游戏邦在:
杂志专栏:
gamerboom.com订阅到鲜果订阅到抓虾google reader订阅到有道订阅到QQ邮箱订阅到帮看

游戏行家解析如何制作出iOS精品游戏的关键点

发布时间:2011-05-12 17:46:30 Tags:,

作者:Dan Griliopoulos

本周PocketGamer的手机行家们提出问题,但Mills似乎有更深的见解,以完全不同的观点来提出问题。

他提出的问题是:“有多少人真正认为自己很有可能靠某款质量上乘(游戏邦注:这里所谓的质量上乘是指某些任何人都可以想到却未曾做出的内容。)的iOS游戏华丽转身呢?”

为进一步阐述这个问题,他补充道:“最近我同成功商业运营某个游戏工作室的伙伴交谈过。我问他是否会选择不借助此前用来盈利的强大用户平台来发布游戏,他认为这在商业上无异于自杀行为。”

最佳选择

来自Tag Games的Paul Farley肯定了此类说法,他说道:“开发商在iOS上的机会确实比其他封闭式平台要小,但因为其用户规模和可触及性,iOS毫无疑问仍极具吸引力。这是个测试游戏质量的好地方,但我们此前取得的所有成功都缘于多平台战略。而且,尽管对度量追踪和数据分析的使用逐渐增加,运营和开发模式所需的前期投资减少,但制作游戏并盈利仍旧是个非常危险的商业行为。”

Handy Games

HandyGames的Christopher Kassulke同意这个看法,他说道:“如果你想要变得富裕,就应该机灵些。如果没有营销、销售或促销手段,你的做法无异于博彩。但所有平台都存在这种情况。”随后他对此做了个比喻:“淘金热时来时去,你当然也可以去挖掘黄金。但并非所有的淘金者都变得富裕,有钱的恰恰是那些出售铲子和威士忌的人。两三年前,当所有人在为Wii、PlayStation 3和Xbox 360等控制器开发游戏之时,开发PlayStation 2游戏是行业最具盈利能力的商业行为。”

盈利方式

Tower Studios的Jon Hare此前见过这种情况,他的看法更为悲观。他说道:“自20世纪90年代中叶起,靠其他人的钱支撑商业自杀行为已成为游戏业准则。”

他列举出手机开发商可以采用的三种方式,他说道:“你可以在真正开始开发半年前加入大公司和他们一起玩这场游戏,这种做法可以用别人的钱,但这需要一定的运气。或者从一开始就自力更生,将你拥有的所有东西都投入其中,并随后投入更多。这种做法在已取得初步成效的公司中很常见,但对刚刚成立的小型开发群体来说极具破坏性。因为这种行为会使得游戏价格下跌,随之产生更大的风险,让发行商产生很不切实际的期望值。”

他的第三个观点的基础,便是他所谓的运营第一原则:别损失。他说道:“要采取小心谨慎的方法,除了时间之外别投入过多的金钱。尽管这种缓慢的方法令人厌烦,但确实需要在花费少量金钱的基础上保持商业警觉性并适当做出决策。”

质量是关键

Bolt Creative的Dave Castelnuovo不同意这种看法,他显得更为乐观。他说道:“淘金热尚未结束,只要你有想法,就能解决所有问题。关键在于别花50万美元做出一款高质量游戏,然后放任让它自己取得成功。你应该认识到缓慢的销售过程不会消磨你的意志,而且应给予重视。发布游戏后不断做出支持工作和营销,让游戏获得足够的曝光度并与发行商斡旋。”

Pocket God

口袋上帝

他还辩解称苹果所处的地位不如想象那般重要。“苹果式的推销是人工实现的曝光度上升,人们下载游戏仅仅是因为看到了这款游戏,而不是因为游戏的精华。多数真正能够永驻App Store的游戏都曾经历过缓慢的增长,比如《愤怒的小鸟》、《涂鸦跳跃》和《口袋上帝》等都花了数个月的时间才升至前十。让游戏受玩家喜爱的关键点在于,不断改善游戏直至其能够靠游戏本身的质量进驻排行榜。”

Tiswaz的Kevin Dent同意Castelnuovo的看法,他说道:“我通常在同小型工作室交流时,建议他们专注于制作单屏解谜式游戏,这样在60天的制作时间中可以匀出两周来进行优化。我也建议他们别对盈利有过高的期望值,只有少数几个大的独立工作室可以承受6位数盈利带来的风险。”

游戏成功之道复杂

英国媒体公司DMGT应用分公司A&N Mobile & TV的Ian Macleod同意上述看法:“就成功的游戏而言,这个行业不断令我感到震惊,也让我感到困惑。即便现在我已经进入了主流市场,何种应用能激起用户的反响仍不得而知。不幸的是,从整个行业的角度来说,我认为目前主要的担忧在于越来越趋向尝试复制成功而不是创造成功。在多次彻底的失败中,我们都把游戏发布日作为项目完结的日子。我们开始进行另一个项目,想等着看游戏销售量暴涨和用户对更新的期待增加,但工作室就此开始沉沦。”

Paul Farley发现Nassim Nicholas Taleb的畅销书《The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable》在对待不可预测性、创造能为人所接受甚至欢迎的公司文化和运营模式有所帮助。他解释道:“我并非很相信运气成分,但我确实认为一款游戏成功所蕴含因素的内容和复杂性已超乎我们在此刻做出界定的能力。”

事态会有所改观

当然,总会出现不同意见,比如Fishlabs的Michael Schade。他辩解称:“就安装量超过2亿的《愤怒的小鸟》来说,其所取得的商业成功不如安装量为1亿的控制器游戏。”尽管如此,他同意上述意见,表示简单但吸引人而且能够不断产生挑战的游戏会在App Store上畅销。他说道:“就App Store的主要靠高下载驱动的运作方式来看,这便是巨大的市场诉求,以最低的价格销售游戏。如果电影或控制器游戏没有品牌认证,可能也不会如此成功。”

愤怒的小鸟

接纳不确定性

Tag的Paul Farley不同意这种看法,他认为成功是不可预测的,即便曾经经历过成功。他说道:“大多数工作室都有某款全副武装冲击市场的游戏,像Sandlot Games之类的公司靠《Cake Mania》扬名,现在却想继续靠此拯救整个公司。正因为这个原因,我认为我们存在失去这份工作的危险,即便我们有某款游戏杀出重围。这里面蕴含的内容不只是盈利。当雇员能带来许多好处,一旦团队习惯于为前作或现有作品工作,这就成了准则。”

Capcom的Leo Tan开玩笑道:“我从《Game Dev Story》中学到了这个原理,很高兴听到它适用于现实开发中。”

IUGO的Sarah Thomson同意原本的观点,她说道:“没有人能够认识到制作出巨作并非意味着所有事情结束,多数人在这上面犯错。这也正是该行业的亮点和陷阱所在,Paul提出了个很好的看法,你应该接受并学会如何带着这种成功开展工作,否则就会面临失败的危险。”

取得成功的某些因素

许多讨论的重点都放在某个成功的游戏上,很显然那就是《愤怒的小鸟》。Gamevil的Kyu Lee认为Rovio的成功之处在于其努力的工作和对细节的关注,不仅体现在游戏开发中,还体现在客户服务上。他说道:“我浏览过Rovio网站上数千条的评论,为公司积极支持每个客户的做法感到震惊。Rovio关注每个用户。他们也做了大量的促销,但公司也保持着最初的做法。Rovio已经取得了成功,我确实认为客户是其成功的基础。”

Com2uS的Joony Koo是另一个保持客户满意度的行家,他说道:“这不是运气成分,客户满意度是任何产品或服务的核心基础。你可能足够幸运登上榜单,但好游戏和对用户的关注行为也必不可少。如果竞争者的位置在App Store上摇摆不定,学习他们的经验和营销行为,这才是你的运气所在。”随后,他将自己的看法总结如下:“了解自己的位置,游戏质量很重要。淘金热可能逝去,但金矿仍然存在。矿中究竟是什么,这取决于我们的做法。”

Rovio-logo

Rovio

展望未来

回到《愤怒的小鸟》讨论上,Jon Hare起先对此表示称赞,随后表示这款游戏并没有真正吸引自己的注意力。他说道:“《愤怒的小鸟》是现在极具吸引力的游戏,是专属平台巨作。但现在还没有什么东西可以让我沉迷于把玩自己的iPhone。我从未担心过自己的手机电量。事实上,我认为这些平台上真正非常棒的游戏还未出现。”

Dave Castelnuovo认为这个观点分清了iOS游戏和开发者间的界线。他说道:“对我的妻子来说,《愤怒的小鸟》就是她的《低俗小说》(游戏邦注:美国某电影。)。她在那款游戏中花的时间比《魔兽世界》骨灰级玩家还要多。我认为我们可能都是Atari、Colecovision、Sega、任天堂和PlayStation伴随成长起来的硬核玩家。我必须承认,iOS设备上还未出现代表作。《Sword & Sworcery》面世是个良好的开局,但游戏过短且内容不够丰富。”

游戏营销的重要性

Kevin Dent的看法更为务实,他说道:“如果人们喜欢小鸟,那么就给他们小鸟,贸然改变市场趋势只会落得Marie Antoinette(游戏邦注:法国皇帝路易十六之妻,被处死于断头台。)的下场。”他同样也强调了促销的重要性:“我觉得工作室Lima Sky和Bolt Creative真正懂得如何推销他们的游戏,这确实是开发商需要展现出来的才华。你可以有着世界上最棒的游戏,但如果没人知道也毫无用处。如果你能让Yorkshire Terrier Monthly评论你的游戏,那么就这么去做吧。”

因而,Mills得出的结论似乎更具哲理性,他表示:“我之所以喜欢这个行业是因为我们之间的共享。这里没有敌人,没有敌对行为。只有带着激情的人们专注于制作可能让生活变得更好的高质量产品。我希望这种趋势进行下去,最后我们都能够取得成功。”(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,转载请注明来源:游戏邦)

The PG.biz Mobile Gaming Mavens discuss how to make a successful iOS game

Dan Griliopoulos

This week, the PocketGamer Mobile Mavens were assigned a topic, but Mills of UK/Swedish outfit ustwo knew better and toke them in an entirely different direction.

The question he asked was: “How many people actually believe there’s a high chance of making a return on a quality (by quality I mean something that any one of us can look at and feel a little sick that we didn’t make) iOS game?

He further qualified this, adding: “Recently, I spoke with one of my good mates who happens to run a very commercially successful game studio. I asked him if he would release a game without the power of a huge user platform he uses to monetise and he said; ‘No, it would be commercial suicide’.”

Best of a bad bunch

Paul Farley, from Tag Games answered in the affirmative. “You almost certainly have a lesser chance [on iOS] than on other closed platforms, but due to the size and accessibility of the userbase, it’s no wonder iOS is so attractive,” he argued. “It is a great place to test IP, but every success we’ve had has been because of a multi-platform strategy from day one. Also, despite the increased use of metrics tracking, data analysis and business/development models that require less upfront investment, creating games and trying to make money from them remains a very risky business.”

Christopher Kassulke of HandyGames agreed, with characteristic honesty: “If you want to become rich – become a pimp. Without marketing, sales or promotion power, you play the lottery. But that’s for all platforms.” Then, making a wider point, he continued: “The goldrush comes, the goldrush goes; you can still dig for gold. Not all gold diggers became rich, but those who sold the shovels and whisky did.” “Two or three years ago, the most profitable business in the games industry was developing PlayStation 2 titles when everyone else was developing for Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, etc. Normally, business gets more profitable when the lemmings have moved to the next goldrush.”

Money, money, money

Tower Studios’ Jon Hare has seen it all before. He had a more pessimistic outlook. “Commercial suicide backed by other people’s money has been the norm in the game industry since the mid-1990s.”

He listed three ways to operate as a mobile developer. “You can join the big boys and play their game, but you need a lot of luck, six months before you get really started, and a shitload of someone else’s money .

“Or, go in both feet first on your own, throw everything you have and more at it. This attitude is very common among start ups and very damaging to the established smaller development community as it drives prices down, generates too much risk, and gives publishers unrealistic expectations about how they can treat the more established developers.”

His third point, however, was based on what he called the first rule of business: Don’t lose money. “Take the cautious, stealthy approach, vow never to spend too much of your money, just your time. This slow approach is wearing and the constant commercial vigilance, politics and deal-making needed to keep going with little outlay is deeply unsettling to the creative soul.”

Baby steps

But Bolt Creative’s Dave Castelnuovo countered with optimism. “The gold rush isn’t over. Just make sure you have a bird in your icon, and you’ll be all set,” he opined, before taking a more serious stance. “The key is not to spend $500,000 making a quality game and then leave it to succeed on its own. You have to start small enough that slow sales won’t sink you, but big enough to get attention. Then constantly support it, market the hell out of it, work on getting visibility in the community, and make rounds with the press.”

He also argued Apple features are less important than thought. “An Apple promo is artificial inflation. People will download it just because it’s visible, but not because of game’s virality. Most of the games considered evergreen on the App Store experienced slow growth – Angry Birds, Doodle Jump, and Pocket God all took months to make it into the top 10. What allowed us to stay there, was we refined our games until they could get into the top charts based on the game itself.”

Kevin Dent of Tiswaz, agreed with Castelnuovo. “Generally when I am talking to small studios, I advise them to focus on single screen puzzle-style titles that they can put together in 60 days with two weeks QA and polishing time. I also advise them to keep their expectations low in terms of revenue. There are very few large indie studios out there that can swallow six figures of risk – maybe Firemint or Chair/Epic.”

Everything you know is wrong

Ian Macleod, of A&N Mobile & TV, the apps division of UK media company DMGT, concurred. “This industry continues to astound and confuse me regarding what games are successful. Even now, with the mainstream marketing I have access to, it is still extremely unpredictable which apps will resonate with the audience. Unfortunately, I think the main worry we have now as an industry is the trend to try and replicate success rather than innovate success.”

At least, Mills was learning. “Utter utter sense. So many times, in our utter failings, we have thought of release day as THE END, then moved to other projects and watched as sales bombed, user expectation for updates grows (without there being any), and studio depression sets in.”

Paul Farley found Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s business bestseller The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable helpful in “coming to terms with unpredictability, and creating a company culture and business model that accepts, and even welcomes it.” “I don’t believe in luck, but I do believe the volume and complexity of factors that are involved in the constitution of a hit game are well beyond our capacity to define at this point,” he explained.

Could do better

Of course, there’s always one dissenting voice, and this week it was Michael Schade of Fishlabs. “For an install base of 200+ million devices, Angry Bird isn’t actually a great success story compared to a commercial success on a 100+ million consoles,” he argued. However, he did agree with the consensus that simple but engaging and continuously challenging games are what sell on the App Store. “Given the way the App Store works – mainly driven by top downloads – it is all about mass market appeal, selling games at the lowest possible price. Without a brand from a movie or console games, it is almost impossible to be successful on the premium side.”

Embrace the uncertainty

Warming to his theme, Tag’s Paul Farley disagreed, saying success was unpredictable, even once experienced. “Most studios with a hit game have to fight tooth and nail to get there. History is littered with companies such as Sandlot Games, which went massive with Cake Mania and is now struggling to follow it up. Even way back at DMA Design, when we were lived in a Lemmings- funded bubble for five years, we couldn’t follow up. For that reason, at Tag, I doubt we’ll ever give up work for hire, even if we do have a break out hit. It’s more than just revenue and profit. Work for hire has many positive benefits, and once the team are used to working with both original and existing IP, it’s becomes the norm.”

“I learned this exact principle from Game Dev Story. I’m glad to hear it’s applicable in real life development too,” joked Capcom’s Leo Tan.

IUGO’s Sarah Thomson agreed with the original point: “No one, and I mean no one, has figured out the end-all-and-be-all to creating *The* big hit. Most of us simply stumble upon it,” she said. “That is the beauty and the curse of this industry. And as one of Paul’s best points stated, you gotta just embrace it and learn how to work with it or else you’ll go nuts.”

Those flipping flappers

Much of the discussion revolved around specific examples of success; notably Angry Birds. Gamevil’s Kyu Lee attributed Rovio’s situation to its hard work and attention to detail, not only when it came to game development, but also customer service. “I read through the thousands of tweets on the Rovio site, and was amazed how actively it supported individual customers. Rovio is laser focused and cares about every single customer. It’s doing larger promotions too, but it’s also continuing to take the baby steps it did at the beginning. Rovio has earned its success, and I truly believe customers are the foundation of its success.”

Com2uS’ Joony Koo was another maven keen to stress keeping the customer satisfied. “It’s not luck; customer satisfaction is the core basic of any product/service,” he said. “You can get lucky and land on the top of the charts but you need a great game and activities that care for your users. If there’s a competitor rocking the App Store, you are lucky as you can learn from their experience and marketing activities.” Then, in keeping with the freeform discussion, he broke into verse. “Knowing your position, game is important. The gold rush may be over, but the mines are still there. What the mines are filled with, really depends on us.”

Looking beyond

But back to Angry Birds. “Angry Birds is an attention-grabbing, expectation-shifting, beautiful piece of platform-specific work for its time,” eulogised Jon Hare, although then suggesting it didn’t actually grab his attention. “Nothing has really got me addicted on my iPhone yet. I’m never that upset when the battery runs out. In truth I think the great games on these platforms are yet to come.”

Dave Castelnuovo thought this view characterised the divide between iOS games and developers. “To my wife, Angry Birds is her Pulp Fiction,” he said. “She puts more hours into that game than the most hardened World of Warcraft addict. But I think we’re probably all hard core gamers that grew up on Atari, Colecovision, Sega, Nintendo, and PlayStation. I have to agree – iOS hasn’t gotten its masterpiece yet (from our perspective). Sword & Sworcery was a great start but a bit too short and not enough meat.”

From the Bastille to Sandals

Kevin Dent took a pragmatic approach. “If people like birds, give them birds. I believe it was Marie Antoinette who decided to shift the market by suggesting the starving hordes eat cake instead of bread and ended up getting her head chopped off.” He also stressed the importance of promotion. “I would look at Lima Sky (Doodle Jump) and Bolt Creative as studios that really know how to promote their games. That’s exactly the attitude developers need to demonstrate. You may have the greatest game in the world, but if no one knows about it, you are screwed. If you can get Yorkshire Terrier Monthly to review your game, do it.”

So, ending as we started, Mills was in philosophic mood.

“What I adore about this industry is that we all share. There are no enemies, no NDA bullshit.. Just utter passion from people who actually give a massive shit about making utter quality products that change lives for the better. I hope this thread goes on and on and one day we all meet on success island, ready to drink a lot of Lambrini.” (Source: Pocket Gamer)


上一篇:

下一篇: