作者：Paul Briden

Know Your Mobile同游戏行业资深人士、《Speedball 2: Evolution》开发者Jon Hare就手机游戏行业发展状况进行了探讨，以下是游戏邦编译的访谈内容：

我们注意到你在之前接受的采访中曾说过现代游戏行业存在某些问题，比如因中层管理和冒险行为的缺乏等原因导致开发商同发行公司间的联系不甚紧密。你认为行业能够及时摆脱这个问题吗？

感谢你向我提出这个问题。事实在于，任何改变的发生归根结底都是经济驱动公司结构中的人员变动。我所说的问题存在于中小型发行商上，而并非自主发行的开发商。所有的发行商都需要销售开发商的想法和产品，而开发商需要某些发行商的技术来营销他们的产品，开发商和发行商之间维持着这种关系。

然而，在主机游戏的年代里，中小型开发商已经逐渐消亡。因为他们被迫先期冒着越来越大的风险来做营销，而同时盈利空间越来越小，他们获得的回报越来越少。具有讽刺意味的是，数字化市场正是这些没有在过去5年中消亡的小型发行公司赖以生存的市场。

我所说的是，许多此类发行公司的实力还无法在此领域崭露头角，所以我们无法判断他们的方法在这个市场中的效果如何。但是在最近的几周里，我看到某些较大但非巨型发行商正开始在数字市场中展开合作，或许他们会改变公司的做法。坦诚的说，如果他们没有研发出全新的方法，那么开发商们将来或许根本不会考虑跟他们合作，反倒会选择自行发行游戏。

最后，我认为新型小数字独立发行商可能会在将来数年内有所进步。然而，如果某些成功的小型引起大型发行商的注意，就像我们现在看到的Chillingo，那么他们与开发商展开我所认为的行业需要的直接和非协作性方法的合作将变得更为艰难。

应当注意到的是，在手机领域中，过去10年间开发商和发行商之间的关系也并不理想。但是我总是觉得，现在正是改变出现的大好时机。

你是否认为手机游戏市场将成为C64时代的“家庭作坊式开发模式”的替代品？

我觉得在传统手机市场中，多年来多数手机开发者都没有获得公正的对待。他们根本没有因为开发原创游戏而获得合理的回报和尊重，可以算是廉价劳动力，只出现像iomo之类些许例外情况。

C64时代和现在的主要不同之处在于，我们在C64时代时可以赚到足够维持生计的金钱。现在的iPhone游戏并非如此，尤其是对那些经验不足的开发者而言，他们可能根本不知道如何将他们的游戏销往市场。对我们这些经验丰富的人来说，销售依然很艰难。

但是就小型团队游戏开发技术上而言，现在和上世纪80年代的状况还是有些许相似性的。2或3个人组成的团队就可以利用很普及的设备来设计新游戏。最大的差异是，去年iPhone平台新发布了15万个应用，而在80年代的C64时代每年发布的游戏数量不超过1000款。

Speedball 2 Evolution(from knowyourmobile)

我还记得在Atari上玩《Speedball》的经历，学习起来相对较难，这个新版本的易用性会更好吗？能否跟我们说说些许有关《Speedball 2》的情况，相对于原版游戏你们做出了哪些改变？

从总体上说，我觉得游戏学起来还是比较容易的。只有在Champions League中才会更注重玩家的技巧。

从总体上说，《Speedball 2: Evolution》更像是款移植游戏，从名字上就可以看出来。我们根据原游戏的代码来重新构建整个游戏。这使得我们能够合理地利用触摸屏、倾斜技术、蓝牙和WiFi链接，这是原版游戏所没有的内容。我们重新设计了菜单系统和游戏控制，这样看起来就像游戏专门为智能手机和其他触摸屏设备设计的那样。

控制系统的效果真得很棒。我们在游戏中设置了两种基本控制机制，其一是倾斜控制，你可以倾斜设备来模拟你在用操纵杆做出的方向选择，而且游戏中现在有了个360的操纵杆，花30秒的时间就可以学会。我们在游戏中使用的是《Sensible Soccer》式的玩家选择引擎，无需玩家选择按钮就可以向玩家提供他想要使用的那个角色。

第二种控制系统是虚拟操纵杆，这种设计此前已经在许多iOS游戏中出现过，效果也很不错，但是我觉得这种玩游戏的方法会影响到游戏体验。我观察到，所有25岁以下的玩家会马上领悟到倾斜系统，而更年长的玩家会优先选择操纵杆。在任何情况下，玩家可以自由地从一个系统转换到另一个系统，玩家可以随时选择。

在iPhone和iPhone 4上使用倾斜系统的另一个好处是，多数情况下手指不会遮挡住屏幕。在新版本游戏中，点击屏幕就可以开火。

在游戏内容方面，我们已经确保了所有改动都能够与《Speedball》原来的世界保持一致。《Speedball》是款未来风格的运动游戏，有着一整套的规则和得分道具系统，在这个方面新游戏与原版完全相同。当然，我们提高了游戏画面的质量，但是游戏仍然与原版很像。

我们增添新功能的主要领域是游戏中团队和比赛的深度。除了原版中已有的诸如Brutal Deluxe和Super Nashwan等两个分类8个队伍之外，我们还在游戏中增加了额外的层次。比赛结构与《Sensible Soccer》更像，你可以在其中选择快速比赛、预设比赛（游戏邦注：选择游戏中的5个杯赛和联盟）、自定义比赛（游戏邦注：规划自己的联盟、杯赛或联赛）和职业生涯模式。

职业生涯模式为你提供10个赛季的职业比赛，你可以培养自己的队伍，将队伍从最低等级提升至Speedball Intergalactic Champions League。随着你的队伍的进步以及奖杯的获得，你可以有机会解锁队伍并与其他星系的队伍比赛。冠军队伍参加的Intergalactic Cup中有来自不同星系的4支队伍，他们看起来都与普通的Speedball玩家不同。

除了上述改动外，我们还彻底改变了游戏的外观，但是保留了Gym和Transfer功能，这样你的队伍就可以不断进行升级并提升球手的能力。这个版本中还有个独特的功能是多人玩家模式，你可以通过wifi或蓝牙同其他玩家一起玩游戏。

Speedball 2 Evolution (from knowyourmobile)

有没有在Windows Phone 7或Android等其他手机操作系统上发布游戏的计划？

我们时刻都在关注其他的操作系统，只要我们确信制作这些系统版本的游戏不会亏本，那么我们就会去做。

小时候我花了很长时间玩《Cannon Fodder》，一直期盼能出现现代版本。你能否透露下个重新开发老游戏的计划吗？

对此，我还想保密。我们只能说现在已经有重制这些游戏并将其投放市场的机会，《Speedball 2: Evolution》的表现越好，我们越有可能重新制作那些你所喜欢的老游戏。

在当前的手机游戏中，是否有让你感到特别感兴趣的？

我很少玩其他人的游戏，我通常专注于完善自己的游戏。近期，我用iPhone玩了很长时间的《Scrabble》，但是我并不觉得这款游戏让我很感兴趣。就我个人而言，这更像是个习惯。我已经玩这款游戏很长时间，并乐此不疲地与游戏AI对抗。

去年我玩的最多的游戏是《愤怒的小鸟》，游戏的节奏和关卡结构都很不错，但是我认为Season Version并非如此。我已经花了大量时间在每个关卡中获得3颗星，但是我却还要从头开始，这让我感到很意外。

某些手机操作系统的游戏似乎缺乏新意，看起来似乎是平台本身限制了手机游戏的创新，你是否认为手机游戏开发者正处在无法找到突破点的境地？抑或这是另一种风险规避行为？

正如我上文说过的那样，许多有些许经验的手机开发者过去10年都在充当廉价劳动力。对许多人来说，多年以来去尝试销售原创想法都是很不切实际的做法。现在他们已经有自信去实践优秀的原创想法，我期待在未来数年时间里可以看看越来越多的很棒的想法浮出水面。

然而，不断改变的平台对软件创新有影响。优秀的创新需要时间来完成，而不断改变的技术不允许多数人用足够的时间来完善他们睿智的创意以及获得最大化的回报。当技术改变过快时，只有那些硬件公司和少数能够跟得上节奏的开发商能够赚到钱，其他的所有人几乎都没办法实现盈利。当他们完成自己的创新制作后，技术和市场关注点已经发生了改变。

依我的观点来看，程序员需要完成2到3款游戏方能完全掌握一款新硬件的性能，而这需要大量的时间。

你认为手机游戏行业未来数年会有何改变？

开发商更少，小型发行商逐渐涌现（游戏邦注：包括有些已经存在很长时间的小型开发商），大型开发商设立手机游戏部门，开发商和发行商将面临各个平台兼容性的压力，出现更多的触屏技术创新。

你认为何种题材是手机游戏的理想题材？你认为是否有某些游戏类型有一定潜力但是目前还未被发掘出来？

我强烈地感觉到，自从1995年后就没有显现过新的游戏题材，当然这是某些较大平台上的状况。但是，我们仍然有许多种在各种电脑样式上构建游戏和娱乐体验的方法。在1995年之前，我们总是在创造和探索新的游戏类型，而发生改变的是发行商对新想法的资金支持。许多大型媒体游戏发行商在失败之后就不是很在乎这种做法，这才导致我们的创新还停留在15年前。

我认为多数游戏题材都可以良好地呈现在手机平台上，唯一的问题是，屏幕的尺寸使得许多较为复杂的资源管理风格游戏无法呈现在手机上。优良实时照明能力的缺乏使许多3D艺术受到了影响，比如《战神》游戏可能就无法开发成手机游戏。

你可曾关注过某些有潜力的掌机游戏或OS游戏开发者？

除了与我合作开发《Speedball 2: Evolution》等许多游戏的Vivid Games成员之外，我也同Rovio相处了很长时间，他们对整个手机游戏市场和手机游戏都有很深的了解，我喜欢他们的手指物理游戏。

游戏邦注：本文发稿于2011年2月23日，所涉时间、事件和数据均以此为准。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Interview: Jon Hare, head of Tower Studios

Paul Briden

As the release of Speedball 2: Evolution is literally around the corner, we decided to bust out the tea and have a good old chinwag with the games industry veteran, Jon Hare, to talk about the state of mobile gaming.

With past games including the likes of Sensible Soccer and Cannon Fodder, hopes are high Speedball 2 Evolution rekindles some of that brilliant retro magic. Fortunately, a collaboration between Jon Hare, Tower Studios, Vivid Games and the Bitmap Brothers ensures the franchise is in the right hands.

Know Your Mobile: We saw your interview with Re:Loaded where you talked about some of the problems with the modern gaming industry (having lost the link between the developers and the heads of publishing companies because of middle-management, lack of risk taking and so on) Do you think this is something the industry can move away from in time?

Jon Hare: Thank you for asking me this question. The truth is that for any change to happen it comes down to economic driven personnel change within company structure. The model I am talking about is the model of a small to mid size publisher, but not a self publishing developer. All publishers need developer’s ideas and products to sell, and developers need at least some publisher’s expertise to get their products to market, so the window of interface between developer and publisher will always be there.

However small to medium size publishers have been dieing during the console years as they have been forced to take greater and greater risks on up front cartridge payments, while at the same time having their margins squeezed so they get less and less return. Ironically the digital market is the perfect place for these small publishing companies to flourish had most of them not been bled dry over the last 5 years or so.

What I am saying is a lot of them are in too poor a state of health to step up to the plate right now, so we cannot really judge what their approach is likely to be in this market. However in recent weeks I have been seeing signs that some of the big, but not huge, publishers are starting to get their act together in the digital space so maybe they will change their patterns and work in a new way. To be honest if they don’t approach things in a new way the developers will just not bother to talk to them, as they will choose simply to self publish instead.

Finally it is my belief that new, small scale digital independent publishers are probably going to be the way forward over the next few years. However if the successful ones allow themselves to get consumed into bigger publishers, as we have seen with Chillingo recently, then it is much harder for them to cut deals with developers in the direct and non-corporate way that I believe the industry needs.

It is also worth noting in the mobile space that traditional mobile games publishing has been particularly exploitational of developers over the last 10 years and is also not a good model for ideal developer/publisher relations…. But yes I am forever hopeful, change has never been so likely as it is now.

KYM: Do you think that the mobile games market has become a replacement for the ‘bedroom developers’ of the C64 era?

Hare: I think that most mobile developers have been treated like cheap disposable s*** for too many years in the traditional mobile markets. They have had almost no respect at all paid to their ability to develop original games and have been treated as low paid work for hire sweatshops… with a few notable exceptions like iomo.

The big difference between the C64 era and now is that we could make enough money to live off of in the C64 era. Nowadays it is really hit and miss with iphone games, particularly for inexperienced developers who maybe don’t know how to sell their games into the market… it is hard enough for us experienced guys.

However technically in terms of small team game development, there are a number of similarities between now and the 1980s. New games can be made by teams of 2 or 3 people on devices that are in millions of homes. The biggest difference is that on the iPhone there were 150,000 apps launched last year and in the 80s on the C64 I am pretty sure that the number of games launched was less than 1,000 per year.

KYM: I remember playing Speedball on the Atari and it had a fairly steep learning curve – is it more accessible in this new version? If you could tell us a bit about Speedball 2 and what sort of changes have been made from the original game?

Hare: Overall I think the game has a pretty gentle learning curve, certainly it is very easy to pick up and play for nearly everybody and the early career games are not too difficult to win providing you remember to upgrade your squad. It only really starts to get tricky once you make it to the Champions League.

As a whole Speedball 2 Evolution is much, much more than a port, hence its name. We looked at the original source code and then proceeded to build the game from the ground up. This has enabled us to properly take advantage of the touch screen and tilt technology and the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectability that wasn’t around when the game was originally made. We have redesigned the menu system and the game controls so that it appears as if the game was actually designed for smartphones and other touch screen devices.

The control system works incredibly well. We have given the game two basic control mechanisms, the first is Tilt Control, you tilt the device to emulate the direction you would push the joystick in, and it is now a 360 degree joystick, it is very intuitive after abut 30 seconds use. We have a full Sensible Soccer style player selection engine sitting underneath this which helps to keep the action flowing and to give the player the man he wants to use without the need for a player select button.

The second control system is the virtual joystick, this has been seen on a number of iOS games before and works very well too, although it is in my opinion a retro way of playing the game. I have observed that all people under 25 pick up the tilt system immediately where as some older guys tend to first opt for the comfort of the stick before jumping over to the tilt mechanism after a while. In any case the player is free to change from one system to the other as he chooses at any time.

The other big advantage of the tilt system for the iPhone and iPhone 4 is that it means the screen is clear of your fingers most of the time… In both versions tapping on the screen emulates the actions of the fire button in the original Speedball for tackling, passing and shooting.

On the game content side we have ensured that whatever we do fits in with the existing world of Speedball. Speedball is a futuristic sport with set rules and a set configuration of scoring items on the pitch and pickups appearing from time to time and in every respect we have remained faithful to this. Of course we have increased the number of pitches and greatly enhanced the quality of the graphics but the game is still very definitely and instantly recognisable as Speedball.

The main area we have added new features is in the depth of teams and competitions in the game. In addition to the established two divisions of 8 teams such as Brutal Deluxe and Super Nashwan we have added a whole extra layer to the game. The competition structure is a bit more like Sensible Soccer, in that it offers you a choice of Quick Match, Preset Competition (choose form 5 cups and leagues in the game), Custom Competition (devise your own league, cup or tournament) and Career Mode.

Career Mode gives you a 10 season career to create your own team and take them from the bottom of division 2 to the Speedball Intergalactic Champions League. As you progress through the divisions and win the Cups on offer you have the chance to play and unlock teams and pitches from different galaxies. The Intergalactic Cup (for this Read UEFA Cup (sorry Europa Cup)) and the Champions League feature 4 teams from each of the Ice, Fire and Cyber galaxies who look a bit different to regular Speedball players and are generally pretty tasty practitioners of the Speedball art.

On top of this we have overhauled the look, but kept the functionality of the Gym and Transfer screens so that your squad can be constantly upgraded with new signings and player enhancements. The other main additional feature specific to this version is head to head Multiplayer Mode which can be played via wifi or bluetooth.

KYM: Are there any plans for a release on other mobile operating systems such as Windows Phone 7 or Android?

Hare: Yes we are looking at the other systems all the time, as long as we are sure we can make versions for these systems without losing money then we will do them (that is a hint to remind everyone that paying for games is good).

KYM: I spent many hours playing Cannon Fodder as a kid and have long anticipated a modern update – can you give any indication of what’s next in line for redevelopment from the Bitmap Brothers/Sensible Software back-catalogue?

Hare: Aaah… I am trying to retain some mystery about this… let us just say that the door is open for us to explore all of these titles and the better Speedball 2 Evolution does the more likely we are to recreate all of your old favourites.

KYM: Are there any current mobile games you find particularly inspiring?

Hare: I am a terrible person to ask about playing other peoples games, even during the best Sensible years I would gloss over a few games from other people and then focus on my own. Recently I have been playing a lot of Scrabble on the iPhone but I would hardly say it is inspiring, in my case it is more habitual… I have a long running rivalry with Scrabble AI and I never tire of beating it.

The other game I played most of last year was Angry Birds, it has a perfect pace and a great level structure.. although for me the Season Version was not quite the same… I was upset that I had to start again from scratch when I had spent ages getting 3 stars on each level.

KYM: For some mobile operating systems it seems like there can be a lack of originality – as if the platform is hampering mobile gaming from having a wider range – do you think there is a tendency for mobile developers to get stuck in a rut in having particular ways to do things? Is this another case of risk aversion?

Hare: Like I said before many mobile developers with any experience have been work for hire sweatshops for the last 10 years, it has been impractical for many of them to try and sell original ideas for many years. Having the confidence to come up with and shape good original ideas takes a bit of practise and I expect in the next few years we will see more and more great new ideas surface.

The constantly moving platform is however very bad for software innovation. Good innovation takes time and moving technology does not allow most people the time to perfect their brilliant new work and maximise their return on it. When technology changes too quickly the only companies that make money are the hardware companies and a few developers who get in with them very early, nearly everybody else misses the boat and by the time they have finished their masterpiece the technology and the market focus have already moved on.

In my opinion it take a programmer at least 2, maybe 3 finished games to really master a piece of new hardware and that all takes time.

KYM: How do you think the mobile games industry will change in the next few years?

Hare: Fewer developers, small publishers emerging (some old and some new), big publishers setting up proper mobile divisions, pressure from developers and publishers for consolidation between platforms, more touch screen innovation.

KYM: What sort of genres do you think are ideally suited to mobile gaming? Do you think there are any game styles that have potential but are presently underdeveloped?

Hare: I feel very strongly that new game genres have been crushed since 1995, certainly on the bigger platforms, but that there are many new ways that we can shape the gaming/entertainment experience on various computer formats. We were inventing new types of games all of the time before this point, the only thing that changed was publishers appetites to back new ideas with money… the new big media games publishers back then got their fingers burned by too many dotcom bull****ters and so far it has set us back 15 years in terms of brave publishing.

I think most game genres can be done well on mobile platforms, the only real issues are screen size which might take out some of more complicated resource management style games. And the lack of ability to do good quality real time lighting, which negatively effects a lot of 3D art… for example God of War on mobile might creak a bit.

KYM: Are there any handset or OS developers you think have a lot of potential and that you are keeping a close eye on?

Hare: Apart from the guys at Vivid Games, who I work with on many games including Speedball 2 Evolution, I have a lot of time for Rovio, they are nice guys who have learned a lot about the market and Press OK Entertainment, I like their Finger Physics game.

KYM: Thank you for your time. (Source: Know Your Mobile)