作者：Brice Morrison

生命中可能会多次碰上以下这些情况，似乎已经毫无希望，你似乎已经倾尽全力，准备要放弃了。你曾经为之付出努力的项目似乎只卖出了一点点，而且也只获得甚为普通的评论，你觉得尝试另一个想法似乎能获得更好的机会。

game designs that failed(from thegameprodigy)

但有时原游戏的问题并不在于其设计或想法，而是执行度。有时设计确实有成就巨作的潜力，你需要的只是坚持并将其改善，直到它像宇宙飞船一般一飞冲天。有时候失败的作品并不一定是不成功的设计，只有在将非成功设计转变为成功作品之前放弃才是真正的失败。

下面是某些曾经失败过的游戏设计，但它们最终都逐渐成为大赢家。有些改造出自原创者之手，而有些则归功于其他慧眼识珠的公司。

1、《疯狂美式橄榄球》

madden-nfl-10-on-xbox-360(from videogamesblogger.com)

今日的《疯狂美式橄榄球》已经成为一种文化现象，是最畅销的视频游戏之一。每年该款游戏发布时玩家都蜂拥而至，运动员也为有机会出现在游戏中和包装封面上而感到高兴。游戏设计的水平很高，让玩家感觉自己身临其境。考虑到将现实生活运动改造成游戏的局限性，这种体验简直令人难以置信。NFL（游戏邦注：美国美式橄榄球联盟）独家授权EA制作系列游戏，二十年来这一直是公司盈利颇丰的游戏。

但可能有许多人并不知晓，这款EA著名游戏曾经是个失败品。游戏最早于1988年发布，运行平台是苹果电脑。整个项目耗时3年制成，而原计划开发时间只有1年。起初在EA公司内部开发，随后外包给Bethesda Softworks，二者的合作关系破裂后项目又回到EA。这对当时羽翼未满的EA来说是个沉重的打击，公司内部将这个游戏项目称为其创始人的“愚蠢之举”。

当时工作室甚至没有使用真正的NFL及类似名字的权利，所以游戏中的队伍名称都是虚构的。而且，游戏运行时的帧率非常低，几乎玩不了。在屡次推迟之后，游戏最终得以发布，但卖得并不好，所得盈利只够继续进行续作的开发，而且还面临其他足球类游戏的激烈竞争。

但在EA团队的不懈努力下，他们最终被授权使用NFL队伍的名称，改善设计并将其移植到主机上。时光流逝，品牌名称越来越响亮，游戏也变得越来越好，每年的用户都在逐渐增长。最终，其他足球类游戏竞争者被击退，它们已无力赶上这款游戏。今日，EA的《疯狂美式橄榄球》团队是行业内最棒的团队，系列游戏年年都冲击着市场。

究竟是偶遇上天的眷顾，还是一步一脚印的坚持产生了作用？这要取决于你的看法。

2、《FarmVille》

FarmVille(from thegameprodigy)

《FarmVille》一直是Facebook历史上玩家人数最多的游戏，直到其继任者《CityVille》将其取代（游戏邦注：Zynga新作《Empires & Allies》的MAU现已超越《FarmVille》）。2010年初，游戏正处于巅峰之时，全球玩这款游戏的玩家超过8000万人。而且，每日登录游戏的玩家比例达到30%。这在社交游戏领域中是前所未见的。

但《FarmVille》并非原创设计，其灵感来源于另一款名为《Farm Town》的游戏，有人认为游戏完全抄袭后者。社交游戏巨头Zynga注意到，《Farm Town》的游戏设计有可能获得成功。于是，他们开始重新构建整个游戏，而非简单地完善游戏机制。

以《Farm Town》最初的游戏创意为灵感，Zynga在此基础上发展和构建游戏，增添它们的创新特征。比如Horse Stable，这个建筑需要好友提供材料才能建起。他们还在游戏内容中增添其他独特的内容，进一步发展出像7 Days of Summer和Crafting Buildings之类的想法。以上这些新颖功能能够取悦玩家，但并未在《Farm Town》中出现。《Farm Town》内容几乎未曾改变，玩家共有300万。

Zynga以《Farm Town》为原型构建游戏，并通过庞大的社交网络推广游戏，使得《FarmVille》成为真正的Facebook游戏。无论你把Zynga的这段历程当成励志故事还是阴险的商业手段，这种做法都值得考量。这又是个成功取决于10%的想法和90%执行度的鲜活例子。

3、《Minecraft》

Minecraft(from thegameprodigy)

近期报道，定价15欧元的《Minecraft》已售出100万份，而且每天增长量在1万份以上。游戏产生出上千个Youtube视频，玩家展现他们建造的令人难以置信的建筑物，包括城堡、大炮、水道及其他物体。有部纪录片以这款游戏为题，而且游戏获得独立游戏节三项大奖和Game Developer’s Choice三项大奖共六个奖项的提名。

然而，《Minecraft》的原型也是个失败之作。游戏的原型是不怎么成功的《Infiniminer》，这是款竞速挖矿游戏，玩家努力寻找稀有矿石。

《Infiniminer》很流行，但开发者Zachtronics Industries在游戏发布不足1个月便将其放弃，他们根本没想到玩家有时间在游戏中构建自己的奇妙建筑。

《Minecraft》开发者Notch发现《Infiniminer》中有许多未变挖掘出的潜力，决定自行设计游戏。他在游戏中添加更美观的图像、种类更丰富的方块和选择、制造系统，围绕在一个无限广的时间中建造各式建筑物来构建游戏的可玩性。游戏迅速超过《Infiniminer》，日益变得更为精致。

随着开发者逐渐添加各种新功能，随着玩家不断在方块拼成的时间中构建奇妙物体，游戏不断成长。游戏设计最早出现在《Infiniminer》中，但却是《Minecraft》让其变得枝繁叶茂，后者无疑是现在最成功的单人游戏。

“天才就是1%的灵感加上99%的汗水”

以上这些游戏的设计都极具价值，深入挖掘各个层面便能够取得巨大的成功，包括核心体验、机制和艺术设计。《疯狂美式橄榄球》的团队坚持数年才将游戏铸成巨作，而《Farm Town》和《Infiniminer》的原开发者都未曾认识到产品的潜在价值，因而未获得成功。

标题谚语出自托马斯·爱迪生之口，尽管他不是个游戏开发者，却是个发明家，而他的说法可成为今天许多游戏开发者的座右铭。有时候想法和设计已然存在，需要的只是努力将其变成现实。有些开发者有继续前进的恒心，而有些人只能将果实拱手让给别人。

你的项目是否有成为巨作的潜力呢？如果有人告诉你存在这个可能性，那么你能否坚持直到将其变为现实，还是说你会在首次发布失败后便放弃？（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Game Designs that Failed…Then Hit the Big Time

Brice Morrison

Sometimes all a design needs is a little pick me up.

There are many times in life when it seems like there’s no hope, when you’ve tried all the options, when you’re just spent, and you just give up. Your project that you’ve been working on has sold a few copies and has received mediocre reviews, and you think that you would have a better chance with another idea.

But sometimes it’s not the design or the idea of the original game that counts, it’s the execution. Sometimes the design is a potential blockbuster, all that’s needed is strong perseverance to keep working on it, promoting it, and making it better until it fires off like a rocket ship. Sometimes failure isn’t have a design that isn’t successful; failure is just quitting before an unsuccessful design is turned into a winner.

Here’s a look at some failed games whose designs eventually became big winners, either at the hand of their originators or someone else with the eye to spot a diamond in the rough.

Failed Design #1: Madden NFL

Today Madden NFL is a cultural phenomenon, one of video game’s all time best selling franchises. Players drool over the title’s release every year, and athletes love the opportunity to be in the game and on the cover. The designs are top notch and make players feel like they’re actually “In the game”, an incredible feat if you consider the restrictions that the real life sport puts on the video game. EA has an exclusive partnership with the NFL to make the game, giving it a massive cash cow that has held strong for two decades.

But what many people don’t know is that EA’s legendary Madden Football franchise was originally a failure. Released in 1988 for the Apple Computer, the project took three years to make when it was originally scheduled to take no more than about one. It was being developed in house, then outsourced to Bethesda Softworks, and then brought back in house again after a crumbling relationship. This was a massive expense to the then-fledgling EA, so bad that the game became known within the company as “Trip’s Folly” named after EA’s founder who was obsessed with the project.

The studio didn’t even have the rights to use the real NFL’s name and likeness at the time, so the team names were made up. Additionally, the game chugged at an embarrassingly slow frame rate, rendering it almost unplayable. After finally being released after delay after delay, the game didn’t sell very well, making just enough money to continue the franchise while facing steep competition from other football titles.

But over time the team at EA persisted, eventually secured the rights to the NFL teams, improved the designs and ported it to consoles. Over time the name of the brand grew and the games continued to get better and better, increasing the graphics each year. Eventually other competitor football titles faded away with no chance of catching up. Today EA’s Madden NFL team is the best in the industry and the games are a year over year breakout hit.

Hail Mary, or just driving patiently down the field, one yard at a time? You decide.

Failed Design #2: FarmVille

FarmVille was the most played game is Facebook’s history until its successor CityVille dethroned it. At its height in early 2010 it was played by over 80 million players all around the globe. Additionally it commands a 30% stick rate, or the percentage of players who log in to play every day. That’s a number that’s unheard of in the social game world.

But FarmVille wasn’t an original design. Its controversial origins actually came from another game called Farm Town, from which is was considered “an exact duplicate”. Exactly identical in every aspect, social game giant Zynga noticed that Farm Town’s game design was a winner. Thus, they recreated the game exactly before continuing to build and improve upon it.

Taking Farm Town’s initial game design as a seed, Zynga continue to grow and build upon the game, adding their own innovative features like the Horse Stable, which required friends give building parts to create the structure. They also added their own new exclusive content and further developed ideas like the 7 Days of Summer event and the Crafting Buildings, a feature which delighted players but was never to be found in Farm Town, which stayed mostly the same, content with 3 million players.

By continuing to build on the original Farm Town design and pushing the game through their massive distribution network, Zynga took what was just another Facebook game and turned it into the Facebook game. Whether you take this as an inspirational story or a story of shady business tactics, I’ll leave it up to you. But it’s another great example of how success is just one part idea, nine parts execution.

Failed Design #3: Minecraft

Minecraft recently sold over 1 million copies and reportedly continues to sell over 10,000 more every day at €15 a pop. The game has spawned thousands of Youtube videos of players showing off their incredibly involved creations, from castles to cannons, water slides and megaobjects. A documentary film is being made about the game, and it is nominated not only for three Independent Game Festival awards, but also three Game Developer’s Choice Awards.

But Minecraft’s original design was also initially a failure. The game it was based on was another, far less successful title called Infiniminer, a competitive mining game where players played alongside one another, trying to find rare ores.

Infiniminer was popular, but its developer, Zachtronics Industries abandoned it no longer than a month after its release, making no note of the fact that players were having the time of their lives building their own imaginative structures in the game.

Notch, developer of Minecraft, saw a lot of potential that was going untapped in Infiniminer and decided to take the design on himself. Adding better graphics, more varied blocks and options, a crafting system, and focusing the gameplay around building in a malleable world, the game quickly surpassed Infiniminer and grew more polished every day.

As each new feature was added, as players continued building amazing objects in a blocky shaped world, the game grew and grew. The world design that was originally started by Infiniminer blossomed in Minecraft, arguably the most successful one-man game of all time.

“Genius is 1% Inspiration, 99% Perspiration”

Each of these stories started with a game design that was worth millions. Deep down inside, there was a massive success to be made; the Core Experience, the Mechanics, the artwork, they were all there. In the case of Madden, the team persisted for years until they came up with a hit. In the case of Infiniminer and Farm Town, the original developers sadly didn’t recognize the potential of their creation and thus never bore the fruits of their labor.

The above quote is from Thomas Edison, and while not a game developer, he was an incredibly prolific inventor whose discipline applies to many game developers today. Sometimes the idea, the design is there, it just needs to be pushed, massaged, and worked on until it becomes a diamond. Some developers have the persistence to keep going, while others leave their gem for others.

Does your project have the potential to be a mega hit? If someone told you that it did, would you be able to persist until you found it, or would you quit soon after your first release? (Source: The Game Prodigy)