作者：Brandon Sheffield

最近我看了一个由Diego Garcia和Emmett Butler制作的游戏的预告片，那款游戏叫作《Heads Up! Hot Dogs》。是一个有趣的iOS游戏，玩家将热狗放在行人的头上，有些人会生气地跳脚，使热狗一下子就从那人头上掉下来；警察会开枪，把从半空中落下来热狗打坏。

Heads up hot dogs(from vimeo.com)

这款游戏的画面不错，音乐也很好，看起来很好玩，虽然有一点点恶趣味。当预告片播放完了，我想到“这游戏大概99美分，我要买。”可是当我打开App Store，什么也没找到。

原来这游戏要等到2012年秋天才发布。游戏的预告片覆盖了几个主要的博客网，对于这么一个小游戏，广告做到这个程度也就差不多了。到了秋天，谁还记得这款关于丢热狗的小游戏呢？即使我还记得，我那时还想买吗？无论多有趣，Kotaku网站还会写第二篇关于这个小游戏的评论吗？对于媒体，第一次曝光就是表现新东西的有趣之处的时候。在那之后，激动劲也就过了，最多听到有人说“还记得那款游戏吗？现在它出炉了。”

游戏世界的发展速度飞快，推广的机会也去得匆匆。对于PC、iOS和Android平台的独立游戏，我认为大部分营销工作应该放在游戏已经上市之后。

案例研究

我的朋友Tim Rogers供职于Action Button Entertainment，大约四个月以前发布了一款名为《ZiGGURAT》的iOS游戏。在发行以前，他一直在做那款游戏的推广工作——发布预告片、图片等等，总有人问他游戏在哪。毕竟，他谈了关于游戏的事，那么显然这游戏该出了，但人们怎么找也没找到，所以肯定出了什么错。

99美分的App Store游戏已经成为游戏市场的冲动消费对象。我并不马上需要Reese牌的花生本酱，但是当我站在结帐台排队等着我前面的老太太拿出她的支票簿，我就有买那瓶花生酱的冲动了。当我花五分钟时间看一款新游戏的视频时，那就是我的结帐时间。我想立即买下，而不是被告之，以后才能买。

《ZiGGURAT》的销售出现两次高峰，这与大媒体的两次好评和Tim制作的YouTube预售广告片有关。从中我们学到的最重要的经验是，虽然Tim在游戏发行前做了很好的推广工作，但销售高潮出现在推广活动撞上预售时间之际——而不是游戏正式出售时。在这个案例中，在游戏上市以前发布太多信息其实可能已经影响了销售。

任何介于游戏和玩家之间的障碍都会严重影响收益，这是已经得到证明的真理。在《Heads Up! Hot Dogs》的案例中，我认为这款游戏可以购买。但当它发行时，我怎么会记得去看看？如果业界博客不再谈论它，或没人在它发行时再跟我提起它，我是不会知道的。如果开发者在第一次预告片推广中已经耗尽了信誉，怎么办呢？潜在的玩家还会记得游戏的名字吗？

例外

在许多方面，《Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP》是个例外，但我们在此只谈它的预告片。该团队在游戏放出以前发布了片头预告片，让玩家们非常兴奋。不同的是，这款游戏的画面具有明显的索尼风格，且视频只关于游戏基调，而不是玩法（事实上，它甚至没有透露这款游戏是什么）。与《Heads Up!》预告片不同的是，《Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP》的预告片有声音和说明，但没有细节。

以下是我对现代iOS和PC独立游戏营销的见解：

如果你的游戏是高概念的（游戏邦注：high-concept即高概念，这里是指快节奏、惊险且具悬念的；高度刺激性的；富有挑战性的一类游戏）作品：那就用视频宣传，为游戏添加一个基调和作者叙述声音，用那个声音展示开发者的日志。不要太详细，要用游戏的声音与外界保持交流。游戏发布之后，仍用这种方式进一步宣传，但也要用自己的声音真诚地讨论你的游戏。当你发布游戏的更新时，就回到“游戏的声音”。

如果你的游戏不是高概念的：在游戏发布以前，不要发布说明性的预告片。只要用图片和声音宣传，不要放出预告片。只把公开信息告诉游戏的忠实追随者、粉丝或朋友。接受反馈，然后公开地讨论你的游戏和回答疑问——让人们感到自己参与了你的工作总是好的，但不要公布预告片或发起新闻媒体推广，直到游戏发布。之后，你可以做任何让游戏引人注目的事情。

在AAA游戏的世界里，造势仍然是重要手段，但那是因为你必须有一个实体发行，你必须在玩家进入GameStop以前跑在他们前头。但对于智能手机、PC独立游戏和其他小规模的平台，你没有足够预算制作那么多预告片让受众记住。对于大多数游戏，你让人们兴奋的时机只有一次。所以，当这个时机来临之际，请保证你的游戏已经发布了。（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）

Opinion: When talking to the press too early can hurt you

by Brandon Sheffield

I recently watched a trailer for a game by Diego Garcia and Emmett Butler called Heads Up! Hot Dogs. It’s an amusing iOS game about dropping hot dogs on people’s heads as they walk by at various speeds. Some of them bounce up and down, making it tougher for the dog to settle. Cops try to shoot your hot dog out of the sky.

The game has a nice art style, good music, and seems like quirky fun, if a bit light. As soon as the trailer finished playing, I thought “I reckon that’s about 99 cents. I’ll go buy it.” I went to the App Store and found…nothing.

Turns out the game isn’t due out until fall 2012. The trailer got coverage on a few major blogs, and for a game of this size, that’s about all it’s going to get. By fall, who will remember the little game about dropping hot dogs? Even if I do remember it, will I still want it then? Will Kotaku want to write about a game of this size a second time, no matter how quirky? With the press, your first shot is when you convey the excitement of a New Thing. After that, the thrill is gone, and at best you’ll get a “remember that game? It’s out now,” if that.

The pace of the game world is speeding up, and the window of opportunity for promotion is changing accordingly. I think that for indie games on PC, iOS, and Android, the bulk of your marketing should thus be after the game is already on the market.

A Small Case Study

My friend Tim Rogers of Action Button Entertainment released a game called ZiGGURAT on iOS about four months ago. Before the game’s release, he kept putting out hints about it – releasing trailers, images, and the like – and he would always have people asking where the game was. After all, he had been talking about it, so clearly it must be out, but the people looking for it couldn’t find it, so there must be some mistake.

99-cent App Store games have become the impulse purchase of the game market. I don’t want a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup right now, but when I’m in the checkout line waiting for the pink-haired old lady in front of me to take out her checkbook, it starts to look pretty compelling. When I’m avoiding work for five minutes to look at a video of a new game, that’s my checkout line. I want to buy it right away, and I don’t want to be told to come back later.

ZiGGURAT had two spikes in sales, which were related to two favorable reviews from larger publications, and a postrelease YouTube mock infomercial Tim created. The most important lesson is that while Tim did a good job promoting the game before its release, the major sales came when promotions hit postrelease – not when the game first went on sale. In his case, releasing too much good information to the press before the game was out might actually have hurt sales.

It’s been well established that any barrier between the game and the player is a significant loss of revenue. In the case of Heads Up! Hot Dogs, I thought it was interesting enough to buy. But how will I remember to check when it’s released? If industry blogs never talk about it again, or nobody links it to me once it’s out, I won’t know. What if the developers used up all their goodwill with that first trailer push? Will potential players even remember the name?

A Notable Exception

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP is an exception in a lot of ways, but we’ll just talk about the trailer here. The team released a teaser trailer well before the game came out, and it got people excited. The difference is that S:S&S EP has a very defined visual and sonic style, and the video was all about tone, not gameplay (in fact, it barely even told you what the game was). Unlike the Heads Up! trailer, the S:S&S EP trailer had a voice and a direction, but no detail.

Here, then, are my ideas for the modern world of iOS and PC indie game marketing.

If your game is high-concept: Tease it with video. Establish a tone and authorial voice for your game, and present developer diaries in that voice. Don’t be too specific, and keep all communication with the outside world in the game’s voice. After the game is out, promote further in this manner, but also discuss your game frankly in your own voice as well. When you’re releasing game updates, return to the “game voice.”

If your game is anything else: Do not release an expository trailer before your game’s release. Tease it with images and sounds, but don’t show a trailer. Keep your public info to just your loyal followers, fans, or friends. Do accept feedback, and discuss your game publicly and answer questions if asked – it’s always good to let people feel involved in your work – but don’t release a trailer or do a real press push until the game is out. After that, go wild, do anything you can to get noticed.

In the world of triple-A games, building buzz is still the name of the game, but that’s because you have to have a big brick-and-mortar launch, and you need to be at the front of players’ minds when they enter that GameStop. But for smartphone, PC indie, and other smaller-scale platforms, you won’t have the budget to get tons of trailers into their brains. For most games, you’ve got one shot to get people excited. Make sure your game is out when it comes.(source:gamasutra)