原文作者：Matt Suckley 译者：Megan Shieh

欢迎回到In-App Purchase Inspector，在这里我们会以消费者的视角，定期测评一些F2P游戏。

每期文章，我们都会考虑游戏中IAP的诱因、压力、它们的感知价值、IAP带来的扩展内容还有整个游戏体验的评估。

最终目的就是看看这游戏究竟值不值得我们砸钱，不花钱的游戏体验是否也能让玩家感到满足。

《地球末日：生存（Last Day on Earth: Survival）》是俄罗斯工作室Kefir Games开发的一款僵尸生存类MMO手游。

Last Day on Earth: Survival(from pockegtgamer.biz)

孤身一人

该作的设计在很大程度上颠覆了F2P手游的传统运作方式。

首先，它是一款一点都不休闲的游戏——要想在游戏中获取任何有用的物品，玩家必须要进入到僵尸出没的区域里去搜寻组件然后自己动手制作。

这一点清晰地指出了该作的受众，游戏中不包含冗长的新手教程或我们习以为常的、巨大的‘点击这里’的箭头。

相反，开发者直接将玩家扔进一个僵尸遍地的末日世界中，在这里，他们化身成为一个只穿着裤衩的、手无寸铁的角色

没有任何解释，所有的东西都得靠玩家自己去获取，而且一不小心就会马上死掉。

适者生存

在过去的几年里，这种不妥协的体验在PC上越来越流行；但在移动设备上还是很少见的，尤其是在F2P市场上。

该作在营收榜上的表现不错，通过这点我们可以推测，玩家们对这类游戏的接受程度似乎比人们想象中的更大。

要想将F2P模式带入这样一款游戏里显然不容易。过于强硬的手法会一点一点地摧毁末日求生的感觉；如果要维持这种紧张的效果，玩家的角色就得死得彻底。

游戏中提供了大量的IAP生存盒子，内容包括食物、药物、武器、车辆组件，等等。

然而当你浏览游戏菜单的时候，周围的一切都会照常进行，意思是在你翻阅库存的时候，有可能会受到僵尸或恶狼的攻击。

基本必需品

玩家身上的衣物、装备，还有背包中的物品会在每次死掉的时候被清空，因此IAP的价格都不贵——从0.99美元到9.99美元不等。

‘基本生存背包’标价为0.99美元，包含20块煮熟的牛肉、20罐豆子、20瓶水和一根撬棍。‘僵尸作战包’标价为9.99美元，包含9款强大的武器以及50枚金币。

‘金币’是游戏中的唯一货币，价格从1.99美元（50枚）到29.99美元（750枚）不等。当然，你也可以在游戏世界中找到金币，不过免费金币比较罕见。

金币可以用来购买汽车的汽油、用于大型制作项目的大量原木或石头，以及可以加快升级的经验值加速道具。

该作还包含了一个能量系统，玩家可以通过跑步或步行的方式去到新的地点。跑步的话只需几秒钟就能到达目的地，不过会消耗大量能量；步行的方式不会消耗能量，不过玩家需要等上20分钟左右。

100个能量点中的70%可以通过支付25枚金币（大约1美元真钱）来立即恢复；此外，每观看一个广告视频就可以获得15个能量点。

生存无价

重点是，这些都是非强制性的交易；这类游戏如果实行强制交易的话，那么基本上就废了。

盈利机制也很好地融入了游戏的世界。在玩家的垂死之际，游戏会推送出一个极具个性的广告语“获取食物，否则你将成为食物”，引导玩家到商店里去买东西。

此外，作为观看视频广告的回报，游戏会为玩家提供一些免费的食物。

开发者在各方面都考虑得非常周到，而不是简单地套现目前流行的生存游戏体验。

更重要的是，F2P手游的体验方式还存在很大的挖掘空间，而颠覆传统的手法有时可以带来积极的成果。

本文由游戏邦编译，转载请注明来源，或咨询微信zhengjintiao

Welcome back to the In-App Purchase Inspector - our regular look at free-to-play games from the consumer’s perspective.

In each instalment, we consider the incentives or pressure applied to make in-app purchases, their perceived value, the expansion offered by IAPs and the overall value of the experience.

The end goal is to see whether the game makes a good enough case for us to part with our cash, or whether players are content – or engaged enough – to ‘freeload’.

This time we’re taking a look at Last Day on Earth: Survival, a zombie survival MMO from Russian studio Kefir Games.

All alone

Last Day on Earth: Survival goes against much of the conventional wisdom around free-to-play mobile games.

For one, it’s not the least bit casual. This is a game in which getting any useful item involves trawling a zombie-infested area for the constituent parts and crafting it yourself.

With this comes a clarity as to who its audience is, freeing it from the prolonged tutorials and giant ‘TAP HERE’ arrows we’ve grown so used to seeing.

Instead, the player is dropped in at the deep end with an unarmed avatar wearing nothing but a pair of underpants.

Nothing is explained, everything has to be worked for and missteps are often punished with a swift death.

Survival of the fittest

These kinds of uncompromising experiences have been increasingly popular on PC over the past few years, but this is something we’ve rarely seen on mobile – particularly in the free-to-play market.

The game seems to be performing well in the grossing charts, though, suggesting that mobile players are more receptive to such games than one might assume.

Monetising a game like this in a free-to-play model is obviously fraught with complications. Being too heavy-handed could completely destroy the sense of earning one’s survival bit by bit, and death has to remain absolute if this effect is to be sustained.

Last Day on Earth: Survival offers a number of Boxes – priced in real money – containing everything from food and medicines to weapons and vehicle parts.

But the world around you remains alive as you browse the game’s menus, meaning that you can be attacked by a zombie or a wolf even while perusing these items.

Bare essentials

The game’s bundles are inexpensive, which is necessary considering that your inventory is wiped when you die.

Priced in real money, they vary from the basic Survivor’s Pack – 20 cooked steaks, 20 cans of beans, 20 bottles of water and a crowbar for $0.99 – to specials like the Zombie Warfare Pack, which offers nine powerful weapons and 50 Coins for $9.99.

Coins are the game’s sole currency and can be bought in bundles ranging from $1.99 for 50 to $29.99 for 750. They can also be found in the game world, although infrequently.

Coins can be used to buy Gasoline for vehicles, industrial amounts of logs or stones for large crafting projects, and timed XP boosters to speed up the levelling process.

The game also has an energy system, with players given the choice to either run or walk to each new location. Running costs energy, but will get you to your destination in mere seconds.
Walking, meanwhile, expends no energy but can require wait times of around 20 minutes.

70 out of 100 energy points can be recovered immediately in return for 25 Coins (around $1 in real money) while watching a video ad restores 15 energy points.

No price on survival

Crucially, though, these are all strictly optional purchases. If they weren’t, a game of this kind would be immediately ruined.

Monetisation is surprisingly nicely integrated into the game world, too. After dying of hunger, a stylised ad imploring the player to ‘GET SOME FOOD OR BE A FOOD’ points in the direction of the store.

Elsewhere, a Healer character offers up some free food in return for watching a video ad – contextualised within the game as a dream.

It all feels considered, and this is to Kefir Games’ credit. This is far from a simple cash-in on the current trend for survival games.

More importantly, it serves as proof that there is room for different experiences within free-to-play mobile games, and that riding roughshod over standard practises can sometimes bring positive results（Source: pocketgamer.biz )