游戏邦在:
杂志专栏:
gamerboom.com订阅到鲜果订阅到抓虾google reader订阅到有道订阅到QQ邮箱订阅到帮看

总结开发成功“非主流”游戏的5项技巧

作者:Nadia Oxford

当前的游戏行业正不遗余力地通过推出免费游戏、社交游戏、体验游戏等内容以虏获大众用户,这种情况不禁让人怀疑特定类型的游戏已经濒临绝迹。

但事实并非如此。《Catherine》和《暗黑之魂》等在经济效益和媒体评论上均大获成功的游戏表明,“非主流”游戏仍然很有市场。

以下是一些可助“非主流”游戏获得成功的一些小技巧:

锁定自己最擅长的元素——想想看,围绕一小部分绝妙的构想开发游戏,或者在游戏中塞入大量半成品的功能和迷你游戏,然后宣扬“我们的游戏什么内容都有,虽然这些构思都不完整,但至少我们什么都不缺。”这两种做法,究竟哪一种更可取?

上古卷轴5:天际(from gamerate.net)

上古卷轴5:天际(from gamerate.net)

以Bethesda Softworks的《上古卷轴5:天际》(游戏邦注:该游戏因其开放式的RPG特点,极为精致的细节和无数的个性化内容而备受欢迎)为例,尽管不少媒体报道都在唱衰单人模式的游戏,但《上古卷轴5:天际》却能够在发售两天内就实现340万份销量。这款游戏完全没有采用任何在线多人游戏功能,或植入PvP模式,Bethesda倾注所有资源用于优化和完善单人游戏模式,事实证明,这种法确实取得了成效。

赞扬粉丝的表现——如果你是为细分市场的用户开发游戏,那就有机会获得建立忠实用户基础。这些粉丝会展现出自己对游戏的热情,提出反馈意见,偶尔也会发泄不满。要忽略他们的辱骂,但重视其投入的热情和提供的反馈信息。在游戏博客、网站、Twitter等平台晒出粉丝们创作的优秀内容,例如模型和图画等。

打造健康的社区——要提供多种与粉丝沟通和交流的渠道,例如管理完善的论坛、Twitter、Facebook和经常使用的电邮地址。最好是让开发团队中的成员适时与粉丝互动,分享对游戏的看法,甚至还可以为他们提供一些进入游戏行业的建议。

宣传游戏特色——无论是在哪种媒体上为游戏打广告,都要确保瞄准合适的目标群体。它是硬核RPG还是农场类游戏?适合复古游戏玩家的2D冒险游戏?总之,要旗帜鲜明地亮出游戏特色。

关心用户感受——有些特立独行的用户常会感觉自己的喜好受到主流文化的排挤,从而产生被忽视之感。“非主流游戏”的粉丝也常觉得自己被市场边缘化,我们总能看到许多游戏相关论坛上充斥不少玩家对游戏市场现状的抱怨(例如,他们认为市场上的灰色调第一人射击游戏过于泛滥)。所以最好多关心这些用户的感受,不要让他们觉得自己是没有资格玩游戏的怪人。

不过,制作出极为强大的“非主流”游戏才是重中之重,它才是决定游戏生命周期的关键。(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

How to Develop Great Niche Games

By Nadia Oxford

ShareThe games industry is doing everything it can to appeal to the mainstream, including offering free games, social games, casual games, games that fix dinner, etc. With so many titles trying to be all things to all people, you might be tempted to look at past gaming trends and declare them dead.

Nope. The financial and critical success of games like Catherine and Dark Souls indicates that there’s still a market for niche games, and it’s a very hungry, very eager market.

Now’s as good a time as any to veer away from mainstream trends in game development. Here are a few tips to help devs find success with niche games:

Focus on a few features, and do them really well — What’s preferable: developing your title around a small sampling of well-polished ideas, or throwing in a lot of half-assed features and minigames for the sake of saying, “Hey, our game has this, this, and this! None of these ideas are fully realized, but at least they’re there!”

Take Bethesda Softworks’ Skyrim (amazingly popular for an open-ended RPG that’s all about anal-retentive detail and endless customization). For all the press we’ve been seeing about the supposed death of single-player games, the latest chapter in the Elder Scrolls saga managed to sell 3.4 million copies within two days. And it did it without shoehorning in an online multiplayer feature, or PVP. Instead, Bethesda put all its resources into fine-tuning the single-player formula, and it paid off.

Celebrate your fans — If you’re developing for a niche, you have an opportunity to garner a close fanbase. These fans will offer love, feedback, and occasional insults. Ignore the insults, but take the love and feedback graciously. Share appropriate fanworks, like cool projects and artwork, on the game’s blog, website, Twitter account, etc.

Foster a healthy community — In the same vein, make sure there are plenty of options for your fans to get in touch with your business and offer criticism. That includes well-moderated forums, Twitter, Facebook, and a contact email that isn’t buried like a secret treasure. If possible, members of the development staff should drop in when it’s convenient to chat with fans, share insight into the game, and (if they’re comfortable with the idea) offer tips on breaking into the industry.

Advertise the specific feature(s) that your game revolves around — When advertising the game (regardless of the medium), make it clear that it’s supposed to appeal to a certain demographic. Is the game a hardcore RPG? Is it a game about farming and raising a family? Is it a 2D adventure that’s supposed to appeal to retro enthusiasts? Flaunt it!

Care — It might sound silly, but the ladies and gentlemen who are looking for something different from what the mainstream is offering sometimes feel neglected and pushed aside. Fans of niche games often feel excluded by today’s market: you don’t have to go far on a game-related message boards to find complaints about how everything on the market is (supposedly) a brown-and-grey first-person shooter. Assure your fans that they’re not weirdos who no longer have any right to enjoy gaming.

Needless to say, the best way to do this is is to make that wicked-cool A+ niche game in the first place. It’s the Circle of Life–and game development.(source:gametheoryonline


上一篇:

下一篇: