作者： Paul Hyman

自从iPad成为新晋游戏平台，不少iPhone开发者开始考虑究竟该创建一个可兼容iPhone和iPad且售价相同的通用版游戏，还是针对iPad重新推出一个高清版本。Semi Secret、Firemint、IUGO Mobile Entertainment等公司各有看法，本文是游戏邦编译的相关内容：

苹果iPad甫露面就创造不俗的销售业绩，有些iPhone游戏开发者也开始将目光瞄准iPad，但却苦恼不知如何针对这个新型触摸屏设备开发游戏并进行定价。

有些开发者选择创建“通用版本”——支持玩家购买一个版本并免费获赠另一版本。还有些开发者却采用“分治”策略，针对各个平台分别开发游戏，总之这一切均取决于他们的运营计划。

Semi Secret Software这家新兴开发商表示看好“一次性付费”策略，并希望它能够成为主流销售模式。

该公司联合创始人Adam Saltsman表示，“无论用户使用的是哪种设备，只要他们付费2.99美元（游戏邦注：这是《Canabalt》的售价），就相当于买下任何一个版本的游戏。”

《Canabalt》这款要求玩家在城市逃过怪物追踪的游戏之前是一款Flash作品，后来移植到了iPhone平台，最后才在App Store推出了一个可兼容iPad设备的更新版本。

Saltsman承认比起其他0.99美元的苹果手机游戏，2.99美元的售价确实偏高了，但这种定价模式是公司发展战略中不可或缺的一环。

“我们在两年前刚创立的时候，就已打定主意不采用‘满天撒网’的战术，也就是说我们不会推出大量质量低劣的半成品游戏，然后坐等其中一款游戏有幸获得成功。我们决定不开发99美分这类游戏，只专注于那些真正会获得用户认可的产品。我们也希望自己因此而得名。”

针对他与合伙人Eric Johnson为何选择支持iPad平台这个问题，他答道：“我们很喜欢iPad的外观，也希望自己的游戏能够在用户选择的任何一个平台上运行，只要你花了2.99美元，我们就会尽己所能，通过免费更新内容，添加新音乐等方式为用户提供周到服务。我们甚至还专门针对更旧的操作系统对游戏进行了改良。”

Saltsman称这个策略是他们的一个尝试，并估计其他开发商可能会采用不同方式来创造收益。他认为整个行业将根据游戏本身的属性，采纳双管齐下的盈利模式。

“有些游戏确实难以移植到iPad，因为它的iPhone版本的图像是针对更低分辨率的屏幕制作而成，如果要移植到iPad就得重新开工，以便它在更大的屏幕上顺利运行。你得做大量的优化工作才能让它在iPad上实现理想的运行效果，可能就有开发者会这样想‘好吧，这相当于开发了一款新游戏，所以针对iPad版本重新设定一个售价也是合情合理的做法。’”

但他补充表示，假如移植工作不会很难，那么开发者就可能会采用“一次性付费”策略，因为他们会考虑到重复收费会引起用户的反感。“问题的关键就在于，开发者得先问问自己，用户真的会喜欢这款游戏并为它重复花钱吗？这款游戏的iPad版本真的值得用户掏钱吗？”

Canabalt(from gamasutra.com)

《Canabalt》移植到iPad的过程并不算复杂，因为这款游戏就是适合运行于大而粗的像素环境，它的移植并不需要添加新的资产。但Saltsman也承认，他们的“试验性定价策略”未必适用于将来开发的游戏，尤其是那些难以移植的产品。

“假如游戏移植到iPad的过程太繁琐或者成本太高，我们就只会发布iPhone版本，不会将其强行移植到iPad。尽管iPad引起了不少的人兴趣，但它的用户数量比起iPhone真是微不足道，这也正是我们需要考虑的地方。”

但温哥华IUGO Mobile Entertainment的业务发展总监Sarah Thomson却另有看法，凡是已下载这家公司旗下的《Implode! XL》、《Zombie Attack! Second Wave XL》、《Cliffed XL》和《Escape: Norm’s World XL》推出的iPhone和iPod Touch版本的用户，都不需要再为任何更新内容付费，包括支持iPad的更新版本。

Thomson表示，公司即将推出的iPad游戏将是一个通用版本，也就是用户下载任何一个版本，就可以在三种iOS移动设备上运行游戏。

“这是苹果推荐所有开发者采用的策略，苹果的态度也是我们采用这一策略的原因之一。”

“另一个原因是，虽然iPhone仍将是我们的关注重点，但我们也想赶上iPad这股潮流，因为我们相信多平台的大众化战略是取得成功的关键。”

她表示，他们为了“赶上iPad这股潮流”，迅速挑选了四款游戏移植到这一平台，但这并不意味着这些游戏只是经过微调整就投放到了iPad。为恪守IUGO针对特定平台量身定制游戏的原则，该公司为这几款游戏添加了不少新内容和新功能。《Implode!》植入了一个关卡编辑器，支持玩家创建自己的游戏关卡并与好友分享。

《Cliffed》也添加了一个同机挑战模式，支持玩家在同一部iPad上竞赛。这四款游戏中有三者添加了多人模式，并且都对图像进行了优化处理，以使其适合运行于iPad更宽大的屏幕。

Implode! XL(from gamasutra.com)

尽管移植工作比较费时费劲，但该公司决定奉行“加量不加价”的策略——除了《Implode!》这款涨价一美元的游戏之外。因为他们投入《Implode!》已经进行多次更新，也添加了许多内容，它理应售出更高的价格，即2.99美元。

《Zombie》这款游戏的iPhone及iPad版本仍保持3.99美元售价，《Cliffed》在两个平台也均以1.99美元价格出售，而《Escape》的两个版本均为免费游戏，但含有内置付费功能（游戏邦注：添加了两个更困难的关卡和一个多人模式，这两项内容均售价0.99美元）。

Thomson称“我们的目标就是以低价取胜，我们知道有许多竞争者打算把iPad游戏售价定得比iPhone游戏更高，但我们觉得没有必要如此行事。这并不是为了扩大游戏销量，而是为了让公司因推出高质量的iPhone和iPad游戏而为更多用户所知晓。”

Thomson并不认为多数开发商也有同样想法，她认为大多数人会选择针对iPhone和iPad分别开发游戏，以不同的价格出售两个版本的游戏，并且将iPad游戏售价定得更高。

“只有少数人会采用通用版策略，我猜测大多数开发商不会这么做，但这一切还得取决于哪种策略更为可行。至于我们是否会采用非通用版策略，这一点仍然有待观望。”

位于澳大利亚墨尔本的Firemint在这一点上的态度毫不含糊，这家已成立十多年的手机游戏工作室坚决不采纳开发通用版的策略，该公司社区总经理Alexandra Peters称这是因为“iPhone和iPad这两个平台需考虑的事项、运行性能和市场定位截然不同”。

“我们一向针对特定的硬件设备而开发游戏，所以认为发布一个独立的iPad版本更为妥当，这也正是《Flight Control HD》和《Real Racing HD》这两个版本的由来。我们不认为在两个平台推出相同的版本有多大意义。”

Firemint当前的策略就是首先针对iPhone开发新游戏（游戏邦注：iPhone是他们优先考虑的平台），如果其市场反映良好，再考虑向其他平台推出一个售价更高的加强版。

Peters称公司的《Real Racing》先在iPhone平台露面，然后再推iPad版《Real Racing HD》就是反映公司一贯主张的典型。

在推出iPad版本之前，该工作室重新彻底检查了游戏的画面质量，添加了更多细节和更高清的纹理，同时还支持玩家将自己库存的任何图片设置为汽车皮肤。

此外还新增了一个“幽灵赛车”功能，支持玩家与其他对手从网上下载的“幽灵”竞赛。他们还优化了游戏代码以保证《Real Racing HD》可在调整控制方式的情况下，更流畅地运行于iPad平台。

该游戏的iPad版本售价9.99美元，是iPhone版本4.99美元的两倍。

据她所言，“我们认为HD版本确实值这个价钱，它是一款极具真实感的环路赛车游戏，几乎让iPad变成了一个结合方向盘和挡风玻璃的设备，它的3D图像非常出众，最大化限度地利用了iPad宽屏的优势，看起来就像是展示iPad运行性能的理想游戏。”

Flight Control HD(from gamasutra.com)

在iPad刚刚问世的时候，该工作室就已展开行动，推出旗下的抢手游戏《Flight Control》iPad版本（游戏邦注：它iPhone和iPod Touch平台均售价0.99美元）。

《Flight Control HD》标价4.99美元，包含三个新的高清地图，一个经典地图，新的多人游戏模式，加强版的画面。在多人模式中，玩家可以在同一部iPad上用三个高清地图体验游戏，或者与其他iPad、iPhone或iPod Touch好友在无线网络状态下玩游戏。

这个版本还推出了一个更高级的警报系统，提醒玩家两架飞机的距离过近。Peters称他们在iPad版本中投入了大量心思，而这也正是Firemint为追求HD版本的效果所需付出的努力。

她补充道，“如果一款游戏表现不错，而且又适合投放到其他平台，那么我们当然也很乐意这么做。”

游戏邦注：原文发稿于2010年7月8日，所述事件及内容以当时为背景。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Game Strategies: iPad vs. iPhone

by Paul Hyman

[With the iPad newly-established as a gaming platform, should iPhone developers be creating 'universal' builds for the same price or making brand-new HD versions of their games? Developers such Semi Secret (Canabalt) and Firemint (Flight Control) weigh in.]

Though Apple’s iPad has launched to incredible sales, some developers with iPhone experience under their belts — and who are now building for the iPad as well — are struggling with how to strategize and price around titles for the new touch-screen platform.

Some have chosen to create “universal builds” — gamers can buy one version and receive the other version as a freebie. Others are developing separate builds for each platform and are pricing them separately. It’s all a matter of business strategy, they say.

For instance, at Austin, Texas-based Semi Secret Software, the fledgling developer expects its “pay once” policy will be a major selling feature.

“It won’t matter what device the customer has,” explains co-founder Adam Saltsman. “Once they pay $2.99 — which is what we currently charge for our games — they can pull down any version of the game and enjoy it.”

Semi Secret’s Canabalt — a simple one-button platformer that challenges gamers to outrun the demolition of their city — was originally a Flash game ported to the iPhone in October and just last month an update was released to the App Store with iPad compatibility.

Saltsman admits that the $2.99 price is quite a bit more than some other iGames that sell for 99 cents, but that’s all part and parcel of his company’s strategy, he says.

“When we started two years ago, we didn’t want to participate in what we call a ‘shotgun-style’ of development where you make like 20 crappy, half-built games and throw them out there to see which one gets lucky and catches on,” Saltsman explains. “We decided not to do 99-cent apps, but to concentrate only on stuff that customers would think is really cool. We wanted that to be our reputation.”

Which is the main reason why Saltsman and his partner, Eric Johnson, chose to support the iPad as well.

“We loved how the iPad looks and we wanted our games to keep running regardless what platform you choose to play them on,” he says. “Once you pay your $2.99, we wanted to be known as the guys who keep taking care of their fans — with free updates, new music, and so on. We even rolled the game back to be compatible with older operating systems.”

Saltsman calls their strategy an experiment and predicts other developers may have alternate ways of monetizing their creations. His gut feel is that the industry will adopt a two-pronged approach depending on the nature of the game.

“Some games are really hard to port to iPad because you’ve done the iPhone version art at a really low resolution and now you have to re-do everything to run on a larger screen size,” he explains. “You need to do a lot of optimization to get the performance you really want on the iPad. And so I expect the developer will just say, ‘Okay, this is a whole new game we’re building and it’s totally fine to get away with charging more for a new premium iPad version’.”

But, he adds, if the port isn’t difficult, then developers may adopt a “pay once” policy, especially “if they feel that charging twice may piss people off,” he says. “The question a developer needs to ask themselves is whether they think the customer will love the game enough to buy it twice. Is it awesome enough on the iPad to justify buying it again?”

Porting Canabalt to the iPad was a relatively simple procedure, given the fact that the game is supposed to be played with large, chunky pixels — no new assets were required. But, admits Saltsman, his “experimental pricing policy” could change for future games, especially those that are difficult to port.

“Essentially I think it’s going to boil down to this,” he says. “If the game is going to be too hard or too expensive to port to the iPad, then we’re just not going to do that and the game will be iPhone-only. Heck, there may be a lot of interest in the iPad, but the install base is just a fraction of the one for the iPhone. That’s the one we need to concentrate on.”

But up at Vancouver-based IUGO Mobile Entertainment, director of business development Sarah Thomson says the six-year-old indie developer of mobile games has recently standardized its approach to i-platforms.

As a way of rewarding customers who already have a copy of the company’s iPhone and iPod Touch builds of Implode! XL, Zombie Attack! Second Wave XL, Cliffed XL, and Escape: Norm’s World XL, no added purchase is necessary to download updates, including iPad support.

And IUGO’s upcoming iPad titles will be universal builds, she says; if you own one, you can play it across all three devices.

“That’s a strategy that Apple actually recommended to every developer from the get-go,” recalls Thomson, “so that was part of the reason we adopted that strategy.

“The other part is that even though the iPhone is and will continue to be very much our priority, we wanted to immediately jump on the hype about the iPad as soon as it was announced earlier this year and we now believe that, ultimately, a multi-platform mass-market approach is the real key to big success.”

“Jumping on the hype” meant quickly selecting the four games that could best be ported to the iPad — but “not simply by doing minor tweaks and then throwing it on the iPad,” according to Thomson.

In keeping with IUGO’s philosophy of creating content that is customized for a particular platform or handset, the developer took each game and fashioned some sort of value-add. A level-editor was built and added to Implode! so that gamers could create their own levels and share them with friends.

A “same device head-to-head” feature was added to Cliffed so that two gamers could race each other on the same iPad. Multiplayer modes were added to three of the four games. And IUGO pumped up the graphics for all four titles to make the most of the iPad’s larger screen size.

Despite the amount of work that went into the add-ons, IUGO decided not to boost any of its prices, except one — a dollar was added to Implode!, increasing the fare to $2.99, when it was determined that there had been so many updates and content added that the higher price was well worth it.

Zombie remained at $3.99 for iPhone and iPad; Cliffed, $1.99 for both platforms; and Escape is a free app for the two platforms but with in-app purchases (two more difficulty levels and a multiplayer mode, each $.99).

“Our goal is to use our lower prices to our advantage,” reveals Thomson. “We knew that a lot of our competitors intended to price their iPad games higher and we felt that we didn’t need to do that. The idea wasn’t to make millions of dollars more, it was to get our name out there as a quality developer of iPhone and iPad games.”

Thomson doesn’t believe most developers are on the same page though and she suspects the majority will create two different iPhone and iPad builds, sell them separately, and charge more for the latter.

“A few may adopt the universal build philosophy,” she says, “but I’m guessing most won’t — which is not necessarily a bad way to go either, to be honest. The jury is still out on which strategy will be the better one… and we’re going to take a wait-and-see attitude on whether we’ll try the non-universal approach as well.”

But Melbourne, Australia-based Firemint isn’t wavering; the 11-year-old mobile-game studio is adamant about not creating universal games “because the considerations, capabilities, and markets for iPhone and iPad are quite different,” says community manager Alexandra Peters.

“Given our approach of tailoring adaptations of our games to suit the specific hardware, it made more sense to launch separate apps for the iPad, which we did with Flight Control HD and Real Racing HD,” she adds. “We don’t think that releasing identical games on both platforms is an effective strategy.”

Firemint’s current policy is to develop new games first for the iPhone — which the studio considers its lead platform — and then, if they do well, consider launching enhanced adaptations that are optimized for other platforms — with enhanced price tags.

Peters cites as an example Firemint’s latest release — Real Racing HD for iPad — which started with Real Racing for the iPhone.

The studio overhauled the graphics throughout, adding more detail and higher-resolution textures, and also included the ability to add any photo from the player’s library as a custom skin to the cars.

A new “ghost racing” feature enables players to race against the “ghosts” of other players downloaded from the Internet. And, under the hood, the code was optimized to ensure smoother racing performance while the controls were tweaked so they would translate well to the larger device.

The overhaul costs gamers $9.99, twice the price of the iPhone’s $4.99.

“We think the HD version is worth it; it’s a realistic pro circuit racing game that turns the iPad into a combination steering wheel/windscreen,” she says. “The 3D graphics are just gorgeous, they make the most of the iPad’s bigger screen, and it seems to be the game of choice for showing off the iPad’s capabilities.”

Similarly, as soon as the iPad was announced, the developer knew it wanted to make an HD version of its biggest hit — Flight Control — which was originally designed for the iPhone and iPod Touch and still sells at $.99 for those platforms.

The new HD edition — priced at $4.99 — includes three new HD maps, a classic map, new multiplayer game modes, and upgraded graphics throughout. For multiplayer, games can play the three HD maps co-operatively on one iPad or they can play wirelessly with a friend on another iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch.

An enhanced warning system, too, was added should two aircraft get too close to each other since the iPad screen is bigger and there is a greater chance that some of it will be obscured by the player’s hand.

A lot of thought went into re-imagining the game, says Peters, which is exactly the process Firemint intends to pursue if creating an HD version is justified.

“If a title does well — and if it makes sense to adapt that IP to other platforms that are a good fit,” she adds, “that is certainly something we are keen to do.”（source:gamasutra）