免费模式已经成为iPhone手机游戏的发展趋势，但目前仍未到达鼎盛时期。不光是Zynga、Playdom、ngmoco这类大牌游戏公司正在努力，像The PlayForge这种初创的游戏开发工作室更是不敢掉以轻心，铆足了劲准备争取这一市场的用户。

据游戏邦了解，The PlayForge由文斯·麦克唐纳（Vince McDonnell）在自己家中创办，该工作室今年2月推出的《僵尸农场》（Zombie Farm）充分表明，只要抓准时机，小规模的独立开发商也同样可以打造成功的项目。

以下是文斯·麦克唐纳关于《僵尸农场》这款游戏开发过程的访谈内容。

Zombie Farm

为什么要进入iOS游戏开发领域？

大约在2009年，我才开始考虑这个问题，当时我的工作是开发电影题材的掌机游戏。

掌机游戏开发领域的生存竞争很残酷，加班也很频繁。我亲眼目睹许多拼死拼活的前辈，最终也只落个被新人取代的下场，长江后浪推前浪，大家最后都不免重走前人的老路。我非常想摆脱这种状态，恰好在那时看到了一篇讲述Steve Demeter这个人因开发iPhone游戏而致富发家的文章。后来又读到另一篇介绍《iShoot》这款游戏收益非常可观的报道。

这类文章都在连篇累牍地报道手机游戏开发领域的淘金热。不管它们究竟是不是在打宣传广告，我都已经厌倦了早就无所谓的工作，所以萌生了转战手机游戏领域的想法。糟糕的是，当时我甚至连一部iPhone或者iPod都没有，但为了实现自己的报负，我还是狠下心买了第一台Mac电脑，开始学习Objective C，试着自己开发iOS应用软件。

在《僵尸农场》之前，你还开发了其他几部作品，请问你从这些游戏开发中获得了什么经验？

《Chore Hero》是我推出的第一款iOS应用，开发时间不算太长，但用户反应却很不错。当然，它也根本没有赚到什么钱。之后我又推出了第二、第三款办公类应用，但它们的情况都不是太妙。

不过我也因此明白了一个道理：就算是自己一个人也照样可以开发出强大的应用。所以我决心抓住最后一根救命稻草，运用自己熟悉的知识，开发iOS游戏。

当时我太太同时要打两份工，即使这样，我们还是濒于破产，因为还欠着银行按揭贷款。所以我不得不争分夺秒，得空就得加紧开发这款游戏。

Zombie Farm

《僵尸农场》的灵感从何而来？

因为我要努力工作，很少有什么休息的时间，所以我开始玩一些休闲游戏来放松，也因此成了《FarmVille》的超级粉丝。但我走在路上的时候却不能玩这款游戏，这一点让我很失落。另外，我对那款很好玩又有点滑稽的《植物大战僵尸》（Plants vs.Zombies）也很着迷。

当时我就想，如果能把这两款我最爱的游戏结合到一起应该是个很不赖的主意。为什么不能在农场同时播种僵尸和蔬菜，让它们一起从地里长出来呢？

你是如何让这款游戏在吸引《FarmVille》用户的同时，又能保持自己的独特个性？

当我有了《僵尸农场》这个想法的时候，我希望创造一款可以和全家人共同分享、以丰收为目标、具有社交属性，风格有点类似于《FarmVille》的游戏。这样用户看到它时，就会对游戏界面比较熟悉，不需要花费太多时间摸索游戏操作方法。

不过《僵尸农场》还是有大量不同于其他游戏的元素。首先，它是两款游戏的合体，具有农场游戏功能，同时还含有战斗元素。

我在开发过程中遇到的难题就是，怎么制作这些天生病态、而又人见人爱的僵尸形象。我有一个很有趣的想法，就是创造那种傻头傻脑，喜欢蝴蝶和彩虹的僵尸，玩家把这种僵尸种到地里，等它长大后就会为主人派上大用场，彻底颠覆了传统刻板的僵尸形象。

随着游戏开发的不断深入，我还添加了一些新功能，比如说僵尸技能，基因突变功能等，让用户创造奇形怪状的植物僵尸合体。

Zombie Farm

你是什么时候开始发现，《僵尸农场》会是一部成功的作品？

这款游戏发行后的第二天，就进帐500美元。当时我和我太太都乐坏了，手舞足蹈了好几圈。我们很欣慰，“努力付出总算得到回报，我们成功了！”第三天这款游戏的收益达到2000美元，第四天是4000美元，每天都在成倍增长。

另外，这款游戏在一周后攀升到了苹果App Store综合游戏的第4名，并且一直稳居iTunes应用排行榜的前列，目前下载量已经超过650万次。

这款游戏的玩家在我们Facebook页面上的留言也很鼓舞人心，用户反馈让我预感这款游戏还会持续受到热捧，我们非常感谢他们对游戏的积极评价。

你是怎么维护和更新这款游戏的呢？

我们一直在优化《僵尸农场》这款游戏，添加新的基因突变功能、道具、庄稼品种，每月还会推出特别更新版本。最近还新增了农场的昼夜显示效果，会根据玩家所在地时间进行自动变化。我们还增加了Game Center功能，提高用户的在线游戏体验。

我们还会持续增加更多具有黏性的新功能，现在的更新内容大部分是取材于用户的反馈意见。我们重视倾听玩家的需求，会根据他们的想法对游戏进行调整。我们想为玩家创造最有趣，最有吸引力的游戏体验。

作为一款非Facebook平台的游戏，你为什么认为它的社区功能也会很可行？

网页/网站编程并不是我的强项，所以我用Facebook Connect SDK来实现这种操作。用Facebook Connect结合Playhaven工具，就可以设置我自己无法创造的游戏社区功能。

《僵尸农场》最近才刚植入cloud-saving和玩家互赠礼物等在线功能。我们还设置了一些奖励措施，鼓励玩家加入这款游戏社区，为他们提供一些游戏优先权和未来升级版本。我们还刚推出了一项许多人都没发现的功能，不过细心的玩家可能会注意到，这款游戏里面有些僵尸和他们自己的Facebook好友同名。

Zombie Farm

可有计划将这款游戏投向其他平台？

Android Market是一个迅速膨胀的市场，所以我们当然会考虑推出Android版本。我想Android这个平台的蓬勃生命力已经是有目共睹，也是备受开发商关注的对象。

我们还有想过创建一款Facebook版本的《僵尸农场》，总之一切皆有可能。我们希望这款游戏的用户越多越好。

是否认为免费模式是手机游戏的最佳运营模式？

这种模式对我们来说很有效。玩家不需要购买任何内置付费功能，就可以通关玩完《僵尸农场》，这种模式很有助于吸引大量玩家。

我认为，不能强迫玩家购买付费功能，影响他们的游戏体验。有些玩家选择购买虚拟商品，一般只是为了加快游戏进程，或者获得更酷的游戏道具。

《僵尸农场》里的虚拟货币brains可以提升玩家的游戏体验，但并不是游戏过程中的必需装备，这也是我们一直坚守的底线。

The PlayForge下一个发展计划是什么？

当然是推出更多iPhone和iPod游戏。iTunes的App Store是我们这些独立开发者的最佳媒介，它大大简化了游戏发行过程。不过我们也会挖掘其他平台的市场潜力。

我们现在已经在开发一些新游戏，明年初可能会公布有关情况，请继续关注我们，The PlayForge一定会让玩家获得最新游戏情报。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

How Vince McDonnell left his job, took inspiration from FarmVille and Plants vs. Zombies, and did over six million downloads of iOS success story Zombie Farm

While freemium has been the one of the defining trends of iPhone gaming in 2010, it’s taken a long time to rise to prominence.

Indeed, while the likes of Zynga, Playdom and ngmoco spent time streamlining their processes for the platform, it’s been indie startups such as The PlayForge who have arguably made as much impact.

Set up by Vince McDonnell in his living room, the release of Zombie Farm in February demonstrated that if you’re nimble enough to catch the right wave, you can gain a huge audience and launch a very successful business.

PocketGamer: Why did you decide to get involved in iOS game development?

Vince McDonnell: Around July 2009, I started thinking about it while at my old job, developing console games for movie titles.

The console industry is brutal and the overtime is intense. Seeing veterans get burned out only to be replaced with eager new grads who await the same fate was rough. I was looking for a way out when I read an article about a person called Steve Demeter who made a fortune making iPhone games.

Then there was another article about a neat game called iShoot that made a lot of money as well.

All these articles kept talking about this as a Gold Rush. Whether this was propaganda or not, I was so sick of my job that I didn’t care. Heck, I didn’t even own an iPhone or iPod but was so committed to doing this that I bought my first Mac and started learning Objective C to begin development on the iOS platform.

You had a couple of releases before Zombie Farm, so what did you learn from them?

Chore Hero was my first iOS title. It didn’t take me too long to create and was pretty well received. Still, it didn’t make any money at all. After I put out a second and third productivity app, those didn’t fair much better.

But what I did learn from those experiences is that one person can make great apps. So, I took what I learned and decided to stick to what I knew; games, which would be my final straw.

My wife was working two jobs at the time, and even then we were going broke because of a mortgage. So I started dedicating every waking moment to making this game happen.

What was the inspiration for Zombie Farm?

Having less free time, I started playing casual games and was a big fan of FarmVille. However, I was disappointed that I couldn’t play it on the go. I also thoroughly enjoyed the playful, charming ridiculousness of Plants vs. Zombies.

I thought how cool it would be if I could mix my favorite games together. Why not plant the zombies and the veggies and watch them both pop out of the ground together?

How did you try to make it appeal to the FarmVille audience but also to be distinctive?

When I first came up with the idea for Zombie Farm, I wanted to create something that was family friendly, harvesting oriented, and socially capable, similar in a few ways to the FarmVille-type games. That way when people see the game, they are greeted with a familiar interface that doesn’t require much learning.

Zombie Farm has a slew of differentiating factors though. At its core, it’s two games in one, with the fighting/combat elements in tandem with the farming mechanic.

A hurdle I had to cross was how to make zombies, naturally morbid characters, family friendly. Personally, the idea that originally got me excited was the goofy zombies who think about butterflies and rainbows, that you plant and grow and who will, in the end, help you out. It essentially turns the traditional zombie archetype on its head.

As the game has evolved, I’ve also added features like zombie abilities, and mutations that let you make bizarre vegetable-zombie creations. It’s pretty fun to see what combinations you can come up with.

When did it become clear to you that Zombie Farm was going to be a success?

After launch, the very next day it grossed $500. My wife and I started jumping around and dancing with excitement! “Hard times are done, we won!” Then the day after that it made $2,000, and $4,000 the day after. Every day it doubled.

As if that wasn’t enough, Apple featured the game in its top carousel and a week later it was the #4 top grossing game. We’ve continued to stay close to the top of the iTunes charts and we’ve received more than six and a half million downloads to-date.

Also, the community has been extremely active on our Facebook page which I always feel is a great indicator of continued success. The feedback and insights from them have been invaluable and we are really grateful for that.

How have you gone about supporting and updating the game?

We’re consistent with our frequent iterations of Zombie Farm, adding mutations, items, crops and doing special updates on a monthly basis. We’ve recently added day and night elements to the farm. It is reflective of the player’s actual local time. We’ve also added Game Center along with enhancements to online play.

We are just consistently adding engaging elements to the game. Much of our update content is inspired by fan feedback. We listen to the comments from players and make adjustments accordingly. We want to give our players the most fun and engaging experience possible.

As a casual game that’s not built on Facebook, how have you ensured its community features work well?

Web/network programming is not my strong suit, so I used the Facebook Connect SDK for this. Facebook Connect in conjunction with Playhaven have helped me achieve community features that I couldn’t have created myself.

Zombie Farm has only recently been implementing online features like cloud-saving and player-to-player gifting.

We like to build in fun incentives for players to join the community too. It gives them a vested interest in the game and future updates. We even have a neat feature not many people know about – players might notice that some of the zombies in the game are named after their own Facebook friends.

What plans do to you have to bring Zombie Farm to other platforms?

The Android Market has been rapidly expanding so we definitely want to consider adding the game to that platform. I think it’s a common sentiment among developers that Android is looking more and more viable.

We have played around with the concept of building a version for Facebook. Nothing is out of the question. We want to bring the game to as many players as possible.

Do you think freemium is the best business model for mobile games?

This model has worked well for us. Zombie Farm can be played all the way through without making any in-app purchases which is great because it brings people to the game.

I have come to believe that you should not require players to make purchases at any point in a game. Some players choose to purchase virtual goods but they commonly just do it to boost progression or in some cases yield cooler items.

The brains (our in-app currency) in Zombie Farm enhance the gaming experience; they are not mandatory for progression. That’s something we are pretty adamant about keeping.

What’s next for The PlayForge?

More games for the iPhone/iPod of course! The iTunes App Store has been a great medium for indie developers like us. It has really simplified the distribution process, which is great. We are exploring new platforms though.

We have a few things in the works right now and hope to make those announcements early next year. Stay tuned. The Playforge has a lot of big plans for the future and we are sure to keep our players in the loop.（source:pocketgamer）