作者：Ally watts

作为独立开发者，将产品所能够带来的盈利最大化是非常重要的。现在已经有多种成本较低甚至零成本的途径让你可以获知产品可能产生的盈利。诚然，应用安全和分析追踪可能不是游戏开发中最有趣的部分，但却是很重要的层面。

对所有开发者而言，追踪盗版软件是不可避免的问题。随着现代搜索引擎技术的发展，你可以很容易地搜索到几乎所有软件的非法盗版。正因为此，盗版成为了所有类型的开发者的共同问题。幸运的是，对独立开发者而言，我们可以执行多种方法。尽管这些方法无法彻底杜绝盗版的出现，但是却能够限制因盗版引起的损失。

追踪盗版来源

依我来看，Google Analytics已经成为了追踪流量来源和顾客使用产品相关信息的宝贵工具。使用这个高级的工具，你甚至可以看到自己是如何将玩家转变成付费用户。

google analytics(from gamasutra)

Google Analytics分析站点上的记录很长，但是通过添加java标签来执行就很简单。通过使用Analytics或其他追踪用户的工具，你可以看到那些成功销售游戏的值得信任和不值得信任的合作者。通过查看这些合作方，你可以更好地利用广告预算，让销量最多的地方获得更高的曝光度。

连网登录方式

目前，维持对应用非授权进入的最流行的方式是设备web用户登录系统。让用户登录后方可接触游戏主要内容的系统设置方法相对简单。所有的安全方法都有漏洞，技艺精良的盗版者可能会破译你的代码然后找到登录代码，但是登录可以让你更容易监控游戏的进入方式，防止非法用户接触到你最新的更新和安装包。当然，这种系统也并非毫无纰漏。首先，用户需要连网才能够玩游戏，这可能会让那些经常外出或因其他原因无法连网的玩家离开游戏。对于简单的休闲游戏而言，用户很可能就会直接放弃游戏。而且，你还需要提供持续性的客服支持，因为用户有可能忘记密码或不理解登录过程（游戏邦注：确实存在此类用户）。

login(from gamasutra)

添加链接公司链接

将公司名称和站点链接尽量插入到应用中，这是非常重要的。理想状况下，这会给公司开发的其他产品直接带来销量。至少，这种水印会引导合法和非法用户回到你的网络中，让你有第二次机会通过将这些用户转化为付费顾客来盈利。即便盗版者得逞，游戏内的链接也能够让你从持续玩游戏的用户身上获利。通常情况下，盗版者搜索并移除游戏中的每个链接会耗费大量的时间和精力。遗憾的是，我经常看到许多Android和iTunes商店中的免费游戏不在应用中加入自己的链接。多数用户不会花那么多时间来输入你的地址或点击三次左右来查看公司相关信息，所以应该尽量让用户方便地获得公司的信息。如果你在游戏中成功插入链接，那么即便是盗版游戏也能够给你带来盈利。

硬代码网站授权

我们开始在babesoul.com执行的最后一个安全措施包括可以检查游戏在适当地点运行的硬代码网站授权。这对于那些在网页浏览器上玩的游戏（游戏邦注：包括flash和unity游戏）来说更加简单。添加这种层次的安全设置可以确保游戏不在特别指定的URL之外的其他地方显示。就我们最新的游戏而言，我们会发布两个版本的游戏。一个版本将作为测试版本，不包含网页授权代码。这个版本将提交给销售合作方，我们希望这款免费呈现的游戏会给付费版本带来更多的用户。另一个版本包含安全措施，放置在我们的会员网站上，只有付费用户才能够进入。

判断最佳途径

应当记住的一件事情是，游戏安全设置没有绝对有效和快速的方法。你应该找到最适合自己的产品并且对用户来说麻烦最少的途径。通过在开发过程中系统化地使用安全设备方法，可以确保有效地收获自己努力工作的劳动成果。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Benefiting From Piracy

Ally watts

As an indy developer it’s important that you can maximize every cent that your product could potentially generate. There are already multiple avenues at little or no cost that are already available at your disposal to help you correctly identify potential income leaks that may exist with your product. Granted, application security and analytics tracking may not be the most interesting aspect of game development, but it is an important one none the less.

One inevitable problem that exists for all developers to track is software piracy. With the speed of modern search engines, it has become increasingly easy to search for illegal priate version of nearly any software that you would need. Due to this fact piracy has become a real problem for developers of all sizes. Fortunately for the indy developer we can implement several features that will limit our exposure to revenue losses due to piracy, if not stopping them outright.

Where do they all come from?

In my opinon Google Analytics has become an invaluable tool for tracking traffic sources as well as information about how your consumers are using your product. With the advanced tools that are given withing the analytics algorithm you can even see how you are converting players into paying customers.

There is more length documentation on google analytics on their site, but it’s about as easy to implement as adding a single java snipet. By using Analytics or other tools that track your users, you can see both trusted and untrusted partners who are distrbuting your game successfully. By determining who these parties are, you can better utilize your advertising budget to gain more exposure in the areas where you are converting the most sales.

Locking your Doors and Windows

Currently the most popular method of maintaining control of unauthorized access to your applications is through a web based user login. It is relatively easy to implement a system which requires users to login before accessing the main features of your game. Like all security even this is not infallable, as it can be broken by a skilled pirate who is curious enough to decompile your code and find the login code, but a login will allow you easily monitor access to your game and will prevent illegal users from accessing your latest updates and patches. This type of system is not without it’s shortcomings however. First, users will be required to have access to the internet at the time that they want to play your game, which might be a point of contention for gamers who travel a lot or don’t have ready access to the internet for some reason. For simple casual games, users are likely to abandon the process of loading your game if they get wind that it will require a login. Additionally you will require an additional level of support for the constant slow of support emails from users who loose their password or don’t understant the process (yes, they are out there).

Don’t Be Humble

It is really important to insert your comapny name and/or site link into your application as much as possible. Ideally, this is a direct point of sale to any other products that your company has already developed. In the least it is a watermark which directs legal and illegal users alike back to your network and gives you a second opportunity to monetize these users into paying customers. Even in cases where pirates have circumvented your primary security, in game links are a successful way to benefit from users who continue to play your game. Generally the amount of time for a pirate to search and remove each and every link in your game will be too great an effort. I am constantly amazed at how many free games in the android and iTunes stores do not even bother to imbed links into their applications. A user will almost never take the time to type in an address or follow more than three clicks to get to your company info, so make it easy for them. If you successfully imbed your links even pirated versions of your game and lead to sales.

Make sure to Cross your T’s and dot your I’s

One final security measure that we have begun to implement at babesoul.com (warning!! : NSFW) is the inclusion of a hard coded website authorization that checks that the game is running at the appropriate location. This is more easily done in games which are played in a web browser, such as flash and unity. Adding this level of security helps ensure that your game does not get displayed in URLs which you have not specifially designated. In the case of our latest games, we would publish 2 versions of the game. One version would act as the demo version does not include the web authorization code. This version would be distributed to sales partners which we wanted to display our game freely to drive visitors to our paid version. The other version would include the security measures and resides on our premium members site which can only be accessed be paid customers.

Use Your Best Judgement

One thing to remember is that there is no hard and fast rule to game security. Only you can determine which avenues will best serve your product and cause the least amount of headaches for your customers. Through systematic practice of some level of security during the course of your devlopment, you will ensure that you can effectively reap the true rewards of your hard work. (Source: Gamasutra)