Facebook社交网站中有一种特殊的游戏吸引了无数游戏业内人士，那就是游戏设计本身。对游戏设计师而言，尤其是来自传统游戏产业的设计师而言，游戏设计的过程本身就是一种游戏，同时还与其他游戏一样拥有排行榜功能。

据游戏邦了解，热门游戏Ravenwood Fair的顾问兼首席设计师John Romero表示自己每天晚上都会登陆AppData网站，查看自己设计的游戏的排行情况。

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出于对游戏体验的热爱，很多游戏设计师将社交游戏设计的过程及与其他设计师的彼此竞争当成是一种即时策略游戏。在“游戏设计”的游戏中，“玩家们”以画面，动画和各种游戏机制为武器，以游戏数据为依据一较高下。根据用户对游戏现状的反馈，及时调整各种游戏体验。

老牌游戏设计师Don Daglow十分注重游戏数据，他认为“社交游戏的设计过程十分独特。游戏设计者每天都可以获得玩家对游戏方方面面的意见反馈。这就好比一款有效的搜索引擎。游戏设计师可以知道自己所设计的游戏新增了多少玩家？游戏的日活跃用户是多少？商品价格调整后的游戏盈利情况如何？玩家是够喜欢新发布的功能或内容等？所有的一切都与游戏有关，而社交游戏的排行榜更是24小时都在不断变化。”

在“游戏设计”的游戏中，游戏设计师要根据其他“玩家”的意见对游戏进行不断完善。如果某位游戏“玩家”开发出了一种十分有趣的游戏策略或者游戏机制，其他游戏设计“玩家”也会借鉴尝试，观察其ARPU等数据是否发生变化。据游戏邦了解，这类情形在各种农场，烹饪或经营类游戏中都有出现。

今年旧金山召开的游戏开发者大会上汇集了包括Palydom游戏设计副总裁Steve Meretzky，Zynga首席游戏设计师Brian Reynolds和The Inspiracy总裁Noah Falstein在内的众多游戏设计老手。当时，众多社交游戏开发者们相聚一堂谈论谈论如今越来越多的视频游戏专业开发人士逐渐进入社交游戏领域，同时也谈到了各自的新游戏计划等。此时Brenda Brathwaite第一次想到了将“游戏设计”本身作为一种游戏体验。

对此，Falstein表示自己将游戏设计工作当成是一种与设计师伙伴们社交互动。他希望通过自己提出的某些创意提升游戏的功能。而Meretzky则开玩笑地表示自己经常从同伴处获得资源，以进款完成制作任务。社交游戏领域快捷的反馈令很多曾经从事AAA平台游戏的游戏开发者欣喜若狂。

对此，3 Blocks工作室的创意总监John Passfield认为，优质的游戏需要有固定的反馈信息，并凭此进行游戏开发。传统游戏的开发过程更类似于奥运会的禁闭式训练。与之相反，社交游戏的开发设计则是置身于各种即时信息之中，设计师要听从产品经理的一件，面向自己的团队伙伴，面向游戏玩家进行游戏设计。

从游戏设计师的角度而言，游戏设计师就像是一款名为“游戏设计”游戏的玩家。在该款“游戏”中，“玩家”在广阔的领域中进行各种各样的探索和研发。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

The most exclusive game on Facebook is also the most lucrative and intense: the game design of the games themselves. For designers in the space, particularly those from the traditional game industry, game design has become its own game, complete with a leaderboard.

“Every night at midnight, I check AppData,” says John Romero, a veteran video game designer, consultant and lead designer of Ravenwood Fair. The site has become a de facto leaderboard for many developers, backed up by weekly top games lists.

Imbued by a deep love of game play, many designers view social game design, and the competition it creates with other designers, as a real-time strategy game, complete with in-depth stats and armies composed of coders, artists, animators and product managers. Indeed, our ability to respond to the current state of the game — both the actual game on Facebook and the larger meta game of game design — is critical.

Don Daglow, another veteran game designer, watches the numbers like a general. “Social game design is unique,” he says, “because you get a score for every facet of your performance every day. It’s like SEO on speed. How many first-time players came back the next day after the latest tutorial tweaks? What’s our DAU? How is monetization changing since we adjusted item prices? Did the test players like the new gorilla suit costume? All of business is a game, but the social games business has 24-hour scoreboards on every corner.”

As much as we respond to the player behavior in our games, game designers also must respond to the other “players” in the meta game of design, too. If one player makes a move, invents a particularly clever tactic or introduces a new mechanic or theme, the other “players” respond accordingly by trying out the move themselves, watching their ARPU or doing recon behind enemy lines. The mass proliferation of games about farming, cooking, and running resorts serve as perfect examples.

The idea of game design as a game in itself first occurred to me in an active, front-of-the-brain kind of way when I was on stage at this year’s Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco with fellow game designers Steve Meretzky, VP of game design at Playdom, Brian Reynolds, chief game designer at Zynga, and Noah Falstein, president of The Inspiracy. We were there to talk as video game veterans who had entered the social game space. As the room began to fill, we talked of the things we’ve talked of for the decades we’ve known one another, but there was something else there, too: a new gamestate between us.

Brian was the obvious current leader at Zynga, and every day, his numbers just kept rising. As we talked of the games we were working on, our numbers and, in a veiled way, our future plans, it quickly became apparent that our conversation had all the earmarks of hardcore board game players yapping about their current gamestate while keeping their next move carefully guarded. That we four actually do regularly play board games together made the comparison all the more obvious, amusing and interesting. “Finally, game design is a game,” I said to the audience. It was promptly tweeted and retweeted dozens of times.

Says Falstein, “I look at my design job partly as a social status issue with my fellow designers. I want to improve the best of their games’ features while adding my own innovations, thereby earning status points at our next board game party, as well as earning RMT equivalents for my client – and therefore, me too.” Meretzky even jokingly alluded to the resource management that happens behind closed doors. “I beg my co-workers for resources. After asking four or five times, I often have everything I need to complete a task!” The rush and instant feedback is particularly exciting for game designers entering the space after years in the traditional AAA console game industry.

“Good games have regular feedback loops and social game development has these in spades,” says John Passfield, creative director at 3 Blokes Studios. “The majority of time in traditional game development is spent building a game behind closed doors which is more like training for the Olympics. Whereas social game development puts you smack in the middle of a full season where you’re constantly adjusting your game by listening to your coach (product manager), watching the other team and playing to the fans. It’s about being in the moment, not preparing for the moment.”

That moment, that hour and that day, each allows for iteration and tweaking of the meta-game state and a hopeful resultant climb in DAU. Quick to compare it to his own game, Reynolds said, “Every week I  harvest my features and plant some more, and then we run around collecting all the doobers!”

From a game designer’s perspective, it is a wonderful, exciting time to be a “player” in the game of game design. The play space feels wide open, like a game of Civilization Revolution only a few minutes in, with lots of room to explore and many things to discover. Games are being made with small teams about unique topics for new audiences, and in many ways, say the game industry vets, it feels like 1981 again. It is good, too, that we remember 1983, the year of the North American video game crash, and can adjust our strategy accordingly. （Source：Inside Social Games）