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Facebook需要注入独立游戏的新鲜血液

发布时间:2011-10-10 14:31:00 Tags:,,

作者:Andrew Webster

我最近喜欢的游戏,如《Sword & Sworcery》,《机械迷城》以及《粘粘世界》等都是由一些非常小的团队制作出来的,有些团队甚至只有1至2个人。比起那些由大团队大手笔制作但却看起来都差不多的游戏,这些由小团队小成本的游戏往往更加特别且更容易亲近。虽然这并不是小游戏的普遍特征,但是我敢保证,最优秀的独立游戏能为你创造出前所未有的游戏体验。

你可以在手机,电脑或者掌机上感受到这种体验,但是很可惜的是,其中并不包括Facebook平台。

因为这个平台缺少创新,以及各种新鲜的社交游戏理念。尽管Facebook游戏发展迅速,也出现了一些新兴游戏,如《Monstermind》和《模拟人生社交版》提供给玩家更多有趣的体验,但是这个平台始终缺乏一种东西,也就是创新。即使是再优秀的新游戏也不免沿袭原来的套路。《模拟人生社交版》在某些方面看来也具有农场游戏的特性,它同样设置了收集和能量机制,并让玩家能向好友索要礼物。而《Monstermind》的主要基调也是建造城市,只不过它在其中安插了有趣的怪物战斗机制罢了。

虽然这些游戏都很优秀,但是却未与众不同。

当然了,并非所有游戏都必须与众不同,也有很多著名的游戏是基于早前游戏概念而创造出来的。但是如果你的游戏具有特色,便能够争取到更多的关注,并能让你更加深刻地去感受游戏。有些人会投入大把的时间去玩社交游戏,但是这些社交游戏却很少能够吸引我的注意。

hero-generations(from blog.games.com)

hero-generations(from blog.games.com)

但《Hero Generations》却是一个例外。这是Facebook上一款关于生与死,探索和体验的游戏。是由只有一名员工的独立游戏工作室Heart Shaped Games开发而成。显然,因为这款游戏是一个有激情的人所创造出来的,所以我们能从中感受到更多的个性。这款游戏的视角很独特,大大区别于之前的游戏。这里不再出现盲目的农场特性,也不再要求玩家向好友索要礼物和道具了。

我在8月份的时候遇见了Heart Shaped成员Scott Brodie,他跟我说:“当我在思考最喜欢的游戏和公司时,它们之间所存在的联系便是开发者有意或无意的投入。所以区别于一些大公司,Heart Shaped Games希望能让潜在的玩家知道,我们是真正在用心制作游戏。”

很多优秀的独立游戏都体现了这一点,这种用心制作出来的游戏能让玩家感受到不一样的游戏体验。

去年,我在蒙特利尔国际游戏峰会(Montreal International Games Summit)上听取了Scott Jon Siegel(游戏邦注:前Playdom成员,现Popcap设计师)的演讲,他也提到了一个类似的主题:Facebook需要更多独立游戏开发者,以此才能纳入更多新鲜且有趣的观点。这些独立游戏开发者更加具有冒险性,而且极具个人特色。在演讲过程中,Siegel问了许多著名的独立游戏开发者他们对于社交游戏的看法,而很多人回答他们并不是很喜欢社交游戏。他们不喜欢像Zynga等公司旗下的那类游戏。他们认为这些游戏平淡无奇,条条框框一大堆,缺少乐趣。

但是显然,并非所有社交游戏都是如此。虽然Zynga是Facebook上最大的游戏开发商,但却不能通吃所有的利基市场。也有许多玩家不喜欢Zynga的游戏而更加青睐于Facebook上的其它新游戏。

《Hero Generations》便是我能想到的最好例子。我希望能看到更多像它这样优秀的新游戏。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Monday Morning Quarterback: Why Facebook needs indie games

By Andrew Webster

Some of my favorite games in recent memory have been created by very small teams, sometimes as small as just one or two people. Games like Sword & Sworcery and Machinarium and World of Goo. The combination of smaller budgets and smaller teams often makes these games both more unique and more intimate than most big budget productions, which have a tendency to feel very similar to one another. This isn’t a universal trait, of course, but the best indie games do things you haven’t seen before.

You can find these types of experiences on your phone or your PC or even on your game console. But for the most part, you won’t find them on Facebook. And that’s a shame.

Because if there’s one platform in need of some innovation and fresh thinking it’s social games. Even though the quality of games on Facebook is increasing at an incredible pace, with new releases like Monstermind and The Sims Social providing engaging, enjoyable experiences, there’s still a dearth of that thing called innovation. New games, even really good ones, still stick to tried and true methods. The Sims Social, for whatever reason, has farming. It also has collections and energy and requires you to ask your friends for gifts. Monstermind is built off of the city-building craze, but throws in absurdly fun monster battles in for good measure.

These games are good but they aren’t necessarily all that different.

Not every game has to be different, of course, and many popular titles are simply refinements on older concepts. But a game that’s different makes you take notice, and when you play it it sticks with you. And as someone who spends a whole lot of time covering the social games space, there aren’t a whole lot of games that make me take notice.

Hero Generations did. It’s a game about life and death, a game about exploration, and an experience that’s uniquely suited to a social network like Facebook. It’s also made by a one-man indie studio called Heart Shaped Games. Unsurprisingly, the fact that the game is the product of just one passionate person means it’s a game that feels much more personal. It’s a singular, unique vision that doesn’t get bogged down in what everyone else is doing. There’s no pointless farming. There’s no spamming your friends for gifts or items.

“When I think about my favorite games and game companies, the one connecting element between them seems to be that the developers put a lot of themselves into their work, knowingly or unknowingly,” Heart Shaped’s Scott Brodie told me when we talked in August. “So Heart Shaped Games is a way of letting potential players know that, in contrast to games being developed by some of the large companies, a lot of love goes into the games we make.”

And just like the best indie games, that love shows. It helps to make the game feel different from everything else out there.

Last year I attended a talk at theMontreal International Games Summit by Scott Jon Siegel, formerly of Playdom, now a designer at Popcap, where he broached a similar subject: Facebook needs more indie developers (you can check out his presentation here). New and interesting ideas sprout from indie games. They’re riskier. They’re more personal. As part of his talk, Siegel had asked a number of notable indie developers what they thought of social games, and plenty of the responses were that the developers simply didn’t care for them. They didn’t like the types of games coming from companies like Zynga. They’re spammy. They’re manipulative. They’re not fun.

But obviously that doesn’t represent the entire social gaming community. Zynga is easily the biggest developer on Facebook but it doesn’t serve every niche. There are plenty of players who don’t play Zynga games but would play something fresh and new on Facebook.

Indie games can be revolutionary. A strange game like Sword & Sworcery sold a quarter of a million copies on a platform where many people simply play Angry Birds. It didn’t sell because it did what was popular, it sold because it did its own thing, and it did it well. This mentality is largely missing on Facebook.

Hero Generations is the best example I can think of. I wish there were more.(source:gamezebo


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