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关于打造成功社交游戏需知的11个要点

发布时间:2011-07-23 17:13:05 Tags:,,,,

作者:Daniel Sefton

最近几年的游戏已经摆脱一次性付费、单人模式的时代,许多开发商都选择在游戏中植入社交功能,并将其发布至多个平台,让社交网络拉近了人与人之间的距离。

但不幸的是,也有许多开发商虽然涉足多个平台,却并未充分挖掘出游戏的潜在优势。我将在下文列举开发商推出热门社交游戏所需注意的相关要点,但需要指出是,不同游戏项目的需求也会有所区别,所以开发商无需盲从,而应选择对自己可行的方法。

选择合适的平台

先自问哪一个平台更合适自己的游戏,这个平台会保持当前的发展势头吗?它可以为游戏带来足够的收益吗?它是行业的未来走向吗?它的用户规模多大?主要用户是哪些群体?

瞄准大范围的用户

最好不要锁定细分市场,而是尽量指向更多用户。例如,你想创造一款僵尸射击游戏,那就会把儿童用户排除在外,从而限制了自己的市场空间。

仔细考虑那些平时不玩游戏的用户,他们在接触你的游戏时是否顺手和感兴趣,这样才有可能虏获大规模的用户。另外还要注意尽可能推出多种语言版本。

让游戏容易上手

用简洁的语言介绍游戏玩法,然后把游戏交给玩家,不动声色地看对方操作情况。如果在这个过程中你需要开口指导对方,那就说明游戏存在问题。当然并非所有游戏都能如此简单明了,但《愤怒的小鸟》、《割绳子》和《翼飞冲天》就属于这种典型。

tiny-wings(from gamefront.com)

tiny-wings(from gamefront.com)

如果你的游戏操作方法并不只是按触或划动屏幕这么简单,那也并不是问题,只要为玩家提供一个优良的新手教程即可,确保他们快速领会并无障碍地体验游戏。但玩家很容易在数分钟内就失去耐心,所以如果新手教程的内容较多,那就想法让其更具趣味性和互动性以吸引玩家。另外要牢记,玩家不喜欢阅读大量的文本内容。

游戏测试不可忘

你找到的测试玩家越多,就越有利于改善游戏。当游戏呈现在公众面前时,你可以从测试中得到如何优化游戏的反馈,并获得更出色的创意和灵感。谨慎挑选玩家,向他们发放测试密钥,然后根据反馈结果更新游戏,再反复测试,然后继续调整,一直到他们无话可说为止。

千万要避免游戏程序崩溃的情况!假如游戏崩溃,那就会导致它获得大量差评,并引起玩家不快。虽然有些崩溃情况在所难免,但开发者所要做的就是让游戏尽善尽美,修复每一个明显的漏洞。选择大量的玩家进行测试有助于降低这种情况发生概率。

定期更新内容

发布游戏后并非大功告成,需定期修复漏洞,添加更多新功能和内容。那些有点想放弃游戏的玩家,总会想知道游戏经过更新后有哪些改观和变化。

创建游戏社区

玩家需要一个既可与其他玩家交流,又能与开发者互动的场所。所以你一定要在网络上建立自己的影响力,针对游戏推出一个网站、博客或者论坛。也可以借助Facebook、Google+和Twitter的功能实现这一点。还可以经常举办竞赛活动,让玩家与他们分享游戏经验,持续讨论与游戏相关的话题,从而增强口碑营销的效果。

植入社交功能

社交体验的核心就是支持玩家在游戏中与他们互动和沟通。最基本的设置就是积分排行榜和成就系统,最好添加玩家互助、关卡分享、LAN、聊天等多种方便玩家以独特方式互动的功能。

玩家喜欢竞争,如果能为他们添加比较游戏进展,或与他人过招的竞争机制,那就更妙了。

保证游戏粘性

采纳强制循环机制,让玩家每天都自动回访游戏。有些成功的社交游戏使用的是随时间发展解琐额外内容的时间延后机制。

另一个值得考虑的理念是无休无止的游戏。游戏没有终极目标,玩家就可以无期限地玩下去,你的游戏生命周期也就会更长。此外还可以通过推出每日任务或每月活动等定期项目,吸引玩家不断返回游戏。

鼓励玩家展现自我

支持玩家的自我表现行为,是促使他们对游戏保持兴趣的一个强大武器。你的整个游戏最好是以玩家创意为核心(游戏邦注:例如《凯西的精巧设计》、《小小大星球》、《挖矿争霸》等),假如不是,那就为他们提供一个含多种选项的关卡编辑器,让他们尽情发挥自己的创造力。

minecraft(from giga.de)

minecraft(from giga.de)

另外还可以让玩家分享自制的关卡,让他们访问他人的关卡,甚至下载其他关卡以便自娱自乐。人物角色的自定义设置也同样有助于实现这一目标。

正确的定价模式

这个主题已经足够另写一篇博文,但实际上它就只有两个选择:付费和免费。

如果采用付费模式,游戏下载量可能相对较少,但却可以保证较为稳定的营收来源。那么你就得考虑游戏的价值所在,玩家的消费意愿(0.69美元,5美元还是10美元?)等问题。

如果采用免费模式,那就可以接触大量的用户,但仅有一小撮玩家(约占0.5%至2%)会在游戏中消费。Noel Llopis曾在开发者大会中发言表示,社交游戏开发商是时候考虑采用免费模式了。但我主张等到你确信会有玩家愿意为游戏掏钱时,再做出合适的决定。

找对发布时机

在我看来,时机也是成就轰动大作的一个重要因素,但这一点也同样是说易行难。切记不可在充斥大量漏洞,含有许多未完善功能时匆匆发布游戏,一定要确认杀手级的游戏玩法元素已经正式完工。等到你对游戏百分百满意,测试用户也百分百没问题时再推出游戏。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Opinion: Checklist For A Hit Social Game

by Daniel Sefton

[In this reprinted #altdevblogaday-opinion piece, TidalWare head Daniel Sefton offers several common sense suggestions -- but still useful reminders -- for developers looking to create a "hit" social game.]

These days, games can be much more than buy-once, single-player experiences; they can now be published to multiple platforms with built-in social features, and the web brings people closer together than ever before in the age of social networks.

Unfortunately many developers who launch on these platforms fail to embrace their game’s full potential. In this post, I will list some of my thoughts on what developers should consider before launching their next social game (and what I’m considering right now).

Bear in mind that these factors can be mixed and matched – some things will work better for certain games, and some might not even be necessary. The objective is to squeeze as much out of your game as possible. Ask yourself if that bit of extra development time is worth it, because I believe it makes the difference between a hit and a huge success.

Choose The Right Platform

You have to ask yourself which platform is sustainable and right for your game – will it continue to grow? Will it generate enough income? Is it future proof? How many people use it? Who uses it?

Target A Large Audience

Try not to target niche markets; target as many people as you can. If you want to create the next zombie shooter, you’re limiting your market and excluding kids, for example.

Consider that if someone who wouldn’t normally play games like your grandma is able to pick up and enjoy your game, you may have the potential to tap into the wider population. Translating it into multiple languages helps too.

Make It Easy To Learn

Explain how to play your game in a sentence, hand it to a player, then keep your mouth shut. If you need to open it, you’ve got work to do. Obviously not all games can be that simple, but I’m considering the runaway successes – Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, Tiny Wings etc. I also adopted this for our winning game jam title, and it worked wonders.

If your game involves more than a few taps and swipes, not a problem, you just need to present the player with a nice tutorial and make sure the they pick it up as quick and painlessly as possible. Players are easily frustrated and get bored within minutes, so if you have a lot of explaining to do, keep the player engaged and make it an interesting and interactive process. Players will not read blocks of text!

Test, Test, Test, Test

The more people you have test your game the better. You will receive valuable feedback on how to improve your game, and it gives you a good idea of what it will be like when launched to the public. Give out plenty of beta keys (choose your testers wisely). Update, hand back, update, hand back. Do this until they can say no more.

YOUR GAME MUST NOT CRASH! This is important. If your game crashes, that’s instant low ratings and player dissatisfaction. I know some crashes are completely unpredictable and edge cases are a PITA, but just make sure any damn obvious crashes are fixed. Plenty of player testing should minimize the chances of this.

Update Regularly

Unfortunately, you can’t just launch your game and forget about it. Bugs need to be fixed, more features need to be added, with extra content. People who might have given up with your game will nearly always want to check out what’s changed after an update.

It’s all about keeping players coming back. Not only that, but they need to feel that their voices are heard if they offered any constructive criticism or suggestions.

Build A Community Around The Game

Players need somewhere to engage with not only other players, but the developers themselves. Build your online presence. Make sure you have a website, a blog, a forum etc. Utilise Facebook, Google+ and Twitter. Host competitions. Give people the chance to share their experience with others, keep them talking about your game, and empower word of mouth.

Connect Players In-Game

Core to the social experience is allowing players to connect and communicate within the game itself. High scores and achievements are the bare minimum. Try to include network-enabled features like co-op, level sharing, LAN, chat, or anything else that might connect players in a unique way.

One thing to note is that players love competition, and there’s nothing better than to compare progress or battle it out against human opponents.

Make The Game Sticky

Embrace the compulsion loop – give players a reason to return to your game. Some of the more successful social games use time delay as a means of bringing them back, such as unlocking extra content over time.

Another thing to consider is the concept of a never-ending game; if it has no end goal and you are able to play the game indefinitely, the life cycle of your game will diminish slower. You could also offer features periodically such as a daily quest or monthly event.

Let Players Express Themselves

Allowing players to express themselves is a powerful tool for keeping them interested in your game. Perhaps your whole game is based around player creativity (Casey’s Contraptions, LittleBigPlanet, Minecraft). If not, offering an optional level editor will give players something extra to do.

Also try to allow levels to be shared, whether that be allowing players to visit other levels, or even download other levels to enjoy for themselves. Character customisation goes a long way too.

Decide On The Right Pricing Model

This is a whole post in itself, but essentially it comes down to 2 choices: premium or freemium.

If you go premium, you will naturally have less downloads but arguably a more secure revenue stream. Then you need to consider the value of your game: what is it really worth, and what do you think players are prepared to pay? $0.69? $5? $10?

If you go freemium, you are opening your game to a huge audience, but only a really low percentage (0.5-2 percent) will spend any money on in-app purchases. As Noel Llopis said in his Developer conference presentation, you should seriously consider making your social game freemium. But I would only do that if you are absolutely sure players will have the compulsion to make purchases.

“It’s Ready When It’s Ready”

This is one big ingredient for a hit in my opinion, but it’s far easier said than done. Don’t launch a game with bugs or unfinished features. Make sure that killer gameplay element is implemented. Make sure you are 100 percent happy, and your testers are 100 percent happy. Launch your game when it’s ready.(source:gamasutra


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