After its previous title surpassed 400 million in revenue, has this Guangzhou-based company created a new hit using the same old formula?

For most successful game development teams, rather than blindly spreading themselves too thin across multiple areas, they seem to prefer concentrating their resources on a single niche and continuously deepening their expertise there. By consistently creating hit products to secure their foothold in the market, they establish a solid competitive advantage in their specific segment.

A typical example is DianDian Interactive, which has continuously broken revenue records with its two mega-hits, *Endless Winter* and *BengBeng Kingdom*, and has firmly established itself as a leader in the global casual SLG market;Another example is Lemon Microfun, which has specialized in match-3 gameplay for many years. Relying on several well-refined match-3 titles, the company has firmly secured a core position in the global match-3 genre thanks to its consistent quality and mature monetization system.

Now, Shiyue Network, based in Guangzhou, appears to be expanding its reach using a similar approach.

In the middle of last year, Shiyue Network’s *Eternal Blue Planet* burst onto the scene. By deeply integrating the core elements of two popular gameplay styles—“Bullseye-style” and “LD-style”—the game quickly gained a foothold in the market thanks to its unique experience, racking up a massive number of downloads and impressive revenue right after its launch.According to data from DianDian, the game’s cumulative revenue on iOS alone has surpassed the 400 million mark since its launch, making it the undisputed dark horse in last year’s casual tower defense genre.

Now that *Eternal Blue Planet* has firmly established itself in the market, Shiyue Network is capitalizing on its momentum by launching a new title, *Dream Guardians*, which once again centers on the “Bullseye Like” core gameplay mechanic.This naturally raises the question: What unique features does this new game offer compared to its predecessor? And can the same gameplay formula replicate the previous success?

01

Cut Back on Content, Add More Strategies

Although this was another attempt on the same track, Shiyue Network did not simply replicate the gameplay design of its predecessor when developing *Dream Guardians*.If *Eternal Blue Planet* was a “compilation” of popular gameplay elements, then *Dream Guardians* is more of a streamlined version focused on the “bullseye-style” track.

The game has completely abandoned the random summoning and fusion mechanics of its predecessor, opting instead for a more straightforward approach featuring a fixed hero roster and targeted enhancement paths. Before entering a level, players can select and combine heroes from their existing list of Dream Spirits to form a five-hero team ready for battle.

During PvP matches, as you gain experience, various "Roguelike" choices will be triggered. By making strategic decisions to adjust your character’s order of appearance, talents, and skill combinations, you can develop a well-defined combat style and control your overall damage output.

In addition to the standard roguelike progression options, the game also features a skill mod system. During matches, mods with various effects drop randomly—some boost a hero’s attack speed, others increase skill damage, and still others increase the number of ricochets, among other effects.After picking them up, players can freely assign them to corresponding heroes. By equipping, removing, and combining different attachments, players can flexibly create various playstyles, such as attack speed builds, split-damage builds, and burst-damage builds.

When facing challenging bosses, relying solely on class combinations is far from enough; hero attribute advantages are also key to victory.

All Dream Spirits are divided into multiple classes, including Warrior, Mage, Archer, Support, Control, and Poison. Players must select heroes from the appropriate classes based on the boss’s weaknesses and combine them with a build system consisting of accessories and skills to maximize damage output and successfully clear challenging levels.

Overall, the gameplay design of *Dream Guardians* significantly reduces the randomness found in its predecessor, placing greater emphasis on strategic decision-making; the outcome of battles now depends more on pre-battle formation and skill builds.The immersive unit deployment, combined with the exhilarating thrill of clearing enemies across the entire screen, achieves a perfect blend of strategic depth and a cathartic, stress-relieving experience—making it incredibly addictive to play.

Furthermore, compared to its predecessor, this game’s crisp and snappy gameplay pace, clearer progression paths, and lower learning curve allow even casual gamers to jump right in and enjoy a smooth experience.

Of course, to progress further in the main story levels, in-game team composition and deck-building aren’t the only factors—your progression outside of gameplay plays a decisive role as well. The game’s progression system is primarily divided into two parts: the Captain and the Dream Spirits.

As the core protagonist of the game, the Captain automatically participates in every match from start to finish. He possesses consistent damage output and provides additional attribute bonuses to Dream Spirits, but cannot equip skill modules.

Players can develop their Captain across multiple dimensions—including gear, runes, and weapons—to comprehensively boost the Captain’s stats and provide a stable foundation of combat power for the entire battle.

Dream Spirits remain the team’s primary damage dealers. Players can recruit new Dream Spirits through the Dream Realm and upgrade them using resources such as Dream Spirit Shards and Superpower Potions; once a hero reaches a certain level, they can also unlock new, more powerful skills.

In addition, the game offers a variety of skins for heroes; activating a skin also grants attribute bonuses, further boosting combat power.

When players lack the combat power needed to progress through levels, leveling up their characters is the most direct way to break through the impasse. In this process, diamonds—which can be exchanged for key resources such as Recruitment Keys and Superpower Potions—naturally become the core element of the game’s monetization design.

This allows the development team to guide players toward making in-app purchases by carefully managing the level mechanics.

In addition to the main storyline, players can also compete against other players in Screen Showdown (PvP), testing their deck-building skills and in-battle strategies to climb the rankings and earn tier rewards. They can also invite friends to team up for Dream Realm Cruises, where they can work together to tackle more challenging levels and experience the joy of cooperative gameplay.

02

Take a steady and forceful approach; concentrate resources

After refining its core gameplay and monetization design, *Dream Guardians* adopted a strategy of concentrated user acquisition and high-intensity advertising during the launch phase to quickly gain traction in the market.

According to data from App Growing, on March 17—the day the game launched—the number of ad creatives served exceeded 10,000; on March 21, the day after the new version was released, that number surged again to 20,000. As of March 31, the total number of ad creatives served for the project had exceeded 70,000, with estimated ad spend exceeding 37 million yuan.

"Dream Guardians" Campaign Performance; Image Source: App Growing

Their viral content primarily revolves around two main approaches: live-action narration and scripted performances. The live-action narration videos rely on the hosts’ highly entertaining and vivid delivery to clearly explain the game’s core features and highlights, while also effectively communicating the generous rewards, quickly capturing players’ attention.

"Dream Guardians" user acquisition creatives; Image source: App Growing

The narrative, through its high-conflict plot design, visually captures the exhilarating feeling of mowing down enemies across the entire screen and the fun of strategic combinations, precisely appealing to the core user base that enjoys light-strategy hack-and-slash gameplay.

"Dream Guardians" user acquisition creatives; Image source: App Growing

The game has also enlisted renowned stand-up comedian Fu Hang as its brand ambassador, leveraging his public recognition and lighthearted, humorous personality to further expand its reach beyond its core audience and attract a broader base of casual gamers.

In addition to standard user acquisition campaigns, *Dream Guardians* has also designed a variety of in-game events offering physical rewards. For example, players who complete specific tasks and collect all the required puzzle pieces during the event period can redeem blind box rewards directly.

In the "Dimension Supply Station" mode, the game also offers players a chance to enter a free daily raffle—players can participate once each day simply by logging in. The prize pool includes gold banknotes, custom eye mask merchandise, and many other physical prizes.

Past market examples have shown that tangible, real-world rewards are more effective at boosting user engagement and long-term retention than various virtual items. Previously, *My Garden World* successfully stood out among similar products thanks to its innovative business model of “playing the game to receive real flowers.”

Players who grow flowers in the game can randomly receive “Flower Greeting Cards,” which can be redeemed for real bouquets. Thanks to this gameplay feature—which not only aligns with the game’s theme but also fosters a strong sense of engagement and generates significant buzz—the game ultimately climbed to the top of the best-seller charts on major platforms.

Now, *Dream Guardians* has adopted this same approach, deeply integrating physical rewards with daily gameplay and progression goals. On the one hand, this lowers the barrier to entry for events; on the other, it enhances the appeal of the rewards,continuously fueling player engagement. By leveraging the event’s buzz, the game effectively acquires new users and solidifies retention in the highly competitive casual strategy “mow-’em-up” genre.

Backed by solid gameplay and high-impact, targeted marketing, *Dream Guardians* topped the iOS Free Chart on the day of its launch and has steadily climbed the iOS Top Grossing Chart, reaching as high as No. 24 to date.

According to statistics from DianDian Data, in the half-month period from its launch through March 29, the game has amassed 3.6 million cumulative downloads on the iOS platform alone, with revenue exceeding 13 million yuan—a truly impressive performance in the casual strategy “mow-’em-up” genre.

Revenue Performance of *Dream Guardians*; Image Source: DianDian Data

In August 2023, Da Meng Long Tu launched *Bullseye*, showcasing to the industry the potential of vertical-screen, single-direction tower defense combined with in-game real-time tower construction—and officially sparking a “Bullseye-like” craze.Since then, a number of titles—such as *Shoot the Zombies*—have gone viral, rapidly gaining popularity in both domestic and international markets thanks to their easy-to-learn mechanics and highly satisfying gameplay. However, as more players entered the market, the sector quickly became plagued by severe homogenization and intense competition for user traffic.

Who would have thought that even in such a crowded and highly competitive environment, Shiyue Network would still manage to achieve one breakthrough after another, launching a series of products that have garnered both popularity and critical acclaim.This confirms a core principle: no matter how crowded the market may be, as long as a company persists in innovating its gameplay, differentiating its operations, and refining its monetization strategies, there will always be an opportunity to carve out a niche for itself in the market.

Turning back to the game *Dream Guardians*, it is currently still in the early stages of its launch.As the game continues to undergo iterative updates, user acquisition strategies are constantly optimized, and long-term operational content is gradually rolled out, the game is expected to further expand its user base, improve its monetization performance, and continue to solidify Shiyue Network’s product advantages and market position in the light-strategy casual gaming segment.