游戏邦注：本文作者为Carlos Icaza，文章主要讨论成功游戏共有的8大核心元素。

加入Team Corona最令我兴奋的应该是能够亲眼目睹作品从无到有，最终投放App Store和Android Market平台。

很多人要我帮忙指出作品问题，问我各种问题。有人毫不犹豫将作品寄给我；有的人则不愿意这么做，因为他的作品是下款《愤怒的小鸟》，他不想作品提前曝光。有些人不愿意告诉我代码，因为这些“代码”不尽如人意。相信我，我领教过各式各样的游戏、代码设计和杀手级应用，我从2004年就开始深入研究移动领域，这堪称该领域的“史前”阶段。我亲眼目睹整个行业的发展。

所以，我见过很多游戏和应用。我当然接触过很多Corona应用，但也遇过很多非Corona应用，我一再提出相同问题：

游戏成功的要素是什么？

虽然促进游戏成功并没有灵丹妙药，但我发现有些要素是成功作品的共性：

1. 游戏须具有吸引力。

2. 游戏须具有娱乐性。

3. 游戏须是愉快体验。

4. 游戏须具有灵活性。

5. 游戏须具有扩展性。

6. 游戏须具有互动性。

7. 游戏须以某个地区着手。

8. 游戏若获得大众青睐，就转变为一场“传染病”。它具有病毒式传播特性，令人难以抗拒。

虽然很难在文中详述每个细节，但我会逐一陈述每个要素的意义。

游戏须具有吸引力！想想富有吸引力的谈话（游戏邦注：这个谈话应该是令人愉快或者富有趣味）。不是所有对话都令人愉快，都富有趣味性。但只要谈话令人愉快，或者富有趣味性，那么至少以下3个方面定是囊括在内：吸引力、娱乐性和轻松愉快。接着想想富有趣味性的电影，富有趣味性的电影不一定吸引人。电影可以融入虚拟故事变得富有趣味性，但并不一定吸引人。但令人愉快的电影必定同时兼具趣味性和吸引力。我们不妨这样来看：趣味性=大众喜爱和通俗！

愤怒的小鸟 from techweb.com

那么接着来看剩下的要素。游戏须有扩展性，也就是具有发展空间（游戏邦注：以《愤怒的小鸟》为例，游戏还推出《Angry Birds Seasons》、《Angry Birds St. Patrick’s》、《Angry Birds Valentine’s Day》……）。再同电影做比较，想想电影续集。虽然续作可能不如原作，但这至少确保作品不断发展。

再来就是游戏须有灵活性。游戏设置要有突破点。我认为这是所有要素中最重要的。玩家要能够在短短几秒钟内把握游戏。你要让玩家相信游戏是简单的，让他们晋升至新等级，逐步加大难度。这就是游戏的灵活性：尽可能延伸游戏，同时让玩家觉得游戏难度依旧同第1等级相仿。

若游戏具有灵活性，那么它同样具有趣味性、吸引力，令人感到愉快。此时玩家就会希望同其他玩家分享游戏内容，那么就自然产生富有地区色彩的游戏，而目标就是让游戏像“传染病”一样传播！

要如何将游戏推广给大众呢？建立Facebook粉丝页面，开通游戏Twitter帐号，制作游戏演示视频。如果你有足够资金，就请人写篇新闻稿，发布游戏相关信息。或者同能够提高作品曝光度的伙伴合作。

记住：所有应用和游戏（游戏邦注：不论成绩多显著）都有寿命期限。所以不要陷入这样的错误观念：游戏会连续几个月或者1、2年稳居榜首。我们如今生活在ADD世界，今天的头条就是明日的旧闻。你的职责是保持游戏新鲜感，添加新等级，同玩家培养信赖感，奖励优惠券……制作游戏不同于制作图像，这是项业务。而业务的部分内容就是推广游戏。

我提及的上述8大要素并非什么灵丹妙药。这无法确保游戏让发展成下载量高达4000万次的巨作。但是把这些元素融入游戏当中，你的作品定会更富趣味性，更有吸引力，更令人感到愉快，实现这些目标，游戏自然就会获得更大曝光度。

于是，你的作品在某个地区传播，像一场“传染病”，蔓延至各个角落。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Eight Elements to a Successful Game

by Carlos Icaza

One of the most exciting parts of being on Team Corona is that I get to see a lot of your great games all the way from inception to being released on the App Store and/or Android Market.

A lot of you send me your games to figure out a problem here and there, or ask me questions about how to do XYZ or this-and-that. Some of you send me assets without blinking; other of you are reluctant to send me your assets because your game is the next Angry Birds and you don’t want anyone to see your creation. Some of you are reluctant to send me the code because the “code” is not pretty. Trust me, I’ve heard and seen just about every type of game, code design, and killer app — I’ve been working knee-deep in the mobile space since 2004, when it was “pre-historic.” I’ve seen the whole gamut!

So, I see a lot of games and apps. Of course, I see a lot of Corona-made apps, but I also get to see a lot of non-Corona apps — and I get the same question asked over and over again.

What makes a game successful?

And with apologies to Cookie Monster, here we go…

While there is no magic elixir as to what makes a game a success. I have seen a series of elements that most successful games have and in Cookie Monster lingo, here is the Letter E for the key elements to a successful game

1. The game must be engaging.

2. The game must be entertaining.

3. The game must be enjoyable.

4. The game must be elastic.

5. The game must be expandable.

6. You must game must expose the user to other players.

7. A game starts in an endemic area.

8. A game, once it reaches mass appeal, it becomes an epidemic. It is viral and at this point unstoppable.

While it is difficult to articulate everything in one blogpost, I will do my best to see if I can make sense for each of the elments I mentioned above for a successful game.

A game must be engaging!  Think of having an engaging conversation — the conversation can be enjoyable or entertaining. Not all conversations are enjoyable, nor all conversations are entertaining. But if it has one or the other, you at least have three items from the list: engaging, entertaining, and enjoyable.  Now, think of a movie that is entertaining — not all the movies that you consider to be  entertainment may be enjoyable, but they could be engaging. The movie can have a plausible story that makes it entertaining, but may not be engaging. But certainly a movie that is enjoyable can be quite entertaining and engaging at the same time. Think of it this way: Entertaining = mass appeal. Simple.!

Now onto the rest! A game must also be expandable, something that you can keep growing. In the case of the Angry Birds franchise, there is Angry Birds Seasons, Angry Birds St. Patrick’s, Angry Birds Valentine’s Day… Again, using a movie metaphor, think of a movie sequel. Although not always as good as the original, you can still continue the franchise.

Lastly, the game must be elastic. You have to take the gameplay to the breaking point. For me, this is the one of the top elements here (the key ingredient!). One has to pick up a game and be able to grasp it in matter of seconds. You must “fool” the player into thinking that it is easy, and have them go to the next level, continuing as the game gets progressively harder. That’s the elasticity of a game: stretch it is as far as you can while letting the player think that it’s still as easy as the first level.

If the game is elastic, it is also entertaining, enjoyable, and/or engaging. At this point, the player will want to share the game with other game players — then, you have successfully created a endemic game and the goal is to make it an epidemic!

And how do you expose your game to the masses? Create a Facebook Fan Page and a Twitter account for your company or game, create a video demo of your game. If you can afford it, try to get someone to write a press release for you and get the word out. Partner with a company that can get you the exposure.

And remember: all apps and games — no matter how successful — are ephemeral. Don’t fall into the mental trap that your game will be on top of the charts for months on end, or a year or two. Today, we live in an ADD world and today’s headline is tomorrow’s old news. Your job is to always keep your game fresh, introduce new levels, build trust with your players, award them with coupon codes, etc. Making a game is not just about making pretty pixels move around the screen, it is a business. And part of that business is also the ability to market (evangelicize!) your game.

A little disclaimer: the stock inclusion of all the elements I mention is no elixir. It doesn’t guarantee your game to become a 40 million download juggernaut. Nevertheless, having some of these key elements in your game will make your game that much more enjoyable, entertaining, and/or engaging to play — and if you get to that, you will automatically get more exposure.

After that, you could become endemic, and turn out to be the next big gaming “epidemic!”  （Source：anscamobile）