作者：Kyle Kulyk

我们有什么选择？

一年前我们创办Itzy Interactive工作室时，我们就已经太迟了。开发商们已经各自削减在应用商店的游戏价格，所有游戏定价甚至低到1-2美元的程度。免费模式已经生根发芽，在这种模式下，游戏本身可免费下载，但开发商或发行商通过IAP模式盈利。

这就好像赛跑开始后，所有人都争先恐后地冲出去，你知道所有人已经堆挤在赛道的中间，但你无论如何还是继续前进。我们已经准备好，决定争取扬名的机会，希望在奋斗的过程中能有所盈利。

当我们发行《Itzy3d》时，我们从一开始就知道，免费模式正是我们现在以及今后要走的路。我们的第二款游戏《Vex Blocks》也计划以免费模式发行。对我们来说，理由充分。

作为小独立团队，我们的资源有限。当提到营销我们的产品时，因为财政上的拮据，我们根本就没有太多选择。

当发起我们的手机广告攻势时，曝光量和下载量上来了，但并没有偿还我们在广告上投入的资金。通过Facebook、Twitter和博客进行社交营销，只是让我们的产品吸引到更多眼球，虽然没费我们什么钱，但我们毕竟投入了时间。

所以，作为独立开发者的我们，真正能决定的只有两个因素：我们制作的游戏和游戏定价。

Free(from scoop.it)

说到游戏质量，我们不敢自大地说我们的游戏能和更有经验的团队的作品相提并论，或者与实力雄厚的大团队的产品并驾齐驱。所以，我们拿出自己最好的水平和最多的资源，努力做最好的游戏。玩家能指望的我们做的，也就到这一步了。

我们不带任何幻想，不奢望做出下一款惊世大作。总是让我受打击的事是，当我与业内人士谈话时，我发现成功的独立开发者从来不知道他们的作品好不好。当发行自己的游戏时，他们总是感到紧张不安，因为那时候还不知道游戏是否受玩家欢迎。

你可能会认为你做了一款别人会喜欢的游戏或者做了一件了不起的事，但是，你的想法和受众的想法、其他开发者的想法和终端玩家的想法可能天差地别。想法就是想法。如果你制作了一款优秀的游戏，人们会蜂拥而上，这种情况是否发生取决于完全不受你掌控的因素。

人们的想法才决定了一款游戏的成功与否。所以做你能做的事，做你想做的游戏，竭尽你的才能去做。然后从错误中吸取经验教训，但愿自己在做游戏的过程中不会破产。

另一个我们能控制的因素就是价格。要对抗成百上千的游戏，我们小小的、独立制作的游戏凭什么才能战胜已经不收分文的游戏大作？

免费模式不是手机游戏开发者唯一的选择，但事实上，在今天的市场，独立开发者到底还有什么选择？顺者生，逆者亡。

你的游戏超级好，人们会发现这一点，然后排着队抢购你的游戏，这种事情发生的概率可能就像行星连成一线一样小；不过，就像在Youtube上放一段你自己唱歌的视频，然后希望被发现，这种事肯定会发生，跟彩票中奖的可能性一样大。

对我们而言，尽量瞄准游戏领域，以最大化我们的成功率，这才是硬道理。所以我们选择了免费模式。在今天的手机游戏市场，免费游戏实在太多了，所以要求玩家为我们的辛苦工作支付一杯咖啡的钱，这太冒险了。虽然不是马上支付。

Old Scratch(from gamasutra)

决定采用免费模式并不一定意味着将灵魂出卖给魔鬼。因为某些非常充分的理由，免费游戏已经受到大量“核心”玩家的责难。有些公司采用免费模式，让大量玩家对那些少数玩家会嗤之以鼻的游戏上瘾。

又有一些公司试图模糊游戏内道具的实际价格。还有一些公司在多人游戏中让玩家购买能量道具，使付费玩家得到其他玩家没有优势。在我看来，以上做法多少败坏了免费模式的名声，其实并不是非这么做不可的。

我认为，玩家获得免费游戏的方式应该与获得共享软件的一样。“试试这款游戏吧，如果你喜欢，请通过消费我们的其他游戏来支持我们。”没有花招诡计，没有遮遮掩掩。如果你喜欢，那就请支持我们。

我认为免费模式的定价方式无异于提供试玩版，但我所倚重的是，不要用蜻蜓点水的试玩游戏浪费玩家的时间，而是让试玩游戏值得玩家回味上了阵子。

成千上万的游戏争抢着求玩家关注。作为玩家，我有大量游戏经验，我总是牢记于心，确保我们的游戏提供足够令我自己满意的玩法。但愿，玩家们会喜欢他们看到的游戏，然后以付费来支持我们。（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）

Opinion: Why we chose Freemium

by Kyle Kulyk

What choice did we have?

When we started Itzy Interactive a little over a year ago, we were already too late. Developers has already undercut each other’s prices on the app store to the point where all games were already pretty much in the $1-2 dollar range, and the freemium pricing model of giving away a game for free and earning revenue from in-app purchases had already taken root.

It was a bit like pulling up to the starting line after the race had started, and you’re informed that everyone has already piled up in a spectacular crash in the middle of the racetrack but you go ahead anyway. There we were, all shiny and new, ready to go and determined to make our mark and hopefully pay our bills in the process.

When we launched Itzy3d we knew right from the start that freemium was the direction we would go with this and future releases. Our second title, Vex Blocks, is also planned as a freemium release. The reasons just made sense to us and still do.

As a small indie team our resources are limited. When it comes to marketing our products, we simply don’t have a lot of options available to us due to our financial constraints.

We’ve spoken to other developers who have been successful in the mobile marketplace and a few of them maintain that paying for ads simply doesn’t pay. Certainly the response we’ve seen to the ads we ran in an attempt to test the waters back this up.

The increased visibility and downloads we received when running our mobile ad campaigns simply did not pay for the money spent on those ads. Social marketing through our Facebook, Twitter and blogging efforts probably put just as many eyes on our products and didn’t cost us anything but our time.

So that leaves really only two other factors that we have any control over as indie developers: the game we’re creating and the price point we choose for that game.

Now game quality is an interesting topic. We’re not so arrogant as to assume our games will be of the same calibre as games made by more experienced teams, or made by larger teams with millions at their disposal. So we endeavor to make the best games we can possibly make given our talents and the resources available to us, and that’s all that can be expected of us.

We’re not operating under any illusion that we’ll create the next runaway hit. Something that always strikes me about people I speak with in the industry and developer interviews I see from successful indies is that they never know if what they’ve created is any good. There’s always that nervousness as they release their product into the wild when you simply don’t know how you’ll be received.

You’d like to think that you’ve made a game people will enjoy, that you’ve made something that stands out but what you think and what the reviewers, other developers and ultimately gamers think can be completely different. Opinion is opinion. The notion that if you simply create an excellent title people will flock to it is contingent on something you have no control over.

People’s opinions of what constitutes a great game. So you do what you can. You set out and make the game you want to make and you make it to the best of your abilities. Then you learn from your mistakes and hopefully don’t go broke in the process.

So the only option left to us, the only other thing we can control is the price, and against the hundreds of thousands of other games out there – what chance do our little, independently made games stand against juggernauts that are already charging nothing right out of the gate?

Freemium isn’t the only option for mobile developers, but realistically in today’s marketplace – what choice do indies really have? Convert or die.

The notion that your games are super special and people will recognize this fact and line up to throw money at you may work in rare instances where the planets align just so but that’s like putting a video of yourself singing up on Youtube in the hopes of being discovered. Sure it happens, but so do lottery wins.

For us, it makes more sense to level the playing field as much as possible to maximize our chances of success. That’s why we went freemium. There’s simply too many free games available in today’s mobile marketplace to risk alienating users by asking the price of a cup of coffee for our hard work. At least, not right off the bat.

Making the decision to go freemium doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ve sold your soul to Old Scratch either. Freemium games receive a lot of grief from “core” gamers for some very good reasons. There are companies out there that use freemium, and combined with habit forming hooks they keep gamers addicted to apps that more than a few gamers would turn their noses up at.

There are companies that try to obscure the actual price of in-app purchases. Other companies offer multiplayer games with the option to purchase power-ups to gain an advantage over other players. All the above give the freemium model, in my opinion, a bit of a bad reputation, but it doesn’t have to be this way.

I prefer to approach freemium games the same way people approached shareware. “Here’s the game to try, and if you like the game, please support us by purchasing some of our other options.” No tricks. Nothing hidden. If you like it, please support us.

I view the freemium pricing structure no differently than offering a demo version, but the key to me (and to my conscience) is to not waste gamer’s time with a mere taste but to make it worth their while.

here are a lot of products vying for gamers attention, and I always keep that in the back of my mind to make sure our products are offering up enough gameplay that I would be satisfied, as a gamer, with the amount of play I’ve received. Then, hopefully, gamers will like what they see and respond by opening their wallets.(source:gamasutra)