Pixel Toys CEO采访：游戏走向竞技化是市场发展的核心驱动

原作者：Lain Harris 译者：Vivian Xue

制作流行IP游戏具有极高的风险性。

IP的高知名度有助于你营销游戏，但是同时你也将面临庞大的粉丝所带来的压力。

最重要的是，你既需要创造出能够迎合粉丝期待的与众不同的游戏，又需要保持对原IP的忠诚。

开发商Pixel Toys是幸运的，2015年发行的《战锤40K：自由之刃》使他们在游戏界站稳了脚跟。

如今他们的另一款战锤IP游戏问世了——《西格玛战锤时代：王国战争》（Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realm War）。这款游戏在保留战锤游戏特色的基础上进行了创新。

Pixel Toys的CEO Andy Wafer表示这次对战锤IP的再创作令人兴奋。

“市面上还没有太多、或者说没有与我们的游戏类似的作品，因此成为首创者对我们来说是件很酷的事，”Wafer说。

“游戏中加入了许多新角色，我们的美术和动画师相当了不起，因为这是我们第一次为这些角色建模并生成动画。”

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realm War（from pocketgamer.biz）

致力于运用新技术

虽然这款游戏和上一部的类型不同，但它依然体现了Pixel Toys对技术创新的渴望。Wafer告诉我们，这是公司的一个重要特点。

“我们致力于开发出视觉效果最丰富的手游，”Wafer说。

“我们是主机游戏开发出身的，因此我们在制作手游时，会试图复制主机游戏体验。很多开发商都是这样，但不同的是我们一直在竭力实现这一点。”

“我们在《自由之刃》中实现了一定突破，它是一款射击手游，但我们希望能把这种体验带到另一种类型游戏中，因此这次的新游戏是一款动作卡牌战争游戏。”

“市面上已经有几款类似的游戏，但我们试图通过技术创新使它变得与众不同。”

《西格玛战锤时代：王国战争》从游戏元素和塔防玩法来看，的确与战略游戏很类似，有点像Supercell的《皇室战争》。但它拥有一个吸引人的特色——运用了AR技术。

在AR模式下，你可以在面前的桌子上进行和回放游戏，这勾起了玩家对早期战锤游戏的回忆。（战锤最开始是一款桌面游戏，游戏邦注）

然而，目前AR和VR在市场中的发展仍处于僵化状态。苹果公司推出的ARKit为开发者打通了进入该领域的渠道，并且ARKit 2不久后也将上市。

不过就流行程度来看，VR和AR游戏的受众面仍较狭窄。尽管如此，Wafer认为随着开发者们逐渐掌握这一技术，时间和创新将会打破这种僵局。

“我们正在尽全力支持AR发展。我认为这一技术仍然处于起步阶段，但这个概念本身及其发展方向非常有趣，”Wafer说。

“像我们这样的开发商仍然在寻找运用这一技术的最佳方式，我认为它不是一个将会消逝的事物，只不过我们得想办法让它发挥作用。”

“而技术本身总是变得越来越有趣。”

老玩家vs 中核玩法

除了顾及老玩家和测试技术，Pixel Toys还着眼于吸引更广泛的玩家群体，Pixel Toys的市场营销总监David Solari对我们说。

“我们非常努力地使游戏忠于战锤系列并吸引老玩家，”Solari说。

“但这个游戏真正的目标受众是那些中核手游玩家，因此游戏的受众更广泛。”

如此一来，游戏对《皇室战争》的借鉴似乎也可以理解了。不过Wafer说，他们在设计游戏的玩法和深度的同时，考虑的是游戏是否能让他们自己也喜欢并享受。

“游戏玩法本身具有深度和极强的战略性，但是就我们希望开发的游戏类型而言，我觉得中核玩法对我们来说更有吸引力，”他说。

“我们一直致力于了解玩家并制作我们自己喜爱和享受的游戏。”

任何《皇室战争》游戏的粉丝都可以证明，手游正走向电竞化，这正是Pixel Toys之后准备利用的趋势。

“电竞的出现是玩家的必然需求，”Solari评价道。

“不过但愿玩家能接受我们为这款游戏设计的竞技模式，这样我们便能开始考虑举办竞赛之类的事情。”

本文由游戏邦编译，转载请注明来源，或咨询微信zhengjintiao

Working with popular intellectual properties is a high stakes game.

Benefits include a recognisable brand with which to market your game, but there comes an expectation of fan service.

To top things off, there’s a balancing act to be made between the usual demands of making a game that’s unique and different with meeting those fan expectations and fitting into the IP’s universe.

Luckily for Pixel Toys, it is one up on developing games based on IP with 2015’s Warhammer 40,000: Freeblade firmly in its back pocket.

Next up though is Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realm War, which retains the Warhammer signature but adds the new Age of Sigmar extension.

For Pixel Toys CEO Andy Wafer, the chance to dive back into Warhammer’s fresh IP is an exciting one.

“There hasn’t been that many games, or any that’s similar to ours, so it’s quite cool to be making something for the first time,” says Wafer.

“There are a lot of new characters and it’s cool for our artists and animators because we’re making and animating the models for the first time.”

Driving tech

The jump from title-to-title may mean a genre shift but the same desire to drive the tech behind it remains. Something that is a trademark for Pixel Toys, Wafer tells us.

“We specialise in trying to make the most visually rich experience on mobile,” says Wafer.

“Our background comes from console, so when we came to mobile, we tried to bring that experience. It’s a familiar story that a lot of people have, but we’ve continued to push it as hard as we could.

“We achieved some of that with Freeblade, which was a mobile shooter, but with this game we wanted to bring that to a different genre, so this is an action card-based battle game.

“There are several of these games around, but what we’re doing is a little bit different. We’re trying to push it from a technical perspective.”

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realm War does boast an array of influences and plays out like a strategy game with two teams and one tower to defend for each, somewhat like Supercell’s Clash Royale. But one of its more charming aspects is its use of augmented reality.

Games can be played and replayed on the very desk in front of you, which evokes memories of the miniatures that forms Warhammers appeal.

The places of AR and VR within the market are currently an odd one, however. Apple’s ARKit has helped make inroads for dev accessibility, and ARKit 2 has not long launched.

And yet, it’s currently at an impasse with the broader market regarding popularity. Although, Wafer tells us that time and improvement will be best the remedy as developers get to grips with the tech.

“We’re trying to do what we can to support AR. I think its early days for the technology but the concept and the direction of it is really interesting,” says Wafer.

“Developers like us are still trying to find the best utilisation for the technology, but I don’t think it’s something that’s going to go away, it’s just getting it to work.

“The technology itself though is getting more interesting all the time.”

Balancing fan service with midcore

While fan service and experimentation with tech are accounted for, Pixel Toys has still taken care to add some broader market appeal, Pixel Toys marketing director David Solari tells us.

“We’ve worked very hard to stay true to Warhammer and appeal to Warhammer fans,” says Solari.

“But the real target for the game is midcore mobile gamers, so the game plays well to a much wider audience.”

To that end, Clash Royale’s influence on the game is understandable. For Wafer though, the gameplay and its depth go hand-in-hand with making something appealing that they too would like to make and enjoy.

“The gameplay itself has depth and is quite tactical, but I feel like midcore gaming is something that appeals more to us as developers regarding games we want to make,” he says.

“We’ve always been focused on understanding the audience, and making games we would like to play and enjoy.”

Another mobile trend that any Clash Royale fan can attest to is that of mobile esports, which is another front Pixel Toys is ready to take advantage of post-launch.

“The thing about esports though is that the players will have to want it for something like that to happen,” comments Solari.

“But we designed the game with competitive play such that, hopefully, they do it embrace it though and we can start investigating stuff like tournaments.”

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realm War is available on iOS and Google Play now.（source：Pocketgamer.biz  ）