作者：Noel

优化游戏很重要

当开发者将爱与关怀投入游戏中时，你便能够真正提升游戏质量。看看《Tiny Wings》的纹理，《愤怒的小鸟》的音效，《Words With Friends》的反馈动画或者《割绳子》中的所有细节（游戏邦注：包括它们的微粒效果，转场，音效以反响等任何细节）。这些游戏中的任何一者都能够凸显其独特风格，并给玩家带来非常有趣的最初（且反复）体验。

这便是本文的要点：为了制作一款成功的App Store游戏，你最需要的便是投入热情。你可以减少对于功能，内容，市场营销，网站甚至是游戏设置平衡性的关注，因为这些内容都可以在游戏发行后继续添加并完善，但是对于

能否给玩家留下好的第一印象，游戏优化和风格甚为关键。如果你不能让玩家在首次玩游戏时留下深刻印象，你便可能失去后来的盈利机会（因为对于App Store的游戏来说，这就等于失去了玩家口碑营销的优势）。

不相信优化和独特风格对游戏的影响和作用？请看以下对比图：

Wavespark-Tiny Wings(from northwaygames.com)

左图游戏的玩法与机制类似于《Tiny Wings》，右图是真正的《Tiny Wings》。

尽快发布游戏？

传统游戏开发（特别是指掌机游戏）总是遵循这这些流程：计划好所有事项，创造一款包含你所有想法的游戏，一完成就游戏就立马发行，并希望不用再多花什么时间去调整游戏。但是，在今天的网络/Facebook/手机发展如此迅猛的时代里，最合适的方法是先快速发行游戏，再进行反复迭代。

过去几年里我总是倾向于完成游戏后立刻着手发行的流程，随后我暂停了这种做法，并真正开始思考为何要尽早发行游戏以及这样做有何好处。以下便是我能够想到的一些主要原因：

*优先占领市场。不管是在网络世界还是在硬件世界中，优先进入市场都是个重要因素。尽管你此时的产品还不够完美，或者你的UI还不甚优秀，但是如果能够优先获得早期的大众用户，便是为自己争取到一个巨大的优势。

*尽早取消项目。也许你需要花很长时间去测试第一个游戏版本是否有效。但是在发行6个月内取消没有成效的项目总比你投入3年多的时间才后知后觉的好。

*确定时限并集中精力。明确发行日期将能让开发者按计划办事，并重视游戏的发行。

*尽快盈利。尽管你投入相同的时间和金钱于一个游戏项目中，但是如果游戏在发行6个月后便能够盈利而不是发行3年后才能够赚钱，你更能够早些盈利。正如任何即时战略游戏玩家都知道，尽早在游戏中获得额外资源将给自己争取到一大优势。

*基于早期用户反馈适当调整游戏。如果不这么做，你可能会花费好几年的时间而致力于一款玩家并不喜欢的游戏中。

而这些原因又该如何应用于iOS游戏？

如果你制作的是iOS游戏，对于你来说最重要时刻便是游戏的发行。因为这关系着你的游戏是否能够获取最大的推动力并且获得玩家口头传播的优势。第一印象至关重要，很多玩家都会凭第一眼感觉决定是否要玩你的游戏。而如果你的游戏不能展现自己最好的一面，那么它就算是早于其它游戏问世那也没有多大意义。除此之外，大多数情况下，游戏作为一种娱乐形式，并没有为用户提供多少服务。除非游戏是新类型或者登陆全新的平台，否则最先占领市场并无多大意义。并且，即便你制作的是一款全新的游戏，你还必须确保自己能够始终把握这独一无二的机遇，在游戏发布并且获得巨大关注之前不会出现其它复制游戏（除非你预先发布了游戏的相关信息）。

*尽早叫停不甚成功的游戏项目。

*为自己设定一个较为现实的目标有助于更好地明确自己的工作。我们在向IGF（游戏邦注：独立游戏节）提交《Casey’s Contraptions》时便体会到了这一点的重要性。

casey's contraptions(from gamesfromwithin)

*最后一点较为棘手。看起来这么做对于iOS游戏也是有利的，不过我想说说其不利之处。但是不要误解我，我也认为测试和用户反馈非常重要。但是根本上来看，游戏就是一种艺术形式，而你就是创造者。你必须明确你的观点和设计方向。而反馈只能够帮助你保证游戏的可用性并平衡其它问题，但却不能从根本上明确游戏的方向。你必须坚持自己的观点。

总结

查看以上列表的内容，我更加清楚开发一款iOS游戏并不完全是为了尽快推出游戏。并且我们不需要彻底完成游戏后才发行。相反地，你可以用免费更新或者IAP形式慢慢揭开一些新功能和新内容。

我相信，游戏优化和风格是iOS应该具备的重要元素。所以你应该尽快地发行游戏，但是不管在何种情况下都不要省去优化游戏这一过程。要计划好在游戏完成后投入一个月或者更长的时间进行优化。这些时间的投入是有价值的，甚至比那些你用于开发游戏所耗费的好几个月时间更有意义。

游戏邦注：原文发表于2011年3月18日，所涉事件和数据均以当时为准。

（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）

All It Needs Is Love

by Noel

The App Store today is a different beast from the one in early 2009, when iShoot ruled the charts. Look at the top paid games on the App Store today. Actually, don’t worry, I did all the leg work for you. Here they are:

What can we tell by looking at those games? I see two clear categories: Games with a strong, established IP (Street Fighter, Sonic), or independent games with a huge amount of polish and style.

IT’S ALL ABOUT POLISH

The love and care developers put into those games shows the moment you start them up. Look at the textures in Tiny Wings, the sound effects in Angry Birds, the feedback animations in Words With Friends, or all the little details in Cut The Rope. All the tiny particle effects, transitions, sounds, and general squish and responsiveness. Every single one of those games is oozing with its own style and contributes to a very enjoyable first (and repeat) experience.

And that is the main point of this post: To make a successful game on the App Store, the main thing you need is love. You can skimp on features, on content, on marketing, on a web site, or even on gameplay balance. All those are things that you can add or improve after shipping, but polish and style are responsible for that crucial first impression. Miss the chance to hit the player with all you’ve got the first time they play your game, and that might be a lost sale (and a lost advocate of your game since word of mouth is such a strong force on the App Store).

Not convinced about the difference polish and style makes?

This game is essentially Tiny Wings with just a little bit of polish (and it does have *some* polish).

And this is Tiny Wings.

I rest my case.

SHIP AS SOON AS POSSIBLE?

Traditional game development (especially for consoles) usually goes along these lines: Plan everything, create a game with everything that you want/can fit, ship it once it’s done, and hope not to touch it again. On the other hand, in this day of web/Facebook/mobile development the favored approach is to release a product as soon as possible, and then iterate from there.

My preference in the last few years has been more along the shipping as soon as possible lines (even if I haven’t always been successful at it). But then I paused and really thought about why and what I would accomplish by shipping early. These are the main reasons I could think about:

Getting to market first. This is a big one in the web world (and maybe even in the hardware world). Even if your product is imperfect, or its UI is less than ideal, getting that initial critical mass of users could be what tips the balance in your favor.

Canceling the project early. Maybe it takes as long as the first version of a product to realize there isn’t demand for it. So it was better to have spent 6 months instead of 3 years before canceling the project.

Focussing your efforts. An impending ship date will make wonders to keep people on track and focused on what’s important to ship a game.

Become profitable as soon as possible. Even if you make the same amount of money and spend the same amount of time working on a project, if you start bringing in money at the 6 month mark rather than at the 3 year mark, you’ll be profitable earlier. And as any RTS fan will tell you, getting extra resources early in the game can put you at a huge advantage.

Changing the product based on early user feedback. Otherwise you might spend years working on a product that people don’t really want, or they would prefer something slightly different.

How do those reasons apply to iOS games?

As an iOS game, your biggest moment is launch. That’s when you can get most momentum and get the word of mouth ball rolling. First impressions matter a lot and a lot of people will make snap decisions about your game in the first few seconds. If it’s not looking its best, it doesn’t matter if it came earlier than another game. Besides, games, for the most part, aren’t providing as much of a service as they’re a form of entertainment. Barring brand new genres or whole new platforms, getting to market first doesn’t mean much. And even if you’re making a brand new genre, chances are it’s unique so the clones won’t start showing up until after you launch and becomes popular (unless you announce way in advance).

Stopping development on an unsuccessful game earlier rather than later is always a good thing.

Likewise, having a milestone around the corner does wonders for focussing your efforts. That was one of the big benefits we got from submitting Casey’s Contraptions to the IGF.

The last one is tricky. It might seem like a benefit for iOS games as well, but I’m going to argue it isn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I think that testing and user feedback is very valuable. But games ultimately are a form of art[1] and you are the creator. In the end, you need to decide what your game and your vision are like. Feedback will help with usability and balancing issues, but not with what the game is fundamentally. Stick to your vision.

MY APPROACH

Looking at those lists, it makes it clear to me that iOS game development is not all about getting a product out of the door as soon as possible. There’s no need to create a finished product for your first release. Instead, save every feature and content you can for free updates or even future in-app purchases.

I’m convinced that polish and style are one of the most important things an iOS game can have. It’s not the first time I say that. So get the product out as soon as you can, but do not, under any circumstances, cut any polish from your game. Plan on spending a good month or longer after your game is “done” polishing it. That time will definitely be well spent and will increase the value of your game more than any other month you spent developing it.

What I’m suggesting here is actually quite different from what Chris Hecker talked about at last year’s GDC. Even though we’re both saying “take your time and do your game right”, he’s emphasizing the completeness of the game (in the sense of exploring all its potential), while I’m emphasizing the presentation. I think the main reason our messages are so different is the platform we’re developing for. On a platform like iOS, I really think you can explore the full potential of a game after it ships without any real drawbacks.

Right now we’re in the polish phase in Casey’s Contraptions. The game has been “done” for a while, in the sense that we have all the items, lots of levels, you can play through all the puzzles, make your own contraptions, etc. Even though it already has a lot of style and polish, it definitely needs that extra layer of shine to make it really stand out and bring it to the quality of those games in the top 10 list. We can only hope that Casey’s Contraptions joins them after we launch!（source:gamesfromwithin）