作者：Ryan Wolniak

想让你的游戏获得更好的赞助吗？

那么刚开始要做的就是把赞助者带入你的游戏中。如果赞助者不玩你的游戏，他们当然不会为游戏出价。

以下这些令人厌烦的事项可能让赞助者忽略你的游戏。

magnifying_glass(from chumpysclipart.com)

1、丑陋的图标

令人惊叹的图标会吸引赞助者进入你的游戏，那么丑陋的图标就会让他们对游戏视而不见。

如果你都不愿意花时间去制造个精美的图标，那么赞助者为何要花时间去审视你的游戏呢？

赞助者每天要面对数十款甚至上百款游戏。他们不可能玩遍所有游戏，所以他们只会选择玩那些他们感到较为出众的游戏。这就是为何你需要为游戏制作个精美的图标的原因。

2、欠佳的游戏名称

想出完美的游戏名可能很困难，但是我想告诉你一个小秘密，出色的游戏名称并不是那么重要。

但如果创造精美的游戏名称不是那么重要的话，为什么我还要提到这一点呢？

因为优秀的游戏名称未必带来成功，但蹩脚的名字却可能给你带来损失。

大部分情况下，赞助者不会过于关心你的游戏名。只要你的游戏名不是很糟糕，赞助者应该会乐于点击体验你的游戏。那么什么才是不妥的游戏名呢？

过长：游戏名越长，理解所耗费的时间也就越长。如果游戏名过长，你就有可能被赞助者忽视。

其他的语言：除非你的游戏特别针对某个国家的用户，否者多数门户网站的用户使用的都是英语。这意味着你的游戏名应该是英文的。

例外：如果你的游戏名是其他的语言，但用英语读起来很像顺口，那么这或许也是可行的选择。

不良的拼写和语法：请在游戏名中使用正确的拼写和语法。否则，赞助者会认为你不专业。

大写：使用大写字母或许可以让你的游戏受到更多的关注，但是这种做法并不好。这就像是经常在小学中演出的孩子一样，他滑稽夸张的演技自然会引起他人的关注，但是毕业时这些演技并不能为他赢得额外的分数。

模仿其他游戏名称：这种做法确不可行。这回让你的游戏看起来像其他游戏的克隆产品。

在决定游戏名时，请遵从以下原则：

可读性：如果无法被人理解，那么这种标题还有什么意义呢？保持标题短且可阅读。

相关性：你的游戏名应当与游戏的主题相关。如果你制作的是赛车游戏，那么将“赛车”（游戏邦注：或其他相关词汇）添加到游戏名中可能是个不错的想法。

稀有性：让你的游戏名与众不同。独特的标题和有趣的游戏细节，会让赞助者产生足够点击你游戏的好奇心。

看看，起个好游戏名其实并不难。

3、没有联系赞助者

多数赞助者都不会自动发现你的游戏。这种情况确实发生过，但是如果仅仅寄期望于运气主动降临的话，你的游戏得到关注的可能性将极其有限。

除非你已经是个很著名的开发者，否则你必须主动出击寻找赞助者。

你要如何寻找赞助者呢？

email(from christianpartner4life.com)

给他们发邮件。

我知道，有些开发者会告诉你说，给赞助者发邮件会让人感到讨厌，显得很不专业。这些开发者总喜欢群发邮件，每次发送数百封邮件。他们的想法是，每次发送这么多的邮件，总会有人对你的游戏有所兴趣。这种方法自然能够奏效，但是这么做让人感到很麻烦，而且你的转化率（游戏邦注：打开你的邮件并点击游戏的人数的比例）也不会很高。

定向邮件是个更能为开发者所接受而且具有较高转化率的方法。

首先，你要列出那些你知道或感觉他们可能对你的游戏类型感兴趣的赞助者。比如，如果你制作的是解谜游戏，你可以列举出那些你知道通常赞助解谜游戏的赞助者，然后给他们发送邮件细致阐述你的游戏适合他们站点的原因所在。

同样，如果你已经对某个赞助者有所了解，通过他来实现目标也容易得多。因为他已经与你合作过，也对你的作品的质量有所了解。

你是否采取某些措施来为自己的游戏赢得更多赞助者呢？如果还没有的话，可以试试以上这些方法。

游戏邦注：本文发稿于2010年12月14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）

Three Reasons Your Game Isn’t Getting Views

Ryan Wolniak

Want to get better sponsorships for your games?

It all starts with getting sponsors into your games. If sponsors aren’t playing your game, they certainly aren’t bidding on it.

Here are some common annoyances that hold sponsors back from viewing your games.

1. You have an ugly icon

Like awesome icons attract sponsors into your game, ugly icons turn them away.

If you can’t spend the time to create a good icon, why should a sponsor spend the time to view your game?

Sponsors are sent tens, maybe hundreds, of games a day. They can’t view them all, so they’re only going to play the ones that stand out to them. That’s why you need to have a good game thumbnail.

Looking to improve your thumbnail?

Check out these quick tips on mistakes to avoid when making a thumbnail, or head over to MochiLand for a more in depth look on icon design.

2. Your title is terrible

It can be tough to come up the perfect title, but I’m going to let you in on a little secret… titles are not that big of a deal.

If creating awesome titles isn’t a big deal, why am I talking about them?

It’s not so much what you title can do to help you, but what your title can do to hurt you.

For the most part, sponsors don’t care too much about your game’s title. As long as your title isn’t awful, sponsors should be fine clicking into your game. So what makes a bad title?

Too long: The longer your title, the longer it takes to comprehend. If a title runs too long, you also run the risk of having it cut off.

In another language: Unless you’re targeting a specific audience, most portals are going to have an English speaking audience. This means your game’s title needs to be in English.

Exception: If your title is from another language, but sounds catchy in the English language, it might work.

Bad spelling/grammar: I shouldn’t even have to mention this, but please use proper spelling and grammar in your title. Otherwise it comes off looking tacky and unprofessional.

CAPS LOCK: Using caps lock might get your game more attention, but it’s not the good kind. It’s like that kid who always acted out in grade school. Sure, he got attention for his antics. But when it came time for grading, those antics certainly weren’t going to earn him any bonus points.

Copies another title: This is a big no-no. It’ll look like your game is just a clone of another, probably more popular, game.

Instead, follow the 3 Rs of title creation:

Readable: What’s the point of a title if it it can’t be understood? Keep it short and pronounceable.

Related: Your title should go together with your game’s theme. If you have a game about racing, it would probably be a good idea to put racing (or a related word) into the title.

Rarity: Make your title unique. Unique titles, coupled with interesting game details, will get sponsors curious enough to click into your game.

See, that wasn’t so hard.

3. You aren’t contacting sponsors

Most sponsors aren’t going to simply stumble upon your game. It certainly happens, but if go by pure chance, you’re going to be limiting the number of views your game gets.

Unless you’re already a famous developer, you have to go out and find them.

How do you find sponsors?

By emailing them.

I know, some developers will tell you that emailing sponsors is annoying, and unprofessional. What they’re likely talking about is mass emailing, in which you send out hundreds of emails, in hopes that by sending so many emails out, some of them will be sure to check out your game. This can work, but it can be a pain to do, and your conversion rate (the percent that open your email and click through to your game) isn’t going to be high.

A method that tends to be more accepted by developers, and higher converting, is targeted emails.

With targeted emails, you short-list a couple sponsors that you either already know, or feel would be interested in the type of game you are licensing. For example, if you had a puzzle game, you could come up with a list of sponsors you know usually sponsors puzzle games, and send them an email detailing why your game is a good fit for their site.

Likewise, if you already know a sponsor, it’s much easier to get through to him since he already worked with you and (hopefully) trusts in the quality of your work.

Are you doing everything you can to get more sponsors into your games? If not, try giving one of these tips a try. (Source: Freelance Flash Games)