作者：Henric Suuronen

游戏业界时常有人批判社交游戏缺乏真正的可玩性机制，甚至完全不能算是游戏。对某些游戏来说，这种批判确实有道理，然而高端游戏循环的复杂游戏却很少在Facebook上获得成功。难道Facebook上的社交游戏就不能更具游戏性吗？我相信可以做到，而且也应该这样发展。如果做法恰当，比如以某种精明的方法来加大游戏深度，用户留存率会得到极大提升。关键在于心存些许重要观念，从而增加游戏功能的深度。这些观念有：

1、新手玩家无需有意识地思考便能够自动理解游戏功能。

2、游戏不需要玩家有足够的机敏度和手眼协调能力。让玩家发挥战略性思考得出解决方案，实现最佳结果。与《都市摩天大楼》（游戏邦注：这款游戏需要玩家在快速进程中找准时机点击鼠标以获得更高的分数）相比，《愤怒的小鸟》之类的游戏战略元素更多，协调元素较少。

3、游戏应该在现有游戏循环上增加新“层次”，而不是将二者独立开来。

4、应该让玩家在基础关卡中偶遇这些内容，使他们觉得完成或解决问题是个聪明之举。

5、首次完成并获得奖励之后，让玩家继续尝试找寻更好的解决方案。用户留存率便由此而来。

millionaire-city(from games.on.cm)

或许这些听起来很困难，但执行起来并不如你想象的那般复杂。以《Millionaire City》为例，玩家在游戏中购买房屋、装饰并将它们随意放置在地图上便可获得极大的乐趣。然而不久后他们会发现，偶然间战略性地布置房屋或装饰会得到更多的奖励。这让玩家觉得自己很聪明，如此便是驱动玩家的强烈情感。而且，根据房屋布局而获得的奖励还会在主游戏循环中产生多个不同的解谜式游戏：如何安排装饰才能使额外奖励达到最高；如何在有限空间内使产出的金钱最多；如何才能使占用的道路空间最少。

wooga的《Monster World》也是个例证，相比普通市场而言，玩家向机器人Robert出售作物能获得额外的经验和钱币。Zynga的奖励条为《CityVille》和《FrontierVille》增加些许“点击最优化”。《CityVille》中也包含取自《Millionaire City》装饰概念的地区奖励。尽管Zynga的奖励条给游戏循环添加了某些需要机敏度的层次，但我认为最棒的是其战略、最优化、逻辑或益智风格的特色。这些能为所有用户群体所接受，而且可以延伸出无尽的功能和特色。

面向Facebook广阔市场设计游戏时，可玩性既不可过于简单也不过于复杂，这一点至关重要。采纳上述增加可玩性深度的理论，你可以实现这个目标并获得意想不到的成果。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

SMART-DEPTH: ADDING MORE ‘GAME’ TO SOCIAL GAMES

Henric Suuronen

Social games are often criticized for lacking “real” gameplay mechanics or even missing a game entirely. In some cases this criticism is warranted but more complex games with more advanced game loops rarely have success on Facebook. So can’t social games on Facebook have more game to them? I believe they can and they should. If done correctly, including more depth to a game in a smart way can have great effects on retention. The key is to add “Smart-Depth” game features with a few important things in mind:

a. Novice or beginner players should not need to consciously think about the feature until they figure it out or realize it on their own accord.

b. It should not require dexterity or hand-eye-coordination. Strategic thinking with variable solutions and outcomes is best. Compare Tower Bloxx, which requires users to time clicks in rapid progression to score higher, to a game like Angry Birds which has strategic elements but requires less coordination.

c. It should add a new “layer” on the existing game loop not create a separate one.

d. Players should be able to do it on a basic level almost by accident and feel smart for completing or solving the problem.

e. After doing it once and gaining the rewards players will carry on trying to find an even better solution. It is here the greatest retention effects are achieved.

These may sound difficult but are not as complex to implement as you might expect. Take Millionaire City for example; there players will have great fun simply buying houses, decorations and placing them arbitrarily on the map. However soon they will notice, sometimes by accident, that placing a house or decoration strategically will give greater rewards. This gives the player a feeling they are smart which is a strong emotional driver. In addition, the logic of having bonuses based on layout creates several different puzzle games inside the main game loop: How to place decorations strategically to have the highest possible house bonus; How to optimize money generation in limited space; How to use as little road space as possible.

Other examples can be seen in wooga’s Monster World where players get bonus experience and coins from selling crops to Robert the Robot instead of the general market. Zynga’s Bonus Bar adds a light “clicking optimization” game in CityVille and FrontierVille. CityVille also included the area bonus from decorations concept from Millionaire City. While Zynga’s Bonus Bar actually adds a pseudo arcade layer (requiring dexterity) to the game loop I believe the best is strategic, optimization, logic or puzzle type features. These will fit all user segments and have nearly endless variations.

When designing games with broad market appeal on Facebook it is important not to be too light in gameplay or to be too complex. Using the theory of adding smart-depth gameplay you can achieve this goal and get amazing results. (Source: GAMES CHANGED MY LIFE)