Among domestic female-oriented games, "Codename Kite" has always been a very special one. Since its launch in the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan markets in March 2023, its popularity has not diminished, and the number of users has continued to grow. From the perspective of user ecology, the popularity of "Codename Kite" in communities such as Xiaohongshu and Weibo has reached tens of billions. Not only in the female-oriented field, but also in the overall mobile game field, it can compete with several major head products.
"Codename Kite" has always been very popular in platforms and communities where female users are concentrated, such as Xiaohongshu and Weibo Super Topic
Codename Kite is a female-oriented game. In people's impression, the player community should be full of secondary works centered around the male protagonist and love, plot discussions, sharing of love experiences, etc. However, after browsing it, I found that this is not the case. Among the related creations, card strategies occupy a considerable space. Players are very keen to study various strategies and share their own exciting battles. This is very unique in the female-oriented community.
Because card battles are a core part of "Codename Kite". As a game for women, "Codename Kite" also has many love stories, but it focuses more on the player's role as King Guangling, who mediates between the various forces of the male protagonists and strives for the grand goal of pacifying the world in troubled times. In this context, card battles with a certain intensity, active intelligence collection, and the cultivation of spies are not only an important part of the plot, but also an important part of the gameplay. Both aspects are indispensable. What's more, the playability of card battles in the game is quite good, and some players will even gradually "become addicted to fighting and forget about love."
Nearly 50 spies in the available cards are all good players under the command of King Guangling
Obsessed with playing cards, forgetting about love
Many people have the impression that female mobile game users, especially female general users who have made this category grow rapidly, are not keen on complex battles. However, Codename Kite has designed a card game with great depth, which means that you really have to "play cards" in Codename Kite – its fun and design focus are all on strategy.
Specifically, players need to use limited resources and rely on strategies and tactics to defeat powerful enemies. Many players posted that Codename Kite finally gave them something to do besides dating. Later on, players even lost interest in dating because "dating would only slow down my battle speed."
Some of the battles in Codename Kite are very strategic
The basic rules of attack, defense, and skill release in the card battles of Codename Kite are simple and easy to get started. But after playing more, you will find that the strategic depth of this system is not low. Most of the time, players can deal explosive high damage by reasonably arranging teams and stacking a bunch of buffs. It is cool and stress-relieving to kill a boss with hundreds of thousands of HP in four or five rounds; you can also put on layers of shields and see that the opponent can't hit you no matter how hard you try, and it will always be "my turn".
When faced with levels with complex mechanisms and requiring strategies, players may repeatedly "gamble", betting on some skills that have a certain probability of being effective, or the opponent not attacking their C position. They may also repeatedly change the team for trial and error. There is a feeling of "I just don't believe this one won't work", which makes people unable to stop.
Many players are completely attracted by the card playing in Codename Kite
In addition, players can also change the specialization type of the agent through the "life plate", such as changing a "healing and fighting" character to a pure healing character, changing a damage dealer to a specialization in critical hits, etc. This allows players to customize a biased team according to their own preferences and strategies to a certain extent. It can be said that compared with other card games, the degree of freedom and strategic depth of "Codename Kite" are not inferior.
Once you find the right method, the combat in Codename Kite can bring great satisfaction to players.
From this perspective, female players have always had a demand for in-depth gameplay, but there are few products to satisfy it. At a time when competition for female-oriented games is fierce and there are many schools of thought, more and more players are beginning to feel tired of the homogenization of games, which is also a manifestation of this demand gradually becoming apparent. It’s not that they don’t like traditional female-oriented elements such as love, dressing up, and handsome men, but they are frustrated that there are only these elements in the game. And "Codename Kite" finally gave them the fun of being able to command and command – female players also want to fight! Of course, the King of Guangling must know how to fight!
Players of Codename Kite are very keen to share strategies
The "real card playing" design of "Codename Kite" has spawned a large number of strategy creations in the player community, and these are quite in-depth strategy creations. Open the content creation community of "Codename Kite", and the strategy output on platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Weibo Super Topic can even occupy half of the country. Player strategies are detailed to how to play each level and what to do in each round. The types are also varied, divided into "high-end version" and "civilian version". There are both "national teams" with the best solutions and players who have not drawn cards and are not sufficiently trained. Discussions in many strategy comment areas are very lively. Everyone shares their card boxes, gives advice to each other, and helps each other.
It can be seen that the players of "Codename Kite" really enjoy studying the combat mechanism – after all, it is really fulfilling to study and play out the exciting battles such as "AFK instant kill" and "low-level crushing" by yourself.
Telling stories through gameplay
Emphasizing card battles does not mean that Codename Kite has given up on the "story content" that is the foundation of a female-oriented game. In addition to relying on mature gameplay design to attract people, Codename Kite's "real card playing" also assists the narrative to a certain extent and complements the world view.
The main plot of Codename Kite is that the player, as the King of Guangling, mediates and pulls between various forces, trying to preserve his power and the peace of the people in his fiefdom in troubled times. The secondary gameplay narrative, which focuses on combat and development, also inherits this principle, satisfying the changing tastes of today's female audiences – rather than a love story revolving around men, they want to see a variety of female characters, and they also want to see these characters "doing business" together.
It is easy to say that the narrative is integrated into the combat and development, but it is actually difficult to do. In many female-oriented games, the card pool is strongly bound to the male protagonists. It is said to be used for combat, but in essence it is used to unlock the plot on the card. The plot has little to do with the gameplay mechanism.
Codename Kite adopts a new approach, which packages the card development process into the player's growth experience. These gameplays are broken down into intelligence gathering, stronghold management and spy plots, and integrated into the growth of Guangling King's strength as a local prince.
Especially the stronghold reconstruction. Many new players never thought that when the main story is pushed to a certain point, the strongholds used to brush materials will be burned down along with the plot. This is also a way for the gameplay to echo the plot. Afterwards, the player needs to go through a long reconstruction process, placing people in each stronghold, and let the Xiuyi Building gain a foothold again, which echoes the efforts of King Guangling to make a comeback after suffering setbacks in the main storyline.
"Codename Kite" integrates the card development gameplay into the player's strength growth
The process of training card agents is also a process of becoming closer to them, which can unlock more personal stories of agents. In this regard, "Codename Kite" also shows its dedication to the plot content – not only the players and the male protagonist, but also the supporting characters are portrayed with flesh and blood. Among them, there are many female character creations and female perspectives that players are increasingly concerned about, and these contents are also closely integrated with their combat methods and skill designs.
The most popular female character in "Codename Kite" is Achan, the personal guard of Prince Guangling. In the main storyline, she always protects the player, goes through life and death with the player, and the player also regards her as a sister. As the spy plot is unlocked, the player will also understand the true meaning of her being "Cicada" and her past that was misunderstood due to her vague childhood memories. That past not only depicts Achan's inner longing for her lost relatives, but also epitomizes the suffering of the people in troubled times. The Embroidered Clothes Building of Prince Guangling became the shelter for the orphan Achan, and through the Embroidered Clothes Building, the player hopes to make the peaceful world a shelter for everyone.
Every player hopes that Xiuyilou can become Achan's real home.
Achan's performance in card battles also echoes her personality – she is one of the most versatile output-type spies in the early stage. Her built-in dodge and chase skills are greatly useful to many novices, saving players from difficulties. She is worthy of being the right-hand man of King Guangling.
No matter from which aspect, Achan goes beyond the role of a girlfriend who usually serves as a background board and assists in female games, but is a true life-and-death friend of the player. She also carries a deeper relationship and theme than friendship, subordinates, etc. Whether in the plot or in battle, she leaves a very deep impression on the player. This is also what "Codename Kite" has been trying to write, to see the "world affairs" from the microcosm of personal stories, no longer limited to the female relationship and female friendship of "three sentences without leaving men".
In addition to original characters like Achan, "Codename Kite" also made some imaginations and adaptations for the "silent" female characters in historical records.
The spy story of Zhen Mi is an example. In history, Zhen Mi was smart when she was young, and she became a typical virtuous harem woman when she grew up. She married Yuan Xi and Cao Pi successively, and was finally sentenced to death because Cao Pi believed in slander. In "Codename Yuan", she also showed a weak image at the beginning. She was a "love-brained" girl from a ruined family who tried to marry into the wealthy Yuan family in order to protect herself, but was exploited and manipulated by various forces.
However, her personal storyline was reversed in the later stage – "love-brain" was her protective color, used to cover up her real purpose of sneaking into Yuan's mansion. She was not a pawn used by others, but a "top student" who joined the game by showing weakness. Therefore, this feature of hers was also integrated into the passive skill of the spy, which could force the enemy to buff herself and then "detonate", causing high counter-injury, and could also deal astonishing damage at a low level. Whether in terms of plot or skills, this character turned the traditional weaknesses of women into strengths.
If a female character in "Codename Kite" suddenly appears to be "love-sick", then the person she is "in love with" may have to be careful.
Some people may say that these female images are a bit too "advanced" in the context of the time? But the game is essentially a contemporary entertainment product, not a restoration of historical facts. What it can do is to present cultural elements in an attractive way in a down-to-earth way, guide players to become interested, and then study the real history behind it. Even in the "story", "Codename Kite" also expressed its position and views from a female perspective.
There are many other agents who have won the players' favor due to their strong combat capabilities and rich plots. Because of the excellent characterization and the friendship of fighting side by side, there are many players who joke that "they have deeper feelings for the agents than for the male protagonists." From this perspective, "Codename Kite" breaks through the routine of only releasing male protagonist cards in general female-oriented categories, and strongly binds the love plot, narrative means and the cards themselves, and naturally and harmoniously combines the heavy gameplay, deep plot and rich character creation.
These designs greatly increase the "immersion" of female game players in a wider range – there are attractive male characters and love stories, exciting battles, and narratives that emphasize female friendship and female perspectives. At the same time, all of this helps players grow step by step and become the King of Guangling who truly manages a large number of spies in the Embroidered Clothes Building, mediates among multiple forces, and guards peace in one area.
Is it time for female-oriented games to “play by themselves”?
We have seen a lot of praise for the content production level of "Codename Kite" before. For example, the high-quality art, audio-visual and effects, as well as its emphasis on player growth and female characters. Now, maybe it's time to go a step further and focus on the gameplay design of female-oriented games – female-oriented games can also design deep combat, and combat and sub-game packaging can also participate in the narrative. In terms of plot and gameplay, "Codename Kite" fully respects and encourages female characters and female players to show their stronger and more capable side.
More importantly, when people mentioned domestic female-oriented games before, they often mentioned that "they have attracted female mobile Internet users who did not play games or rarely played games before" as a major feature. However, after several years of development, the female-oriented game market has completed the initial stage of player accumulation, and there are a large number of players who have been in contact with and understand games for a long time. They are no longer satisfied with the love content that pleases male characters and the overly light plot-oriented gameplay. They do not need the stereotype that "female players do not care about numbers" or "female players do not like fighting", but have higher requirements for game quality and depth.
In this context, the design concept of female-oriented games must also change. They cannot rely solely on traditional methods to attract players and expand the player base, but must create something truly attractive at the content level. In other words, female-oriented games have also rapidly entered the era of "playing by numbers" in a sense, and need to use more "game-like" advantages to face and attract the new era of female players.
Players study strategies as seriously as they do in class.
Following this trend, we can already see products that have tried in the areas of action and business simulation, but not many have innovated in card battles – and this is exactly what Codename Kite is doing. Codename Kite's in-depth design of card battles and its organic integration of characters, plots and gameplay are not only the core features of the game, but also a new path and new solution explored for female-oriented games and even card games, growing together with players and the market.
At present, it seems that this solution has found an audience that likes it and is suitable for it, proving that it is a viable path. "Codename Kite" has achieved its own breakthrough. Perhaps in the future, it can also influence the female-oriented card category and achieve more breakthroughs.
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