GDC Europe 2011即将来临，在对大会演讲者的系列采访中，来自Zynga的Lou Castle评述了反馈参数对社交游戏设计的重要性以及项目主管日益突出的地位。

Castle是游戏行业中的传奇人物，职业生涯涉及多个游戏和工作室，其中最为突出的是与他人联合创建《命令与征服》开发商Westwood Studios以及在EA中负责许多流行专属游戏的设计。他也是网页游戏站点InstantAction的首席执行官。今年早期，Castle加盟Zynga担任该公司工作室副总裁。Castle将在GDC Europe上发表题为“向设计师和项目主管介绍社交游戏设计特征及反馈参数”的演讲，阐述以何种方法利用数据进行设计，解释为何社交游戏项目主管可能比许多游戏设计老手拥有更多“实用设计经验”。

Lou Castle(from latimes.com)

设计社交游戏时，你觉得度量哪类反馈数据最有价值？

最有价值的永远是你还未收集的数据！严格地说，关键在于你应该分析所有能想到的方面并尽快收集数据。当然，你也需要平衡范围、性能和容量等因素，但成功最终将取决于你迅速收集信息并在短时间内采取行动的能力。

坦白地说，流量是最值得关注的数据。商业行为当然也是必要的，但游戏两个状态间用户流量的差异通常最能反映游戏及游戏功能的表现情况。

你认为反馈参数应在游戏设计中占多大比重？开发商应如何把控产品的创意性？

设计免费游戏的最初游戏版本和后续更新都离不开反馈参数，而且这对更新尤为重要。创造游戏最初版本前，设计师必须根据历史数据来架构游戏体验。随后，他们便不可自作主张，而应该根据玩家行为来更新游戏。这种做法并不罕见，传统游戏设计师害怕目标群体不接受游戏设计，也会进行目标群体测试。优秀的游戏设计师会找到利用这些反馈参数的方法。

让富有创意的人或团队掌控产品的整体印象很重要，但此类人通常会是项目主管或总经理，而并非设计师或传统的创意总监。我知道这种说法会遭到众人抨击，但许多负责多款游戏的项目主管确实比老练的设计师拥有更多实用设计经验。因为多数游戏设计属于重复性工作，而社交媒体游戏的项目主管凭借自身经验可以掌控这种重复性工作的成果。

利用真正的测量性结果，近年来少数游戏设计师体验到项目主管那种感觉。我觉得这就是为何如此多老设计师依然能够获得成功的原因。他们利用所有自身经验来构建游戏，这恰恰是现在项目主管做的事情。

就目前的社交游戏数据和反馈参数来看，你认为这些游戏将如何跟随这一领域的发展而成长？

社交游戏已经在发生改变，而且未来还将持续下去。受众逐渐习惯于某些设计功能。经过设计师的不断矫正，游戏变得越发复杂但更易上手。这符合整个行业过去数十年的发展趋势，而且进展得越来越快。

你的GDC Europe演讲将如何阐述反馈参数在社交游戏中的运用？你希望听众能从演讲中获得什么？

演讲关注的焦点是为何反馈参数对设计师和项目主管都很重要。我觉得外界过分夸大项目主管与设计师在运营和创意性方面的冲突，而未曾注意到这两个职位间令人难以置信的相似性和协同性。我深信，如果这两个职位的人能够认清自己的职责，那么都会发挥出更强大的作用。我希望大家能够摒弃对这两个职位合作性的怀疑，学会欣赏他们在这一领域的贡献和价值。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

GDC Europe Speaker Spotlight: Zynga’s Castle On Social Game Metrics

As part of a new series of interviews with speakers from the upcoming GDC Europe 2011, Zynga’s Lou Castle spoke out on the importance of metrics in social game design, as well as the increasing importance of effective project managers.

Castle is a storied veteran of the game industry, and his career covers a broad range of games and studios. Most notably, he co-founded Command & Conquer developer Westwood Studios, and worked with Electronic Arts on a number of its popular franchises. He also served as CEO of browser-based gaming site InstantAction, and earlier this year, Castle joined Zynga to become the company’s VP of studios. In anticipation of his upcoming talk at GDC Europe, “Driving Social Design Features and Metrics for Designers and PMs,” Castle talks about the ways in which data can inform design, and explained why social game project managers may have “more practical design experience” than many seasoned game designers.

When designing a social game, what sort of data do you find most valuable in terms of metrics?

The data you didn’t gather! Seriously, it is critical that you collect, as quickly as possible and allow for analysis as many things as you can think of. Of course you need to balance scale, performance, storage etc. but in the end, your success will depend on your ability to gather information immediately and act quickly on what you find. For the direct answer, flows are the most important type of data to capture. Commerce is required of course but the flow of customers from one state to another usually offers the most insight into the performance of a game or feature within the game.

How much do you think metrics should drive game design? How much creative control should a developer maintain over his or her product?

Designing free to play games requires data-informed design decisions both in the initial game expression and subsequent updates, but especially in the updates. Designers must look to history to frame their experience and create the initial game. Then they have to put their ego aside and react to what the players actually do. This is not uncommon to the infamous focus tests of packaged goods games where the designer watches in horror as the focus group “doesn’t get it.” The good designers find a way to embrace the feedback and use it to both validate intuition and expose myopic blind spots.

It is critical that a person or group with a creative vision holds the overall product expression together but that could easily be a project manager or general manager instead of a designer or traditional creative director. I’m sure I’ll get slammed in a blog for saying it, but many project managers have more practical design experience than seasoned designers with multiple games under their belt. The reality is that much of design is iteration and if you are a project manager on a social media game you are held to a high standard of predictable results with iteration on a very granular level.

Few game designers of recent years experience that kind of turnaround with real measurable results. I think that’s why so many “old time” designers are still successful. They were building games when you had to make one a month and have all that experience to draw upon, just like a project manager does now.

Based on the data and metrics you have seen for social games, how do you think these games will change as the space grows and evolves?

They already have and continue to do so. The audience becomes more accustomed to certain design features. Through iteration, games become both more complex and easier to approach. This is very similar to what our entire industry has gone through over the past decades — it’s just happening very, very fast.

How will your GDC Europe talk address the use of metrics in social games, and what do you expect people to take away from it?

My talk is focused on why metrics are important to both designers and project managers. I feel too much rhetoric surrounds the business and creative conflicts of project managers and designers without discussing the incredibly important similarities and synergies of the two roles. I sincerely believe both roles are stronger with a deep appreciation of the role metrics play in each discipline. I would expect many people to take away affirmation of what they suspect is important and some with a new found appreciation for what is required to succeed in markets where you give away your content to most of your customers. (Source: Gamasutra)