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开发者应深度发掘平板电脑游戏的潜力

发布时间:2013-09-02 14:03:41 Tags:,,

作者:Carter Dotson

平板电脑的发展前景——在移动平台呈现更高质量的内容和独特的用户体验,是一个远未实现的美好梦想。

iPad刚问世时人们对其的普遍反应是——“它只是一个大型iPhone”,这种观念延续至今,导致许多平板电脑游戏仍然只是iPhone内容的翻版。

是时候改变这种观念了,这样才能让平板电脑更好地支持较长时间的游戏玩法和高质量内容。

ipad-iphone(from pocketgamer)

ipad-iphone(from pocketgamer)

矛盾处境

问题的根源在于iPad的起源是一把双刃剑。

要让它成为大众市场商品,苹果就必须将其价格控制在多数人的消费能力之内。而要实现这一步,它就无法使用比常见的手机配置更为强大的电子组件。这样,过了数年时间,iPad和iPhone在功能上就很接近了。

关关于平板电脑体验更为强大的理念却一直都没有实现,这一点在Android平板电脑上尤为典型,这类设备只是在价格上具有竞争优势。

尽管它们在内部并无多大区别,但在外部上却极为不同。

这一点可以从App Store得到印证,该平台iPhone和iPad收益榜单前4名基本上保持不变,一般就是《Candy Crush Saga》、《Clash of Clans》、《Hay Day》和《Minecraft Pocket Edition》这四款游戏轮流坐庄。

付费游戏榜单也差不多。iPad榜单前100名的游戏中,通用版应用占比超过90%,而多数iPad专属应用也不过是iPhone游戏的高清版本而已。

这就产生了一个鸡生蛋,还是蛋生鸡的问题:究竟是因为用户拒绝平板电脑专用的内容,导致通用版应用如此盛行,还是因为它们的通用性导致开发者不愿意制作平板电脑专属游戏呢?

普遍问题

通用版应用(游戏邦注:一从技术上来看,所有Android应用户都是通用版本,因为其手机/平板电脑之间并没有太大区别)的问题在于,它迫使那些原本可以在平板电脑上售出高价的内容,放下身段以低价来迎合手机用户。

这实际上拉低了平板电脑内容的售价。

当然,有些游戏原本就是通用版本,但没有必要全部是通用版本吧?市场上有这么多平板电脑,但为何就没有多少高价的平板电脑专属内容?

这样移动游戏玩家就没有选择了,就只能玩放大版本的手机游戏。开发者也只能用同样的方法盈利,而无视平板电脑可以提供更高价值的内容这一事实。

开发者应该更重视对平板电脑的支持力度,而不只是将视为另一个内容发布渠道。

增加益处

是时候改变这种现状了。

迪士尼《Where’s My Mickey XL》就是一个良好的开端:它提供了平板电脑专属的关卡,以及手机专属关卡。

disney-wheres-my-mickey-xl(from pocketgamer)

disney-wheres-my-mickey-xl(from pocketgamer)

平板电脑关卡更大,充分发挥了大屏幕的优势,呈现了新挑战。该游戏还出售了更多平板电脑专属的IAP内容。

以更高的价格点对平板电脑进行专属限时设定,也许是一个很好的策略。

这种方法似乎很适合2011年上线的《Superbrothers:Sword and Sworcery EP》,其iPad专属版本创造了一种平台专属氛围,令其之后的版本更具吸引力。这对之后发布的版本也创造了一些PR优势。

ipad-superbrothers(from pocketgamer)

ipad-superbrothers(from pocketgamer)

像《Chroma Squad》等游戏最初锁定的是PC平台,但也向平板电脑提供了更为充实的游戏体验。

如果行业中没有更多类似游戏出现,我们仍将受困于应用市场创造大量一次性价格的一次性内容这种青黄不接的现状中。

平板电脑设备是针对长时间的内容消费形式而优化,它不应该只是人们玩《Candy Crush Saga》的另一个平台。它们应该提供更为实质性的体验。

但只有大量富有创新精神,敢于冒险的开发者才能够充分挖掘平板电脑设备的潜力。(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

Stateside: Developers need to think bigger to fulfill the potential of tablet gaming

by Carter Dotson

Chicago-based Carter Dotson is a senior writer at 148Apps.com, which was acquired by PocketGamer.biz publisher Steel Media in 2012.

The promise of tablets – bringing higher-quality content and unique experiences to mobile – is a dream deferred.

The common exclamation when the iPad was announced, that it was just a large iPhone, has come true: tablet games are now just reformatted versions of phone content.

But it’s time for this to change, for tablets to start receiving the kind of longer play and higher-value content that they are able to handle.

Thinking big

The source of the problem was the double-edged sword of the iPad’s genesis.

To make it a mass-market product, Apple had to make it affordable. To make it affordable, it couldn’t use more powerful electronics than were already in phones. In this way, over the years, the iPad and iPhone have become functionally identical.

A bigger version of the smaller one?

The idea of the tablet being a more powerful experience just does not exist, especially when it comes to iPad’s Android competitors, which have only attempted to thrive on undercutting the competition price-wise.

But while they might not be all that different on the inside, tablets are very different on the outside.

This is not reflected on the App Store, where we can see that the top four top grossing slots on iPhone and iPad are the same with only a flip-flop between Candy Crush Saga and Clash of Clans, followed by Hay Day and Minecraft Pocket Edition.

And the paid charts aren’t much better. Over 90 percent of the top 100 games on iPad are universal apps, while most iPad-only apps are just HD versions of iPhone games.

This raises a chicken-and-egg question: are universal apps popular because consumers have rejected tablet-only content, or because their easily availability discourages developers from making tablet-only games to begin with?

The universal problem

The problem with the universal app (technically all Android apps are universal as there’s no clear phone/tablet distinction) is that it forces content that could be sold at a higher price on tablets to be sold at a lower point to keep phone users satisfied.

It inherently devalues the price of tablet content.

More than a disposable phone game – Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP

Some games should be universal apps, of course, but all of them? Should all games be targeted for all devices? Considering how many tablets there are out there, why isn’t higher-priced tablet-focused content more prevalent?

Mobile gamers have no choice but to play the same phone games, just bigger. And so the same ways to make money are used, despite the higher value possibilities that tablets entail.

Developers should treat tablet support as more than just another checklist item to tick.

Added benefits

Things need to change.

Disney’s Where’s My Mickey XL is a good start: it offers tablet-exclusive levels along with the phone levels.

The tablet levels are bigger, taking advantage of the bigger screen area, and present new challenges. The game also gets to sell more IAP and justifies it by way of the exclusive content that has good reason to be exclusive.

Disney – thinking bigger

Timed exclusivity on tablets, perhaps at a higher price point, could be a great strategy, too

It seemed to work well for Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP back in 2011, creating an air of exclusivity upon its iPad-only released that made its later versions feel more enticing. Plus, there are PR benefits to later releases.

There are games such as Chroma Squad (which has just finished its Kickstarter) that are targeting PCs primarily, but which will also come to tablets to target the mobile gamer with a more substantial experience

If there’s not more of this, we’ll remain stuck in the current situation whereby app marketplaces have created a world of disposable content at disposable prices.

Tablets – machines optimized for longer-form content consumption – should not just be another way to play Candy Crush Saga. They can be used for more substantive experiences.

But it’s going to take a wave of inventive and risk-taking developers to fulfill that potential.(source:pocketgamer


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