作者：Lars Doucet

营销游戏的关键环节之一是发布游戏的试玩版。一般来说有两种形式——网页版（在网页上试玩）和下载版（从网上下载到本地计算机上玩）。

在投放我的游戏试玩版以前，我花了一周的时间准备文件和网站。在试玩网站上，我会提供足够的内容让玩家去发现游戏的显著问题。玩家的反应大多是积极的。我能够马上修复玩家提出的大量问题。

在此，我将与读者分享我的游戏试玩版发布经验。

网页版

发布网页版就跟插入标签一样简单，但我想保持托管的低预算，并且尽可能地少占用空间，以免正式版发布时网站因流量过大而崩溃。“免费”swf 文件托管网站为数可观，如SwfCabin，但我希望找到更稳定的网站。我立即记上心来：Mochiads倒是个不错的选择。

Mochiads是可以通过发布游戏广告挣钱的服务网站。当然，我推荐它的目的不是给大家指明这条发财路。我自己打了三年半的广告也才挣了1300美元罢了，虽然我以前那些游戏在Flash市场上相当成功。尽管我的Flash制作收入非常可观，但广告对其几乎没有贡献，主要还是靠拉赞助、合作项目、当顾问和其他渠道。总之，广告收入少得可怜。

Mochiads的另一大优点是提供免费的托管服务！我把游戏的试玩版上传到Mochiads的服务器上，禁用网页广告。这样，我就有了一个在线的免费广告游戏样本，且不必担心服务器崩溃！当然，Mochiads也可能出故障，但总是比我自己的主机服务器要可靠吧，特别是当网络太拥挤时。

Mochiads的服务条款中并非不允许“禁用网页广告”这种做法，且考虑到我之前游戏的广告还再让它赢利，我觉得这么设置没什么。理论上来说，这意味着我可以获得游戏托管服务，但不能张贴广告；如果我已经设置“禁用网页广告”，页面上却还是出现了广告，那我也只能做罢，顶多自己托管文件。我宁可少挣点广告费也不想让网页广告把我的潜在玩家赶跑。特别是临近游戏正式发布，我更得提防着点。

BitTorrent运用有妙法

除了网页版，我还要发布可供下载的游戏样本。托管这些文件可比网页版困难多了，因为下载版不能压缩音频和图形文件，所以文件会比网页版的大很多。BitTorrent在这方面具有先天优势——越多人下载文件，我的服务器压力就越小，因为正在下载的用户之间会互相发送数据。

当然，BitTorrent也不是十全十美的。一方面，很多人不知道怎么使用BitTorrent。对于这些玩家，不必下载的网页版更适合他们。既然下载exe文件对不少人来说都有困难，那么我们就有必要关照一下这类人。另一方面，BitTorrent需要用户之间不断地发送文件。

当然，我可以全天候开启BT，把我家的电脑的当作种子文件，还可以叫上我们团队的所有人也开BT，但这毕竟不是长久之计。我需要更稳定、更可靠、更便宜（最好是免费）的方法。

解决方案的第一步是，在网页上“播种”，并链接到我自己的网络服务器上的文件，但这样就会增加我的托管费用了。

这时候，我突然搜索到一个有趣的妙招。我发现DropBox提供2G的免费文件托管服务，更棒的是，所有可访问文件夹都可以设置它提供的URL。Bittorent所需的网络种子都是URL，所以我把游戏样本放进我的DropBox网盘，复制网盘的URL，然后把所有传输文件设置成该网络种子的URL。

然后，我上传了BT下载文件，太神奇了，居然管用！（游戏邦注：据作者所知，这并不违反DropBox在线存储的服务条款）现在我有了一个在线版游戏样本和一系列交叉平台的安装程序，不但不用花我一个子儿，而且也不违反法律！

我现在唯一担心的就是 DropBox或Mochi的服务器会不会崩溃，但相比之下，我更担心我自己的网络主机受重创。

在我发表本文时，游戏的windows版和linux版已经可供下载了，而Mac版也即将公布！

试玩版长度

除了技术上的考虑，另一个重要问题是如何把游戏的完全版剪成合理的试玩版。已经有不少人就这个话题发表过高见了，以下是我总结出来的公理：

1、内容量足够玩家了解游戏主题

2、适可而止（在满足玩家以前）

3、以未公布内容吸引玩家

4、让玩家相信“精彩还在后面”

试玩样本存在的普遍问题是，只允许玩家尝试前面几个指南性的卡关，所以玩家不仅得不到什么乐趣，也不能明白游戏的特色何在。另一方面，如果试玩版一下子透露太多内容，玩家过足了瘾，也不会打算购买正式版了，这就好比有免费的牛奶喝了，还买奶牛干嘛呢？

我们的游戏包含六大类角色，各类角色均有独特的战斗方式，既然游戏的特色是这种相当有深度的战斗系统，我们不妨利用它向玩家传达某种信息，我们只允许玩家尝试一两类角色通关——玩家尝个鲜，却不知道游戏的具体深度。另一方面，我们仍然必须hold住大部分游戏内容。

怎么让玩家觉得这款游戏值得期待呢？有以下两个条件：

1、未放出的内容长度比试玩版长得多

2、玩家必须正确地感知事实

一开始，我们的游戏分成四个部分，这不像一个完整的游戏。第二部分是第一部分结束后的自然延续，占据了该游戏地图的整个线性过程的15%~20%（游戏邦注：但占整个游戏只约5%~10%的长度，因为之后的关卡需要更长时间和更多精力投入），努力向玩家介绍头两类角色（狂暴战士和游骑兵），但几乎绝口不提第三类角色（治疗者）。

正确的暗示

很快我们就遇到了玩家的感知问题。“好吧，我已经完成半个试完版游戏？”玩家这么想着。当然不是！后两部分还需要更长的时间！玩家一脸茫然：“我以为是这样的呢，不过你又没说。如果试玩版游戏只有这么四个部分，那完整版估计也长不了。”

因为游戏体验被分成了四个部分，即使第二部分的长度其实是第一部分的两倍多，玩家也难免会产生“各个部分长度相同”的印象。

所以，我们把试玩内容分成相同规格的7个部分。这样玩完前两个部分，玩家还是会认为他们处于游戏的开头部分，而不是临近游戏尾声。

把握试玩版的长度

完成试玩版平均需要一两个钟头，算是相当长的时间了，所以有些玩家建议我把握好试玩版的量。起初试玩版所有任务的分支挑战也向玩家开放，我听从建议，把第一部分之后的所有“极限”挑战给锁了。留下的“高级”挑战足以反映我们的额外任务和关卡设计，同时尝过鲜的玩家（特别是硬核玩家）仍然有盼头。

很快，又有玩家向我提出要求——“我要玩这个！”他们指着上锁的挑战如此说道。甚至是那些之前从来没有尝试过极限任务的玩家也响应了。我想，越是得不到的东西反而越能激发人们的占有欲。

鼓励玩家回访游戏

因为游戏完整版尚未发布，我们不能立即要求玩家“现在就购买！”，所以我们得给玩家一些返回游戏的理由。目前，我们能做的是把玩家“领”到我们的网站，然后鼓励他们注册邮件服务。我想大多数人会跳过这步，但这确实是与玩家保持联系的有效方法。而且，如果等到游戏最终版蓄势待发之际才发布试玩版，我们就会损失“造势”的大好时机，整体销售量就会受影响。无论如何，有10%的玩家总比100%没有玩家来得好。

尊重玩家的时间

一般来说，无论在试玩版上花了多长时间，等到完整版出来了，玩家又得从头来过。我不知道有多少玩家，但我想大部分玩家拒绝试玩是因为不想重头再来，或者因为花了太多时间“尝鲜”，就不想买完整版了，即使他们打心里喜欢这款游戏。

所以，我们让玩家存档。这样完整版出来时，他们就可以直接载入存档文件，然后继续试玩版之后的内容。当然，存档也为作弊打开方便之门，不过反正这是单人游戏，所以我确实不怎么担心。

这是尊重玩家的时间的小举动。这样，当玩家从我们发送的时讯邮件或网页得知游戏已发布时，会在桌面或硬盘中找到.dfq格式的文件，他们迫不及待地想知道《Defender’s Quest》的后续内容。

注意事项

总之，我们的“软发布”成功了。我的游戏得到大量反馈，不少明显的bug得到修复，我还“顺便”发现了一些托管游戏文件的好方法（不花钱，而且不担心服务器负荷）。当最终版游戏发布，我们还可以利用托管的方法降低托管费用，同时解决了一个“好难题”——下载用户人数过多时仍然维持服务器正常工作。

当我们开始销售游戏时，我们还需要为那些不会或不乐意使用Bittorren的玩家提供其他直接下载的方案。对此，无论我们借助什么第三方销售供应程序，都应该涵盖完整版游戏文件本身的托管。（我们也打算利用流媒体技术）

试玩版的长度也恰到好处，虽然还是有人评论说有点长。我不介意对试玩版出手大方，只要玩家仍然想购买完整版，我就不吃亏。此时，试玩版的体验将一路把你带到高潮的BOSS战，结尾是几段过场动画，让你在结束试玩版以前抢先“观看”下一个城镇。

有些玩家表示这种结束方式太“便宜”玩家了；有人建议我在BOSS战时打住，不要放出过场动画，这样会更加吊人胃口。该玩家提议用一个闪出面面：“欲知后事，敬请期待完整版！”作为结尾，而不要向玩家汇报或讨论接下来的形势。

我很清楚这么做的原因，但我仍然不确定最好的办法是什么。一整周的时间，我都在向更多人推广我的游戏，等到我收到足够的反馈，我就会撤下试玩版，然后于下周换上最终版。

以上就是我准备游戏试玩版的经验。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Lessons in Demo Launching

by Lars Doucet

An important phase in marketing any game is launching a playable demo.  We produced two versions – one that plays in a browser, and one that you can download and install for a nice, desktop-native experience with video features like fullscreen/resolution switching, etc.

In preparation for the launch, I spent a week getting the files and website ready for a “soft launch” where I showed it to just enough people to catch all the huge, obvious problems before the “real launch” where I would send out press releases and the like.  Response was mostly positive, and I was able to fix a lot of problems that people pointed out right away.
In today’s article, I talk about the process and share some of the things I learned.

Launching the Web Version

Deploying a web version is as easy as writing an embed tag, but I wanted to keep my hosting bill low, and also minimize the footprint in case high traffic from the “real launch” should take the site down. There’s plenty of “free” swf hosting sites like SwfCabin, but I wanted something sturdier.  Mochiads immediately came to mind.

Mochiads is a service that lets you earn money by running pre-game ads. All in all, I wouldn’t recommend this service for anyone trying to get rich : I’ve earned only $1,300 over 3.5 years with them, and my past games are actually pretty successful for the flash market.  Although I’ve made a decent living as a flash developer, almost none of it has come from ads, the bulk of my earnings having come through sponsorships, contract work, consulting, and other avenues.  Advertising is mostly chump change.

All that aside, Mochi is still good for free hosting!  I uploaded the game’s demo to mochi’s servers, disabled the pre-game ad, and voila!  I had an online, ad-free game demo and no server crash worries! Of course, Mochi’s servers could always go down, but they’re probably as or more reliable than my own hosting service, especially if there’s a lot of traffic.

If ads are shown for some reason, show one of ours

Mochi doesn’t disallow this technique in their terms of service, and considering I’m still letting them make money off of ads in my older games, I feel okay with it.  Theoretically this means that I’m able to host the game for free without showing any ads, but if any ads crop up despite my settings I’ll probably just suck it up and host the file myself, as ads turn people off and I’d much rather have a sale than measly ad revenue. This will become more important as the game gets closer to final launch.

Bending BitTorrent to My Will

Next, I needed a way to host the downloadable versions of the demo.  Hosting these files was a greater challenge than hosting the web version, as they were much bigger due to the uncompressed audio and graphics in the download version. Bittorent seemed like a natural solution – the more people torrent the file, the less stress my servers have as users start seeding to each other.

Of course, Bittorrent is not without its drawbacks.  For one, lots of people don’t know how to use it.  For these players, however, there’s always the web version which doesn’t require them to download anything. Given that even downloading an exe file is too high a barrier for many people, this should take care of our less technical crowd.  The other problem with Bittorent, however, is that someone needs to be constantly seeding the files at all times.

Of course, I could have just left Bittorent open all day and seeded from my home computer, or asked all my team members to do the same, but that wouldn’t be a permanent, fire-and-forget solution. I needed something stable, reliable, and cheap (preferably free).

One step in the right direction would be to web-seed the torrent file, linking it to a file on my web server, but that would still be a hit to my hosting bill I’d rather avoid.

That’s when I stumbled across an interesting trick by googling around for a while.  Turns out, DropBox offers free file hosting up to 2 GB, and even better, provides web URLs to all your public files.  All Bittorent needs to set up a web seed is a URL – so, I dropped the demo installer files into my public dropbox, copied the dropbox URL’s, and set those as the web-seed URL’s for each torrent file.

Bittorent + Dropbox = free web seed!

Then, I just uploaded the .torrent files, and, magically, it all worked!  (To my knowledge, this isn’t against DropBox’s terms of service, either)  Now I had a web demo, and a set of cross-platform installer files, all freely hosted without paying a dime or violating any rules!

All I have to worry about now is if DropBox or Mochi’s servers ever go down, but again, I’d be more worried about my own web host getting hammered then either of them.
As of this post, the windows and linux torrents are up. Mac version is coming soon!

Demo Length

Technical considerations aside, another important question we had was how to cut our game down from the full version to make a reasonable demo experience.  A lot of digital ink has been spilled on this topic, but as best I can summarize, the prevailing wisdom is :

Give the player enough content to understand what the game has to offer,

Stop short of satisfying them,

Tease them with future content,

Convince them what’s to come is worth it.

A common problem with demos is that they only give you the first few tutorial levels, so not only do you not get to do anything fun, you don’t really get a taste of what features the game really has to offer.  On the other hand, if the demo offers too much, you feel you’ve gotten enough milk for free, so why buy the cow?

Given that our game features a fairly deep battle system with 6 unique character classes, each specialized for different combat situations, we could easily send the wrong signal by only giving them a handful of levels to play with one or two classes – we’d barely scratch the surface, and players could go away without knowing how deep the game really was. On the other hand, we still have to hold most of the game back.

For the player to feel that the full version will be worth playing, two things need to happen:

The rest of the game needs to be much longer than the demo

The player needs to correctly perceive that fact

Originally, our game was split into four “acts,” not unlike a play. Act II fell at a natural stopping point, representing about 15-20% of total linear progress across the game’s map (but only about 5-10% of the total gameplay, as later levels are longer and more involved), and introduced the player solidly to the first two character classes (berserkers and rangers) and just barely introduced the third (healer).

Sending the Right Signals

Immediately we ran into perception problems with our testers. “So… I’ve played through half the game already?” They said in the after-play debriefing session. “No!” I said “the final two acts are much, much longer!”  The testers stared blankly at me and replied, “Okay, I guess so – but there’s no way to tell that from here.  Right now, the full version doesn’t seem like it will be much longer if it’s only four acts.”

Here, perception was everything – even though the second half of the game was over twice the length of the first, dividing the experience up into “acts” created the expectation that each act would be roughly the same length.

Incorrectly implies 50% of total content

So, we divided up the content to span seven equally sized acts. Hopefully, this will make players feel like they’ve just gotten started, rather than nearly being through with the game.

Correctly implies ~20% of total content

Hold Something Back

Average play-time for the demo is between one and two hours, which is pretty high, so a few people suggested that I hold something extra back.  Originally, all mission sub-challenges were playable in the demo, so I tried locking all the “extreme” challenges after Act I.  Leaving the “advanced” challenges in would still showcase our extra missions and level design, but giving players (particularly hard-core ones) something extra to long for.

Immediately, I started getting a reaction from testers. “I want that!” they said, pointing to the locked challenge.  I even got this reaction from players who previously had never even tried the extreme challenges.  I guess sometimes the simple act of holding something back can make people want it even more!

Encourage their Return

Since the final game isn’t ready yet, we can’t immediately direct someone to a “buy it now!” screen, so we need to give players some reason to come back.  For now, all we can really do is direct them to our website and encourage them to sign up for a newsletter.  I imagine most people will skip right past this, but it does give people a way to follow us and keep in touch.  Furthermore, if we wait to release a demo until the final game is ready, we lose the ability to build some buzz ahead of time, and overall sales will be lower.  As they say, better to get 10% of something than 100% of nothing.

This will be replaced by an “upsell” screen when the full version comes out

Respect their Time

Usually, when you sink a few hours into a demo, that time is lost as you have to start over when the full game comes out.  I don’t have exact numbers on this, but I know of lots of people who have refused to play demos because they don’t want to start over again, or, having played a demo, won’t buy the full version even if they liked the game because the sting of lost time is too much.
So, we let the player export their save file.  When the full version comes out, they can import this and pick up right from where they left off.  This does open the game to cheating if players hack their save file text, but it’s a single player game, so I don’t really care

This screen is shown to the player  when they quit or finish the demo.

It’s a small gesture of respect for the player’s time, and hopefully when they find out from either our newsletter or the internet that the full game is ready, they’ll see that little *.dfq file on their desktop and start itching to find out what happens next in Defender’s Quest.

Future Considerations

All in all, the “soft launch” was a success. I got a lot of good feedback on the game, found a lot of immediate, obvious bugs to fix, and figured out some clever methods to host the game files without having to worry about server load. When the final version comes out, we’ll still be able to use this hosting method to keep our hosting costs down and our servers up should we have the “good problem” of too many users trying to play and download our game at once.

However, when we start selling the game, we’ll need to have a direct download solution that works for our non-technical users who aren’t comfortable with using Bittorrent.  In this case, whatever 3rd-party sales provider we use for our storefront (like FastSpring) should cover the hosting for the final game files themselves. (We’ll also be trying to get the game out on Steam, etc).

The demo’s length feels about right, though we’ve gotten comments that it’s still a bit long.  I don’t mind being generous with the demo, so long as people still feel like buying the full game.  Right now, the experience takes you all the way to a climactic boss battle, resolves with a few cutscenes and then lets you visit the next town before you hit the “demo over” screen.

Some testers have suggested that letting the demo resolve like this leaves them too satisfied, and one suggested that I end it right after the boss battle, without the final cutscenes, so it’s more of a cliffhanger.  Instead of letting the party debrief and talk about the shadowy portents to come, this tester suggested I cut things off abruptly with a splash page that says “What happens next? Find out…. in the full game!”

I definitely see the reasoning, but I’m still not sure what the best decision is.  I’ll keep showing the game to more people throughout the week, and once I’ve gotten enough feedback I’ll tweak the final demo for the “real launch” next week.

For anyone who wants to see the demo, you can play it online and/or download the installer for your OS here:

Play The Demo!

So, that’s my article on some of the things I learned in preparing a demo for launch. Any comments, criticisms, questions?（source:gamasutra）