游戏邦注：本文发稿于2009年8月21日，所涉时间、事件和数据均以此为准。

Kim Daniel Arthur是Playfish前任全球工作室副总裁，曾负责Playfish工作室新产品的开发并管理位于挪威特罗姆瑟的“北极”工作室（游戏邦注：该城市位于北极圈以北200英里处）。有媒体就其个人职责、Playfish游戏制作要素以及为何它们在世界上如此流行等问题采访了Kim，以下是游戏邦编译的相关内容：

你在Playfish中的职责是什么？

Playfish有三个极其出色的工作室团队，位于世界各地，分别是我所在的挪威特罗姆瑟、中国北京和英国伦敦。每个工作室都是由美工、程序员和设计师组成的团队，做着他们最擅长的事情——制作Playfish游戏！

我在Playfish中的职责是确保我们能够分享想法和知识，使工作室专注于游戏开发，保证我们获得可为制作优秀游戏提供帮助的核心价值和良好的开发过程。我们向来提倡的是，要制作出有趣的游戏，就要在制作过程中体验乐趣。确保我们能够体验到游戏开发的乐趣，这就是我的主要工作职责。

Playfish-logo(from kaskus.com)

Playfish的游戏创意从何而来？

在游戏想法和游戏概念方面，公司有着非常开放的企业文化，因而想法的来源多种多样。我们时常会惊奇地看到创意无所不在，一些你意想不到的人也会提出新鲜想法，比如Playfish的财务总监。

令人振奋的是，每个人的想法中都闪耀着自己的个性。产品经理的想法灵感来自于运营模式，艺术师的灵感体现视觉创意性，程序员的灵感中潜藏的是他们期待看到的精细机制或运算法则。最让人满意的是，每个游戏都在最终成形的产品中真实再现所有工作人员的想法！游戏想法产生后，我们会在整个公司中探讨，每个人都有机会提出见解并将其发展成为更明确的概念。

Playfish如何决定将游戏想法开发成产品？

游戏想法升级为概念后，我们尽量从多个角度来进行评估，包括概念所蕴含的创意和运营想法。我们确保在坚持Playfish核心价值的基础上整合从此前游戏中得到的经验，所谓的核心价值就是：游戏首先必须有趣，对与朋友一起玩游戏的人来说有价值。虽然优秀社交游戏的制作包含许多要素，但概念和原型阶段的重点在于弄清楚是否有必要将其做成真正的产品。

优秀社交游戏包含哪些内容？

这些工作室中的人有各种各样的游戏开发经验和技能，从硬核主机游戏和MMO游戏到休闲在线和手机游戏，应有尽有。制作优秀社交游戏意味着这些人需要学习如何以新方式进行合作，发挥各自所长来创造这种新式游戏体验。

在Playfish中，我们将社交感情作为造就优秀社交游戏的核心要素。朋友们通过社交网络来进行在线互动，我们的游戏应该让用户们在玩的过程中交流、表达他们的想法并享受其中的乐趣。如果我们制作出的游戏能够帮助朋友分享感情，甚至产生新感情，我们会为此成就感到高兴。最重要的是，我们渴望可以制作出高质量且富有吸引力的游戏体验，能够立即为用户所接受并获得回报。

什么是打造成功社交游戏的最重要元素？

我们努力制作人们喜欢的游戏。

从创意性角度而言，给朋友们带来高质量且值得回忆的体验意味着成功。游戏上手时间应该较短，保持对用户学习曲线的控制，而且还要有吸引玩家长期参与游戏的方法。最为重要的是，让人们因社交游戏感到愉快，与朋友们玩得开心。从运营角度来说，成功的游戏应该能够自我推广，同时通过广告和交易的结合实现盈利目标。

制作社交游戏面临的三大挑战是什么？

游戏的可玩性设计要能诱惑朋友们一起玩，表达他们的想法并通过游戏分享感情。社交游戏设计与其他平台游戏的设计有很大的不同，在这个我们为玩家制造的玩具中，最重要的互动是玩家与朋友间的互动，而并非玩家与屏幕的互动。

多人游戏和单人游戏也是个挑战。设计社交游戏时需要详细思考，构建让朋友间的互动带有娱乐性的事物，同时仍要制作出你可以单独花时间玩的东西。人们确实需要交流并表达自己的想法，但他们也想要享受绝妙游戏机制带来的挑战和乐趣。关键在于找到最佳的平衡点！

还有个挑战是将游戏当作服务来开发。成立团队和组织将游戏当作不断发展的服务来开发，而不再只是个开发完成并发布后就弃之不顾的产品，这个流线型的过程和技术需要睿智的人来完成。让公司成长并为这个迅速增长的业务提供支持是个有趣的挑战。

Playfish可曾有过开发未完成便取消的游戏项目？

当然有，我们在整个游戏开发过程中会参考反馈信息。内部和外部的反馈都会用来决定游戏是否实现其目标。部分游戏已经暂停开发，有些是永久性的，有些会在恰当时机继续开发。

对社交游戏的未来发展有何看法？

我们似乎正处于新游戏时代的前期阶段，在线游戏体验源自已经有所联系和交流的朋友实属首例。朋友间友情所带有的某些强烈感情催生了新型游戏。人们都很喜欢这些新游戏，无需在硬件或软件方面投入大量资金。这种情况迫使整个游戏行业以全新的心态和方式来思考问题。与同僚一起构建社交游戏的未来会是件很有趣的事情！

你最喜欢Playfish哪一点？

我最喜欢的是在Playfish工作的人以及Playfish的粉丝。清晨醒来便期盼能去工作，同朋友见面，这种感觉棒极了。公司位于世界各地的四个场所的员工间都有联系，我们相处得很好。努力工作并互相交流很重要，事情进展顺利时的庆祝以及沉浸其中的乐趣更为有趣！尽我们所能努力工作，从玩家处获得的积极反馈和想法确实能够加强我们的信心和团队精神。我们非常感谢所有参与游戏开发和提供建议的人！

你最喜欢Playfish的哪款游戏？为什么？

我最喜欢的游戏正在开发中。我们正尝试某些全新的想法，每个人都急切想知道玩家能否从中找到乐趣。虽然我也很希望能够透露更多游戏内容，但你只能等待它的出现再去亲身体验！

你如何利用自己的业余时间？你有什么兴趣爱好？

我有个1岁半的女儿，另一个孩子也会在今年9月出生，这已经给我带来足够的乐趣。我喜欢摄影，这是我发挥创意的途径，也是种记忆我们做过的所有有趣事情的绝佳方式。

挪威人真的是人们所说的那样吗？

是的，来特罗姆瑟吧，我会让你看到挪威人真实的一面！（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

A chat about social game design with Kim Daniel Arthur

Tom Sarris

Kim Daniel Arthur is vice president of global studios for Playfish. He heads new product development for the Playfish studios and manages the “Arctic” studio in Tromso, Norway, which is located 200 miles inside the polar circle. We recently chatted with Kim about his role, what it takes to create a Playfish game and why they’re so popular around the world. Enjoy!

What do you do at Playfish?

Playfish has three fantastic and talented studio teams located around the world – Tromsø, Norway, where I am; Beijing, China; and London, England. Each studio has teams of artists, programmers and designers doing what they do best: creating Playfish games!

My role at Playfish is to help our studios focus on doing their magic by making sure we share ideas and learnings, and that we have a good development process and set of core values to assist us in creating great games. We always say that in order to make fun games, we need to have fun while creating them. A big part of my job is to ensure just that: make sure we have fun!

Where do game ideas come from at Playfish?

We have a very open culture when it comes to game ideas and game concepts, so the ideas can come from many sources. It’s always surprising to see creativity in places where you wouldn’t typically go looking for it – such as from Playfish’s Finance Director, for example. No offense, Tareq!

It’s refreshing to see people’s personalities shine through in their game ideas. Product managers originate ideas inspired by business models. Artists are inspired by a creative vision, and coders from a nice mechanic or algorithm they’ve been dreaming of. Most gratifying of all is that each game gets its own identify from all the people working on it, and it really shows in the end product! Once an idea for a game comes to life, we incubate it across the entire company and everyone has an opportunity to comment and spin into a more concrete concept.

How does a game get approved for development at Playfish?

As the game idea is hatched into a high concept we evaluate it from as many angles as we can, both from a creative and business mindset. We make sure to integrate what we’ve learned from previous games while staying focused on the core Playfish values: a game should be, first and foremost, fun and bring value to people playing it with their friends. While there are many elements that go into making a good social game, the concept and prototyping phase are crucial to identifying if we are working on a new hit or not.

What makes a good social game?

Across the studios we have a very diverse set of experience and expertise, from hardcore console games and MMOs to casual online and mobile games. Creating a good social game has meant learning to work together in new ways and drawing on each other’s expertise in defining this new type of gaming experience. At Playfish we put social emotions at the core of what makes a good social game. Friends are interacting online in social networks and our games should help friends communicate, express and enjoy themselves while playing. If we can make games that help friends share emotions, and even create new emotions, then we are happy with what we’ve achieved. Above all, we aspire to create a high quality and engaging game experience that is instantly accessible and rewarding.

What are most important elements in a successful social game?

We try to create games that people love.

From a creative standpoint success means bringing friends together in a high quality and memorable experience. Access should be instant, the learning curve manageable and there should be ways for players to be engaged with the game over a longer period of time. Most importantly, people should be smiling and having fun with their friends through a social game. From a business perspective a successful game should drive its own distribution while achieving some target level of monetization through a combination of advertising and transactions.

What are the three biggest challenges to creating a social game?

Designing gameplay which entices friends to play together, express themselves and share emotions through the game. It is very different from typical game design on other platforms in that what we’re really creating is a toy for our players where the most important interactions are the interactions between the players and their friends rather than the player and the screen.

Playing together and alone is another challenge. Designing a social game takes a lot of careful thought in order to build something that can be enjoyed by as many friends together as possible, while at the same time being something you can spend time on alone. People have a need to express themselves and communicate, but they also want to enjoy the challenge and fun of a nice game mechanic. Finding the right balance is key!

Another is working on games as a service. Building our teams and organizations to work with games as a continually evolving service, rather than just a product that is completed and shipped, takes clever people working with streamlined processes and technology. Allowing our organization to grow and develop support for this rapidly growing business is a fun challenge.

Has Playfish ever started a game that ended not being finished?

Yes, we are very feedback-driven throughout the development of our games. Both internal and external feedback is used to decide whether a game has what it takes. We have put a few games to rest, some permanently and others to be revived when the time is right.

What do you see in the future for social games?

It really feels like we are at the start of a new era of gaming. It is truly the first time gaming experiences online are originated from friends who are already connected and communicating together. It brings with it some strong emotions that give birth to a new kind of game. People are enjoying these new games together without the need for large upfront investments in hardware or software. It puts pressure on the whole industry to think in new ways with a fresh mindset. It’s going to be fun to take part in shaping the future of social games together with our peers!

What do you like best about Playfish?

The people who work at Playfish and Playfish’s fans are what I enjoy the most. It’s great to wake up in the morning and look forward to going to work and meeting your friends. We are all connected throughout our four locations around the world and we have a great time together. It’s important that we work hard and deliver, it makes it even more fun to celebrate and enjoy when things go well! Working as hard as we do, it really does build great confidence and team spirit from all the positive feedback and ideas we get from our players. We can’t thank everyone enough!

What’s your favorite Playfish game and why?

It’s one of the games we are working on right now. We are trying some bold new ideas and everyone is excited to see if players will enjoy it. I really wish I could say more about it, but this is one you will just have to wait and see for yourself!

How do you spend your spare time? What are your hobbies?

I have a baby girl who is one-and-a-half years old, and another baby coming in September, so there is enough fun to be shared around. I love photography – it’s my creative outlet and is a great way to remember all the fun things we do!

Is it true what they say about Norwegians?

Yes, come to Tromsø and we will show you! (Source: playfish.wordpress.com)