作者：Joe Osborne

《SongPop》这款由FreshPlanet出品的异步回合制音乐社交小游戏被评为2012年度最热门的Facebook社交游戏。根据Facebook的应用中心的内部指标（如星级评价），《SongPop》战胜了其他通过Facebook宣传的手机或网页游戏，成为最吸引玩家的游戏。

在《SongPop》之前，FreshPlanet已经制做过一些网页社交游戏—-其中一款图象氛围不错，但只取得了小小的成功，因此FreshPlanet现在的大获成功更加引人注目。现在，根据AppData数据，《SongPop》已经拥有240万日活跃玩家。FreshPlanet首席执行官兼联合创始人Mathieu Nouzareth在最近采访中介绍了《SongPop》为什么能取得这么巨大的成功，以及它的开发者将如何再接再励等情况：

songpop-legendary(from games)

根据Facebook指标，《SongPop》被评为最热门的Facebook游戏，你们对此的心情如何？

结果让我们很吃惊，因为我们没料到会这样。我们当然非常高兴。我们的优势在于，这些指标确实是根据用户或玩家这么长时间以来的反响制定的。这对我们来说是很有意义的。我甚至不知道他们到底是怎么计算的。我认为是根据评分、玩家的沉浸感和评论等。我想有很多成份吧，但我觉得都反映了好游戏应该是怎么样的，以及玩家对游戏的喜爱。所以，我们的反应是惊讶和高兴。

FreshPlanet是怎么想到《SongPop》的创意的？在你们将它做成手机游戏以前，它不是一款Facebook游戏吗？

不是的。有一点不一样。两年以前我们在Facebook上有另一款音乐游戏，那款很难。我们从中吸取经验，但《SongPop》确实是从无到有构思出来的。我们在Facebook上发布的那款游戏，几乎同一天在Android平台上亮相。

所以，基本上我们在年初就有想法了，我们想做一款与音乐有关的游戏，我们想到在社交游戏和手机游戏之间的转换。我们料想这会是一款好游戏，因为我在年初就想好游戏创意了，所以我们很快就开发出这款游戏了。我们在五月中旬或五月底发布，几周之后我们就看到成功的苗头了。到六月底，我们就知道这游戏会火。事情就是这样。

除了《SongPop》的固有设计外，你们还有什么成功的因素吗？

你意思是？就像秘方或……

正是。至少当我采访其他开发者时，特别要问的就是如何在包括Facebook在内的应用商店中脱颖而出。

我认为成功的妙方不止一个。首先，我认为我们很幸运，能想到关于音乐的游戏。音乐是很强大的，它植根于所有人心中和DNA。我的意思是，每个人都喜欢音乐，随时都会听音乐，音乐让人产生非常特别的情绪。

再者，我认为这款游戏很简单，所有人都能很快上手。我们甚至不需要像指南之类的东西。它确实很直接明了。只要打开游戏，你立即就明白怎么玩了。

一是内容好，二是设计好。我意思是，这两点我们都做到了，三是音乐好。就病毒式营销来说，我们在这方面没做什么投入。我们那时资金不足，所以只能做两件事。

第一件事是，我们充分利用Facebook Open Graph和所有手机。所以我觉得Facebook也喜欢这款游戏和公司，因为我们在手机设计上很好地利用了Facebook Open Graph。所以，Facebook Open Graph是不断发展的工具。第二件事是，我们有口口相传的习惯。所以，人们会直接从口袋里掏出手机给朋友看，并说：“看我找到什么了。这是一款好游戏，跟我一起玩吧。”就是这样。没有什么秘诀。

songpop_promo(from games)

当然，在过去几个月，FreshPlanet已经在游戏中添加了大量不同的音乐。所以，为了保持《SongPop》来年的势头，你们有什么计划？

有，当然有。我们有两个方向上的打算。一个是更多音乐发现。我知道你可以开iTunes，我们会添加一种功能，可以让你购买某个在你所在地开巡回演唱会的歌手的门票。这是一个例子。音乐发现对我们来说很重要。我们想让人们把《SongPop》当作一种开始你的音乐发现之旅的方法，然后可能还有其他东西吧。

另一方向是，通过音乐把人们聚集起来。也就是添加更具社交网络性的功能：匹配玩家，有一个显示你是何种音乐爱好者的用户文件夹。我们觉得这款游戏会有很顽强，很长久的寿命。我想这款游戏的潜力很大。

另一方面，我们还在筹备我们的新游戏。当然，我不能透露新游戏是什么。我们希望在《SongPop》和新游戏之间进行交叉营销。拭目以待吧。

就音乐发现这方面，你谈到的功能好像使FreshPlanet面临着与Pandora和Spotify这些音乐播放器相竞争的局面。你对此有何看法？

一方面，确实很吸引人。但另一方面，如果你想与Pandora、Spotify和iTunes争天下，你需要非常非常大量的资金投入。我们自认为这么说是对我们的恭维，坦白说，我们目前还达不到那种程度。我们得现实一点，所以我觉得我们只是在音乐发现方面增加了价值，而不是取代或与上述对手竞争。所以，我们想成为伙伴。

大部份成功的手机游戏好像都很容易理解。如比，《Words with Friends》是关于词语的游戏，《Draw Something》是关于画画的游戏，《SongPop》是关于音乐的游戏。这些百分之百是容易理解的主题，又如，《愤怒的小鸟》的世界充满了玩家喜欢的角色和对玩家如何玩游戏的设想。

正是如此。原始材料很好。与其他虽然不容易但很快就变得令人厌烦的游戏不同，音乐的生命力相当长。所以，我们的游戏具有的是一种非常有趣又长寿的材料。

FreshPlanet或者你个人认为还有什么游戏类型是还没被挖掘出来的吗？我们已经有了文字游戏、绘画游戏，现在我们又有了手机上的音乐游戏。

如果我回答你，我就向你透露太多关于下一款游戏的信息了。我认为能挖掘的类型还有一些，不太多，但确实有一些。许多公司正在努力研究回合制，异步手机和社交游戏。但成功的确实很少，我指的是只有《Draw Something》、《Words with Friends》和《SongPop》获得了广泛的成功，其他的则处境困难。所以没有想象得那么简单。“喔，我要做一款异步回合制手机社交游戏。”做的远比说的复杂。你说对了：我认为还存在一些有趣的领域，但我现在要保守秘密。（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）

SongPop creator talks drumming up success, keeping the beat [Interview]

by Joe Osborne

It’s official: SongPop has “arrived”. The asynchronous, turn-based music trivia social game by FreshPlanet was named the top social game of 2012 by Facebook. Based on Facebook’s internal metrics on its App Center, like star ratings, SongPop impressed players more than any other game on mobile or the web via Facebook.

Considering that, before SongPop, FreshPlanet had just a few web-based social games–one of which was rich in visuals and atmosphere–that met mild success, this is no doubt impressive. Today, according to AppData, SongPop has 2.4 million daily players. To learn more about how SongPop achieved such an honor and how its developer plans to live up to it, we recently caught up with FreshPlanet co-founder and CEO Mathieu Nouzareth.

SongPop was just named the top-rated Facebook game, according to its metrics. What’s your gut reaction to that?

How the reaction was surprised us too, because we didn’t know. It was great joy, and we’re very, very happy, obviously. What’s good for us is that–those metrics are really–it’s been calculated or it’s been done on the basis of what the users or players are doing for very long. They’re used by people, so it’s something really meaningful for us. I don’t even know the exact, where they calculated it. I think it’s based on the number of ratings, engagement, and what people say. I think it’s a lot of different things, but I think it shows the great game, and the players really love the game. So, our reaction was surprise and happiness.

How did Freshplanet come to the idea for SongPop? Wasn’t it a Facebook game before you guys brought it to mobile?

No, it was slightly different. We had another music preview game on Facebook for two years, a game that was difficult. We learned from what we did there, but SongPop was really a game from scratch. The same game, we launched it on Facebook, and it was on Android almost the same day.

So, basically we had the idea early this year, and we wanted to do something in music where we’d make a game, and we’d look at the converters of social and mobile. We saw that it would be a great game, so I had the idea earlier this year, and we developed the game very quickly. I think we launched sometime in mid-May, or the end of May, and we had success starting a few weeks after. At the end of June, we knew it was gonna be big, and that’s the story of the game.

Is there anything aside from the inherent design of SongPop that you chalk up this large success to?

What do you mean? Like any secret sauce or–

Exactly. This is especially considering how, at least when I talk to other developers, how hard it is to have a game get noticed out there on these app stores, Facebook included.

I think there was–there is not one single silver bullet. It’s like there’s the perfect storm, so to speak, with the app. First of all, I think we’re lucky to have a game about music, and music is very powerful. It’s deeply rooted in everyone’s mood and DNA. I mean, everyone likes music, and every time you turn to music, it puts you in a very specific mood.

The other thing is I think the game is also very simple, and everyone can understand how to play the game very quickly. We don’t even need a manual or anything. It’s really straightforward. Just launch the game, you know immediately how to play, and you enjoy it.

A. The content is good and B. The game is well-designed–I mean, we did it so the music was good–and C. In terms of viral distribution, we didn’t spend anything on marketing. We didn’t have the money at the time, so what we did is we used two things.

The first thing is we made heavy use of the Facebook Open Graph, all mobile. That’s why I think Facebook also liked the game and the company, because we’re making great use of the Facebook Open Graph on mobile devices. So, Facebook Open Graph was instrumental in growing. And B. We also had the old-fashioned word-of-mouth. So, people literally took up their phones from their pockets and would show it to their friends, and they said ‘Look what I found. It’s a great game. Play with me.’ And that was it. There is no secret.

Of course, FreshPlanet has added a bunch of different song packs I think in the past few months to the game. So, what plans do you guys have for keeping SongPop going for the next year?

Yes, definitely. We’re taking SongPop in two directions. One is really more about music discovery. I know you can go into iTunes–and we’ll add features so eventually you can buy concert tickets if we find out the artist is touring near where you are. That’s one example. Music discovery is important for us. And we want people to think of SongPop as a way to start your music discovery and then maybe go somewhere else.

The other thing is really bringing people together for music. And the angle is adding more social networking features: matching people, having user profiles showing what kind of music lover you are. This kind of thing. We think we can have a very strong, long shelf-life for the game. I think the game has a strong longevity potential.

On the other hand, we’re also preparing our next games. And I can’t tell you what they will be, but we are working on them as we speak. And we hope to make use of, cross-promotion between SongPop and our new games. We’ll see where it goes.

It seems like, with the features you’re talking about in terms of music discovery, that FreshPlanet is headed in a direction where it may find itself competing with services like Pandora, Spotify and what have you. What do you think about that?

On the one hand, it’s tempting. But on the other hand, if you want to compete with Pandora and Spotify and the iTunes of the world, you need massive, massive investments in finance. We like to think of ourselves as a compliment to those services rather than–I have to be honest, it’s out of our reach today. We have to be realistic, so I think we can add a lot of value to music discovery, but not replace or compete with those guys. So, we’d like to partner instead.
It seems like the most successful mobile games are easily relatable in terms of the hook. For instance, Words with Friends is a word game, Draw Something is simply drawing, SongPop is about music These are all 100 percent, easily relatable themes as opposed to, say, Angry Birds–games that build a world filled with characters and assumptions about what players might enjoy.

Yeah, exactly. Raw material is great. With music, we have a very long time, as opposed to other games where it gets boring–not easier–but sooner. So, we have something that will work and will have a very interesting, a long shelf-life.

Are there any other potential game types that FreshPlanet or you personally see that haven’t been tapped yet? We have the established word games, drawing games, and now we have it seems the established music game on mobile.

If I told you, I would give you too many information about our next game. I think there are a few genres that can be tapped. Not too many, but there are a few. A lot of companies have been trying to learn turn-based, asynchronous mobile and social games. Very few have really emerged–I mean only Draw Something, Words with Friends, and SongPop have been massive hits and the rest is more difficult. So it’s not that easy as thinking, ‘Oh, I’m going to do a turn by turn asynchronous mobile social game.’ It’s more complicated than this. And you’re right: I think there are pockets or other areas of interest, but I’ll keep it to myself for now.（source:games）