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

巴基斯坦开发者谈Facebook应用开发注意事项

发布时间:2012-06-04 15:30:52 Tags:,,

作者:Hassan Baig

“障碍只会打退那些欲望不够强烈的探索者”——Randy Pausch, 《Last Lecture Series》

首先是若干纯粹的定义

定义1:首先你需要把握社交媒介背景下的网络效应是什么。网络效应是指社交图谱施加影响的能力。所以社交网络效应越高,社交图谱所扮演的角色就越重要。

定义2:网络效应有两种,积极和消极。积极网络效应是指社交图谱的规模同潜在机制的效用成正相关。消极网络效应是指二者成负相关。

例子1:所以例如,电话服务存在积极网络效应——电话用户越多,效用就越大。如果你是星球上唯一持有手机的人士,那么这将是个无用设备。

例子2:道路存在负面网络效应——路面的车流量越多,其效用就越低。

什么是社交游戏?

简单而言,社交游戏是同朋友共同体验更有趣的电脑游戏。它和多人游戏的不同之处在于,不是所有朋友都得同时在线,你才能从中受益。

最热门的社交游戏主要出现在Facebook平台,但若干其他的社交网络——hi5、Orkut、Myspace、Qzone和51.com也和社交游戏存在密切关系。

众所周知的Facebook社交游戏包括《Farmville》、《宠物社区》、《快乐水族馆》、《黑手党战争》和《德克萨斯扑克》等。

你多半有见过至少其中一款吧?

为什么要投身社交游戏开发?

我们国家(巴基斯坦)将不会涉猎AAA游戏市场。我所说的优秀是指,《魔兽世界》非常不错,而不是出于“趣味相投”而说这款游戏颇为不错。如果你有读过亚当·斯密的著作,那么你就会知道市场力量无视虚假一致性。总之,我们不会和AAA领域的大人物进行角逐。

而社交游戏则是完全不同的故事。制作价值并不惊人,开发周期也不需要众多资本,也不是按年计算(游戏邦注:而是按周计算)。

此外,社交游戏能够立即带来收益(通过虚拟商品交易),商业模式并不受收购或IPO支配。

而且你的收益是以美元为单位。除非你想要搬起石头砸自己的脚,制作瞄准本土市场的游戏作品,忽略Facebook能够让你向全球市场渗透的事实。

是的,你的收益是以美元为单位。

这对巴基斯坦这类的市场而言非常有发展前景——你定会满意其中的兑换率。

你没有很多时间

现在是坏消息:未来12个月是资金不足的小型工作室投身这一领域的最后期限。制作价值日益提高——随后的入行成本将变得很高。储备足够资金——现在就投身其中。

研究资源

下面几个资源将变成你的好朋友。你需要每天阅读这些平台的更新资料。没有做好充足的准备工作,梦想将化为泡影。

* appdata.com,facebakers.com

* insidesocialgames.com

* gamasutra.com

在日益发展的行业中,克隆作品依然有很大的发挥空间

如果确定开发什么游戏类型,或是不想让你的创意思维流淌,记住最糟的情境通常也没所想的那么糟糕。在此阅读子标题:在一个发展中的领域,克隆作品还有很大的发挥空间。这完全没错。下面是著名Facebook题材中的共生克隆作品。每款游戏作品都有超过100万的MAU。

fishville screen from friskymongoose.com

fishville screen from friskymongoose.com

* 《快乐水族馆》、《Fishville》、《开心水族箱》、《Fish Isle》和《Fish Life》……

* 《宠物社区》、《PetVille》、《快乐宠物》和《My (Lil) Pets》……

* 《Farmville》、《农场生活》、《Barn Buddy》、《My (Lil) Farm》、《天堂岛》和《Tiki Farm》……

就连克隆作品也能够让你取得成功。最坏的情况通常没你想的那么糟糕。

开发技术

虽然不是详尽列表,但你至少能够从下列内容着手:Adobe Flash、AS3、Adobe Illustrator、Photoshop/GIMP、amfPHP和Facebook API。

游戏机制

* 缺乏可行性的内容

Wild Ones from pinoytechnologies.com

Wild Ones from pinoytechnologies.com

1)同步多人游戏缺乏可行性(游戏邦注:例外情况包括《Poker》和《Wild Ones》)。你的朋友和你多半会在不同时间查看各自的Facebook页面。因此需要寻找朋友搭档的游戏通常缺乏可行性。少数成功的同步游戏通常包含无需社交图谱的玩法。

2)需要时间和广泛知识投入的游戏缺乏可行性。记住,Facebook不是游戏门户,它是个社交平台。所以用户并不旨在寻找硬核游戏机制。

* 具有可行性的内容

1)异步游戏很受欢迎。多数回合模式的游戏都属于这一类型。

2)社交游戏的粘性主要由“约定游戏”机制推动。不妨搜索这一词条,了解其具体含义、

3)创收靠粘性推动,例如,上述积分可以转化成大本钟。

创收策略

不要全信我的话;眼见为实。你需要结合所有这些策略。这些都非常直观。

障碍及如何克服它们

预先预测下述问题,采取改善措施:

* 巴基斯坦断电频繁。若没有后备电力,这很容易就会消耗多达4小时的工作时间。

* 巴基斯坦的稀薄开发氛围,例如本地开发人才不多。寻找优秀人士并非完全不可能。记住,你开发的不是AAA游戏。制作价值并非最重要的元素;后端代码无需达到极度优化的水平。巴基斯坦无疑存在机会。

* 缺乏研究。如果你没有调查整个行业,那么你就死定了。如果你不喜欢阅读和分析,那么你就是痴心妄想。每天进行阅读。每天玩Facebook游戏。把握自己所面临的竞争情况!

* 日益降低的积极性。会出现这种是因为你所涉猎的东西是国内鲜有人涉及的内容。没有人会知道你在做什么。没有人支持你。为保持信心,要时常提醒自己和那些深夜进行轮班,置身黑暗时光当中的团队成员为什么你会优先选择这一内容。确保目标贴近自己的内心期望。

* 外包。必要时候外包美术内容。不要外包编码模块——游戏上线后内部将需要利用这些专门技术。此外,持续和外包商沟通,旨在获得资产或代码完全是浪费时间。若游戏的制作耗时超过12周,那你的脚步就过于缓慢。

* 警惕内容累赘。你有12周的时间向公众呈现你的首个更新版本。将内容范围降到最低——游戏完成制作后,就此进行更新,不要追求所谓的完美主义。

* 缺乏预制作阶段。腾出至少3周时间计划制作过程。不要匆忙制定计划。

* 没有认真看待分析工作。游戏上线后,持续关注用户数量。注意追踪表象欠佳的参数。

* Facebook日益缩减的社交窗口,例如Facebook在08年和09年中期充斥大量社交游戏新闻资讯。马克·扎克伯格随后决定过滤掉多数有关社交游戏的消息内容。09年冬天,Facebook宣布就Open Platform做出系列调整(游戏邦注:这会让获得病毒式传播变得更加棘手)。所以务必现在就进行转移。确保应用在扎克伯格的调整路线图稀释病毒式传播前已呈现发展趋势,获得一定的用户基础。

* 进行过多游戏机制试验。若它没有破碎,为什么要进行修复呢?有若干资深设计师曾向我推荐采用增强现实技术(AR)的应用(在此用户可以通过在摄像头前执行手部动作控制屏幕上的角色)。我将其称作“少数派报告”综合症。AR也许是下一股风潮,但我一直告诉他们要优先着眼于当前的潮流,我们后面会涉猎新风潮。在Open Platform出现前制作社交游戏的开发者都没能从中大发横财。为什么呢?因为时机不对。现在开始涉猎,树立自己的地位,然后投入2000万美元的研发资金专门应对你曾经期望的各种AR。

*要过滤掉虚假专业人士。我和很多巴基斯坦人谈论过社交游戏。没有人了解这个行业。我完全没有夸大其词。如果你已进行过调查研究,那么不要被不当意见所动摇,无论这些看法出自何人。他们不仅会灌输给你错误信息,而且还会对这些信息夸大其辞,以提高你的成本支出。记住你其实并不需要3D图像,你不需要高价的授权服务器,你不需要庞大的营销预算,你不需要聘用咨询顾问。

*不可聘用阻碍创意过程的团队。在标准游戏开发过程中,你可以随心所欲地发挥创造性,进行尝试。但社交游戏存在系列法则。当然其中也有创造潮流的空间,就和任何细分市场一样。但这里你的创造性发挥空间将受到限制。你的职责是确保团队清楚这点。否则你将频繁同他们陷入计划口角中,因为他们会幻想“从未涉猎过”的主题。这类的激烈争论将打乱你的时间安排。

* 提防机会主义者。我曾向某人发出工作邀约,他给出的回复是,“和你共事很棒,我想要台掌上工作电脑。”还有个家伙这样回复,“我希望我和妻子能够在你的产品上进行利润分成。”除此之外,还有个家伙就游戏代码编写索要昂贵费用。毋庸置疑,这些家伙并没有因为这份工作而兴奋不已。他们每天都在等待发薪日。为什么会有人选择加入初创公司,坐等发工资呢?这给他们的决策带来负面影响。你不会想要聘请,也无力负担这样的机会主义者。

这是个很长的任务清单。其中内容缺一不可。

游戏邦注:原文发布于2010年2月13日,文章叙述以当时为背景。(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

Social Gaming: A Primer for Pakistani Facebook App

By Hassan Baig

“Walls are only built to keep out people who don’t want it bad enough” – Randy Pausch, Last Lecture Series

Some drab definitions first

Drab definition 1: First you’ll need to understand what a ‘network effect’ is in the social media context. A ‘network effect’ is the ability of the social graph to exert influence. So the higher the network effect, the more important the role of the social graph becomes.

Drab definition 2: There are two kinds of network effects: positive and negative. A positive network effect is where the size of the social graph positively correlates with the utility of the underlying system. A negative network effect has a negative such correlation.

Drab example 1: So for instance, the telephone service has positive network effects – the more people have the telephone, the greater its utility becomes. If you were the only person on the planet with a phone, it would be a useless device.

Drab example 2: Roads have a negative network effect associated to them – the more traffic on a road, the less utility it has.

What is social gaming?

Social games are games where the user experience is positively correlated to their social graph.

Or in simpler terms, a social game is some computer game which is more fun to play with your friends. And what separates it from a multiplayer game is that not all your friends need to be online for you to benefit from their presence.

The most popular social games are found on Facebook, however several other social networks – hi5, Orkut, Myspace, Qzone, 51.com have been long associated with social gaming too.

Examples of famous Facebook social games are Farmville, Pet Society, Happy Aquarium, Mafia Wars,Texas Hold’em Poker etc.

You’ve probably seen at least one of these games right?

Why should you become a social-game developer?

Face it, we as a country are not going to break into the AAA gaming market. And by great, I mean World of Warcraft great, not ‘I-know-you’re-not-the-best-but-I’ll-praise-you-out-of-congeniality’ great. If you’ve ever read Adam Smith, you’ll know that market forces are blind to fake congeniality. In short, we’re not going to compete with the big boys of AAA.

Ever.

Social gaming, on the other hand, is a different story. The production values are not tremendous, the development cycles are not capital intensive, the development timeline is not measured in years (but weeks).

Also social games are instantly monetizable (through virtual goods), i.e. the business model is not a slave to acquisitions or IPOs.

Plus you monetize in dollars. Unless you want to shoot yourself in the foot and build a game for the local market; overlooking the fact that Facebook lets you be truly global.

Yes, you monetize in dollars.

That looks very promising for a place like Pakistan – you gotta love that exchange rate.

You don’t have much time

Now the bad news: the next 12 months are pretty much the last days for a small-fry, unfunded studio to get into the fray. Production values are being pushed up – it’ll be costly to get in later. Save yourself a bucket load of cash – get in now.

Research resources

The following are going to be your best friends. You have to read updates from these everyday. Forever. Not doing your homework will be your dream’s tragic death.

* appdata.com , facebakers.com

* insidesocialgames.com

* and to an extent, gamasutra.com

In a growing industry, there’s plenty of room for clones

If chuffed about what kind of games to develop, or don’t have your creative juices flowing, remember that even the worst-cast scenario is not that bad. Read the sub-heading again: in a growing industry, there’s plenty of room for clones. That’s right. The following are happily co-existing clones in famous Facebook genres. Each has more than a million monthly active users.

* Happy Aquarium, Fishville, Happy Fish, Fish Isle, Fish Life…..

* Pet Society, PetVille, Happy Pets, My (Lil) Pets….

* Farmville, Farm Life, Barn Buddy, My (Lil) Farm, Island
paradise, Tiki Farm….

Even cloning can get you success. The worst-case scenario isn’t that bad.

Development technologies

Though not an exhaustive list, you’ll at least be getting your hands dirty with: Adobe Flash, AS3, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop/GIMP, amfPHP, Facebook API.

Game mechanics

* This doesn’t work

1) Synchronous, multi-player games don’t work (exceptions: Poker, Wild Ones). Chances are your friends and you log in at different times to check their Facebook. Thus games contingent upon finding a friend to partner with aren’t successful. The few successful synchronous games that do exist have game-play which doesn’t need your social graph.

2) Games requiring time and intellectual attention in large chunks don’t work. Remember, Facebook is not a gaming portal, it’s a social portal. So users are not looking for hardcore game mechanics.

* This works

1) Asynchronous games are a hit. Most turn-based games fall in this genre.

2) The stickiness of a social game is primarily driven by an ‘appointment gaming’ mechanic. Google this term to understand what it means (it’s pretty basic).

3) Monetization is driven by stickiness. I.e. the aforementioned point can translate to big Benjamins.

Monetization strategies

Don’t take it from me; hear it from the horse’s mouth here, here and here. You’ll need a combination of all of these strategies. It’s all very intuitive.

The hurdles and how to overcome them

Anticipate the following problems before-hand and take amelioration measures:

* Frequent power outages. Can easily gnaw away up to 4 hours of productive time if back-up power not available.

* Thin devscape in Pakistan. I.e. not much in terms of development talent available locally. But finding good people is not impossible. Remember, these aren’t AAA titles you’d be developing. The production values need not be stellar; the back-end code need not be super-optimized. Pakistanis do have a chance.

* Lack of research. If you don’t research the industry, you’re toast. If you dislike reading and analyzing, fuggedaboutit. Read up everyday. Play Facebook games – as many as you can – everyday. Know your competition!

* Dwindling motivation. This can happen since you’d be doing something no one else in your country is doing. No one will understand what you’re doing. No one will support you. To keep spirits high, keep reminding yourself and your team in those late night work shifts and gloomy hours why you were doing it in the first place. Keep your vision close to your heart.

* Outsourcing. Outsource artwork if extremely necessary. Do not outsource coding modules – you’ll need this expertise in-house after the game goes live. Besides, going back and forth with your outsourcer to get the asset or the code right wastes time. If your game’s production is taking more than 12 weeks, you’re late.

* Scope creep. You have 12 weeks to release your first iteration to the public. Keep scope minimal – once the game is built, iterate out from there. Do not run after perfection.

* Lack of pre-production. Take at least 3 weeks to plan out production. Do not plan on the fly.

* Failure to take analytics seriously. Once your game goes live, read those user numbers all the time. Chase the under-performing metrics like crazy.

* Facebook’s dwindling social window. I.e. Facebook became too spammy with social gaming newsfeed in late ‘08 and mid ‘09. Mark Zuckerberg then decided to filter out much of the social gaming related news. Beginning in winter ‘09, Facebook announced a roadmap of changes to the Open Platform which may make getting viral traction trickier. So move now rather than later. Ensure you’re app’s already up and has a user-base before Zuckerberg’s roadmap dilutes virality.

* Experimenting with game mechanics too much. If it ain’t broken, why fix it? I’ve had master developers pitch Augmented Reality (AR) apps at me where the user can control avatars on-screen with hand movements in front of their cams. I call it the Minority Report syndrome.  AR may be the next wave, but I keep telling them that monetize the current wave first, we’ll make money with the next one later. Whoever built social games before the advent of the Open Platform never made it big. Why? It just wasn’t the right time. Monetize now, establish yourself, and then have a $20 million R&D department dedicated to all the AR you ever want in life.

* Failure to filter out pseudo-gurus. I’ve talked to a gazillion people in Pakistan about social gaming. And not a single person knew about the industry. This is not an exaggeration. If you’ve done your research, do not be swayed by ill-formed opinions, no matter who’s saying it. People will not only feed you wrong information, they will also up-sell that information to increase your bill. No you do not need 3D work, no you do not need a pricey licensed server, you do not need a massive advertising budget, and you do not need to hire consultants.

* Hiring a team which hinders the creative process. In normal game development, you can be as creative as you want and experiment around. In social gaming though, there’s a set formula. Of course there is room for trend-setting, as with any niche. But your creative wiggle-room here is limited. Your job is to ensure your team understands this. Otherwise, you’ll be getting into frequent planning tiffs with them as they’ll fantasize about ‘never-done-before’ themes. Such tug-of-war can kill your time-scales.

* Hiring an opportunist. This one time, I gave a guy a job offer and his next reply was “Cool to work with you. I’d like a laptop for work. A mac preferably”. Another time a guy said “I want profit sharing in your products for me and my wife”. Another guy asked for an arm and a leg for writing game code. Needless to say, none of these guys were excited about the job. They were there for the pay day. Why would anyone head towards a start-up for a healthy pay day? This reflects poorly on their decision making. You do not want, nor can afford, such opportunists.

That’s a long to-do list. And it wouldn’t work if it were anything less. I guess it’s a good time to re-read the quote at the beginning of this article. Good luck with your venture if you end up taking this up.(Source:whiterabbitonline


上一篇:

下一篇: