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The Sims Mobile游戏制作者谈移动产品迭代

发布时间:2018-06-27 09:15:45 Tags:,

The Sims Mobile游戏制作者谈移动产品迭代

原作者:BeyondSims 译者:Willow Wu

2017年六月,我们受邀去参加EA Play展会,试玩他们新出的手游《模拟人生:移动版》(The Sims Mobile)。该游戏目前在巴西测试发行,不久之后将会在全球地区的iOS&安卓平台正式发行。在展会上,我们不仅能够向游戏团队提供反馈,同时还有机会采访他们,了解更多信息。

我采访了两位游戏制作人Sarah和Scott。Sarah已经在EA工作一年了,但这已经是她第三次进入EA了!她从2002年开始工作,之前参与过《模拟人生2》《孢子》的游戏制作,她在手游领域已经有7年的工作经验了。Scott在EA半年多了,这是他第一次进入EA。他的职业生涯是从世嘉公司开始的,之前制作过各种平台的游戏,包括PC、主机、网页以及移动平台。

在互相介绍之后,我的第一个问题是“你们喜欢《模拟人生》系列的哪些地方?”。Sarah说她从《模拟人生1》开始就成为这个系列的粉丝了,她很喜欢游戏的创意以及表达方式,还有自由创造故事的游戏体验。Scott给出的回答也差不多,还另外补充说他喜欢游戏所吸引的这群玩家,指的就是那些创意独特、有个性的玩家,他们能够利用游戏创造自己的故事。

The Sims Mobile(from beyondsims.com)

The Sims Mobile(from beyondsims.com)

众所周知,《模拟人生:畅玩版》(The Sims FreePlay)让移动平台上的玩家也体验到了《模拟人生》系列的魅力,它已经5岁了。我问他们既然已经有这样的产品了,为什么还要发行第二款手游产品?Sarah表示《模拟人生:畅玩版》发行于2011年,随着科技的进步,人们现在有机会创造出一款不同于以往的《模拟人生》产品,带来全新、惊艳的游戏体验。Scott还补充了另外两个重要原因:游戏行业发展迅速,现在的游戏已经变了很多了,同样变化的还有玩家的期望。现在的《模拟人生4》就是玩家所期望的新式体验,所以他们决定以它为基础,将原来的手游体验进行迭代。

除此之外,游戏本身也有受社区玩家的启发,主要是在游戏的遗产(legacy)部分。重点就是要让玩家考虑到未来,想想你的第3、4、5代模拟人能做什么,而不是长期把精力集中在个别模拟角色上。

我在玩《模拟人生:移动版》时就有感觉到游戏比较注重遗产以及职业/爱好方面。我问两位制作人为什么把这些部分当作游戏的重点,他们回答说一是想回应游戏社区,二是想选取核心元素以及能让游戏本身变得更好的内容(这其中就包括了遗产、社交、运营活动),然后再把这些东西增加在《模拟人生》的原有基础上。

我问他们最喜欢游戏的哪个部分,Sarah说创造模拟市民,而且你可以跟好友一起体验。Scott说玩家对游戏的挖掘潜能,他总是很期待玩家玩出新的花样。

如果你像我一样在不同设备尝试的话,你会发现真的有很多很有意思的玩法。

再往游戏特色深入,我问了SimCash,也就是游戏中可以购买的货币之一,玩家可以用它来购买特殊物品。我问他们这些物品都是装饰性道具吗?还是能够影响游戏进程的道具?他们说这些物品能对市民活动起到帮助作用,并不是只能用SimCash购买,玩家也可以解锁对应的token来获得物品,它们确实能够在很大程度上丰富玩家的游戏体验。

有些PC玩家之前提问说为什么要把游戏做成F2P模式而不是付费模式,就像2009年的《模拟人生3》手游那样?对此,Scott的回答是对于PC游戏来说(就比如《模拟人生4》),他们首先要考虑的就是怎样才能赚钱,而如果是F2P模式,他们优先考虑的是怎么才能留住玩家、让玩家觉得游戏很有趣,盈利是最后才考虑的问题。

我个人觉得《模拟人生:移动版》还是值得试一试的。我问Scott和Sarah,对于那些不太看好手游产品的《模拟人生4》玩家,你们有什么想说的吗?他们说发行新手游并不意味着会放弃《模拟人生4》,《模拟人生:移动版》既符合手游体裁,又包含了一些《模拟人生3》/《模拟人生4》玩家应该会喜欢的游戏体验。如果有些玩家不想尝试的话还是可以继续玩你现在的游戏,他们会把游戏做的越来越好,或许有一天玩家就会对他们的新内容感兴趣了。

本文由游戏邦编译,转载请注明来源,或咨询微信zhengjintiao

Back in June 2017, EA invited us to EA Play to experience The Sims Mobile – which is currently soft launched in Brazil and will be coming soon to iOS and Android devices worldwide. During EA Play, we had opportunities to provide feedback but to also interview producers working on the upcoming title and learn more.

Please note that this interview is based on notes that I made throughout my conversation with the producers and is not a transcription of the chat.

I had the opportunity to interview Sarah and Scott, two producers working on The Sims Mobile. Sarah has been at EA for a year, but this is her third time at EA! She started in 2002 and has worked on The Sims 2 and Spore, among other titles, and has spent 7 years working on mobile titles. Scott, on the other hand, has been at EA for just over 6 months and it is his first time working at EA and started his career at SEGA and has made console, PC, browser, and mobile games throughout his career.

After introductions, the first question asked was “what do you like about The Sims franchise in general?”. Sarah confessed to being a huge Sims fangirl since The Sims 1 and “…loves the creativity and expression” and the “ability to tell whatever story you want”. Scott echoed with a similar response adding that he likes the “people that the game attracts”, referring to types of players who are creative, unique and individual as everyone has their “own story to tell and have the opportunity to do so”.

As we all know, The Sims FreePlay currently provides a mobile Sims experience, albeit 5 years old. Therefore I asked about why they decided to create a second mobile game when that already exists. The Sims FreePlay came out for technology in 2011 and things have advanced which as given an opportunity to “create an incredible Sims experience that is different… a completely new game”. Scott added to this by saying that there was “two other big things”. What a player expects and what a mobile game can be has dramatically changed, and The Sims 4 now exists which sets expectations of what the experience should be, so they “wanted to build on top of that and drive the vision forward”.

In addition to this, the game itself is “inspired by what the community wanted of them… the legacy aspect”. It’s all about thinking ahead to the future and what you can do in 3, 4, 5 generations and be excited by that instead of holding onto individual Sims for a long period of time.

Some of the main elements I noticed while playing The Sims Mobile was the focus on legacy and careers/hobbies. When asked why this was a big focus, Sarah and Scott responded by saying they wanted to “respond to the community” and “take the core elements and what makes a Sims game great, and add onto the foundation” with the legacy, social, and live events.

When asked what their favourite thing about the game is, Sarah said that she loves being able to “create an amazing Sim” and that “you can experience it with friends”. Scott said he is excited by “the potentiality of what could be done in the future” by players.

This is great if you’re like me and are hopping between devices!

Digging a bit deeper about features, I asked about SimCash, one of the in-game currencies that you can purchase. With it, you can get particular objects, so I asked whether this is just decorative items or if some of these could prevent progress in-game if you didn’t get SimCash. Sarah and Scott replied by saying that they can “benefit activities” but you can “unlock tokens you need to get the same object”, and they do “open up a bunch of experiences”.

Some players, mainly those who are used to the paid experience on PC, have asked why it is a free-to-play game instead of an upfront cost, like The Sims 3 app was back in 2009. When asked with this, Scott replied by saying that PC games, such as The Sims 4, “have to ask how can I get money” whereas with free-to-play, that is the “last question we ask” and instead they focus on “how can we engage you and have fun right away”.

Speaking of Sims 4 players, I personally think The Sims Mobile deserves a chance. So I asked Scott and Sarah what they would like to say to people who play The Sims 4 who may be skeptical of the mobile entry. One key reply was that “The Sims 4 isn’t going anywhere” and to “give mobile a try” as there are features standard for mobile games but also it’s an experience that “Sims 4/Sims 3 players will love”. In addition to this, they added to “keep playing your current game” as “if you don’t want to play now, we will keep getting better, and eventually we may have something that will complement your experience”.

There you have it, our exclusive interview with The Sims Mobile producers, Sarah and Scott, at EA Play 2017! I want to thank them for their time and for providing such a valuable insight into their background in the gaming industry, history of The Sims Mobile, what it has to offer, and everything else we discussed in our conversation.(source: beyondsims


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