作者：Zoya Street

问题：你认为在2012年发布的游戏中，最重要的、最有影响力的或最有趣的游戏是哪一款，为什么？

回答：

Will Luton（Mobile Games顾问）

毫无疑问：《CSR Racing》。它打破了许多常规：传统的硬核主题和画面以及相当明确的失败场景。但它仍然保持简短的硬核循环、游戏时间、收集系统和出自免费模式的资源限制机制。随着免费模式的成熟和玩家人群的多样性增长，我认为应该将它看作是游戏史上的转折点。

我认为《Whale Trail》也很有趣：从免费到付费的突然转变不是正确的选择，应该挑中一种（对某些游戏，付费仍然是可行的），然后好好利用。

以上两款游戏都不是我今年的最爱。今年我最爱的游戏应该是我不得不淘汰掉的《New Star Soccer》。《Super Hexagon》也值得一提。

Oscar Clark（Applifier倡导者）

我不知道要选《CSR Racing》还是《Clash of Clans》……所以我选择了《HellFire》。它是我所知道的最不挣钱的游戏，但它将卡片游戏模式与“扔纸团（游戏邦注：即游戏《Paper Toss》的玩法，玩家要做的就是将纸团扔到垃圾桶中）”的玩法相结合，是相当好的消遣。

主机游戏方面，《天际》导致我在玩游戏200小时后手肋发炎了……这款游戏很棒。但《孤岛危机3》也深得我心。

特别要提的是《光晕4：无限》。免费玩可下载内容的章节式发行可能将在来年证明其巨大影响力。

Stuart Dredge（《卫报》记者）

我最喜欢的Will游戏是《New Star Soccer》，不过我应该淘汰它。它和《Fluid Football》共同表明，即使是看起来最封闭的游戏类型（足球），独立游戏也能做成智能手机和平板电脑游戏。

但至于最有意义的……我认为是《愤怒的小鸟：星球大战》，因为它是第一款导致家长级玩家在校门口等待接孩子时都不忘交流其发布消息的手机游戏。这种口口相传的火爆程度完全超越了我们的游戏宅人圈。

我认为《愤怒的小鸟》达到这样的地位，即成为第一个（也许是唯一的一个）孩子们喜爱它的程度被我们大大低估了的娱乐品牌，是因为孩子们联想到的是角色，而不只是游戏。当我儿子问我“爸，为什么《愤怒的小鸟》有闪光的剑？”在《愤怒的小鸟：星球大战》中，从儿童的角度出发，它清楚地反映了知名品牌在那种关系中意味着什么。

今年我还玩不停《三重小镇》——它和《New Star Soccer》都是我今年最喜欢的游戏（无论是在什么设备上）。

Andy Payne（Mastertronic总经理）

我最喜欢的游戏是《New Star Soccer》。我好几个小时玩不停，爱死它了。的确，它还有改进的空间，可以挣得比现在更多，但这不是重点。它是神作啊。

但如果你问我今年最重要和最有影响力的游戏是什么，我认为毫无疑问是《CSR Racing》。它显示了手机游戏的巨大潜力。向Boss Alien和Natural Motion致敬。

Darren Jobling（Eutechnyx所有者）

我选《CSR Racing》。卓越的品质和“可耻”的掠财本性——好坏各半。

Eric Seufert（Grey Area营销和开发总监）

我认为最有影响力的游戏是《Clash of Clans》，因为通过无缝隙地扩大画面至平板屏幕的大小，它非常好地调整了短期和长期玩法。它的赢利策略很隐蔽也很有效。在我看来，这款游戏给免费模式的运用树立了很高的标杆。

Mark Sorrell（Hide & Seek开发总监）

我可不跟风，我要说实话。今年我投《Hotline Miami》一票，它不是主流是因为有相当封闭的游戏循环（尽管有）或因为它极其易上瘾（尽管是），但它告诉了我们游戏是什么，为什么我们要玩游戏。在商业上，它没有成功的经验供我们借鉴，在技术上，它也没教我们怎么做游戏，但它确实告诉了我们，我们是谁。

Jas Purewal（Osborne Clark的律师）

对我而言，《Black Ops 2》和《Clash of Clans》打了个平手（前者胜在玩家多、发行面广，仍然是欧美游戏界中800磅的大猩猩；后者赢在它是一款设计强悍的免费游戏，显示了800磅大猩猩的不同面貌）。

就品质上说，应该提一提《天际》，其广泛的吸引力令人吃惊，营销面相当广。尽管在电视/电影/公共交通/报纸上的广告都是旧的，但我认为《天际》在今年的广告表现胜过其他游戏。

Martin Darby（Remode创始人）

这是一个有趣的问题，因为我们就在这个快速发展的领域中，单凭几个月的回顾，很难说某一款游戏有多么“重要”或“有影响力”。因此，我要说，2012是无数游戏涌入主流的一年。从2009年的《Canabalt》到《Jetpack Joyride》再到2011年底的《Temple Run》。今年我们开始看到更多公式化的游戏，如《Whale Trail》和《Rayman Run》。现在所有游戏都想加入一点“奔跑”元素！我有一款奔以跑为主题的游戏即将完工，而另一款正处于提案阶段。有趣的是，当我挑出一款出现于2010年底的、现在会被认为是这一类型的游戏时，没人会感兴趣：“是平台游戏吗？是赛跑游戏吗？我觉得有点乱了”就是回答。所以，2012年对我来说代表了一种转变。

如果我要进一步猜想，哪款代表了游戏的未来……

《Dear Esther》：对我来说，这款游戏证明了交互娱乐有一片新兴的小众市场没有被关注，因为被轻描淡写地当作成人向、显示风。我们应该三思，因为它确实有相当的重要性。这片领域会成长或像90年代的《Myst》等游戏那样消亡？时间自有答案。如果有人成功地将这个和实际的玩法相结合，我认为这会大大地丰富游戏。

《Curiosity》&《Journey》：纯粹是因为他们已经证明将玩法与交叉互动的轻松休闲的关卡相结合也可以非常管用。用手机和平板电脑玩也很好，所以可能会出现更多这类关联性玩法，而真正的MMO和同步玩法就危险了。

《CSR Racing》：它证明，在新的商业模式之下，硬核玩法也适用于非主机平台。

Andrew Smith（Spilt Milk Studio创始人）

《CRS Racing》凭空而现。由天才们组成的伟大的主机团队……他们粉碎了免费游戏世界。

《ZombiU》将《暗黑之魂》所教我们的东西主流化了，证明了WiiU/双屏游戏可以带来新乐趣，多谢了。

《行尸走肉》应该会说“我不关心我是不是‘真正的’游戏，因为我让你哭、让你玩上好几周”，这可是我玩过的其他任何‘真正的’游戏做不到的。

Harry Holmwood（Heldhand顾问）

从免费模式的商业角度说，我百分之百赞成《CSR Racing》——当说到成功的欧美免费游戏，它是我最经常提起游戏。

从玩家的角度说，是《Super Hexagon》。我玩它的时间比我这几年玩其他游戏的都多。我比Will Luton更擅长这款游戏，至少根据游戏中心的排名来看。他现在又玩了，而且超过我，但至少我知道我领先过，虽然只是一阵子。

Tadhg Kelly（Jawfish Games创意总监）

我想了好几天，思考今年最重要的游戏应该如何反映出以下三点，所以经过再三考虑，我的答案是《Draw Something》。为什么？

1、《Draw Something》是第一款真正的“平板优先”的iOS游戏。它基本上只有在大屏幕上才好玩，它显示了如果你用心玩，大画布是多么强悍。在我印象中，它是2012年传播最广的游戏。

2、《Draw Something》可能还具有今年最有趣的游戏机制：画图。虽然肯定不是第一款以艺术或绘画作为玩法，或甚至不是第一款这类游戏，但它正是将合作绘图的乐趣带给所有人的游戏。它根据互相帮助以达到更高分的原则匹配玩家，这也非常有趣。虽然回合制游戏存在许多问题（大多是玩家匹配不上，少数是作弊的问题），它确实促进了一种在游戏中不多见的玩家之间的交流。从设计师的角度看，它仍是非常有趣的。

3、最后，《Draw Something》是今年游戏业故事的先导：Zynga的失败和公式化的社交游戏模式的紧缩。OMGPOP在《Draw Something》发行后很快被Zynga并购了，作为吸引玩家的新大陆，却显著地衰落了（许多设计师怀疑会紧缩，因为它是回合制的，在空间上有一定的限制）。这导致Zynga的帐面在几个月后缩水，这还只是一系列损失和股票下滑事件中的一件，暗示了Zynga偏离了正轨。

Melissa Clark-Reynolds

我支持《小龙斯派罗大冒险》。该游戏开发团队确实重整了商业模式——从技术上说是在2011年的，但我认为他们在今年才真的将模式确定下来。（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）

[Gamesbriefers] What was the most interesting game of 2012?

by Zoya Street

Question:

What do you think is the most important, influential or interesting game that was released in 2012, and why?

Answers:

Will Luton Mobile Games Consultant

Without doubt: CSR Racing. It did a number of things that broke conventional wisdom: It had traditional core theming and look and a pretty clear fail scenario. Yet it still maintained short core loops, sessioning, collection goal systems and limited resources from older F2P archetypes. I think it will be seen as a turning point in the history of gaming as F2P matures and the diversity of demographic grows.

I think Whale Trail is interesting also: Flip-flopping between free and paid is not a way forward. Pick one (paid is still viable for some products) and make the best of it.

Neither was necessarily my favourite game of the year. That would go to the game I had to delete: New Star Soccer. Super Hexagon is a notable mention also.

Oscar Clark Evangelist at Applifier

I can’t decide between CSR and Clash of Clans… so instead I’ll go for HellFire.  Its the least well monetised game I know but perfectly fills my time with its combination of a card-game model and ‘Paper Toss’ gameplay.

Console-wise Skyrim gave  me tennis elbow after 200 hours of play… it was that great. But FarCry3 may well take its place in my heart.

Special mention should be made of Halo 4′s Infinity. Episodic release of free to play DLC  may prove to be a huge influence in the coming year.

Stuart Dredge Journalist at The Guardian

I’m with Will on the favourite game being New Star Soccer in a ‘had to delete it’ way. That and Fluid Football together showed that even in the most seemingly-locked-up genres (football) indies can come through on smartphones and tablets.

But for most significant… I’d make a case for Angry Birds Star Wars, in that it’s the first mobile game that had a bunch of mums and dads at the school gate chattering the whole week of release. The sort of word-of-mouth buzz that’s completely beyond our games/geek industry circles.

I think Angry Birds’ status as one of the first (and maybe THE first) entertainment brands that children love is vastly underestimated by the likes of us, because what children are connecting to are the characters rather than just the games. When my son asked me ‘Daddy, why does the Angry Bird have a sparkly sword?’ in Angry Birds Star Wars, it hit home what the more familiar brand was in that relationship, from the standpoint of a child.

I couldn’t stop playing TripleTown this year either – that with New Star Soccer is my actual favourite game on any device (console included) for 2012.

Andy Payne MD at Mastertronic

My favourite game is New Star Soccer. I have played that game for hours and hours and absolutely love it. Yes it could be better and yes it could monetize far better than it does, but that’s not the point. It is fabulous.

But you asked what the most important and influential game of the year, is and for me without doubt is CSR Racing. It has reset the game as far as mobile games go and shines the light on the huge potential at the end or even down the track (sorry !). Hats off to Boss Alien and Natural Motion. Disney’s loss is their gain.

Darren Jobling Owner of Eutechnyx

CSR Racing for me. Outstanding quality and a merciless pursuit of player cash – good and bad points there in equal measure.

Eric Seufert Head of Marketing and Acquisition at Grey Area

I believe the most influential game was Clash of Clans, as it accommodates the short- and long-form gameplay experiences extraordinarily well by scaling seamlessly to the larger tablet screen. It also monetizes subtly yet effectively. To my mind, CoC has set the high water mark in terms of F2P implementation.

Mark Sorrell Development Director at Hide & Seek

I’m going to buck the trend and speak from the heart. Hotline Miami was the game of the year for me, and it’s not so much because it has a beautifully tight play loop (although it has) or because it is extraordinarily satisfying to play (although it is) but because it has something to say about what games are and why we play them. It’s not a business success story, nor does it teach us about how to make games, but it does teach is something about who we are.

Jas Purewal Lawyer at Osborne Clark

For me it’s a tie between Black Ops 2 (because for many gamers, and the public more generally, it’s still the 800 pound gorilla of the Western games industry) and Clash of Clans (because it’s a great, well-designed f2p game which shows what a very different 800 pound gorilla of games could look like).

Honorary mention for Skyrim for its quality, surprisingly wide public appeal and its marketing ubiquity. Although advertising on TV/cinemas/public transport/newspapers isn’t new, I suspect Skyrim did it more than any other game this year.

Martin Darby Founder of Remode

Interesting question because although we are in a field that moves very fast it is difficult to say how “important” or “influential” one particular game is with only a few months retrospect.  On that basis I would say that 2012 has been the year the endless runner went mainstream.  From Canabalt in 2009 it took a while (relatively speaking!) to get Jetpack Joyride and Temple Run at the end of 2011.  Then this year we have started seeing a lot more games based on the formula e.g. Whale Trail and Rayman Run.  Everyone now wants a slice of endless running! I have one branded runner nearly finished and another at the pitch stage.  The interesting thing is that when I pitched a game that would now be considered part of this genre at the end of 2010 and no one was interested: “is it a platformer, is it a racing game? It looks very confused to me” was the response.  So 2012 represents this shift to me.

If I had to take further guesses of games that may prove to be seeds for the future…

Dear Esther:  To me this game proved that there is an emerging niche market for interactive entertainment that drops the OTT for an understated *arguably* less juvenile, presentation style.

Take as second to think about that as it is actually fairly significant.  Will this area grow or will it die out like games such as Myst did in the 90’s? Time will tell.  If someone successfully mixes this with actual gameplay and it sells then I believe these tropes could diversify gaming in a big way.

Curiosity & Journey:  Simply because they have proven that parallel play with a light & causal level of cross-interaction is something that can work very well.  It is conducive to mobile & tablet play too, so maybe we will start to see more of this as connectivity becomes ever more ubiquitous whilst true MMO’s and synchronous play stays risky.
CSR Racing:  It’s proven that you can tune core tastes to a non-console platform with a new business model.

Andrew Smith Founder of Spilt Milk Studio

CSR came out of nowhere. Great console team with a brilliant pedigree… and they smash the freemium world apart.

ZombiU for mainstreaming the lessons that Dark Souls taught us, and proving the WiiU/second screen gaming can offer new fun things very well thanks.

The Walking Dead for saying ‘I don’t care I’m not a ‘real’ game because I’ll make you cry and stay with you for weeks’ which has never happened with any ’gamey’ game I’ve ever played.

Harry Holmwood Consultant at Heldhand

From an F2P business angle, I 100% agree with CSR Racing – it’s the game I talk about most often when talking western F2P successes.

As a player, Super Hexagon. Played that more than I’ve played anything in years. And I’m better at it than Will Luton, at least according to Game Center,  which means a lot. He will now play it again and trounce me, but at least I’ll know I was ahead, just for a little while.

Tadhg Kelly Creative Director at Jawfish Games

I’ve been reflecting on this for a couple of days, thinking on how the most important game of the year should reflect all three, and after much thought my answer is Draw Something. Why?

1. Draw Something was the first real “Tablet first” iOS game. It was mostly only fun on the bigger screen, and it showed off the power of what a larger canvas could do if you put your mind to it. I’m of the impression that it was the most viral game of 2012 as a result.

2. Draw Something also probably had the most interesting game mechanic of the year: Drawing. While certainly not the first game to ever use art or drawing, or even the first of its type, it was the game that brought collaborative drawing to everyone. It was also very interesting in the way that it arranged players in teams to help each other achieve a greater score. While this has many issues common to turn-based games (mostly orphaning, occasionally cheating) it did lead to a lot of emergent conversation between players of a type that you don’t normally see in games. From a designer’s perspective, it was very interesting.

3. Finally, Draw Something was the precursor to the business story of the year: the meltdown of Zynga and the general retrenchment of the formulaic social game model. Zynga bought OMGPOP very quickly after Draw Something came out, as a clear land grab for users, only to see it deflate significantly (which many designers sort of suspected it would, given it was turn-based and somewhat limited in scope). This forced Zynga into a humiliating write-down a few months later, which was one of the events in a series of losses and share slumps, and gave a clear signal that Zynga had gone right off the rails.

Melissa Clark-Reynolds

I am going for skylanders.  They have really shaken up the business model – I know it technically was 2011, but I think they really have nailed it this year.（source：gamesbrief）