作者：Tommy Leung

在线社交网络改变了世界，而这些网络中的霸主就是Facebook。Facebook的用户数超过美国人口总数，它已经取代MySpace成为最流行社交网络。

许多公司构建于Facebook平台之上，在过去十年间，Facebook改变了世界。Facebook应用的流行萌生出的大量游戏正充斥着我们的Live Feeds。早期的Facebook应用能获得像《Vampires and Werewolves》那样的成功，但这些极为扰人的穴居人类应用现已无法再那么成功，Facebook用户已发生改变。

随着功能逐渐标准化，Facebook应用只能变得更为复杂。人们期待看到好友的高分榜并想知道他们为何名列前茅，他们期待与好友互动。Zynga采用的模式已经成为Facebook游戏的标准。

这使得新应用的成功之路更为艰难。只靠几个人投入的业余时间，并不能做出像《FarmVille》那样的成功游戏。Zynga只可能被其他社交网络游戏巨头击败。其他想要打入市场的人需要寻找前人未曾走过的路。

Zynga开创了特定游戏风格，他们精于此道且期待能够做出更多此类游戏。这为新手创造了在Zynga未曾涉猎的领域中成长的机会。确实存在这片领域，你需要的只是把它找出来。这可能是种全新的想法，或是老想法的新形式，或是某些极为吸引人的东西，只是人们还未曾发现其中的价值。

对于Facebook游戏来说，成功游戏所需遵循的基本原则是相同的。不同之处在于用户和平台之类的发行细节。以下是成功Facebook游戏所需的三项准则。遵循这些准则并不能保证游戏大获成功，但成功的游戏就是少不了这些准则，它们是构建游戏的良好基础。

facebook-games

成为首创者，不盲目跟从

为做出成功的应用，有些人建议复制已经成功的Facebook应用即可。这确实有些许好处，但用户真的需要这么多《FarmVille》的克隆版游戏吗？在《FarmVille》和《FarmTown》（游戏邦注：由Slashkey开发的农场类游戏）等热门农场游戏的围剿之下，克隆版游戏还能分到多少市场蛋糕呢？你还能想出哪些这两者无法在一周内复制出来的超级农场游戏机制呢？很可能一个都没有。

《FarmVille》的影响力如此之巨，他人根本无法在不砸下重金的前提下创造出堪与其匹敌的功能和特色。即便你有足够的资金来开发出比《FarmVille》更好的游戏，你要如何说服那些已经花整年时间建造农场的人转向新游戏呢？除了运气之外，别无他法。

唯一明智的战略是做某些别人还未曾做过的事情。从目前成功的游戏中吸取经验，然后做某些完全不同的事情。要成为首创者，而不是盲目跟从。

做令人称奇的事情

我在先进技术大学（游戏邦注：位于美国亚利桑那州坦佩地区）就学期间得知这个准则。当时，某位来自NCSoft的人在校内发表演讲。我不记得他是谁，我只记得他的想法。他提出的重要观点是功能演变是每个游戏开发周期中难免的弊病，事实确实如此。游戏总是会在开发过程中产生新功能。多数情况下，这些新功能并不能完全共存。

开发游戏的时间和资金是固定的，这是个商业行为。游戏中不能包含你所能想到的所有功能，你应该精心优化核心游戏玩法和机制，直到将自己的想法表达出来。没有人会记住有上千个特色平平的游戏，但所有人都会记住有某个出众特征的游戏。

要客观地审视每个你想要加入的计划外新功能，考虑它是否确实给游戏增添某些东西，还是只增加某些不必要的麻烦？如果情况属于后者，这并不能改善游戏。确保将游戏中与众不同的功能设计得格外令人称奇。

不可忽略社交化功能

毫无疑问，社交游戏必然需要这个准则。Facebook是个社交网络，并不是游戏门户网站。你不能只采用在原先框架中取得成功的游戏，添加朋友得分榜然后就上线。在你将游戏放到Facebook上之前，玩家们本就可以和朋友比较得分。

人们希望在Facebook上与他人互动，那就应该让他们这么做。让他们发表相关信息，但别强迫玩家这么做。让他们邀请朋友使用这款应用。让他们个性化整个游戏，因为所有人都钟爱个性化。为那些做出贡献和与游戏中朋友互动的玩家提供奖励。

如果这些事情都已实现，就是个好的开端。还有什么方法可以让游戏更具社交化呢？总有人会想出办法来，而想出来的人将获得成功。

Facebook不大可能在短期内消失，用户已经将其融入日常生活中。因而，Facebook上还有许多获得成功的空间，我们目前只触及社交网络的皮毛而已。由于不同社交网络都在提供用户与他人互动的方法，这一领域还会产生更多玩乐的方式。制作成功的Facebook游戏实际上就是塑造新的玩乐方法。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

3 Principles for Successful Facebook Games

Tommy Leung

Online social networks changed the world. King of these networks is Facebook. Facebook’s user base is greater than the population of the United States and they have overtaken MySpace in popularity.

Entire companies have been built on top of Facebook’s platform. Facebook changed the world in the last decade. The popularity of Facebook Applications has spawned a ton of games that currently flood our Live Feeds. Few days pass without a mention of a quiz result or a lost brown cow. The early days of Facebook Applications allowed for successes like Vampires and Werewolves. Those were Neanderthal apps. Apps can no longer become successful by being incredibly annoying. The Facebook audience has evolved.

Facebook Applications are only going to get more complex as features become standard. People expect to see their friend’s high scores and how they rank. They expect to be able to interact with their friends. Zynga’s model has become the standard for what a Facebook game can do.

This makes success for new apps more difficult. A couple of guys in their spare time can’t make a game on the scale of FarmVille. Zynga and other large social network game giants can only be defeated at their own game by each other. The little guys trying to break in will need to find a road less traveled.

Zynga makes a specific type of game. They are good at that and are expected to produce those types of titles. This leaves room for a newcomer to grow in a space that Zynga isn’t in. It exists, you just need to figure out what it is. It could be a bold new idea, a new take on an old idea, or something so simply addicting that money alone can never discover.

The general principles for a successful game is the same for Facebook games. The differences are dictated by market specifics like audience, platform, etc. The following are three principles for a successful Facebook game. Having them doesn’t guarantee a success–nothing does–but, successful games have them. They are a good foundation to build on.

Lead. Don’t Follow

Some recommend copying a successful Facebook application in order to make a successful application. There is merit to this but, how many FarmVille clones do we need? Between FarmVille and FarmTown, what tiny fraction of a percent is your market share going to be? What spectacular virtual farming game play mechanic can you come up with that the other two cannot copy in a week? Probably none.

FarmVille is too large of a game to be able to match feature for feature without spending a heap of money. Even if you did have the money to build a “better” FarmVille, how are you going to articulate your better mousetrap to all the people who just spent the last year of their lives personalizing their farms? Good luck.

The only sane strategy is to do something that hasn’t been done. Learn from the existing successes and then do something completely different. Lead, don’t follow.

Do One Thing Amazingly

I picked up this mantra while at the University of Advancing Technology. I was at a talk by someone from NCSoft. I do not remember who he was; I just remember his ideas. He made an important point that feature creep is the bane of every game development cycle–it really is. New features are always finding their way into the game in the middle of development. The majority of the time, all these features are implemented at the expense of each other.

There is only so much time and money to develop a game. This is a business. Instead of having every feature you can think of in the game, you should polish your core game play mechanic until you can see your reflection. No one is going to remember the game that did a thousand things fairly well. Everyone will remember the game that did one thing amazingly.

Be sure to objectively validate every new, unplanned feature you want to implement. Does it actually add anything to the game or does it just add unnecessary complexity? More times than not, it doesn’t improve the game. Make sure the one thing that separates your game from the rest is done amazingly.

Be Social

This should be a no-brainer. Facebook is a social network, not a games portal. You can’t just take an existing game that works in it’s original framework, throw a friends scoreboard on it, and call it a day. Players could have and have compared scores with friends before you put the game on Facebook.

People like to interact with each other on Facebook. Let them. Let them post to their feeds but, don’t force them. Welcome friends to participate in the application. Let them personalize. We all love to personalize. Reward players for giving and interacting with friends who also play the game.

These things have been done. They are a good starting point. What else can be done to make a game more social? Someone will figure it out. The person who does will have a success.

Facebook is unlikely to be disappearing anytime soon. Those who use it have embedded it into our daily lives. How would we organize events without Facebook?! There is still plenty of room for success on Facebook. We have only scratched the surface of what social networks can do. As different social networks allow ways to interact with each other, doors for more ways to play will open. Making a successful Facebook game is all about new ways to play. (Source: Associated Content)