作者：Andrey Kovalishin

《蜗牛鲍勃》中的卡通蜗牛的名字是取自著名的Bob Marley（游戏邦注：牙买加唱作歌手，雷鬼乐鼻祖）。游戏的成功主要源自持续在各种目标用户身上进行测试。但是推动它获得更多新玩家并提高他们对游戏的忠实度的主要元素却与多样的分析或免费盈利策略无关。这只卡通蜗牛所面对的巨大挑战便是让家庭成员真正开怀大笑并与游戏建立起紧密的情感联系。

Snail Bob(from brothersoft)

随机游戏机制已见成效

在开发《蜗牛鲍勃》前我们并未拥有任何稳定的游戏策略，只是不断地尝试各种 游戏元素，机制，以及面向每个关卡的幽默元素。似乎这种关卡间的随机多样性非常适合授权游戏。但是另一方面，我们也需要面对更长的开发时间，因为每个关卡 都必须分开编程。除此之外，因为每个关卡的独特性，我们几乎不可能利用关卡编辑器。不过这种情况已经得到了改善，虽然仍需要执行一些特殊的编码工作。但是 从粉丝的反馈来看，这一切都是值得的。我们也发现了独特性和开发速度间的有效平衡。

在2010年发行了授权游戏，并看到了超过6亿的玩家体验过游戏后，我们便清楚地知道了哪些是该做的，哪些又是不该做的。以下是我们从中学到的重要内容。

幽默感

我们希望玩家能够去寻找下一种有趣的情境或动画。可怜的蜗牛会因为各种不可预料的方式死掉，而这正是粉丝们所喜欢的。为了让游戏更显幽默，我们的作曲家Dmitry Petyakin创造了诙谐的五弦琴乐曲去衬托蜗牛滑稽的动作。粉丝们也发给我们许多有关蜗牛的全新动作，所以我们发现自己与粉丝间建立了非常友好的关系；这点真的很棒，能让粉丝们觉得自己对游戏设计也做出了贡献。

与最优秀的发行商成为伙伴

将我们的游戏带到世界各地上百万玩家面前的一大帮手便是优秀的发行商们。同样重要的便是将游戏翻译成一些关键的语言。

每个发行商的市场营销支持也很必要；每个发行商将基于各种方式去处理市场营销而支持他们的用户。发行商Spil Games采取了一种轻松的方法，与用户分享了有关蜗牛的有趣信息，甚至包括他是如何死的！维系与玩家间的联系能够提高他们的忠实度以及玩游戏的时间。Spil Games所创造的有关缓慢的蜗牛的简单信息包括：

在自身网站上，《蜗牛鲍勃》便吸引玩家玩了2.06亿次，这比德国，法国和英国人口加在一起还多。

2.06亿只蜗牛连成一行便等于5000英里。这是从Anchorage到Miami的蜗牛路程。

在《蜗牛鲍勃1》和《蜗牛鲍勃2》中，蜗牛总共死了40亿次。

测量

使用战术工具去追踪你的游戏的发展，大多数玩家陷入哪个关卡中，游戏阶段的长度是怎样的等等。在你的更新中使用这些数据。

不断测试

在每个开发阶段都对游戏进行测试，并瞄准你的主要用户。就像我们的主要用户是小孩和祖父母。如果他们能够理解游戏，那么所有人便都能理解游戏。在我们的全新iOS游戏中，我在自己的18个月大的儿子身上测试了游戏。因为他能够玩游戏，可以独立完成前三个关卡，并喜欢游戏，所以我便知道是时候将游戏推向公众了。

三星级系统

在许多游戏中，玩家会因为最快完成某一关卡而收到星星。而我们决定采取不同的方法。即将星星隐藏起来，玩家必须解决一些小谜题才能找到大多数星星。这便为那些想要收集齐所有星星的玩家创造了重玩价值。

创造Facebook社区

利用你的游戏去创建一个包含忠实粉丝的社区。这并不难，但却非常有效，能在你更新游戏或推出全新游戏时带来很大的帮助。

将Flash作为一个测试平台

使用Flash作为平台去评估游戏的成功。你可以使用Flash快速创造并发行游戏，然后获得玩家的反馈。如果一款游戏在Flash上获得了成功，你便可以将它推向手机平台。

最后一点建议是：让生活中的一切事物成为你的游戏开发灵感。在我们的iOS版本游戏中，我们便参考了电影，音乐，旅游，家庭和朋友。家庭成员喜欢流行文化便与缓慢爬行的蜗牛紧密维系在一起。如果我们的生活经历能够更加多元化，我们便可能创造出更具有创造性的游戏。

（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 funny antics drive game loyalty

By Andrey Kovalishin

Snail Bob features a cartoon snail named after the illustrious Bob Marley. One key to the game’s success has been continuous testing with customers in a wide variety of demographics. However, the primary driving factor behind getting new players and earning their loyalty has nothing to do with fancy analytics or shady free-to-play monetization strategies. No, it’s humor. A cartoon snail facing constant danger is making families laugh and become emotionally tied to the game.

Random gameplay mechanics have paid off

We developed Snail Bob on the fly without a solid game strategy, experimenting with various game elements, mechanics, and humor for each level. This haphazard variety from level to level has turned out to be a well-loved trademark for the franchise. But on the flip side, we faced longer development time since each level had to be programmed separately. Additionally, because of the uniqueness in each level, it was originally nearly impossible to take advantage of a level editor. That has improved, though some special coding is still necessary. Based on fan feedback, though, it’s worth it.  We’ve found a good compromise between uniqueness and development speed.

After launching the franchise in 2010 and seeing more than 600 million playthroughs, we have learned a considerable amount about what works well and what doesn’t. Here are some of the key things that we’ve learned.

Humor

We want players to look forward to the next funny situation or animation. The poor snail dies in a myriad of ways, and unexpectedly, that is what fans like. To make the game even more humorous, our composer, Dmitry Petyakin, created witty banjo music to accompany the snail’s antics. Fans have sent us numerous new antics for Snail Bob, so we’ve learned that we are engaging with them; and it’s wonderful that they feel they are contributing to the game design.

Partner with top publishers

One of the key things that has helped our game get in front of people worldwide are smart publisher partnerships that will get your game in front of millions. Just as important is the help we get translating the game into key languages.

Marketing support per publisher is imperative as well; and each publisher will handle marketing in ways that support their audiences. Publisher Spil Games took a lighthearted approach and shares fun stats with consumers about the snail, including how he dies! Building that connection with players drives loyalty and increases their game play time. Examples of some easy statistics Spil Games has created about the slow snail have included:

Snail Bob has been played 206 million times on its sites, which is more than the number of people living in Germany, France and the U.K. combined.

206 million snails in a row equals 5,000 miles. That’s a snail trail from Anchorage to Miami!

In Snail Bob 1 and Snail Bob 2 collectively, the snail has died 4 billion times.

Measure

Use statistic tools to keep track of what’s going on in your game, on which level most of the players get stuck, what is the length of the game session, and so on. Use this data in your updates.

Constantly testing

Test your game at all stages of the development, and target your main audience. For us, it’s kids and grandparents. If they understand the game, anyone will understand it. In our new iOS game, I tested it on my 18 month-old son. Because he could play the game, complete the first three levels independently, and enjoy it, I deemed it “ready” for the public!

The three-star system

In many games, players receive stars for the fastest completion of a level. We decided to take a different approach. The stars are well hidden, and the player has to solve small puzzles to find most of them. The added replay value for those players who want to collect all three stars grows every time.

Create a Facebook community

Use your games to build a community of loyal fans. It’s not difficult, but it’s very effective and will help when an update or new games comes out.

Flash as a test platform

Use Flash as a platform to evaluate the success of your game. You can use Flash to make the game fast, quickly release it, and then get feedback from players. And if the game is successful on Flash, you can move on to mobile.

And one very last piece of advice: Let everything in life inspire your game development. In our iOS version, we’ve added even more references to movies, music, travel, family, and friends. Families love the pop culture references tied to a slow-creeping snail. The more diverse our life experiences are, the more creative games we’ll make.(source:venturebeat)