作者：Luke Schneider

《爆破猫咪》是Radiangames最大的项目（从规模来看），并且我希望借此能够打破人们认为Radiangames只会创造一些备受赞誉但却很少成功的游戏的观点。尽管如此，在这款游戏身上还存在一些主要的问题：

妥协

我并不能保证游戏是应该基于付费还是免费模式。所以我选择妥协并将其设置为带有少数付费墙的玩家友好型免费游戏。如果关于免费游戏有什么是你不能做的，那便是折中。

与其它独立免费游戏一样“慷慨”地呈现所有设计（如《重拳出击》和《创意大灌篮》）的结果便是损失惨重。《爆破猫咪》虽然获得80多万的下载量，但是每用户平均收益却远低于一款出色的免费游戏标准。

甚至添加了计时器以及有限时间交易等内容的更新也不能推动它的ARPU的发展。这些更新内容受到了玩家的强烈抵制（游戏邦注：包括在iTunes上给出1颗星的评级）。如果游戏是基于1.1迭代而发行并避免了玩家的抵制，它便能够取得更好的成绩。

但是如果我们继续在Android版本上使用免费模式是否能够取得更好的结果？

Bombcats(from radiangames)

当我开始致力于《爆破猫咪》的付费Android版时（面向没有谷歌和亚马逊的商店），答案便很清楚了。这是一种痛苦但却必要的领悟，并且是我很不愿意接受的事实。

对于在Android平台上的《爆破猫咪：特别版》中，我决定完全抛弃应用内部购买。即以2.99美元完整地销售游戏，平衡被更改为玩家必须挣得游戏内部的货币，而不是被迫购买。

以下便是原因：

免费模式的坍塌

免费模式会摧毁你的游戏设计和乐趣，毁灭你作为设计师的灵活，并浪费大把时间和经历让你不能做好其它事。以下是关于这些元素的分析：

1.时间。我花了一个月的时间致力于将《爆破猫咪》打造成一款免费游戏。这包括添加更复杂的UI，平衡游戏去鼓励消费，以及连接所有应用内部购买。如果是同样的时间我可能已经创造了一款完整的小游戏了（就像《CRUSH》，《Slydris》或《Fireball》）。

2.游戏乐趣。当我开始基于非应用内部购买平衡玩《爆破猫咪》时，它真的非常有趣。作为玩家，你所思考的应该是如何使用宝石，而不是是否想要花钱。你想要拥有更加平衡且有意义的选择，而不是一直强迫你消费的游戏。

3.工作乐趣。作为一款付费游戏的设计师，你所需要思考的只是如何提高游戏所带给玩家的乐趣，而不是如何从他们身上赚钱。

如果你正在考虑创造一款免费游戏，你必须问自己是否真的值得这么做。虽然你可以基于免费游戏赚的更多钱，但是如果游戏设计并不适合免费模式，并且也不存在同样类型的免费游戏，那么你的游戏便很难获取成功。

明智的选择

如果你是受聘于一家大型公司，那么很多时候你都不能选择是否致力于免费游戏中。而我尽管能够做出选择，但却选择错误。

不过我最终决定尝试着成为一名销售员（这是作为免费游戏设计师需要做的），但却不是完全变身销售员。我讨厌变成销售员。所以我最后是在《爆破猫咪》的1.1更新时才决定这么做，但是那时候就太迟了，从而便导致游戏受到了重创。

如果你不想要使用免费模式，那么请为了自己和玩家，千万不要这么做。

（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）

F2P: Do or Do Not, There Is No Try

by Luke Schneider

Bombcats was Radiangames’ biggest project by a sizable amount, and the one which I had hoped would finally break the string of critically-acclaimed-but-barely-successful titles that have been the hallmark of Radiangames’ first couple years of existence.  But there was key mistake made with the launch version of the game:

Compromise

I wasn’t sure if the game should be paid or F2P.  So I compromised and made it a player-friendly F2P game with few, if any, paywalls.  And if there’s anything you should not do with a F2P game, it’s only going half-way.

The results, like other free indie games that were “generous” in their design (Punch Quest and Gasketball), were disastrous.  Bombcats has been downloaded 800,000+ times, but its average revenue per user is well below anything resembling a decent F2P game.

Even an update that added a timer of sorts, along with decent limited time deals, could not make a significant impact on the ARPU.  That update was definitely hurt by understandable player backlash (including some 1-star ratings on iTunes).  If the game had launched in its 1.1 iteration and avoided the backlash, it would have performed better (financially).

But better enough to stick with the F2P model for the Android version, whose launch was fast-approaching?

Once I started working on a paid-only version of Bombcats for Android (for non-Google and non-Amazon stores), the answer became very clear.  It was a painful but necessary realization, and one which I was hesitant to accept.

For Bombcats: Special Edition on Android, I’ve decided to completely abandon in-app purchases.  The game is one complete package for $2.99, and the balance has been radically altered to reflect having to earn the in-game currency rather being coerced into buying it.

Here’s why:

The Free-To-Play Corruption

Free-To-Play corrupts the design and enjoyment of your game, it corrupts your soul as a designer, and it takes away time and effort from other things that would make the game better.  Here’s a breakdown of those elements:

1) Time.  I spent about a month’s worth of time (if not more) working on making Bombcats into a Free-To-Play game.  That includes adding a more complicated UI, balancing the game to encourage spending, and hooking up all the in-app purchases.  I could have made an entire small game (like CRUSH, Slydris, or Fireball) in that time.

2) Game Enjoyment.  Once I started playing Bombcats with the no-IAP balance, it was SO much more fun.  As a player, you’re thinking about what to spend your gems on, instead of whether you want to spend money.  You have so many more balanced, meaningful choices instead of either a strong imbalance begging you to spend money, or an excess of bought gems that give you too much power.

3) Work Enjoyment.  As a designer on a paid game, you’re thinking about how to increase the player’s enjoyment of the game, not how to get more money out of them.

If you’re considering making your game F2P, make sure you ask yourself whether it’s really worth it.  There’s a chance you’ll make more money with a F2P game, but if the game’s design doesn’t lend itself to F2P, and there aren’t other similar successful F2P games, those chances are very small.

Choose Wisely

If you’re employed by a large company, many times you don’t have a choice whether to work on a F2P game.  But I did have a choice, and I chose wrong.  I thought I was being smart and agile, able to change and adapt with the market.

But what I ended up doing was trying to be a salesman (that’s what you need to be as a F2P game designer), but not becoming a salesman.  I hate being a salesman, and I always will.  I finally became one with Bombcats’ 1.1 update, and by that time it was too late, and it hurt my game as well.

If you’re not willing to go free-to-play all-the-way, then please, for your sake and your players, don’t.(source:gamasutra)