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分析主流连线消除游戏的成功DNA

发布时间:2014-06-17 11:38:53 Tags:,,,,,

作者:Matthew Warneford

这是本系列分析最成功游戏题材的首篇文章。我们先从以《Candy Crush Saga》(以下简称CCS)为代表的连线消除游戏入手。不过CCS并非市场上唯一的连线消除游戏,它不是第一款,也绝不会是最后一款。所以我们想知道它为何如此与众不同,同时探讨在其后出现的其他连线消除是否应该被称为CCS的克隆版。

我们的研究方法

我们一开始鉴别了除了CCS之外的另外四款热门连线消除游戏,除此之外还观察了那些多少影响了CCS或者被CCS所影响的其他游戏。最终挑选出了:

*《Candy Blast Mania》(Team Lava)

*《宝石迷阵闪电战》(PopCap)

*《Jewel Mania》(Team Lava)

*《Juice Cubes》(Rovio)

之后我们花了数个小时体验每款游戏。为了公平比较,我们在同一台iPad上玩遍5款游戏。在玩法过程中,我们记录了组成游戏的机制和玩法元素——从使用的叙事元素到关卡数量。这一数据划分成了两个文档,“数据”和“发现”。该数量包括5个主题:

*叙事:故事在游戏中的作用

*社交:交流在游戏中的融入方式

*音频:游戏对声音的使用

*玩法:包括关卡数量,命值使用和挑战等元素

*盈利:游戏如何实现收益

每个主题下面都有一系列元素,每一者都有从0到3的得分。

0分:没有体现

1分:体现但不明显

2分:体现并偶尔使用

3分:明显体现

我们之后使用了定制算法为这5个方面打分,并根据结果绘制了矢量图进行对比。

叙事

narrative(from gamasutra)

narrative(from gamasutra)

除了《宝石迷阵闪电战》之外,所有此类游戏都有一个地图和角色——这是叙事的可行基础。尽管CCS中含有过场动画,但我们还没有发现任何可以说出CCS有什么故事的人。当然,谜题游戏未必需要什么故事,《俄罗斯方块》是史上最成功的谜题游戏,其中也不含有叙事内容。但是,鉴于这些游戏中设计角色所需要的投入,缺乏游戏元素会损害其授权机会吗?得益于简单但仍然明显的小鸟摧毁小猪的故事元素,《愤怒的小鸟》就是手机游戏授权的典型代表。最近的《愤怒的小鸟托恩》则以小鸟角色讲述了一个根据更合理的故事。该游戏拥有很棒的机制,并且可以在没有故事的情况下获得成功,但其故事却帮助游戏与孩子们建立情感联系,而这正是有助于《愤怒的小鸟》通过该应用实现盈利的要点。

社交

social(from gamasutra)

social(from gamasutra)

只有《宝石迷阵闪电战》和CCS在社交层面表现出众,而Mania和Juice Cubes游戏则缺乏竞争社交元素和竞争玩法。有不少文章指出社交性的重要意义不仅在于推广休闲游戏,而且还能够促进玩家之间的互动。奇怪的是我们所分析的五款游戏中,有三者都缺乏这种整合功能。整合这一功能是否就是CCS和《宝石迷阵闪电战》在此领域获得成功的关键因素之一呢?

音频

audio(from gamasutra)

audio(from gamasutra)

我们所调查的这几款游戏在音频方面表现都较为出色。无论是可爱的音乐循环,还是定制化的欢呼信息,这些连线消除游戏的音频虽然简单,但运用却相当有效。唯一在此丢分的是《Candy Mania》和《Juice Cubes》,因为它们没有使用庆祝玩家杰出表现的音频。

玩法

gameplay(from gamasutra)

gameplay(from gamasutra)

我们并不是根据游戏有多令人愉悦,而是根据玩法的多样性和其中包含元素(游戏邦注:例如教程、命值和XP)来为之打分。除了《宝石迷阵闪电战》之外的所有游戏在教程使用、时间限制和能量升级(免费和付费)方面得分都比较高。而《宝石迷阵闪电战》在此失势的原因就是缺乏多样性。其他游戏每个关卡的目标都会有所变化,或者引进新道具,唯独《宝石迷阵闪电战》始终如故。此外,其他游戏还都展示了数百个关卡。

盈利

monetization(from gamasutra)

monetization(from gamasutra)

这里我们的盈利评判标准并非该应用的收益或利润,而是其中的消费机会。这里盈利倾向最明显的是《Candy Mania》和《Jewel Mania》,这两者都大量使用了交叉推广功能,甚至还植入了观看广告或下载其开发商(Team Lava)其他游戏而赢得游戏内置奖励的功能。这五款游戏都采用了免费模式,所以并不难看到它们最大化地抓住盈利机遇。《宝石迷阵闪电战》在此得分略低,原因是缺乏可购买的东西,例如能量提升道具。

游戏不同层面的专注性

让我们从一个不同的视角观察特定游戏的数据。

Games(from gamasutra)

Games(from gamasutra)

深入观察

不能因为某游戏看起来像CCS,就认为它是CCS。我首次玩CCS时就否定了它是另一款《宝石迷阵闪电战》克隆游戏的说法,在我看来,它与后者截然不同,它是一款更棒的游戏。就好像拿《俄罗斯方块》与Columns相比,虽然两者都使用了下落的方块,其目标也都是清空屏幕,但它们毕竟还是极为不同的游戏。

《Candy Mania》的目标是匹配特定数量的糖果以便完成关卡,每个匹对都会增加周围糖果的价值。紧接这种玩法机制的是一场boss战役,每个正确的配对都会削弱boss的能量。

《Juice Cubes》虽然看似一个热带版本的CCS,但玩法却极为不同。它并不是让玩家匹配3个物体,而是在这些匹配物之间画线段使之彼此相连,就好像是Boogle和CCS的混合版本。

新技巧

CCS因其盈利倾向而备受诟病,但我认为与其他类似游戏相对比,就会发现这种指责并不公道。

例如,《Candy Mania》有一只可爱但无甚至作用,直到最后一回合才能派上用场的小狗。此时,如果你赢了,小狗就会在屏幕上摇尾欢呼。但是,如果你输了,它看起来就是一脸悲伤和沮丧,睁着无辜的大眼乞求玩家再玩一局。虽然这并不犯法,但却可能引发道德争议,并且可能有违公平贸易局所制定的相关条例。此外,悲伤的小狗画面还伴随着10秒倒计时设置,你以为10秒后游戏就真的结束了,但实际上它只会促使玩家决定是否再继续游戏。如果10秒倒计时结束了,玩家仍然可以进行选择,游戏从来就没有什么时间限制。

Mania游戏的另一个技巧就是在一个回合结束之前为玩家提供额外的行动。此时这些操作行动价值为10个积分(举例),当然玩家并不知道自己是否需要这些额外行动,所以购买这些行动就像是一场赌博。如果他们输了这个回合,可以再次得到额外行动,但此时价格更高,这是一种试图说服玩家购买自己可能不需要的道具,让他们担心现在不买过后就要出更高价格的一种伎俩。

最后,虽然CCS通常并不被视为严格意义上的免费模式游戏,其中有些关卡太难了,导致玩家不得不花钱通关,但至少其关卡难度一开始就确定了。我在体验《Candy Mania》的过程中发现,当我清楚自己需要特定的糖果(例如红色糖果)来完成某个关卡时,正好游戏面板中就缺乏这种红色糖果。这种情况时有发生,很显然这其中的道具并非随机性的。这种策略虽然没有什么错,但却会破坏玩家仅凭技巧就能通关的游戏理念。

总结

从我们的研究结果来看,这些连线消除游戏显然有一些共性,例如使用正强化的声音和多样化的关卡,但这一领域并不是只有CCS克隆游戏。CCS呈现了强大的社交元素,但有些类似游戏却仍然忽略了这一功能。

我们在这些样本中看到的一个常量就是缺乏叙事元素。显然叙事性并非热门谜题游戏的一个必要组成部分,看看《俄罗斯方块》就知道了。但在2014年这种情况是否会阻碍游戏的授权或其他外部盈利机会?也许只有时间才能说明一切。

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

The DNA of Candy Crush Saga and Other Successful Match-3 Games

by Matthew Warneford

This is the first in a series of posts analysing the most popular games genres. We’re starting with match-3, a genre dominated by Candy Crush Saga (CCS). But CCS isn’t the only match-3 game out there, it wasn’t the first and it certainly isn’t the last. So we wanted to know what makes it different and at the same time find out if it’s fair that every match-3 game since has been described as a Candy Crush clone.

Narrative

Except for Bejewelled Blitz all the games featured a map and characters – possible foundations for narrative. Despite this we’re yet to find anyone who could tell us what the story is in Candy Crush, even with all those animated cuts scenes. Of course, puzzle games don’t need a story, Tetris is the most successful puzzle game of all time and there was no narrative there whatsoever. However, considering the investment made in designing characters in these games, could a lack of story be detrimental to licensing opportunities? Angry Birds is the poster child of mobile game licensing, helped by the basic, but still evident, narrative of birds having to destroy pigs. More recently Angry Birds Toons have helped to tell proper stories with the Angry Birds characters. The game had a great mechanic and would have succeeded without a story, but the story has helped the game connect with children and it’s that which has helped Angry Birds monetize outside of the app.

Social

Only Bejewelled Blitz and Candy Crush scored highly for social, due to the lack of competitive social elements and competitive play in both Mania games and Juice Cubes. Plenty of articles have been written about the importance of social not just for helping to market casual games but to also engage those who play them. It seems odd that three of our five games would miss such an integral feature. Could its inclusion in Candy Crush and Bejewelled Blitz be one of the key reasons behind the success of those games?

Audio

All the games investigated scored highly for audio. Whether it’s cute music loops or the now customary congratulatory messages, the audio in these match-3 titles may be basic but it’s used effectively. The only dropped points came with Candy Mania and Juice Cubes as neither game uses audio to congratulate the player for impressive moves.

Gameplay

We didn’t score gameplay as how enjoyable the games were, but against the variety of the gameplay and the elements included, such as tutorials, lives and XP. All the games, except for Bejewelled Blitz scored highly for gameplay with the use of tutorials, time limits and power-ups (both free and paid for) being used as standard. What let Bejewelled Blitz down was variety. Whereas the other games changed the objective of each level or introduced new items, Bejewelled Blitz is the same time and time again. As well as variety the other games also featured hundreds of levels.

Monetization

Our monetization vector isn’t linked to the revenue or profit made by the app (all closely guarded secrets) but by the opportunities to spend. The most heavily monetized games are Candy Mania and Jewel Mania. Both of these apps heavily utilised cross-promotion and even included in-game rewards for watching adverts or downloading other games by the developer (Team Lava). With all five apps being free-to-play it’s not surprising to see each opportunity to monetize explored to its fullest. The low score for Bejewelled Blitz is down to the lack of buyable in-game items, such as power-ups.

Focus on Games

For a different perspective we can look at this data on specific games.

Further Observations

Just because it looks and tastes like Candy Crush doesn’t mean it is Candy Crush

Before I first played Candy Crush I dismissed it as another Bejewelled clone, only to find it was far from it and, in my mind, it is a far better game. It’s like comparing Tetris with Columns, both use falling blocks and have the goal of clearing a screen but they are very different games.

Candy Mania used the goal of having to match a certain number of candies before you finished a level, with each match made adding to the value of the surrounding sweets (it makes more sense in-game). This gameplay mechanic then followed through to a boss battle with each correct match sapping the boss of energy.

Juice Cubes, although looking like a tropical version of Candy Crush, played very differently. Instead of trying to match-3 items together the player is tasked with drawing lines between matching items – like a mix between Boggle and Candy Crush.

New Tricks

Candy Crush has a bad reputation for how it tries to monetize players, a criticism which isn’t fair when looked at against similar games.

For example, Candy Mania has a cute dog as a mascot who does very little until the end of a round. At this point, if you win, the dog gleefully jumps across the screen wagging its tail. However, if you lose he comes into view looking sad, with exaggerated puppy dog-eyes willing the player to play (or pay) for another go. While this is legal at the moment it does bring up ethical questions and would most likely fall foul of the guidelines put forward by the OFT. What’s more, the sad puppy is accompanied by a 10-second countdown, after which one would assume the game finishes. Instead the countdown does nothing aside from accelerate the player’s need to decide whether to play on or not. If the timer runs out the player can still choose what to do, there never was a time limit.

Another tactic employed by the Mania games is to offer the player extra moves before the round is over. At this point the moves are priced at 10 credits (for example), of course the player doesn’t know if they will need the moves yet so buying them is a gamble. If they lose that round they are offered the extra moves again, but this time at a higher price, a tactic that tries to convince players to pay for items they may not need at risk of having to pay more when they know they do need them.

Lastly, while Candy Crush is often seen as not strictly being free-to-play, in that some levels are designed to be so hard the player needs to pay to get past them, at least the level’s difficulty is determined from the outset (as far as we can see). What became obvious during my playing of Candy Mania was that when it became clear I needed certain candy (red ones, for example) to finish a level there was a clear lack of red candies being added to the game board. This happened so often that it became clear the items were not random. There’s nothing wrong with this tactic but it does ruin the idea that you can beat it through skill alone.

And Finally

From our research it’s clear there while there are some common traits in the match-3 genre, such as the use of sound for positive reinforcement and level variety, there’s more to this genre than a bunch of Candy Crush clones. Indeed, while Candy Crush showed the power of social elements some similar games almost ignore this tool all together.

The one constant that we saw throughout our sample was the lack of narrative. Clearly narative isn’t integral to a popular puzzle game, just look at Tetris. But in 2014 could this hold the games back in terms of merchandising or other extrinsic ways of money making? Only time will tell.

How we did It

To start with we identified four of the most popular match-3 games on the market, aside from CCS. As well as popularity we also looked at those which, on the surface, seemed to either influence or be influenced by CCS. We picked:

Candy Blast Mania by Team Lava

Bejewelled Blitz by PopCap

Jewel Mania by Team Lava

Juice Cubes by Rovio

We then spent a couple of hours playing each game. To keep the comparisons fair we played all five games on an iPad. During the playthroughs we noted the mechanics and gameplay elements that made up the game – from the use of narrative to the number of levels. This data was put into two documents, ‘data’ and ‘findings’. The data comprised of five headings:

Narrative – How story played a part in the game

Social – How communication was factored into the game

Audio – The game’s use of sound

Gameplay – Elements included the number of levels, use of lives and challenges

Monetization – How the game attempted to make money

Each heading then had a number of elements under it, with each being scored from zero to three.

0 – Not present

1 – Present but not significant

2 – Present and used occasionally

3 – Present and significant

We then used a custom algorithm to give each of the five sections a score out of five and plotted the results as vector diagrams for comparison.

To accompany the vectors we also made detailed notes on how the games played. This allowed us to pick up finer intricacies that wouldn’t be apparent in the vector diagrams.(source:gamasutra


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