本篇文章将简要陈述手机平台游戏的设计方法，或许内容会显得过于简单，但总体来说这些方法能够帮你做出成功的手机或平板电脑游戏。

逐渐改善最简可行产品(MVP)。使游戏更为精致和出色，深化游戏使之在应用商店上展现出自己的特色。评论和有意思的截屏会吸引更多玩家点击你的游戏。重点强调游戏的特色，给予用户购买和留在游戏中的理由。切忌让你的模仿行为（游戏邦注：指抄袭某些现有游戏内容，换上新图像）变得格外显眼。确实，你可以通过承认山寨行为来摆脱这种困境。但如果你确实在拷贝其他游戏的内容，别试图让用户觉得你没这么做。否则你就会在评论中看到对你不利的言辞。

提供免费测试版让玩家来评论，尤其是在你向广告方投钱之前。你可以将收入馈赠给那些需要帮助的人。允许玩家在完成教程关卡后马上评论他们的游戏体验，你甚至可以考虑免费赠送游戏虚拟货币给那些评论游戏的玩家。在评论观点之后附上你自己的想法。

确保游戏体验好玩，充满乐趣。这是想玩游戏的真正原因，所以别把它抛诸脑后。企图从市场中获得更多盈利的开发商太多了，或许在他们看来这就是乐趣所在。你应该考虑的是玩家的趣味点，而不是游戏盈利带来的乐趣。这才是杰出开发者的做法，你需要做到这些。

限制所能接受的物品数量并且告知用户。比如，玩家可能会向朋友发送礼物，希望他们能够接受。但必须避免出现Facebook早期游戏的信息膨胀状况。你应该允许用户隐藏此类信息，因为某些很受欢迎的人可能每天会收到大量的礼物。这也是为何你应该限制最大信息量的原因，这样人们就会选择更有可能接受礼物的好友。

判定和仲裁。“行为经济”是个行业术语，指的是你应该判定应用会产生的效果，尤其是提供给潜在用户的礼物。如果处理得当，你可以将风险降到最低。使用你的能力来准确定位用户的行为。如果游戏体验不佳，玩家就不会那么乐意回到游戏中。

让用户的成就和关卡稳步增加。你应该考虑游戏看待失败这件事。如果玩家很容易便产生懈怠，那么增加新玩家和让注册玩家返回游戏都会变得更难。他们可能为失去已经取得的东西看到害怕，因此设计师不可将大型打赌之类的行为强加于玩家之上。可以添加这个选择，让那些胆大的玩家做个尝试。但是不断发生的小型打赌行为会更为有效。这样游戏便时常带有趣味性，而且失去所有东西的可能性也会较小。

Farmville iPhone

你的游戏会失去玩家，因而你需要考虑如何留住他们。当你的玩家流失时，应当思考什么奖赏会让他们重返游戏。你可以为每天登陆游戏的玩家提供何种奖励（游戏邦注：像《Gran Turismo 5》中的在线奖励以及《Farmville》中防止庄稼枯萎）？别让玩家觉得他们必须永无止尽地重复自己的行为，为玩家提供重访游戏的理由。在手机游戏中，短时间内的刺激是行之有效的方法。

参与、成长和盈利。任何专注于设计的人最终都会提起这三个要素。你应该绘制流量图表，展示上述要素如何稳定增长。只是别告诉用户你专注的是这三个层面。应该记住的是，趣味会解决所有的问题。考虑制作玩家愿意玩的游戏，随后礼貌地邀请那些愿意加入的人。

假设你想制作某款建造城堡并使用不同材料来装饰的游戏，建造完成后你可以用从朋友处获得和从敌人处掠夺来的不同材料来装饰自己的城堡。但敌人的城堡很可能被重新建设起来，如果他们的朋友在线，会在你攻击之时获得警报，可以防守城堡。如果打个漂亮的反击战，不在游戏中的好友也会收到相关信息，他们可能会就此加入游戏中。与朋友贸易可能产生独特的材料、武器和食物，其背后的理论是：只有一定的成功机率，所以你需要经常与朋友贸易。暂且将游戏命名为《Build and Pillage》，游戏简单直观，也有许多让玩家回到游戏中与他人互动的理由。

所以你需要考虑某些充满趣味性的内容，想出其他人想每天玩上数分钟的东西。提供足够的乐趣让玩家注册游戏并屡次体验游戏。如果实现这些目标，那么就向玩家免费提供那些很棒的内容吧。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Proven Mobile Game Design

This essay will parallel game design for mobile platforms, short and straightforward, which means the content will be almost too simplistic. Generally, this is how you can make a successful game for a phone or tablet.

Take your Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and evolve it. Polish it so much that it looks like more than it actually is, and spam it with good grades to see it featured on an app store. You will create a bigger funnel, where more users will click on the game, because of reviews and interesting screenshots. Use bullet points to highlight features, so we can be sure there are reasons to buy and keep the game. Avoid making it obvious that you have really just cloned an aspect of an existing game and added a new art style. More users will authorize your game. The following paragraphs are all add-on content. You can purchase them for .99 each. You actually can get away with admitting that you have cloned a game. Just don’t trick the user into thinking that you have not cloned agame, when you really have cloned the goombas out of it. Then you will get reviews with a ton of exclamation points and mad faces (!!!! >_< !!!).

No worries, this paragraph can be purchased for no money. Give a free demo option or ask for donations, especially if you didn’t shell out the money for advertisements. You can give the proceeds to a deserving foundation for underprivileged or handicapped people. Allow the option for players who finish the tutorial to review their experience immediately after play. Maybe you could even give free, in-game currency to players who review the game. Add your thoughts in the comments below.

Make sure the experience has been fun and full of joy. These are the real reasons you wanted to play games, so don’t forget it’s about this. There are too many greedy executives who exploit markets already. Well, that can be a little bit fun too…from their perspective. Just try to think of the people’s fun, rather than what would be fun for a select elite. That’s elitist, and you will be trolled.

Get out your bucket and show them how much sand you can collect. Okay, maybe bucketing could be more straightforward. It’s jargon, which means “important for a lot of stuff”. For instance, players sending out lots of gifts to friends who hopefully accept. Just make sure that your buckets don’t take over half of a newsfeed like games initially did on Facebook. You have to allow the user to hide the gifts, because it can get quite overwhelming to receive hundreds of gifts per day. This happens to popular people. That’s why you should limit the max number, so that people have to choose friends who are more likely to accept.

Adjudicate or arbitrate. More jargon that means you have to judge the effects your applications, especially gifts to potential users, will have – Behavioral Economics. Done right, you minimi risk. Done dumb, you maximize guilt. Use your power to shape a person’s behavior wisely. The player won’t return as willingly if the player feels like they have been trapped on a treadmill or hamster ball. That’s why you make it a Super Monkey Ball, instead. After super comes ultra, and if you’re lucky, über or ultimate.

Have a steady stream of achievements and levels that almost always go up. What’s the game’s perception of loss? If it seems like the player will loose easily, it will be harder to add new people to the collective and keep a registered player coming back often. They could fear losing that which they have already won, so the designer should not force large wagers upon the player. Add the option, so the brave and the bold can race for pink slips or go all in, but smaller, consistent bets should work better. Then something will always be a little spicy, and there’s less of a chance that everything will be lost.

You will lose players, so you have to think of how to retain them. When you have lost a player, think about possible gain from coming back to your game. What reward can you offer for logging into a game every day (See online bonuses in Gran Turismo 5, or preventing your crops from burning in Farmville)? Localize the maximum. Never let the players feel like they have to repeat themselves infinitely. Create reasons to stop, and come back later. This is a mobile game, so short bursts and spurts work best. Being able to pause whenever works even better than best if you can’t figure out an inventive way to have your player stop whenever.

Engagement, growth, and revenue. Whoever you pitch your design to will ask about these three factors in the end. You should make flow charts to show how each of these things will steadily increase.

Just don’t tell the user you are exploiting them with this tripod. We prefer tricycles. Remember that fun will overcome everything. Think of a game you would want other people to play with you, then politely ask if we would like to join.

I’d make a game about building a castle and using different materials to customize it. Once built, you can give different materials that you have customized to your friends and pillage your enemies. But whatever remains from your enemies rubble can be built again at a higher percentage. Their friends will also be alerted of your attack if they are online, and will be able to defend their honor and castle. Non-player friends can be contacted once during a defense window for a perfect defense, if they decide to sign up for the game. Unique materials, weapons, and foods have the potential to be made by trading with friends (the theory behind it: you only get lucky sometimes, so you have to try a lot). Tentative title: Build and Pillage. It’s simple and straightforward, plus allows for many reasons to come back and interact with others.

So you have to think of something full of fun and joy. Think of something other people want to play for a couple of minutes every day. Polish a reason to sign up, and a reason to return. When you do, give us something cool, for free. (Source: 1up)