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Gary Gattis分享《神秘传奇》开发过程

发布时间:2012-12-14 12:11:27 Tags:,,,,

作者:Lee Bradley

自从2010年开始,总部位于奥斯丁的Spacetime Studios已经因为在手机上发行了高质量的跨平台3D大型多人在线游戏(MMO)而获得了一定的名气。

最近,他们又跨越iOS,Android,PC和Mac发行了新游戏《神秘传奇》,其首席执行官Gary Gattis表示,这款游戏的发行将该工作室的发展推向了顶峰。

在此,Gattis将与我们分享游戏创造,有效的IAP执行以及手机MMO开发所面临的挑战等内容。

Pocket Gamer:现在,你们已经面向手机平台发行了4款MMO游戏。这次回归的你们又带来了怎样的游戏类型?

Gary Gattis:我们是传统的MMO游戏开发商——从《星球大战:星系》到《网络创世纪》,可以说MMO已经渗透到我们的骨子里了。

不管是结构还是内容,这类型游戏总是包含着各种各样的复杂性。

Gary Gattis(from pocketgamer)

Gary Gattis(from pocketgamer)

我们真心喜欢这类型游戏,并且正是技术基础和开发原理推动着我们将3D MMO游戏带向手机平台。

我们之所以选择回归是因为热爱服务型游戏。有效的服务以及手机上的快速迭代便是手机游戏开发的魅力所在。

你们从游戏创造以及之前的MMO中吸取了哪些经验教训?

通过《口袋传奇》,我们意识到为了适应手机平台,我们需要去调整传统MMO的长度。换句话说,我们必须让玩家在进入游戏5秒内便能够感受到强大的游戏体验。

通过《黑暗传奇》,我们了解到Facebook上有效的能量机制并不适合实时3D玩家——所以我们便在游戏发行后几周删除了该机制。

而通过《神秘传奇》,我们知道遵循用户获取的每个步骤非常有帮助!

《神秘传奇》具有何种创新性?

我想伙伴系统便是其中的一大创新。

我们希望创造一种能够让玩家产生情感依附的游戏机制。例如让宠物在战斗中也能发挥作用,而不只是作为一种空虚的对象绕着角色转。它们将伴随着你而成长,你也必须仔细照顾它们。

我们同样也添加了3D场景。因为游戏主要是受到故事驱动,所以我们需要采取某种方式向玩家传达重要的情节点。

arcanelegends(from pocketgamer)

arcanelegends(from pocketgamer)

除此之外,《神秘传奇》还是我们迄今以来创造过的最棒的游戏。我们精选了早前每一款游戏中最优秀的机制,并将其整合成一种单一的游戏体验。

例如《口袋传奇》的“随拿随玩”游戏机制,《星际传奇》的谜题解决环境和复杂的boss打斗,以及《黑暗传奇》中可购买的工具和技能。

在手机产业内部或外部,哪些MMO开发者的作品给你们带来了灵感,你们又从他们身上学到了什么?

我们便非常喜欢Bioware及其传达游戏故事的方式。我们也非常欣赏Valve的公司文化。同时我们还受到Wargaming.net有关玩家支持和延伸服务范围的启发。

我们认为Riot拥有非常棒的免费游戏盈利策略。

ZeptoLab具有非常出色的角色设计,Backflip Studios非常高产,而Kabam则在从网页向手机平台过度中表现出色。

最后我们还对Supercell平台原理印象深刻,更别说他们所获得的巨大成功。

你们拥有多大规模的开发团队?每个项目需要花费多少时间?

《神秘传奇》的团队是由15名开发者所组成,并花费了我们7个月左右的开发时间。

你们使用了何种工具?

我们利用了专有的技术Spacetime Engine去创造一些独特且让人惊喜的内容,如让世界各地基于单一服务器,并在wifi,4G,3G或Edge网络下的的iOS,Android和PC用户能够一起玩游戏。

这种引擎能够面向大规模的PC MMO游戏创造并配置稳定的内容。在经过多番波折后,我们于2011年,也就是《口袋传奇》发行时将该引擎移植到了手机平台上。

arcanelegends(from pocketgamer)

arcanelegends(from pocketgamer)

我们的美术工具还包括了3DS Max,Zbrush和Photoshop。

你们面临的最大挑战是什么?

有关游戏分析原理帮助我们更好地理解了游戏制作。

而回顾早前的游戏,有两点内容是我们希望进行改进的,它们便是玩家获取渠道和我们的7天用户留存曲线。

而关于渠道,我们始终专注于创造能够让玩家快速进入的简单游戏。

关于用户留存,我们采取了与Companions和Allies一样的做法,即每天提供给用户一些内容,并通过呈现出具有吸引力的故事将用户进一步带进游戏内容中。

用户可以轻松地下载应用,避免了iOS的各种限制。一旦用户完成了游戏购买,补丁程序便会形成。这种方法有什么优势?

我们投入了很多时间将游戏分解成不同区块。让玩家能够快速下载游戏,快速开始游戏,基于补丁程序而随意获得任何新内容,并在玩家处于教程阶段时逐渐将其整合到之后的游戏中。

我们也因此发现许多用户成功完成了最初下载和后续的补丁程序安装过程。如此便让我们的渠道承载量翻了一番。

在第一次使用IAP模式时,你们从中学到了什么?这对于《神秘传奇》有何影响?

最初的《口袋传奇》设有付费墙,即在到达某一点之前玩家都可以免费游戏,但是如果玩家想要走得更远就必须支付一定的费用。

而后来我们决定让所有游戏内容都变成免费的。并且这一模式也带给我们许多乐趣。

因为意识到“花钱获胜”的方法具有危险性,我们便尝试着去平衡游戏,如让玩家可以无需花钱而玩整款游戏,并在游戏过程中寻找最佳道具(游戏邦注:而不是在商店中购买)等等。

与你们的期待或之前的游戏相比较,调整后的模式获得了怎样的反响?

可以说这次的反响真的出乎我们的意料。

《神秘传奇》在发行的前2周便获得了200万的下载量。其日活跃用户数更是我们所有游戏总和的5至10倍!我们真的非常激动!

IAP的情况又是怎样?它是否如你们所望发挥出色?

《神秘传奇》始终保持着稳定的盈利(维持着与《口袋传奇》同样的百分比)。

对于内容的更新你们有何规划?进展如何?

我们取得了巨大的扩展,并即将于下周到达关卡上限。游戏将继续有关“City of the Dead”的故事,并包含一些悲壮的冒险。

arcanelegends(from pocketgamer)

arcanelegends(from pocketgamer)

我们已经完成了接下来三个活动的规划,并将把玩家带到迄今为止最高的第35个关卡。我们计划每隔6至8周去发行部分内容。

如今你们正面临着猖狂的黄金黑客问题?这一问题对于你们自身以及游戏类型会带来何种影响?

网络上正肆虐着一群所谓的“黑客”,但实际上他们却是在执行一些网络欺诈行为,即盗取用户的姓名和密码。并且用户总是后知后觉地意识到自己的帐号被盗了。

与现实生活中的许多事情一样,如果一件事好到不真实,那它多半就不是真的。我们最初所设定的盟友系统较为混乱,即每隔24小时提供给玩家黄金。

因为这并未与用户帐号绑定在一起,所以用户可以随意创造更多角色和帐号去壮大自己。

几天后我们意识到了问题所在并决定关闭该系统。因为这次调整是在游戏真正发行前所进行的,所以并不会对游戏发展带来较大的损失。我们从中吸取的经验教训是,如果存在任何可利用的内容,人们便会去利用它。

基于下载量,转化率或玩家行为,你认为不同平台的用户有何不同的行为?

从总体看来,Android用户更加庞大,而iOS用户的留存性和盈利性更加出色。所以我们都很重视这两个平台的用户。

你认为跨越多个平台发行游戏有多重要?

就像同步多人游戏,人们总是希望可以忽视平台间的门槛而与好友们一起游戏。

arcanelegends(from pocketgamer)

arcanelegends(from pocketgamer)

我们始终坚持让玩家能够“随时,随地,与任何人一起游戏。”

最后,跟我们说说Spacetime Studios接下来有何目标?

今后,我们将添加更多内容到《神秘传奇》中,同时还将面向《口袋传奇》推出新的经典内容和假期内容。

我们也将致力于开发全新游戏。我相信它很快便能够与大家见面了。

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

Ode to the old school: The making of Arcane Legends

by Lee Bradley

Since 2010, Austin, Texas-based Spacetime Studios has built a reputation for delivering popular, high quality cross-platform 3D MMOs on mobile.

The latest of these, Arcane Legends, recently launched across iOS, Android, PC and Mac, and CEO Gary Gattis believes it is the culmination of everything the studio has learned so far.

We caught up with Gattis to discuss the making of the game, correct IAP implementation and the challenges of mobile MMO development.

Pocket Gamer: You’ve now released four MMOs on mobile devices. What is it about the genre that keeps you coming back?

Gary Gattis: We’re old-school MMO developers – from Star Wars: Galaxies all the way back to Ultima Online for some of us – so MMOs are in our DNA.

The complexity of these games, from an architecture and content point-of-view, is enormous.

Our love of the genre, combined with our technological foundations and development disciplines are what allowed us to bring 3D MMOs to mobile in the first place.

We keep coming back because we love games-as-a-service. Live service, combined with the speed of iteration on mobile, is the most exciting game development there is.

What are the key lessons you have learned learn from the creation – and support – of each of your previous MMOs?

With Pocket Legends we learned that in order for MMOs to be viable on mobile the typical session length needs to be modified to fit the platform. In other words, you need to be able to get into the game and have a powerful experience in five minutes or so.

With Star Legends, we learned that intense cooperative play and environmental puzzle-solving is possible on a mobile device, but people need a lot of guidance in getting there.

With Dark Legends, we learned that the energy mechanic that has monetised so well on Facebook is not appropriate for real-time 3D gamers – we pulled it out a few weeks after launch.

And with Arcane Legends, we have learned that focusing on each step of the user acquisition funnel really pays off!

What were the key areas of innovation with Arcane Legends?

One main innovation is our Companion system.

We wanted to add a gameplay mechanic that the player could develop an emotional attachment to. Pets matter in combat, and are not just be a vanity object that follows you around. They grow with you, and you care for them.

We also added 3D cutscenes. The game is very heavily story-driven, and we needed a way to convey significant plot points to the players.

Additionally, Arcane Legends is a best-of all our previous titles. We took the most beloved mechanics from each game and rolled them in to a single experience.

Examples are the pick-up-and-play matchmaking of Pocket Legends, the environmental puzzle-solving and complex boss fights of Star Legends, and the chargeable attacks and skills from Dark Legends.

What other MMO developers do you look to for inspiration, both within and without the mobile industry, and what have you learned from them?

We have a huge respect for Bioware and the way it tells stories through games. We love the way Valve runs its corporate culture. We are inspired by Wargaming.net’s player-support and outreach.

We think Riot has perfected its free-to-play monetisation strategy.

ZeptoLab has fantastic character design. Backflip Studios is tremendously prolific. Kabam has done a great job transitioning from web to Mobile.

Finally, we’re very impressed with Supercell’s platform philosophy -not to mention its success.

How big was the development team and how long did the project take?

Arcane Legends took about seven months to complete with 15 developers, give or take.

What tools did you use?

We are able to leverage our proprietary technology – the Spacetime Engine – to do some really unique and amazing things, like allowing iOS, Android, and PC users to play together, all around the world, on a single server, over wifi, 4G, 3G, or Edge networks.

This engine was developed to build and deploy stable content for large-scale PC MMOs. After many twists and turns we ported the engine to mobile in 2010 with the release of Pocket Legends.

Our art pipeline also includes 3DS Max, Zbrush, and Photoshop.

What was the biggest challenge you faced?

The science of game analytics has brought so much insight into game production.

In looking back at our previous games, the two things we really wanted to improve upon were our player-acquisition funnel and our 7-day retention curve.

For the funnel, we focused on making a very lightweight product that you could quickly get into.

For the retention, we did things like Companions, Allies – who give you something every day – and an engrossing story that drives the user further in to the content.

The app is lightweight to download, well below the limit on iOS. It is then fleshed out with patches once purchased. What are the advantages of this approach?

We spent a lot of time breaking up the game in to disparate segments. It downloads fast, starts quickly, picks up any critical new things with a patch, and streams in the rest of the game while the player is in the tutorial.

We have found that many more people will make it through the initial download and subsequent patches. It literally doubled our funnel throughput.

What have you learned about IAP implementation since you first adopted the model and how has that influenced Arcane Legends?

Pocket Legends initially had a pay wall, where you could play for free up to a certain point, but you had to monetise if you wanted to go further.

One year in to the product, we decided to give the whole game away for free, and we never looked back. In fact, we had a lot of fun with it.

We have also learned that pay-to-win is very dangerous, so we try to balance the game such that you can play the entire thing without paying us a cent, and the best items are found through gameplay, not in the store.

How has the response been to the game in terms of downloads, compared to both expectation and your previous, similar releases?

The response has been amazing.

Arcane Legends received two million downloads in its first two weeks. We’re seeing five to ten times the daily active users of all our other games combined. We’re thrilled!

And what about IAP? How well has it performed compared to expectation?

Arcane Legends is monetising very healthily, percentage-wise on par with Pocket Legends.

What goals do you have in terms of the regularity of content updates, how far do you have it mapped out?

We are dropping a huge expansion and raising the level cap next week. It continues the story of the City of the Dead, and contains some really harrowing adventures.

We have our next three campaigns mapped out, which should take the players up to level 35. They will be released approximately every six to eight weeks.

You’re currently having some problems with gold hacks. How deep is the problem and how serious is the issue both for yourself and the genre at large?

There are a few alleged “hacks” floating around the internet, but in all cases these are phishing applications that ask people for their names and passwords. Players wake up to find their accounts have been cleared out.

As with most things in life, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. We did have an initial snafu with our ally system, which gave out gold every 24 hours.

This was not bound to an account, so users would create huge numbers of characters and accounts to farm them.

We realised this and shut it down in a couple of days. This was before our actual launch, so the damage was minimal. The lesson is that if something is exploitable, people will exploit it.

Have you noticed any differences in consumer response between platforms, in terms of download numbers, conversion rates, player behaviour etc?

In general Android users are more plentiful, while iOS users retain and monetise slightly better. We love them both.

Indeed, how important do you believe it is to launch across so many platforms?

On synchronous multiplayer games, people want to play with their friends, regardless of what platform they play on.

Our core philosophy is that you should be able to “Play with anyone, anywhere, anytime.”

And finally, what’s next for Spacetime Studios?

In the immediate future we’ll be putting out lots more content for Arcane Legends, as well as two new classes and holiday content for Pocket Legends.

We’re also hard at work on our next game. I can’t say what it is just yet, but I don’t think you’ll be waiting for long.(source:pocketgamer)


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