作者：Kenneth Tan

对营销预算有限的开发者来说，让游戏获得关注真是一个大难题。随着手机应用领域的成熟发展，用户获取成本也愈加水涨船高。

开发者若不投入一定的营销成本，几乎不可能获得关注——即使是拥有良好病毒性的产品也需要一个体面的开头！

但我们的游戏《Monster Blade》却在全球发布2个月后，即今年6月时获得了100万次下载量，并且没有投入任何营销成本。

以下就是我们的经验之谈。

monster-blade(from pocketgamer)

1.记住自己游戏的长处

我们是以最基本但却最常被忘记的问题开始，“为何有人要玩这款游戏？”

我们很容易在开发和润色过程中迷失方向，忘了自己最初为什么要制作游戏。

如果这是一款拥有激烈战斗场景的动作游戏（《Monster Blade》就是这种类型），那就要突出战斗系统，并进行迭代直至该系统更为动态和响应性。

呈现游戏的特点总是比你初次谈论愿景时更困难。

2.创建社区

要为创建一个强大的社区而打下基础。为玩家选择一个讨论游戏的平台，并创建容易进入这些平台的关口（游戏邦注：例如应用内置链接，非奖励性成就等）。

《Monster Blade》在Facebook上获得了10万个以上的“赞”，并以此作为一种强大的重复粘性和病毒营销工具。我们在TouchArcade和其他游戏论坛上也有活跃的版块。

3.真正的社交性

让游戏吸引玩家在现实生活中的好友。例如，《Monster Blade》就允许玩家“召唤”朋友参与战斗。

要让玩家觉得连接到Facebook玩游戏会更有好处。

绑定Facebook的OpenGraph SDK，要认真制定你的OpenGraph行动计划，令其成为病毒式传播的强大工具。

monster-blade-fight-with-friends(from pocketgamer)

4.低调发布，长远考虑

要获取反馈！执行集中测试以及内部评价都是很好的方法，但测试产品市场反应的最佳做法是进行一次有限发布。

选择一个与你的目标市场相似的国家/地区进行软发布。

然后搜集参数和反馈，并用它们来优化你的KPI。

5.推广游戏

既然你已经让游戏更有趣味，也优化了产品的KPI，并且产生了一些宣传，是时候扩大推广力度了。

要向领先的应用/游戏网站提供预览内容。要搜集一些处理PR软发布建议，并编写出色的新闻通稿。最重要的是，记住游戏的强项并突出这些特点。

运气好的话你可以获得一些很棒的媒体报道。这时候就可以开始正式发布了。

6.培养游戏的拥趸

总有些玩家特别爱你的游戏。

游戏社区成形后，他们就会经常提到你的游戏，表扬或批评游戏，并提供建议。尽量将他们转化为游戏的宣传大使。让他们知道你重视他们的想法，及时回应他们的建议，以及提供帮助。

这些玩家反过来也会为你引进和留存更多玩家。

7.为社区提供强大的支持

现在你已经有了一个规模相当的社区了，要记得至少每天同他们互动一次。要经常发布奖励、活动，答谢玩家的参与，预告接下来的更新内容、视频等。

要记住，玩家对你所发布贴子的每个“赞”，评论和分享，都可能让更多人对游戏产生兴趣。

要快速回应玩家的问题，要记住保持人性化特点——不要机械式地回答问题。

手机游戏客服支持的重要性不亚于其他行业。

monster-blade-treasure(from pocketgamer)

8.重视质量问题

以上提到的问题都可以用一个简单的因素来简化：你的游戏质量。

借软发布来优化你的游戏。去除所有严重的漏洞，观察你的参数，倾听玩家反馈。

做好应对大量新玩家涌进游戏的准备，在社交平台上用他们来留存和吸引更多玩家。（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）

How to get a million downloads with zero marketing dollars

by Kenneth Tan

Kenneth Tan is the producer of Monster Blade, a 3D action game released by Singapore-based developer Nubee.

Getting your game noticed is a big problem for developers with a limited marketing budget. As the mobile app space matures, user acquisition is becoming increasingly more expensive.

It is almost impossible to gain traction without considerable marketing spend – even a product with good virality needs a decent start!

Yet, Monster Blade reached the million download mark in June 2013, two months after its global launch, without us any money spent on its marketing.

This is how we did it.

1. Remember your game’s strengths

We start with perhaps the most basic but often forgotten question, “Why would anyone play this game?”.

It is easy to get lost in development and polish, losing focus on why the game was made in the first place.

If it is meant to be a action title that offers exciting combat (as is Monster Blade), place great emphasis on the battle system and iterate till it feels dynamic and responsive.

Talking about your game is so much easier when you first communicate your vision, then its features.

2. Community building blocks

Set the foundations for a strong community. Select platforms for your players to discuss your game and build easy access points (in-app links, non-incentivised achievements) to these platforms.

Monster Blade has garnered over 100,000 likes on Facebook and uses it as a powerful re-engagement and viral marketing tool. We also have active threads on TouchArcade and various other gaming forums.

3. Truly social

Give distinct advantages of having your real-life friends in the game. For example, Monster Blade allows a player to ‘summon’ his friends to aid in battle.

Make it attractive and beneficial for a player to connect to Facebook. Consider integrating Facebook’s OpenGraph SDK. Plan your OpenGraph Actions carefully and it becomes a powerful tool for viral acquisition.

4. Launching small, thinking big

Get feedback! Running focus tests and internal reviews are great, but the best way to test your product-market fit is to do a limited release.

Choose a country with similar inclinations as your target market and soft-launch your game there.

This is the time to gather metrics and feedback and use them to optimise your KPIs.

5. Time to reach out

Now that you know what makes your game attractive to play, have optimised your product KPIs and generated some hype, it is time to reach out.

Offer previews to prominent app/gaming sites. There are many great articles on PocketGamer.biz that give tips on handling PR pre-launch, use these resources to write a compelling press release. Most importantly, remember your game’s strengths and extol them.

Hopefully you’ve gained some great coverage. Time to hit the launch button..

6. Create ambassadors

There will be players who love your game. Many of them.

Once the game’s community is built, they will reach out and engage you in conversation, giving praise, criticisms and suggestions. Convert as many of them as possible into ambassadors for your game. Let them know that their opinions are valued and be sure to be responsive and helpful.

These ambassadors will in turn help bring and retain many more other players by being responsive and helpful to them.

7. Engage your community, provide great support

Now that you have a sizeable community, remember to engage them at least once a day. Post rewards, offers, thank players for participation, teasers to next updates, videos etc.

There is an arsenal of engagement tools at your disposal – remember that every like, comment and share on your posts generates more interest for your game.

Go the extra mile for your players! Respond quickly to questions and be human – don’t give robotic template answers.

Customer service in a mobile game is as important as it is for businesses with a more physical presence.

8. Quality, quality, quality

All the methods mentioned above are amplified by a single factor: the quality of your game.

Use the soft-launch to polish your game to a sheen. Weed out all critical bugs, watch your metrics and listen to player feedback.

Prepare extensively for the influx of new players, retain and leverage them with social platforms to get more players.（source：pocketgamer）