原作者：Matt Suckley 译者：Willow Wu

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。

这次我们测评的是Brawl Stars，这是由《部落冲突》《皇室战争》的开发团队Supercell发行的3v3对战游戏，Supercell位列我们发表的2017年度50大游戏开发团队首位。

值得注意的是，Brawl Stars目前还处于测试发行阶段，只有部分国家的用户可以玩，游戏特色以后还有可能会做出改动。因此，游戏在全球正式发行之前，我们不会给出一个肯定结论。

brawl stars （from tencent games）

新作准备上架？

《部落冲突》是一个F2P模式的基地建设游戏，Supercell为它创造出了 一种具有重复性的盈利机制。

同样地，这个芬兰工作室利用《皇室战争》向世人展示了如何用利用定时奖励机制让PvP游戏盈利。

以3v3对模式为主的实时对战游戏Brawl Stars又是一次革新，现在它已进入到测试发行阶段。

Brawl Stars在加拿大盈利榜单的表现相当不错，但是Brawl Stars 是否能够像Supercell之前的作品一样，在盈利机制上发挥到极致？这个游戏将来会不会成为后续作品争先效仿的对象？

讲讲改变

Brawl Stars跟一般的F2P手游不一样。相比《皇室战争》，它的游戏节奏更快、更疯狂、对技巧要求更高，尽管开发者们尽力想把这个游戏做得容易上手，但游戏本身的特性多多少少会增加新手的难度。

对于《皇室战争》的粉丝来讲，游戏中也有一些令人熟悉的部分。比如，游戏角色是通过卡片展示的。Brawl Stars也有各种等级的宝箱，可以从宝箱中获得角色卡片。

当然，游戏中也有硬货币和软货币。金币属于软货币，可以在对战中获得。100个金币可以得到一个宝箱（Brawl Box），这是游戏中最基础的宝箱，可以得到一个角色（Brawler）或者是药剂（Elixir），后者可以用来升级游戏角色。

Brawl Stars的升级系统跟《皇室战争》有很大的区别，《皇室战争》是利用复制的方法升级角色卡片。

而Brawl Stars用的是一种特定的道具：药剂，抽到重复的角色会转化成筹码（Chips），反过来它也可以用来购买新角色。

花钱搞事情

宝石是Brawl Stars中的硬货币，游戏一般不会送宝石给玩家。

玩家可以购买礼包，从2.79加元买30个宝石到139.99加元买1850个宝石，宝石可以用来购买不同等级的宝箱。

Rare Brawler Box要30个宝石（2.79加元），Super Rare要80个宝石（6.99加元），Epic 要170个宝石（13.99加元）。无论是哪种宝箱都会包含一张角色卡片。

开宝箱得到新角色或者是把重复的角色转化成筹码，这就是游戏中仅有的盈利手段。这就是为什么游戏角色的独特性那么重要，你可以看到大多数游戏也是这么设定的。

Supercell 成功地做到了这点，所有的角色都个性鲜明，有自己的战斗风格。

抛弃宝箱

在盈利机制方面，Brawl Stars最让人惊讶的地方大概就是上文说到的：游戏中没有《皇室战争》中的定时奖励宝箱，但是从其他游戏中可以看出这确实是非常有效的盈利手段。

从Brawl Stars的3v3赏金模式（Bounty Mode）和10人的决斗模式（Showdowns）来看,更重要的是保证在线玩家的数量。

从这个角度来说，定时奖励宝箱系统可能会让一些玩家产生放弃对战的念头。就算这个机制很赚钱，在这个游戏中可能就不算是个完全有益的设计。

虽说Supercell的宝箱系统对玩家来讲就像是能量阀(energy gate)，激励着玩家，但是Brawl Stars中没用这种机制反而增加了自由度，玩家能够享受更长的游戏流程，同时又不会受到付费的压力或者是面临道具流失的风险。

当然，在Brawl Stars全球正式发行之前，开发者们还是有可能会对游戏做出更改。在未来几个月的关键时期中，盈利将会成为Supercell的关注焦点。

但是目前看来，Brawl Stars还算是个不太注重盈利的PvP游戏，这在手游行业中确实是比较少见。

如果它在全球发行了（不出意外的话应该是会），我会非常期待它的未来表现。

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 Brawl Stars, the three versus three arena combat game by Clash of Clans and Clash Royale developer Supercell, which just took number one spot on our Top 50 Developer 2017 list.

But it’s first worth noting that Brawl Stars is still in soft launch for testing in selected countries, and as such its features are subject to change. Thus, we will not be assigning a full verdict until the game’s global launch.

Next in line?

With Clash of Clans, Supercell established an oft-repeated formula for monetising free-to-play mobile base-builders.

With Clash Royale, the Finnish studio showed the world how to monetise PvP games with the introduction of timed rewards.

And now it has Brawl Stars in soft launch, a game which shakes things up once again with real-time battles between two teams of three players.

It’s performing well in Canada’s grossing charts, but does Brawl Stars contain within it the same influential monetisation design as Supercell’s previous efforts? Will this be the game that we’ll see developers taking inspiration from in the months and years following its launch?

Ring the changes

Brawl Stars doesn’t play like your average free-to-play mobile game. It’s fast, frantic and skill-based – more so than Clash Royale – and while there’s been every effort to make it accessible, this inevitably means that some will simply bounce off it.

But there are some comfortably familiar aspects for Clash Royale fans. For one, characters are presented in card form. They also come in various levels of Boxes, Brawl Stars’ equivalent of Chests.

There is also, of course, hard and soft currency. Coins are the soft currency, earned through playing brawls. 100 of them gets you a Brawl Box, the most basic box which yields either a Brawler, or Elixir (used to upgrade brawler).

Upgrading a brawler using Elixir

This upgrading system is one of the key differences between Brawl Stars and Clash Royale, which allowed you to strengthen cards by using duplicates.

Brawl Stars instead uses a specific resource, Elixir, for upgrading while duplicate brawlers are converted into Chips, which in turn is used to buy new ones.

Buy-to-brawl

Gems is Brawl Stars’ hard currency, and the game doesn’t make a habit of gifting it.

They’re available in bundles ranging from $2.79 CAD (Canadian dollar) for 30 Gems to $139.99 CAD for 1,850, and can be used to buy various tiers of Brawler Boxes.

A Rare Brawler Box costs 30 Gems ($2.79 CAD), Super Rare 80 Gems ($6.99 CAD) and Epic 170 Gems ($13.99 CAD). All are guaranteed to contain a brawler.

Getting new brawlers from Boxes, or duplicates to generate Chips, is the only real monetisation hook in Brawl Stars. This is why, as with any competitive game, designing these characters to be sufficiently different to one another is crucial.

Supercell has managed this, with a cast of characters that are suitably differentiated from one another and are each tuned to their own play styles.

Out with Chests

Perhaps the most surprising omission from Brawl Stars’ stripped back monetisation is the aforementioned timed reward Chests from Clash Royale, which have proven so influential elsewhere.

But with Brawl Stars’ three versus three Bounty Mode and 10-player Showdowns, it is more important to ensure a high number of concurrent players.

From this perspective, a system that limits the inclination to play – even if it monetises well – is not a real benefit.

Some yet-to-be-purchased brawlers, priced in Chips

And while the Chest system was comparable to a full-on energy gate, its absence here is even more freeing and allows the player to enjoy longer sessions without facing either pressure to spend or the prospect of losing something.

Of course, this could all change before Brawl Stars makes it worldwide, and the monetisation will be a particular area of focus for Supercell in these formative months.

But so far, it’s been an experiment in relatively light PvP monetisation of a kind that’s rarely seen on mobile

If it launches worldwide – and it looks likely that it will – it will be fascinating to see how it performs.（source:pocket gamer ）