作者：Iron Realms

许多新游戏均陷入提前发行的误区，比如特意选择在节假日这种高峰期推出作品。虽然这会增加游戏的初始销量，但从长远看来，如果游戏品质因此遭到损害，开发者只会取得相反结果。

不断的故障、无法连接以及漏洞会挫败玩家的游戏热情，目前市场上存在大量MMORPG游戏，大量因素会驱使玩家转向其他新游戏。

因此，在发行游戏前，开发者应做些什么？

*从最深层次到最小任务，不断测试相应代码。确保音效与视觉画面保持一致，在图片方面，加强测试可以避免发生某些荒唐事情。玩家始终会注意到微小细节，而这些细节正是游戏品质是否精良的标志。

bug free(from theithelper.com)

*不断修改漏洞，升级游戏。你应维护测试服务器，借此在游戏中整合符合当前场景的新代码。你可以邀请一组玩家测试这些新变化，借此保证这些新代码或改变不会对当前公开版本造成负面影响。

*如果你尚未开发MMORPG游戏的核心部分，你应研究游戏引擎的可能性。成本无疑是其中一个因素，但记住，基于对话模式的休闲MMORPG游戏可能不需要支持下一代画面的引擎，因此，从成本与支持方面看，当前市场上的最佳游戏引擎可能并一定适合你的游戏。

*推出测试版本！事实上，对开发者而言，玩家属于最佳测试人选。无论是开发者，还是程序员，你已经知道游戏的运行方式，因此你不可能偏离这个方向。然而，玩家总不会按照你预定的想法体验游戏，而且极有可能破坏游戏进程。在真正发行前，你可以召集beta测试员，借此修改自己尚未发现的漏洞与问题。

沟通是关键，如果你曾经发行过游戏，你应确保玩家能通过某些渠道提出问题，报告游戏中的漏洞。并让他们知道你已采取修复措施，并且尽量在非高峰期安排这些事宜。没有人介意游戏仍处在完善阶段，但你应将实情告知玩家。（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）

Effective Time Management – a Handy Guide for Devs

by Iron Realms

The following blog was, unless otherwise noted, independently written by a member of Gamasutra’s game development community. The thoughts and opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of Gamasutra or its parent company.

a Handy Devs Guide to Being Productive

Many new games fall into the trap of pushing for early release, such as in time to come out for that peak holiday season. While this can boost initial sales, it can also backfire over the long haul if the quality of the game suffers because of it.

Constant downtimes, being unable to connect, and bugs are a frustration to gamers, and with all the MMORPG options in the market today, too many of these factors will quickly send players looking for a new title to invest their time and money into.

Before a game goes to release, what can a developer do?

Test the code, over and over, from the deepest level to the smallest quest. Make sure voice tracks sync up with visual rendering, and in the case of graphics, stress test these to ridiculous limits. Players will latch onto the little details that they see, and these can be a hallmark of quality creation in a game.

If you plan on fixing bugs and constantly upgrading your game (and I hope that you are!) Maintain a test server, where you can integrate new code to be certain it fits with the world as it currently is. You can invite a select group of players to help stress-test new changes, and help insure that any new code or changes won’t have adverse effects upon your public version.

If you have yet to develop the core of your MMORPG, research game engine possibilities. Cost is of course a factor, but remember that a casual, chat-based MMORPG may not need an engine capable of next-gen graphics, so the best game engines on the market might make your game unwieldy in terms of cost to play and support.

Beta Release! It’s a common fact amongst people who script that nothing truly tests a game like players. As a developer or coder, you know how it’s supposed to work, and so deviating from that is unlikely. Gamers, however, will always use your product in ways you didn’t expect, with a very real possibility of breaking the game in the process. You can advertise for beta testers before the actual release, and use their input to fix bugs and problems you’d otherwise not have caught.

Communication is key. If you ever make it to release, ensure your players have an avenue through which they can bring up problems and report bugs. Let people know a patch is incoming, and try to schedule these for off-peak times. No one minds a game being bettered, but keep players informed.(source:gamasutra)