作者：Tom Curtis

Facebook上的电子游戏大概陷入麻烦之中了。行业主宰Zynga正在挣扎，玩家正在流失，分析师担心社交空间的发展势头正在衰退。

游戏开发商被迫寻找防止玩家流失的新方法。游戏开发商如Kixeye、Rebel Entertainment和甚至是Zynga采用的一种策略是，专注于开发玩家可以同时玩的游戏。

时至今日，Facebook市场始终是异步游戏占主导，在这类游戏中，玩家可以单独玩或采用回合制玩法，如《Words With Friends》和《FarmVille》。

但许多开发商认为从长远看来，同步体验可能更有发展前途，因为玩家会觉得自己变得更强大了、彼此的关系更直接了，玩家会在游戏中玩得更久。

异步游戏

Kixeye是专注于硬核玩家人群的开发商，自去年中发行《Battle Pirates》后一直在制作即时、同步的Facebook游戏。根据该公司首席执行官Will Harbin所称，这类游戏特别令玩家兴奋，因为可以促进真实的社交互动，而这是异步游戏做不到的。

Battle_Pirates（from g4g.it)

Harbin解释道：“在异步的游戏环境下，你得不到相同程度的沉浸感。想像一下玩不同步的踢球游戏，这根本行不通！游戏的重点就在于看到另一支队伍、与他们进行不同程度的互动，相同的心情也应该带进社交游戏中。”

甚至Zynga也认识到，玩家对即时游戏如《Zynga Poker》的反应相当积极，在今年夏季初，该社交巨头在《Bubble Safari》中加入新的同步游戏模式，就此宣布它将更加关注同步游戏玩法。

Zynga总经理Manuel Bronstein希望这些即时体验能够吸引新玩家进入Facebook。他说有些玩家对异步体验不感兴趣，而这是目前网上大多数游戏的主流模式，但玩家可能被即时多人游戏吸引。

Bronstein表示：“虽然我们不可能公布所有数据的细节，不过我们看到我们的即时游戏玩家有更高的沉浸感，因为这类玩家往往会玩更久。”

甚至更小型的开发商也在考虑同步社交游戏的可观前景。比如，位于洛杉机的Rebel Entertainment工作室在即将发行的动作游戏《Dungeon Rampage》中为即时玩法打了个大赌。因为该工作室相信打破Facebook的传统模式会让自家的游戏从众多游戏中脱颖而出。

该工作室总经理Mike Goslin提出：“但显然，具有异步的特点也很重要。从长远看来，异步的设计确实可以让玩家群体联系得更紧密。”

当然，开发商在执行同步游戏玩法方面还面临着更多技术难题。

Kixeye工作室的Harbin注意到，社交游戏开发商确实必须努力建设服务器，因为当你的游戏依赖同步机制时，延迟和性能问题就变得很严重了。

根据他的经验，开发即时、依赖服务器的游戏会使开发时间翻两番，但Harbin认为只要游戏能得到忠实的玩家，多花时间是完全值得的。

Zynga公司的Bronstein补充道，同步社交游戏开发商还必须担心的是维持强大的并行玩家基础，以促进即时游戏匹配。所以开发商必须想办法鼓励玩家在他们的在线社区进行长期性的活动。

除了这些额外的困难，本文采访到的开发商一致同意即时游戏仍然值得他们付出努力，因为这类游戏可能正是苦苦挣扎的Facebook市场急需的。

即时多人游戏可能未必是社交游戏的伟大救世主，但多数开发商都同意：即时多人游戏肯定也没害处。（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）

Real-time multiplayer games: Could they help save Facebook?

by Tom Curtis

Video games on Facebook might be in trouble. Juggernauts like Zynga are struggling, games are losing players, and analysts fear the social space could be losing its momentum.

Game developers have been forced to look for new ways to prevent their games from bleeding users. One approach being utilized by studios like Kixeye, Rebel Entertainment, and even Zynga is to focus on developing games that people to play together at the same time.

Up until now, the Facebook market has been dominated by asynchronous titles, games where players are either playing by themselves or taking turns — think Words With Friends, or even FarmVille.

But a handful of developers tell Gamasutra that head-to-head, synchronous experiences could prove more fruitful in the long-term, as players will feel a stronger, more immediate connection to each other, and will play even more.

Asynchronous Kickball

Kixeye, a developer focused on the more hardcore video game playing demographic, has been working with real-time, synchronous Facebook games since it launched Battle Pirates in the middle of last year. According to company CEO Will Harbin, these types of titles are particularly exciting for his players, as they can facilitate real social interactions in a way that asynchronous games can’t.

“You just don’t get the same level of engagement in an asynchronous environment,” Harbin tells us, “Imagine playing a game like kickball in an asynchronous way. It wouldn’t work! The whole point is seeing that other team there, and interacting with them on a variety of levels, and that same mentality should carry over into social games as well.”

Even Zynga has seen players respond quite positively to real-time games like Zynga Poker, and earlier this summer the social giant announced that it plans to focus even more on synchronous gameplay, starting with a new head-to-head game mode in its arcade puzzler, Bubble Safari (pictured).

Zynga general manager Manuel Bronstein hopes that these real-time experiences will attract new audiences to Facebook. He says some players aren’t interested in the asynchronous experience that most games on the network currently provide, but might be drawn in by real-time multiplayer games.

“While we can’t share all the details of the data, we’re seeing higher engagement with our real-time multiplayer sessions, since the players there typically don’t want to play just one match,” Bronstein says.

Even smaller developers think there’s a strong future for synchronous social games. The Los Angeles-based Rebel Entertainment, for instance, is betting heavily on real-time play in its upcoming action game Dungeon Rampage, as the studio believes that breaking from Facebook’s traditional model will help it stand out from the crowd.

“But to be clear, having the asynchronous features are important too,” says general manager Mike Goslin. “That asynchronous stuff can really help bind your community together in the long-term.”

If it’s so easy…

Of course, developers face more than a few technical hurdles implementing synchronous gameplay.

Kixeye’s Harbin notes that social developers really need to work hard on their server-side infrastructure, as latency and performance issues become critical when your game relies on synchronous mechanics.

Based on his experience, working on real-time, server-side games can nearly quadruple development time, but Harbin says it’s all worth it as long as the game ends up finding and strong a dependable audience.Zynga’s Bronstein adds that synchronous social game developers also have to worry about maintaining a strong concurrent user base to facilitate real-time matchmaking, so developers will need to find ways to encourage sustained activity in their online community.

But despite these added difficulties, the developers we spoke to all agree that real time games are still well worth the effort, as they could be one of the things the struggling Facebook market really needs.

Real-time multiplayer might not prove to be the grand savior of social games, but everyone we spoke to agreed: it sure couldn’t hurt.(source:gamasutra)