今年在奥斯丁展开的游戏开发者在线会议（Game Developer’s Conference Online）汇聚集了3000多位与会人士，包括了业内和业外众多游戏开发商，如《魔兽世界》的暴雪公司和FarmVille的Zynga公司等。会议上，众游戏开发商一起谈论优秀游戏的开发和网络游戏发展的趋势等问题。

Farmville

其中，社交游戏是本次会议的一个讨论重点。FrontierVille的开发者Brian Reynolds和Playdom公司的Raph Koster等人士谈论了许多关于社交游戏的话题。另外会议上还公布了首届Game Developer Choice Online Awards，Social City荣获今年最佳社交游戏游戏奖。

经过会议中的一系列演讲和讨论，以下是我们总结出来的未来社交游戏发展五大趋势：

1，社交游戏商业不会迅速衰退

近来，很多业内人士都十分关注FarmVille等热门社交游戏玩家数急速减少的情况。尽管这一趋势其却发生在了那些Facebook排名前20的社交游戏上，但很多新款游戏仍然吸引了相当一部分玩家，典型代表就是Booyah公司的Nightclub City（一款融入了现实歌手音乐的俱乐部经营类游戏）和Casual Collective的Backyard Monsters （塔楼保卫战游戏） 。社交游戏领域的这一发展趋势预计将持续到明年。因此，以其说Facebook游戏死期将至，不如可以说是其商机转变。人们已经厌倦了那些农场或宠物游戏，他们期待有所不同。

2，期待社交游戏在画面和原创性上的提高

以FarmVille为首的许多第一代社交游戏并没有精致的游戏画面或复杂的游戏体验。直到最近这些都不是问题，创意才是开发热门游戏的关键。而FrontierVille就是以此开发的一款十分具有可玩性的社交游戏，其中融入的发放礼物和访问邻居等备受玩家欢迎的游戏元素主要是参考《马里奥》、《音速小子》、《 暗黑破坏神》和《魔兽世界》等经典游戏。

同时，Ngmoco发布的We Rule或We Farm等基于iOs设备的社交游戏还提出了“高制作水准”的新标准。在此，我们希望社交游戏开发商们在将来能投入更多的精力在游戏创意上。

3，社交游戏转战手机平台

将社交游戏从Facebook网站移植到iPhone平台并不是一件易事。但据预计，近年来美国市场将发布大量的手机社交游戏。

不仅Zynga、Playfish等社交游戏公司想方设法将游戏移植到iPhone及iOS等系统平台，一些手机游戏开发商还先发制人——显然不久以后，社交游戏必然大量转战手机市场。

4，FarmVille“邪恶”或“有趣”的论战继续上演

女性玩家热衷的FarmVille和Pet Society等社交游戏一直被很多人认为是低智能含量游戏。但显然并不是所有人都认可这一观点。在最近一个名为“社交游戏糟糕吗？”的协商会议中提出了很多对于社交游戏的比较，如FarmVille对比《光晕》或FarmVille对比《魔兽世界》等。然而最终社交游戏是否“糟透了”并没有结论。如果这些社交游戏真的“糟透了”，那为什么有人又认为它们“邪恶”，“令人上瘾”，“不是真正的游戏”呢？我们相信2亿多Facebook社交游戏玩家是不会赞成以上看法的。

5，大品牌即将登陆Facebook网站

今年，一些大型视频游戏品牌如MAdden或FIFA在转战Facebook平台后略有成功，但将来会有更多的品牌公司进入Facebook。现在玩家可以在Facebook上转动Price is Right的大转盘，而不久的将来玩家则可以在EA/Playfish发行的Facebook Monopoly game上点击Go，并收取200美元。（本文由游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译）

Monopoly Games

This year’s Game Developer’s Conference Online  in Austin brought together 3,000 people, including game developer wannabes and industry insiders from World of Warcraft-maker Blizzard and FarmVille-maker Zynga (among others) with talks on how to make good games and some of the larger trends in online games.

gdc online 2010Social gaming (on Facebook and otherwise) played a major role in the conference, with a series of sessions devoted to the topic, which included a standout talk from FrontierVille creator Brian Reynolds (our full interview with him is coming soon), Playdom’s Raph Koster and the first-ever Game Developer Choice Online Awards, where Social City was honored as the Best Social Network Game of the Year.

After sitting through a slew of panels, lectures, roundtables (and heated conversations at during a series of evening events), here’s a list of five social gaming trends you can expect to see in the coming year.

1. Social gaming is not going away anytime soon

Everyone’s buzzing about how FarmVille and the other top games have been losing players faster than a cat sheds its winter coat. And while that is largely true for the top 20 games on Facebook, newer games have still managed to attract players at a respectable rate. Two prime examples of this are Booyah’s Nightclub City (a nightclub management sim game with music from real-life artists) and Casual Collective’s Backyard Monsters (a tower defense game), and that trend is expected to continue into next year. So instead of Facebook gaming dying, it sounds more like it’s changing, and people are growing tired of the same old farm and pet games and are waiting for the next big thing.

2. Expect social games to look better and offer more original game experiences

FarmVille and the rest of the first-generation social games haven’t exactly had the best-looking graphics or most sophisticated game experiences. And that has been OK until recently. Game-wise, FrontierVille set the bar in creating a very playable social game, infusing all of that gift giving and neighbor visiting with popular game elements borrowed from Mario (yes, that Mario), Sonic, Diablo and World of Warcraft. Social games like ngmoco’s We Rule and We Farm on iOS devices have set a new standard for high production values, and we expect that social game makers will be upping the ante on their creations in the near future.

3. Social gaming is going mobile (for reals this time)

It’s hasn’t been easy to transport social games from Facebook to iPhone, but we predict that this will be the year that mobile social gaming will have its coming out party in the US. Whether its social games companies like Zynga and Playfish figuring out how to launch games on iPhone and iOS (as well as making the leap to Android) or some dark horse mobile game maker beating Zynga to the punch — it’s clear that social games will be a must-play on mobile in the near future.

4. The debate on whether FarmVille, et al, is ‘evil’ or ‘really a game’ continues

While it seems like a no-brainer that games like FarmVille and Pet Society appeal to mostly women gamers who may also play games like Bejeweled and Mystery Case Files, this doesn’t seem to be common knowledge for everyone. This was most evident in a roundtable called ‘Do Social Games Suck?” where there were far too many comparisons between FarmVille and Halo or FarmVille and World of Warcraft. There was no final conclusion if these games ‘suck,’ but there is still a perception that FarmVille and its ilk are ‘evil,’ ‘addictive’ and are ‘not really games.’ The 200+ million Facebook users who play social games might disagree.

5. Big brands will flood Facebook this coming year

A few big video games brands (Madden, FIFA) made the jump to Facebook this year, with marginal success, but big brands (as in, stuff that even your grandma would know) will be headed to Facebook. You can already spin the Big Wheel in a Price is Right Facebook game, and you’ll soon be able to Pass Go and Collect $200 in a Facebook Monopoly game from EA/Playfish.（Source：Games.com）