How Non-Game Developers Can Learn WeChat Mini Game Development: A Practical Guide

This article shares insights from a technical salon on WeChat mini game development, presented by Zhou Guihua (花叔), a senior engineer at Tencent. The presentation uses the 2W1H framework (What, Why, How) to explain mini game development.

What are Mini Games?

Mini games are based on WeChat's private technical framework, different from H5 (which uses standard web technologies). Key differences include: 1) Mini games have limited cross-platform capabilities compared to H5; 2) Mini games support virtual payment (via Mi Master) but not regular WeChat payment; 3) Mini games are the only carrier in WeChat that truly supports social relationship chain features. The article explains the relationship chain data calling logic in mini games, including the old封闭式 sub-domain approach and the new JSserver + interactive托管 data server architecture.

Why Develop Mini Games?

For the author's team, the purpose was not monetization but brand exposure and user conversion. Their team specializes in interactive marketing technology using videos and H5, and they view games as another form of interaction. They developed several mini games including 拳王 (Whack-a-Mole), Monument Valley 2 demo, Red Alert, and Game of Thrones themed games.

How to Learn Mini Game Development?

The author shares their personal learning journey as a front-end developer. Starting with mini programs in 2017, they learned mini game development by building actual games. They used CreateJS as their first engine due to its simplicity, then switched to Cocos Creator for better efficiency. The article details how Cocos Creator's component-based, visual, and event-driven architecture enables faster game development (1-2 weeks with prepared assets).

Mini Program Cloud as Backend Solution

The author recommends Mini Program Cloud (小程序云) for backend needs, which provides database, storage, and cloud functions - eliminating the need for traditional server setup, HTTPS deployment, and domain registration. It also encapsulates authentication and cloud API calls, enabling front-end developers to handle full-stack development independently.

Case Studies

Several offline interactive game cases are presented: 1) Touch screen technology for multi-touch interactions at TGC 2017; 2) iBeacon + mini program for location-based experiences at TGC 2019; 3) Large screen interaction where players scan QR codes to interact with shared bikes and fight monsters on a big screen.