作者：Keith Andrew

手机游戏不像大型掌机游戏那样，需要花费2到3年的时间进行开发。但是按照智能手机如此快速的发展，我们完全可以预见手机游戏市场的发展速度远远超过了游戏的发行速度。

《划线赛车2》（DrawRace 2）便是一个典型。作为RedLynx（游戏邦注：芬兰手机游戏开发商）的后续作品，《划线赛车2》不可避免地走上了与之前系列游戏不一样的道路，即不仅更新了游戏图像，而且通过与英国发行商Chillingo合作展现出更多不一样的内容。

以下是pocketgamer对RedLynx创始人兼《划线赛车2》执行制作人Atte Ilvessuo关于其工作室在手机市场运营情况的访谈内容：

DrawRace 2(from pocketgamer)

你们的《Trials HD》已经获得了成功，为何你们又再次转向了《划线赛车》？

我们可以同时制作好几款游戏。

在RedLynx，我们有不一样的团队致力于不同的游戏开发，所以当我们在开发《划线赛车2》的时候也有一个团队在开发《Trials Evolution》（游戏邦注：它是《Trials HD》的后续作品），这款游戏后来发行于Xbox Live Arcade平台。

在《划线赛车》的后续作品中，你想针对那个方面做出调整？

如果说是局部调整那就是说谎的了，因为对于这款游戏的每个细节我们都做了一定的变动。

游戏设置更加富有层次也更具有交互性，音效和音乐也更有深意且更具有多样性。游戏中也不乏大型的单人游戏挑战，在线选择，排行榜以及好友挑战等活动，除此之外，原先游戏中的2D卡通图像也变成了形象生动的3D环境。

虽然《划线赛车》获得了不错的评价，但是销量却不是很好，特别在美国市场。你认为出现这种情况的原因是什么？且《划线赛车2》是否会针对美国市场做出一定的调整？

我们并不同意《划线赛车》在美国销量不好的这个说法，因为我们认为随着时间的推移，这款游戏的销量将会呈现长期稳定的发展。

你们是在什么时候开始决定与Chillingo展开合作的？

Chillingo已经在iPhone上成功发行了一些非常出色的游戏，如《割绳子》，《愤怒的小鸟》等等，所以我们认为与他们合作能够为《划线赛车2》争取到更多的推广机会。

你们是在什么时候决定在游戏中添加一些直接控制系统，如推动按钮等？

这是我们在开发《划线赛车2》的早期想到的一个观点。

我们认为在比赛回放中添加一些交互机制能够让玩家更加沉浸于游戏中。用户反馈也是这个道理。

为什么你们不在游戏中使用IAP（应用内置付费）功能？

事实上，我们的游戏中也存在IAP！尽管这些机制不足以影响整个游戏设置，但是确实在《划线赛车2》以及《划线赛车2 HD》中玩家都可以选择花钱去提升自己的技巧级别。

如果不愿意花钱的玩家自然也可以一步一步地玩游戏并获得升级。

DrawRace 2 (from pocketgamer)

为何你们要分别发行iPhone和iPad两种版本的游戏？

为了让玩家在iPad上也能够感受到iPhone版本的视觉体验，我们必须对游戏的视觉设置做出调整，将游戏比例放大，从而更加适应iPad的大屏幕。

iPhone应用本身就达到了200 MB，如果再加上图像，那么这还真的是一款非常庞大的游戏。这就是为何我们需要发行两个版本而不发行通用版本的原因。

这也是为何iPad以及iPhone版本游戏在排行榜以及世界联赛中存在着差别的原因。

你们是否有遗憾没能在游戏中添加一些功能或元素？

是的，但是我们现在不想公开这些内容，想保留着等到下次更新再公布。

这款游戏花了多长时间，你们在开发过程中用到了哪些重要工具？

我们团队6个人共花了12个月的时间去开发这款游戏。而我们所使用的工具都是我们自己所研发的内部技术。

你们在开发过程中遇到的最大障碍是什么？

显然每一款游戏的开发都会遇到一定的困难和障碍，包括调整图像的外观和感觉以及如何保持游戏的稳定性并通过测试。

为了让游戏在众多iOS游戏中凸显自己的特色，你便需要快速瞄准目标市场，但是在整个开发周期中你也可以对此做适当的调整。

举个例子来说，当我们开始开发《划线赛车2》的时候，付费、定价及功能完整的游戏才是主流，但等我们开发完成后，免费模式已开始盛行。

你最喜欢《划线赛车2》的哪个部分？

我认为好友挑战是这款游戏最让人兴奋的一大特色。玩家只要通过点击去设定挑战，并直接在好友名单中选定挑战对象即可。

虽然这个过程听起来很简单，但是它却立马成为了游戏中最受欢迎且最有竞争性的环节。

DrawRace 2 (from pocketgamer)

受众和媒体的反馈有没有让你们感到意外？

最让我感到惊讶的是游戏玩家以及媒体关于游戏所作出的正面且热情的反应。

我们当然知道这是一款好游戏，但是总不能干坐着等伯乐来发现它。这款游戏现在的Metacritic（游戏邦注：专门收集对于电影，电视节目，音乐专辑，游戏的评论网站）分数是88，这是我们迄今为止所有游戏中获得的最高分数，甚至超过了《Trials HD》。

你们是如何安排游戏中的每日世界联赛项目？

在我们的游戏中有许多每日世界联赛项目的忠实粉丝，而我们也正在研究一些新功能希望能为这些玩家带来更加长期且有趣的体验。

《划线赛车》和RedLynx有何后续发展计划？

我们目前正全力开发Xbox Live Arcade版本的《Trials Evolution》，我们最近刚向WiiWare平台发布了《MotoHeroz》。

我们还投入开发两个新的iOS项目，但要改日才能介绍这两款游戏。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Finger to the pedal: The making of DrawRace 2

by Keith Andrew

Mobile games might not take the two or three years to develop your typical console blockbuster absorbs, but the fast pace of the smartphone scene means the entire market can shift before you have a chance to get your title out.

Such was the case for DrawRace 2. While RedLynx’s follow up inevitably took a different path to its predecessor in some respects – updated graphics and a partnership with Chillingo top of the bill.

We caught up with RedLynx co-founder and DrawRace 2 executive producer Atte Ilvessuo for his take on how the the ever-changing nature of the mobile market impacted on the game during its development.

Pocket Gamer: Considering the success you’ve had with Trials HD, why did you want to go back to DrawRace?

Atte Ilvessuo: It wasn’t really a matter of doing one or the other.

At RedLynx, we’ve always had multiple teams working on different projects, so development of DrawRace 2 happened in parallel with the development of Trials Evolution, the sequel to Trials HD. which is later coming to Xbox Live Arcade.

What were the main areas of DrawRace you wanted to improve in the sequel?

It wasn’t really just a few areas – we believe we’ve raised the bar on every aspect of the game.

The gameplay is deeper and more interactive, the sound and music is deeper and more varied. There is a big single-player campaign, the online options, leaderboards, and friend challenges are far more comprehensive, and of course the 2D cartoony graphics of the original have become a beautiful, detailed, 3D environment.

The first game reviewed very well, but didn’t sell so well, especially in the US. Why do you think that was the case, and did you specifically change anything in DrawRace 2 for the American market?

Not sure that we’d agree that the first game didn’t sell too well in the U.S., it’s actually had a long, strong sales curve over time.

At what stage did you decide to work with Chillingo as publisher?

Chillingo has done an excellent job publishing big titles for iPhone, like Cut the Rope, Angry Birds and many others, so we wanted to work with them give this game some extra publicity.

At what stage did you decide to add some direct control i.e. the boost button?

This was an idea that came up fairly early in the development of DrawRace 2.

We felt that it adds a layer of interactivity to the race playbacks that really keeps the player much more involved and engaged than they otherwise would be. User feedback also backed up this theory.

Was there any reason you didn’t add in-app purchases to the game?

Actually, there are in-app purchases! Although it doesn’t affect the overall gameplay, there is an option in both DrawRace 2 and DrawRace 2 HD to unlock individual career skill levels, or alternately, to unlock all levels and cars at one go.

You of course can still play through the game normally and unlock everything that way.

Why did you decide to release separate iPhone and iPad versions?

In order to deliver the richest possible visual experience on the iPad, that version really needed a different set of visuals, scaled up, from what you get on the iPhone version.

The iPhone app itself is already 200 MB – if it included iPad graphics too, well that would make it an extremely large game. That is why we needed two versions, rather than go the Universal route.

There’s also the fact that the game does play slightly different on iPad vs. iPhone, which is why have separate leader boards and world league for the two devices.

Were there any features or elements that you didn’t have time/resources to include?

Yes, but we don’t want to reveal them yet – stay tuned for new features in updates.

Can you give a rough breakdown of the development time and any significant tools you used?

DrawRace 2 was developed over a period of 12 months, by a team of about six people. The engine we used is a proprietary, internal technology of our own making.

What were the biggest obstacles you had to overcome through the development process?

Obviously every game project has its own internal difficulties and hurdles to get through, from getting the right look and feel for the graphics to working on stability and testing.

What makes developing for iOS unique though is how rapidly the market you are aiming for can change even during the development cycle.

For example, when we began DrawRace 2, premium, fixed-price, full-featured games dominated the charts. By the time we were finished, the freemium game model had become the new powerhouse.

What part of DrawRace 2 are you most happy with?

I think the friend challenges are one of the most exciting features in the game. It literally takes only a few clicks to set up a challenge and send it directly to someone on your friends list.

It sounds extremely simple, but it becomes one of those addictive, competitive things right away.

What most surprised you about the audience and press feedback?

Probably the most surprising part has been is how positive and enthusiastic the reaction to the game has been from both gamers who are playing the game and the press who have been doing the reviews.

We certainly knew the game was great, but you can’t always depend on everyone else discovering that. The game though has a Metacritic score of 88 right now – that’s the highest of all our games, beating even Trials HD.

How has the take-up been for the daily World League events?

There are lots of regular daily users of World League Events and we are thinking about new features that we could offer for these long term fans of the game.（source:pocketgamer)