guide players at different stages of the script give out hints and push forward the movements of events they also help connect dots for players and clarify some background knowledge throughout the game for example another Spirit martial arts that we visited the DM plays and a crucial role in leading players through different stages of the game on the other hand the MPC is a non-player character who appears in this group sometimes as a dead person they can also be staff members who play as the ghost to scare players in the horror script we have a video that showcases the scary Vibe when an NPC tried to

scare us in her blue robe and spooky must mosque so we can have a look [Music] [Music] that's great we we actually experienced the host group in a very very dark environment so you you will see a lot of uh blahs and scattered everywhere and then there will be people wearing the black robe or red robe and coming from nowhere that was super super scary so if you are a fan of the East mystery then probably this is the type that you should go and experience so from here I want to sum up the third part I just mentioned squid murders offer unique and captivating form of entertainment for the Chinese players and with careful

consideration given to layout cosplay scrape IP DM and MPC the possibilities for this exciting New Field are truly Limitless whether you're a fan of murder mysteries or just looking for a fun night out script murders are sure to provide Unforgettable experience for everyone so now I would like to turn the floor over to my colleague Lumin who will discuss the new chance in China and takeaways so that you can all live with something to think about introduced about the types and the key elements now I will introduce the new trends and the reasons first you already know some reality is very important to achieve the best experience however shops have limited space inside and the cost of decoration is quite High under such limited more advanced technology is needed such as

the hemographic projection technology it can help create sighting tethering to different content and stage of the script another trend is toward greater industry integration which includes education and tourism the most interesting thing is that sometime schools have combined children's training and script murders this kind of integration can actually better enhance the real experience and the interaction not just limited to one experience of a script but including more elements for example as you can see in this video a script dressed up and the cultural experience and so on similar we also combine script murder and martial arts with professional makeup and shooting players can feel more exciting and get more rewards in

one game all players on the picture are cultures from Sound fire ux the picture of the final version used for other white pattern you can see from the picture of Mile College put himself out and played the role of the beautiful cultism in contrast to make grandson or include more people the third trend is to produce top quality products because some players are not socially driving and prefer aquatic experience and at least competition also results following crafted single player products are necessary for this type of player this string focuses on improving the quality of the products by having detailed historical research to the eight correct gameplay elements these allow players to gain a greater sense of fulfillment and

rewards while paying one example is the main series products from omscape a Chinese company that finds traditional Chinese culture with the cooperation of the Paris Museum the company has created a puzzle book that can be considered a single player murder mystery game the screenshots here shows the first products and there are currently three products available in terms of gameplay mates campaigns the script with online app players need to read the content from the app and use offline groups to find goods and uncover the answers the precise include different endings which depends on the decision you make all the key points are related to historical release so you can feel the historical and good quality of the products now let's take a look at some items that are used during the game including Asian

coins rice paper and model building Etc this script set has sold over 800 000 copies in the latest series of the products the story is set in the Forbidden City of Ming density the products not only features creatives design but also use an app for enhanced gameplay for example there is a real room that has been restored to move just relaxed cream thing with the same human layout and the internal design by looking carefully how things are arranged and what direction so that guy is pointing players can find the next crew in addition to playing the game at home players can also takes the book to the Forbidden City to check in and interact interact with staff at the designated

location in terms of personal experience this maximize the players satisfaction innovation has also been made in book design we have brought the three books here today you are more than welcome to talk to us later and take a look at the scripts yourself and get more intuitive feeling that concludes our speeches for today well players can only experience the script once much like a TV series new content will continue to be produced as time change with integration of Ip I'm confident that there will be more new high quality products coming in the future May out cosplay script DM and NPCs it Remains the most critical elements as mentioned before the trend is to use the new technology

to create bigger more immersive rarp experiences enhance social participation and development better quality products that not only rely on gameplay but also provide a satisfying overall experience thanks for listening [Applause] yeah okay one question okay if if there's any questions we are happy to answer it I think we have one minute left and if there is no questions uh please don't forget to fill out the questionnaires afterwards they will be sent right to your mailbox and then we can meet up in the wrap up area if you have any

questions and then we can talk in private and discuss more details thank you thank you for coming oh you have a question sorry oh no worries um I was just curious uh if you happen to know uh where the the trend sort of like originated from like what you know was there like a studio that just had I know you mentioned it had its roots and like the whodunit and things but you know who were kind of the first people that said we're gonna make this sort of like escape room that you can come into and do this whole uh party that really like started to codify that genre thank you for a question I think the first one the history today back to the Western mystery a game that you you mentioned earlier the who done it and then we kind of get inspired by it and then we have Escape rooms and a lot of variety shows that started to kind of create a new content to play out in the TV to show like

they would try to find Clues and a huge hit I realize that can it make can uh The Story murder the progress that we we started to have this form and then from develop more and more in this layout and being a more immersive experience for example including more time that's mainly the idea certain mystery game thank you thank you thank you hope that answers your question thank you uh thanks for coming thank you thank you for coming [Applause]

[Music] thank you