作者：Mike Thompson

游戏开发者wooga已在Facebook取得不俗表现，他们目前开始着手扩张至其他平台。在上周的西雅图Casual Connect大会上，该公司创始人兼首席执行官Jens Begemann在采访中谈及公司文化，及如何及为什么要进军手机游戏领域，什么原因促使他们最近脱离Google+平台，此外，他还就开发者如何在移动和社交游戏领域有所成就提出若干建议。

Jens Begemann from nextberlin.eu

驻扎单个地点，鼓励“学习文化”

虽然wooga的DAU水平在Facebook排名第4，但公司只在柏林设立工作室，共有员工200人。当被问及工作室是否计划在西海岸建立永久办事处时，Begemann表示，“就游戏制作和开发而言，我们认为将所有人员聚集起来包含众多益处。交流学习非常便捷，因为我们可以面对面沟通。”

Begemann解释表示，学习是wooga文化的一部分。每个员工每年都可以得到2000美元资助及2天额外假期，供他们随意使用，尽管这些资源主要用于教育活动。因此，诸如西雅图Casual Connect及旧金山Game Developers Conference之类的会议有很多wooga人员参加。同样，公司游戏团队设有每周例会，会上员工有10分钟时间分享自己在过去1周里所学到的东西。

脱离Google+

Wooga最近因宣布脱离Google+平台而成为话题人物，众多媒体将此归咎于此平台缺乏用户。Begemann表示，wooga脱离谷歌社交平台旨在转投移动领域，公司希望搭载具有庞大用户基础的平台。因此，Begemann表示，目前wooga有一半员工投身移动开发领域。

Screenshot from insidesocialgames.com

他解释表示，“我们是小型开发商。因此，我们需要就不同机会做出选择。很多机会都非常不错，但我们需要做出利益最大化的选择。即便某平台非常不错且颇为有利可图，我们依然得选定自己的着眼点。Google+是个非常优秀的平台，但我们目前计划将目标锁定于移动平台。”

转投移动平台谋发展

Begemann表示，通过交叉推广游戏和同步玩法，我们更容易达到临界质量。事实证明移动平台是个可行选择：于2011年12月投放至iOS平台的《Diamond Dash》现有超过2000万次的下载量（游戏邦注：Begemann表示该游戏在此没有任何营销投入）。在Casual Connect上，wooga表示，他们今年秋天将把另一热门Facebook游戏《Monster World》移植至iOS平台，同时更新游戏图像和道具。Begemann还表示，2013年wooga将通过既有管道发行和公司过去2年不相上下的作品数量，其中包括既有游戏的移动版本和新IP。

虽然wooga已顺利进军iOS平台，但公司表示，他们将着手涉足Android平台（从《Diamond Dash》入手）。Android是个更具挑战性的平台，因为其设备非常多元化，若想要获得Google Play的推荐，开发者必须确保游戏兼容尽可能多的设备。Begemann表示，Android分化现象的最大障碍是各设备屏幕尺寸多元化，再来是硬件性能和不同操作系统版本。和《Monster World》一样，《Diamond Dash》今年秋天将入驻Android平台。

MW DD Coming Soon from insidesocialgames.com

虽然移动平台很受游戏开发者欢迎，但Ouya主机最近也获得广泛关注，其在Kickstarter的突出表现成为热议话题。其系统由Android支撑，已获得若干行业知名人士及服务供应商的青睐（游戏邦注：如Robert Bowling，他因在Infinity Ward和OnLive表现突出而家喻户晓），尽管Begemann表示，wooga不打算进军主机领域，但他们对其发展态势非常感兴趣。虽然wooga开始扩展至Android平台，但Begemann表示，他们不计划转投Ouya平台，因为“基于游戏控制器或触控装置，抑或是鼠标装置设计游戏截然不同。当你进行游戏设计时，你需要将此考虑在内。”

“我们只是着眼于制作出更优秀的游戏。”

进一步深入移动平台意味着将会面临日益提升的用户获取成本，但Begemann对此并不担心。相反，他表示，wooga借助口碑传播及Facebook的内在病毒式传播功能促使游戏取得成功。他解释表示，“我们可以基于两种视角看待行业，你可以通过用户创收，着眼于收益最大化角度优化内容；这是很多开发者所采取的举措，但不包括我们。在我们看来，若你创造出精致的社交性内容，你就无需通过用户获取获得成功。”

“若你的游戏与众不同，你需要依靠获取用户创收，但我们将此看作补充方式。将钱投入营销活动中能够覆盖新的用户群体，但推广的核心不应建立在此基础上。我们只是着眼于创造出更优质的作品。”

虽然从一开始就制作出优质作品对于初期成功来说非常重要，但Begemann表示，这不是循环的终结点。相反，后续发行支持可谓更加重要。Begemann表示，游戏开发者需要倾听用户社区的意见，因为“游戏质量及你在后发行阶段给予粉丝的关注如今变得越发重要。”（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Jens Begemann opens up about Wooga’s culture, expansion plans and its recipe for success

By Mike Thompson

Game developer wooga is already a success on Facebook, with three titles on our lastest Top 25 games list, and it’s now starting to expand onto other platforms. At last week’s Casual Connect in Seattle, Founder and CEO Jens Begemann sat down to talk with us about the company’s culture, how and why it’s expanding into mobile games, what led to its recent departure from Google+ and offers some advice on how game developers can find success with mobile and social titles.

Stay in one area and encourage a “learning culture”

Although wooga is the No. 4 game developer by daily active users on Facebook, the company only has one office in Berlin with 200 employees. When asked if the studio had any plans to establish a permanent presence on the West Coast (as most social game developers do), Begemann tells us, “When it comes to game production and creation, we believe there are lots of advantages to having everybody under roof. The exchange of learning is so fast because we can just speak to each other.”

Begemann explains that learning is a big part of wooga’s culture. Every employee gets $2,000 and two extra days a year to use however they want, though these resources are mainly used for education. As a result, conferences like Casual Connect in Seattle and the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco are well-attended by members of the wooga family. Likewise, the game team has weekly meetings where members have ten minutes to describe what they’ve learned in the past week.

Leaving Google+

Wooga recently made headlines when the company publicly pulled away from Google+, which many outlets blamed on a lack of users. Begemann says wooga moved away from Google’s social network so it could focus on mobile platforms, as the developer wants to be on platforms with hundreds of millions of users. As a result, Begemann tells us half of wooga’s workforce is now focused on mobile development.

“We’re a small developer,” he explains. “Therefore, we have to make choices for the different opportunities out there. Many of the opportunities are really really good, but we have to make choices on where we think the biggest gross is. Even if a platform is good and profitable, we have to choose where our focus should be. Google+ is a good platform, but we’re focused on mobile now.”

Moving forward with mobile

Begemann tells us he believes critical mass is easier to attain with cross-platform titles and synchronized gameplay. Mobile is already proving a successful move for the developer: Diamond Dash came out for iOS in December 2011 and has been downloaded over 20 million times (a figure Begemann says was achieved without spending anything on marketing). At Casual Connect, the developer announced it would bring another popular Facebook franchise — Monster World — to iOS sometime this Autumn, with updated graphics and new in-game items. Begemann also says there’s a pipeline in place through 2013 for wooga to launch as many games as it has over the last 2 years, including mobile versions of established games and new IP.

Although wooga’s already successfully broken into iOS, the company announced it was going to start bringing its games over to Android (starting with Diamond Dash). Android is much more challenging to develop for because of the sheer variety of devices present on the market, and developers are encouraged to make sure their games are compatible with as many devices as possible if they want to be featured on Google Play. According to Begemann, the biggest obstacle with Android fragmentation is the varying screen sizes of all the different devices, then hardware performance and then different OS versions. Like Monster World, Diamond Dash is due on Android sometime this Autumn.

While mobile platforms are popular with game developers, there’s been a lot of recent attention on the Ouya console, which has made headlines for its success on Kickstarter. The system will be powered by Android and already has some big names and services from the games industry (like Robert Bowling — famous for his work at Infinity Ward — and OnLive) attached, though Begemann says wooga doesn’t have any plans to get onto the console but is very interested to see how it performs. Although wooga’s expanding onto the Android platform, Begemann tells us it has no plans to jump on the Ouya bandwagon because, “building a game for the game controller or touch or for mouse is very different. When you do the game design, you have to take that into account.”

“We just focus on making better games.”

Moving further into the mobile market means facing rising user acquisition costs, but Begemann isn’t worried about it. Instead, he says wooga relies on word-of-mouth recommendations and Facebook’s inherent virality to help its games succeed. “I think there are two different ways of looking at the industry,” he explains. “You can look at the user for money and optimize for the highest amount of money; that’s what a lot of developers do, but not what we do. We believe if you create something highly polished and social, you can succeed without relying on user acquisition.

“If your game is different, then you have to rely on acquiring users for lots of money, but we see that as a supplemental method. Spending money on marketing can reach new target groups, but the core of distribution shouldn’t rely on that. We just focus on making better games.”

While making a game great at the start is important in order to achieve initial success, Begemann also notes this isn’t the end of cycle. Instead, the post-launch support is arguably more important. Begemann says game developers need to listen to their player communities because, “the quality of the game and the attention you give your fans post-launch is much more important than it used to be.”（Source：insidesocialgames）