1. 101: What is a WeChat Mini Game? Case studies?
Mini Games = a form of Mini Program obeying specific rules / special category of Mini Program
You could make a game as a regular Mini Program, but mobile games are Tencent’s main turf, so to avoid any cannibalization of their cash cow they created a specific Mini Program category to host any game. They have all the characteristics of Mini Programs (instant access, sharing into chats etc.) with the following differences:
- Dedicated category and entry points inside WeChat’s game menu
- Additional APIs: leaderboards
Wechat Mini Games is open to any brand since March 2018.
- WeChat Mini Games Are Making Noise! How Can Developers Get Started Quickly? | July 2018 [Le Wagon]
- WeChat releases “Mini-games”: does it matter? | December 2017 [WalktheChat]
Case studies
Mini Programs / Instant Apps: how Bytedance and Douyin fare compared to Tencent’s?
2. Prerequisites
Apply to WeChat Mini-Program Account: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/
3. Setup
Key takeaways:
- HTML5 games can be converted into WeChat Mini Games, difficulty depends on the size of the original game and the framework it was based on
- With “viral” capacity,
Mini Games are designed to utilize the social features of WeChat to acquire new users - Same as Mini Programs, Mini Games frameworks are maturing fast and often offer cross-platform capability out of the box
4. How to kickstart WeChat Mini Game development
Deck 👇👇👇 & Source code 👇👇👇
5. Updates and timeline
| Date | Updates | Source / more details |
| March 2019 | WeChat opens its Mini Game platform to developers worldwide | The Verge |
| March 2018 | Wechat Mini Games platform is open to any brand | |
| December 2017 | WeChat launch WeChat Mini Games |