作者：Jesse Chounard

我们的iOS作品《Hypership Our Of Control》入驻苹果App Store已有2周多。销售成绩非常不错，评论反馈也很积极。我每天腾出些许时间上网浏览信息，发现其在俄罗斯、德国和瑞典都受到好评。这实在太棒了！我庆幸自己选择制作这款iOS游戏《Hypership》。我为我们的工作感到自豪，我第一次能够骄傲地说自己是游戏设计师。

hypership 01 from gamasutra.com

我很开心《Hypership》颇为畅销。截至2011年9月27日，游戏售出2603份。这算不上是《翼飞冲天》或《愤怒的小鸟》的接班人，但我不过个期待自己某天能够成为全职独立开发者的业余开发爱好者，这些销量就已算是非常不错的成绩。

下面是游戏的日销量图表：

Hypership Sales from gamasutra.com

表现突出之处

借鉴既有游戏

《Hypership》不是iOS原生游戏。作品最初由Infused Games的Kris Steele发行于Xbox Live Indie Games服务平台（游戏邦注：他后来也在Windows Phone 7市场发行这款游戏，虽然多数用户更熟悉其XBLIG版本）。

借鉴完整游戏而非设计文稿意味着我清楚游戏整个机制均非常有趣，我们无需进行大量建模和测试工作。此外，所有图像和音频内容都已装配完毕，随时能够发行。

《Hypership》拥有少量非常忠诚的粉丝用户。当我们宣布游戏将入驻iOS平台时，便得到热烈响应。我们清楚我们得推出能够满足用户预期的内容，同时他们也会在游戏即将发行的时候传播消息。

iOS开发工具

10多年来，我一直都使用Windows和Visual Studio开发游戏。转而运用Mac OS X和Xcode是个可怕想法。即便现在我依然感到不安。换而言之，配合Mac/iOS内容开发的其他工具表现很杰出。

相比之前的糟糕dll，我更喜欢框架打包机制。Xcode预装编码所需的所有工具和资料库，你无需在用户电脑安装任何资料库，因为这些已包含在你的应用包裹中。我第一次使用Instruments就给予高度评价。相比之下这是Visual Studio所缺少的部分。其专业版本有很棒的设置工具，但它们使用起来并不方便。此外，Instruments免费提供！

TestFlight

在我决定在iOS平台创建和发行Kris最初设计的《Hypership》时，我发现整个过程令人生厌。从说明在何处寻找独特设备id，到通过iTunes连线接头进行安装，所有这些都令我感到非常困惑。

幸运的是，此时Josh Whelchel刚好向我推荐TestFlight。TestFlight使得若干步骤能够实现自动化操作，这令我们能够轻松以无线方式安装测试模板。TestFlight最近通过推出系列优秀功能进一步完善其服务，我期待自己在下款作品中能够运用到这些功能。若你是iOS开发商，且尚未用过TestFlight，不妨尝试一下。

苹果支持

我们的发行过程非常幸运。《Hypership》刚发行1天就在iPhone App Store的“New and Noteworthy”获得推荐。1个礼拜后，当“New and Noteworthy”块重新更新游戏名单，作品则出现在“What’s Hot” 版块。苹果还在其AppStore官方twitter帐号中提及我们的游戏，其twitter帐号有47万粉丝（游戏邦注：理论上说，其中存在大量虚假粉丝，Twitter总是存在这种奇怪现象）。

苹果给予我们大量支持。这至关重要，我觉得我们非常幸运。

媒体曝光

我们在很多网站获得积极评价。148apps（4.5/5评级）表示，“《Hypership Out of Control》是款经典iOS游戏。”PocketGamer（9/10金奖）表示，“大量细微触控操作令《Hypership》魅力四射。”TouchArcade表示，“游戏极其有趣。”据说下周我们还将获得若干主流游戏媒体的评论。

hypership 02 from gamasutra.com

失误之处

发行前的营销

我觉得这是我们的最大失误。虽然苹果给予我们的发行工作大量支持，但我们依然未能及时令游戏获得大型网站的推荐（网站规模越大，推迟就越严重）。获得早期销量在争取靠前榜单位置方面至关重要，而早期曝光是获得这些销量的关键。由于我们并未在榜单中享有优势位置，所以曝光度并没有实现其应有作用。

许多我们联系过的网站都表示，他们希望在发行前获得信息，在多数情况下，他们更愿意在发行前进行确定评论内容，这样他们就能够在游戏发行日发布相关内容。我会在未来作品中采取此措施。

除媒体外，我想我会试着通过组合某些开发日志视频内容激发用户的早期兴趣。在此方面，我是Wolfire的忠实拥护者。

受到Steam拒绝

当我首次和Kris商讨移植这款游戏时，我们的目标是创建游戏Windows和Mac OS X版本。这样我们就能将作品提交至Steam。Steam平台的射击游戏并不多，但我的想法是Mac游戏数量相比Windows依然相当薄弱。但即使如此，他们依然对这款游戏不感兴趣。我知道这是个大胆尝试，我真希望我当时直接着手iOS版本，而不是投入大量时间确保游戏在其他平台能够成功运作。

设备支持

直到测试最后我们才发现游戏在第二代iOS设备中行不通（游戏邦注：iPhone 3G和第二代iPod Touch）。修复这些问题是个相当困难的过程，包括购买第二代设备。传说苹果第五代设备都快问世了，所以许多开发商似乎开始纷纷支持第二代设备，当然我们也不例外。

根据我的研究，我觉得为满足这些少数用户而完成所有这些额外工作意义不大，但我依然对此感到非常遗憾：有些用户想要体验游戏却无法实现。

结论

总而言之，我觉得iOS版《Hypership》是个巨大成功。我非常高兴其所取得的成绩，我对iOS平台非常满意。我已开始为我的下款作品建模，未来前景似乎一片光明。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Hypership Out Of Control for iOS – A Postmortem

by Jesse Chounard

It’s been two weeks since we released Hypership Our Of Control iOS into the wilds of the Apple App Store. Sales have been good, and the critical response has been fantastic. I spend a small chunk of time each day scouring the web for information, and I’ve found positive reviews of the game in Russian, German, and Swedish. That is pretty crazy! I’m glad to have been a part of bringing Hypership iOS to life. I’m very proud of the work we’ve done, and for the first time I don’t feel foolish when I say that I’m a game developer.

I’m very happy with how Hypership is selling. As of September 27th, we have 2603 sales. It isn’t the next Tiny Wings or Angry Birds, but considering that I’m a hobbiest with dreams of someday being able to go full-time indie, these sales are great!

Here’s a nice daily sales graph: (click for full size)

What went right

Working with an existing game

Hypership wasn’t an original game for iOS. It was originally released on the Xbox Live Indie Games service by Kris Steele of Fun Infused Games. (He later released it on the Windows Phone 7 marketplace as well, though most people are more familiar with the XBLIG version.)

Using a complete game for reference rather than a design document meant that I already knew that all of the mechanics were fun and we didn’t need to do a bunch of rounds of prototyping and testing. Plus, all of the art and audio assets were already assembled and ready to go.

On top of that, Hypership had built a small but very loyal fanbase. When we announced that the game was going to be coming out on iOS, the response we received was fantastic. I knew that we needed to deliver a game that lived up to their expectations, but also that they would help spread the word when the game was ready to launch.

iOS development tools

I’ve been using Windows and Visual Studio for nearly all of my development for well over a decade. Switching to using Mac OS X and Xcode was a particularly scary idea. Even now, I’m still not as comfortable as I would like. That said, the other tools that come along with Mac/iOS development are amazing.

I love the framework package system, compared to the dll nightmare I’m used to running into. Xcode comes preinstalled with all the tools and libraries needed to start coding, and you won’t need to install any libraries on your customers’ computers, as they are all packaged along with your application bundle. I’ve been singing praises for Instruments since the first time I used it. This is an area where Visual Studio is definitely lacking in comparison. There are awesome profiling tools included in the professional versions, but they aren’t nearly as easy to use. And Instruments is completely free!

TestFlight

When I built and shipped Kris the very first build of Hypership iOS, I found it to be an annoying process. From explaining where to find the unique device id, to using a wired connection with iTunes to install seemed confusing to me.

Luckily, that was right when Josh Whelchel introduced me to TestFlight. TestFlight completely automates several of the steps, and makes is very easy to install the test build wirelessly. They recently made the service even better with a ton of great features that I’m looking forward to using in my next game. If you’re an iOS developer and not already using TestFlight, you should definitely check it out.

Apple support

We were really lucky with our launch. The day after we released, Hypership was featured in the “New and Noteworthy” featured section in the iPhone App Store. Then a week later, when that section rotated new games in, we appeared in the “What’s Hot” featured section. Apple also mentioned the game on the official AppStore twitter account, which is followed by 470,000 people. (In theory, anyway. I suspect a large number of those followers are bot accounts. Twitter is odd like that.)

We couldn’t have asked for better support from Apple. It’s a little overwhelming, and we realize just how lucky we’ve been.

Media coverage

We’ve gotten great reviews on a ton of sites. 148apps (4.5/5) said “Hypership Out of Control is a gem of an iOS game.” PocketGamer (9/10 gold award) wrote “there are myriad little touches that make Hypership so compelling.” TouchArcade said “It’s crazy fun.” We’ve heard that it’s likely that we’ll see reviews from some of the mainstream games press in the next week.

What went wrong

Pre-release marketing

I think this is our biggest mistake. While Apple did a lot of work to support our release, there’s been a large delay in getting coverage on some of the bigger sites. (And the bigger the site, the longer that delay is.) Getting early sales is really important in rising high on the top games charts, and getting early coverage seems like a great way to help generate those sales. Now that we’ve dropped off of the charts, the coverage might not have as much impact as it could have.

Many of the sites we’ve contacted have suggested that they are interested in receiving information before release, and in some cases, they’d be willing to play a pre-release final build so that they could have a review ready at release time. I’ll be taking them up on that for future games.

Outside of the press, I think I’ll also try to build up some early interest by putting together some video development diaries. I’m a huge fan of what Wolfire has done in that direction.

Steam rejection

When I first approached Kris about porting the game, our goal was to build Windows and Mac OS X versions of the game so we could submit it to Steam. There aren’t a whole lot of shooters on Steam, but my thinking was that the Mac games library is still pretty weak compared to the Windows side. Even so, they weren’t interested in the game. We knew it was a long shot, but I wish I’d gone directly to working on the iOS version, instead of spending a lot of time getting it to run well on the other platforms.

Device support

It wasn’t until near the end of testing that we learned that the game doesn’t work on second generation iOS devices. (iPhone 3G and 2nd Gen iPod Touch.) It would have been a difficult process to fix this, including buying a second generation device. With the fifth generation devices right on the horizon, it seems many developers are dropping support for the second generation devices, so we chose to do the same.

Based on my research, I don’t think it would have made sense to do all that extra work for such a small number of players, but I’m very sad that there are people out there who want to play the game but can’t.

Conclusion

Overall, I consider Hypership iOS to be a tremendous success. I’m really happy with how everything turned out, and I’m pleased with the iOS platform in particular. I’ve already started prototyping ideas for what my next game will be, and the future looks really bright.（Source：gamasutra）