Note: This story comes originally from the Chinese news sites, Youxiputao and “What about mobile games,” but was repurposed for our English audiences.
A game built using Cocos Creator has now hit the top 25 list in the European and American markets, and we’re excited about it. Top War: Battle Game was originally released in 2019 for iOS, But Topwar Studios released the game in the latter half of last year for Android.
In the past few days, App Annie released the Top 30 of Chinese developer overseas revenue in December 2020. Top War Studio (aka Beijing Jiangyu Interactive Technology Co. Ltd) entered the top 20.
Sensor Tower's statistics show that its December downloads were about 7 million, and its revenue was 14 million U.S. dollars.
It took more than a year for "Top War" to gradually reach the top 20 worldwide and the top 200 on the iOS best-selling list. The game was launched at the end of 2019. In February last year, it entered the top 200 best-selling in the United States for the first time, and it entered the Top 100 best-selling iOS list in August. After that, the curve went way higher and reached the range of Top 50 and even Top 20.
What is Top War?
Top War returns to the classic vertical screen design for SLG games, which is convenient for one-handed operation and laid the foundation for this game's casual tone.
The second is a significant feature of the gameplay, which runs through the entire game. Top War completely abandons the traditional SLG ideas of upgrade buildings, the units, and other settings that require players to wait for a long time but uses "compositing" to upgrade the facilities and facilities.
Players only need to drag two buildings or units of the same type to synthesize higher-level units. In the later stage, multiple unit synthesis modes will be activated. You only need to drag and drop once, and the same unit can be automatically synthesized to the highest level, saving the trouble of multiple operations.
On the one hand, this multiple-composite elimination operation can give players a sense of refreshment similar to a match-3 game, simple and relaxing. On the other hand, it can significantly shorten the waiting time for players.
Especially in the later stages of the game, the upgrading of buildings, units, and technology often mean a long and tedious wait. Using the "synthesis" method of play can reduce players' boredom and increase the game's fun.
This design also allows "Top War" to retain a certain degree of strategy and not oversimplify and lose the game's charm that belongs to SLG.
Thanks to Jiangyu Interactive’s rich experience in overseas markets, Top War’s localization has been done quite well. For example, in the Japanese and Korean markets, the heroes are designed into a more Japanese-style vertical painting, which aligns with local players' aesthetic habits.
Final Thoughts
Cocos has been watching the growth of Top War for some time. As the game is not only showing success as a standalone app, it’s also available as a WeChat mini game in China. The game has shown that Cocos Creator's power allows many games not only to have a life as an app but also to work in other places such as Facebook, HTML5, and more.
Another big item is the growth of the Top War is advertising on YouTube and social media. We have seen some other big games using their push on YouTube and gaining massive ground according to the new Sensor Tower data, such as Join Clash 3D and older games like Raid: Shadow Legend and another Cocos-built game, AFK Arena. So it brings up more questions about what will come for the next few months as the game grows in popularity worldwide.
Checking reviews from YouTube and other places, and many Western players are pleased with the casual and how you can get in and out with the battles. The addictiveness of the many things you can do and improve.
It’s a great gem of a game we haven’t shared but is definitely worth your time to try out.
