作者：Jim Squires

如今，苹果App Store里的每一名应用开发商都渴望能够一夜之间变成应用发行商，但在iOS生态圈中，出色的发行商还是少之又少。与最近刚走上发行商之路的公司不同，Crescent Moon Games却是循序渐进地实现这一转变。自2009年成立以来，Crescent Moon Games先是从借助发行商力量推出游戏的开发商，转变为一个自主发行游戏的开发商，然后才正式成为帮助其他开发者发布游戏的发行商。

Crescent Moon创始人兼创意总监Josh Presseisen在最近的采访中，介绍了公司从开发商转变成发行商的历程，发行项目的相关情况，以及今后的发展目标。以下是游戏邦编译的访谈内容：

Ravensword:The Fallen King(from toucharcade.com)

追溯过去，Crescent Moon的第一款iOS游戏是《乌鸦之剑：堕落君王》（Ravensword: The Fallen King）。那时候，你们选择了Chillingo作为该款游戏的发行商。但是从那时开始，Crescent Moon便开始走上独立发行游戏的道路了。所以，到底是什么原因促成了这种变化呢？

刚开始，我们想通过通过其他发行商来提高我们游戏的曝光率。而正是看到Chillingo的强大市场营销力量，所以才选择这家公司。同时，因为这是我们发行的第一款游戏，我们对整个游戏市场并不是很了解，所以最好的办法就是借助其他发行商的力量来推广游戏。其实我们也可以选择其他发行商。

当这款游戏（《乌鸦之剑：堕落君王》）成功后，我们意识到已经没有必要再借助发行商的力量推出其它游戏了。

提到《乌鸦之剑：堕落君王》，当时在这款游戏发布前就有不少传言称你们将在2010年推出这款游戏的MMO版本。你们有什么说法吗？

比起大型多人在线游戏，多数玩家似乎更青睐功能全面的角色扮演游戏。而《阿尔龙剑影》（游戏邦注：Aralon: Sword and Shadow，是一款史诗级3D PRG游戏）就属于这种典型。虽然如此，我们今后还是有可能在iOS生态圈中推出一款大型多人在线游戏。

你们以Crescent Moon游戏发行商的名义帮助很多游戏开发者推出了多款新游戏。你们曾经与不同的游戏开发者合作，推出了《Aralon》和《Paper Monsters》等游戏。能否谈谈一下与其他开发者之间的合作情况呢？

可以说，与其他游戏开发者的合作使我们拥有了更多的机会。比起自己公司内部的游戏开发，通过与其他开发者合作，我们能够接触到更多不同的游戏，并尝试更多不同的挑战。有时候当看到一款游戏时，我们就会不自觉地对其进行评价，‘它如果再加上这些或那些东西，就会更完美了’，这种观察有助于我们推出更多好游戏。以Galoobeth旗下的《Paper Monsters》为例，它在编程环节上堪称出色的艺术品，它的框架非常完美，但是视觉效果和游戏功能却仍需要进一步完善。正是通过这种方法，我们才能如此有效推出这么多款好游戏，包括Corey Redlien旗下的《Gears》这款在iPad平台上排行第一的游戏，以及《Aralon》这款在圣诞期间名列iOS应用排行第六的游戏。”

你最希望能与哪些游戏开发商合作，为什么？

我们想与一些游戏开发者合作，有可能共同将原来的2D游戏引进3D游戏领域。虽然这些游戏开发商的名称我不能公布，但是我能保证一定不会让玩家们失望的。”

据称你们即将发行的《超级小子》（Ultra Kid）将摒弃原来的3D Platformer风格，而采用横向卷轴的赛跑风格，请问这是怎么回事呢？你们还会推出它的Platformer版本《超级小子：变异的秘密》吗？

发行《Aralon》这款游戏花费了我们大量的时间，所以对于《超级小子》这款游戏，我们并没有明确的定位。我们希望重新把《超级小子：变异的秘密》当成一款赛跑游戏，观察这款游戏的发展情况后再做决定。目前《Ultra Kid Sprint》还处于前期开发阶段，至于我们会不会推出《超级小子：变异的秘密》就是另一回事了。

Crescent Moon曾经同时推出了3款新游戏，包括《Pocket RPG》，《Paper Monsters》和《Deadlock》。这三者的游戏体验如何呢？

Tasty Poison开发的《Pocket RPG》是一款街机风格的RPG游戏，结合了有趣的地牢关卡，与《Gauntlet》较有相似。在这款游戏中，玩家每次进入地牢迷宫，都将会看到不同的迷宫样式，不论是游戏场景，怪物还是道具，都不会在同一个地方出现两次。

《Paper Monsters》是由Robots vs. Wizards开发的一款2.5D platfomer游戏。这是一款建立在传统的“马里奥”游戏风格基础上的platformer游戏，具有许多个性化元素。iOS生态圈中缺少优秀的2.5D platformer游戏，所以这款游戏的问世将为这个领域注入新鲜血液。

Invulse Games旗下的《Deadlock》是一款双摇杆多人对战游戏。在这款游戏中有各种各样的武器，盔甲和可解琐的内容，以及许多不同的对抗模式。就像是《使命召唤》和《反恐精英》一样，《Deadlock》也是属于军事类游戏，但是它却具有自己独特的双摇杆游戏风格。

你最近在玩哪一款游戏？

我最近给儿子买了《传送门2》（Portal 2），但是我自己却还没有机会玩这款游戏，只是看过他玩。

虽然我们一直在与各种游戏打交道，但是却甚少有时间能亲自玩一款游戏，特别是当这款游戏并不是那么容易上手的时候。在最近iOS游戏中，我最喜欢的是《Tiny Wings》。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Interview: Crescent Moon Games’ Josh Presseisen talks past, present, and future

By Jim Squires

With every developer on the App Store wanting to become a publisher overnight lately, it’s easy to forget a time when significant iOS publishers were a relatively rare breed. Unlike a lot of these recent developers-turned-publishers, Crescent Moon Games took the time needed to get it right. Since their debut in 2009, they’ve gone from being a developer working with a publisher to a self-publishing developer, and then finally to a publisher working with other developers.

We’ve recently had a conversation with Crescent Moon’s Founder and Creative Director Josh Presseisen about his company’s journey from developer to publisher, whatever happened to a few MIA projects, and what’s next for the company. Here’s what he had to say.

If we step into the way back machine and set it for 2009, we arrive at your first iOS release, Ravensword: The Fallen King. You chose to publish this through Chillingo. Since that time however, Crescent Moon Games has published their releases independently. What prompted the change?

At the time we thought we should go with a publisher to maximize exposure to the game. I think Chillingo did a great job with marketing. For your first game, if you are unsure, I think it is wise to go with a publisher. We really could have gone either way.

When the game was successful we realized that it didn’t make sense to release under a publisher for new games.

Speaking of Ravensword, back before the game’s release there was rumor of a Ravensword MMO slated for 2010. What happened to that?

Most of the players didn’t really want an MMO – they wanted a more full featured RPG first. The answer to that, was Aralon: Sword and Shadow. Whether we do an MMO eventually on the iOS still remains to be seen. It’s still a possibility.

As a publisher, you’ve brought a few titles by other developers to the App Store under the Crescent Moon name. Unlike other publishers though, you’ve taken a fairly hands on approach and helped to give gorgeous visual makeovers to both Aralon and Paper Monsters. Can you tell us a little about what these collaborations have been like?

Collaborating with other developers has given us ‘more legs’ so to speak. It allows us to get into more games than we would have with internal development, and try different things.

Sometimes you might see a game and you think “wouldn’t it be cool if” it had this or that, or looked this way. That was the approach. Here’s a game (take the Galoobeth developedPaper Monsters for instance) that has programmer art. The framework of the game is great, but it’s lacking on the graphics side and perhaps needs some gameplay enhancement. This has led to some of our more successful titles – Gears by Corey Redlien being the most recent, which was #1 on the iPad. Aralon was also quite successful, becoming #6 top grossing app on the iOS during Christmas time.

If you could have Crescent Moon Games work with any developer, who would it be and why?

There are a few developers who we’d like to work with – to even possibly bring 2D franchises into the 3D space. I can’t name names, but there are some things in the works, with whom you might not expect.

Somewhere along the lines, your upcoming release Ultra Kid went from an ambitious 3D platformer to a side-scrolling endless running game. What happened? And will we still be seeing the platformer, Ultra Kid – Mystery of the Mutants?

Ultra Kid didn’t really have a clear direction, and Aralon came along and took up most of our time. We decided to get back into Ultra Kid as an endless runner game, and see where that takes us. Ultra Kid Sprint is currently in production. Whether we will see Mystery of the Mutants is another story for another day.

Crescent Moon now has a trio of new games on the horizon – Pocket RPG, Paper Monsters, and Deadlock. What will those play experiences be like?

Pocket RPG, developed by Tasty Poison,is sort of an arcade style RPG – a fun dungeon crawler that is almost similar to Gauntlet if you remade it in modern times. It has random pieces so that when you play through, you will never feel as if you are playing the same area twice, and monsters, items respawn in unique areas each time.

Paper Monsters is a 2.5D platformer by developer Robots vs. Wizards. It’s somewhere along the lines of a traditional Mario-style game with a ‘papercraft’ motif. It has a lot of personality.

I think the iOS is lacking in good 2.5D platformers, so this should be very refreshing to a lot of gamers out there.

Deadlock, developed by Invulse Games,is a no holds barred dual stick shooter focused on Online Multiplayer. It has lots of weapons/armor/unlockables and different play modes. Its military

style reminiscent of the Call of Duty and Counterstrike games, but in top down dual stick style view.

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What are you playing right now?

Well I bought Portal 2 for my son but I haven’t even had a chance to play it. I’ve watched him play it a bunch. (Don’t think we’ll be working on any Portal Clones!)

With the amount of games in the works, it’s hard to find time to actually really get into any games that aren’t quick pick up and plays. I think the most recent iOS game that I really got into was Tiny Wings.（source:gamezebo）