作者：Ben Serviss

人们在谈论这让他们回想起街机游戏的辉煌时代，在谈论自己竟未意识到这种需求，在谈论可以在此尝试新的类型，在谈论这是迄今为止，纽约游戏产业中出现过的最酷的新事物。

而他们所谈论的对象便是Grasshopper。

koi-table-demo_resized（from gamasutra）

11月份的某一个晚上，也就是New York Gaming Meetup的“演示之夜”，Ien Cheng在微软的办公室（于曼哈顿中城区）公开了他的碰触式游戏桌。这并不是普通的游戏桌，根据Cheng，Grasshopper的设计是为了让玩家也能在酒吧式社交环境下游戏，将他们带会早前街机游戏所具有的面对面交流氛围中。只是这一次，苏打水和披萨将被换成鸡尾酒和开胃小菜，也就是在成年人社交游戏场所中会出现的东西。

在简要地介绍了项目背景并播放了预告片后，参与者门开始感受到这一游戏桌的魅力。但是尽管Grasshopper具有巨大的潜力，其创造者也拥有强大的背景，但是在该项目真正取得成功前还可能遭遇各种挫折：也许用户并不能接受这种怀旧感；可能会被一些技术巨头占据了先锋，而失去了创新优势；可能会失去资金赞助；创造者可能会选择中途放弃；游戏可能非常无聊等等。但是人们在观看预告片时并不会在意这些。

Ien Cheng（from gamasutra）

这让我想起了在游戏发行时宣传所扮演的重要角色。最好的情况是，宣传意味着将游戏价值直接或间接传达给那些具有极高购买意向的用户。最糟糕的情况则是，宣传意味着利用现有的资料或创造新资料去说服有购买意向的用户购买一些没有价值的内容。尽管遇到这些情况后，游戏仍然能够继续发展着，但是这种负面的品牌影响有可能彻底摧毁你的公司，IP，以及任何与其有联系的人或内容。

似乎主流游戏产业中非常盛行各种宣传手段，例如艺电便会修改截图，大型开发商会发布一些预渲染的预告片而非呈现出真正的游戏玩法，或提供某些预设定的场景作为游戏演示内容。为了达到某些目的，他们总是会选择利用精彩的场景而非实质性内容——基于这种方法，艺电的游戏便取得非常好的成绩，Guerilla也是如此去推广《杀戮地带2》和《半条命2》的预告片。控制消费者的期待是游戏PR的任务，也是他们所擅长的内容。

然而，对于那些没有基础设施去执行上百万美元心理压力测试的小型开发团队来说，广而告之会是更好的方法。提供实实在在的宣传内容，公开地面对媒体和好奇的用户，并尽快创造出可游戏的演示版本等等做法能够帮助独立工作室有效地赢得用户的信任，并赚取最终收益。

学习如何玩游戏已经变得和学习如何编写自己的游戏代码一样重要了。在Kickstarter时代里，未能掌握宣传方法也就等同于阻断成功的道路。

举个例子来说吧，Grasshopper既能说是一种有效的宣传方法，也能说不是。它是一种隐藏模式，所以网上并不存在任何与之有关的信息。但因为是基于早前的架构，所以我们可以从中获得一些有价值的内容。他们的努力与目标是相一致的：他们致力于面向一个特定市场（纽约）发行游戏，所以他们的服务范围只集中于该地区；他们没有太多想要呈现的内容，所以才有如此简短且能够有效吸引观众注意的预告片。

Jason Rohrer（游戏邦注：来自加利福尼亚的电子游戏开发者）的成功便是遵循着这一逻辑。低调发行了几款游戏后，他将自己的第三款游戏提交给游戏节。产业中具有较大影响力的人玩了他的游戏，所以《Passage》（也就是Rohrer所创造的游戏）成为了一款深受欢迎的独立游戏。现在，比起在游戏新闻网站上发布新闻稿而与动视等巨头公司竞争，他选择在Twitter上发表一条有关新游戏的信息。即使拥有大量的粉丝（对于一个独立开发者来说），Rohrer始终清楚扩展范围的重要性。

我已经阅读了许多有关《孤岛惊魂3》，《黑色行动2》，《耻辱》以及《杀手：赦免》的文章。我知道每款游戏能够带给我们什么，每款游戏的评价，以及我是否想要购买它们。它们将继续在Kotaku和Gamespot上相互竞争而吸引更多玩家的注意，直到出现后续游戏能够替代它们。

（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）

The Grasshopper Method: Building Honest Buzz for Your Game

by Ben Serviss

They were saying how it reminded them of the glory days of the arcade. They talked about how it was something they didn’t realize they needed so badly. They spoke about the new kinds of games it could enable. They said they thought it was the coolest thing happening in the New York game industry at the moment.

Five minutes ago, all they knew was its name: Grasshopper.

At November’s demo night for the New York Gaming Meetup, a monthly event hosted at Microsoft’s imposing offices in Midtown Manhattan, Ien Cheng introduced his touch-based gaming table to the crowd. More than just a gaming table, Cheng talked about how Grasshopper is designed to be played in pub-like social settings, as a way to bring back the face-to-face interaction and atmosphere of shared play that was once so common in arcades. Only this time, soda and pizza would be swapped out for cocktails and appetizers for a new kind of adult social gaming lounge.

After a brief talk on the project’s background and a teaser video, the crowd was convinced. Yet while Grasshopper’s potential is formidable and the founders’ backgrounds are impressive, so much could go wrong before the project sees the light of day: Trading so heavily on nostalgia could lend it a novelty feel or a fickle audience; they could be snapped up by a tech giant and left to flounder without support; they could lose their funding; the founders could quit; the games could be boring. But at that moment, watching the video, the people didn’t care. They were simply excited.

Click to watch Grasshopper founder Ien Cheng discuss the project.

It got me thinking about the proper role of hype in the game industry release lifecycle. In the best case, hyping means communicating a game’s value directly or indirectly to audiences with the highest probability of buying the thing. In the worst cases, hyping means manipulating existing or creating new materials designed to convince audiences with the highest probability of buying the thing that the thing is worth buying when it is not. In these instances, you’ll still move units, but the negative brand fallout could be devastating to your company, the IP, and any other people or properties associated with it.

The mainstream game industry seems to be comfortable hanging out somewhere in the middle – EA will doctor screenshots; big developers will release pre-rendered trailers instead of showing gameplay, or present pre-scripted scenes as playable demos. And for some purposes, they’re right to trade on spectacle over substance – EA’s titles generally perform well critically and commercially, Guerilla went on to raise their game and deliver on Killzone 2’s infamous trailer and Half-Life 2 took the extra development time to do the same. Manipulating consumer expectations is a game PR managers play, and play well.

Yet for smaller teams without the infrastructure to embark on million-dollar psychological stress tests, a better way to get the word out has quickly solidified. Being honest with coverage, being transparent to the press and the curious, making playable demos available as soon as possible – these practices have earned firm loyalty to tiny indie studios as well as tidy paydays.

Learning how to play this game is fast becoming as important as learning how to actually code your own. In the age of Kickstarter, not being savvy with publicity methods only creates powerful obstacles between you and success.

As an example, Grasshopper is great and also not. It’s in relative stealth mode, so there’s no media blitz or even much information available online. But as an example of early stage buzz building, there are valuable lessons here. Their efforts are noticeably scaled in line with their goals: they aim to launch in a specific market (New York City), so their outreach is focused locally. They don’t have much to show yet, so they keep the pitch short to keep you intrigued.

Jason Rohrer’s success followed similar logic. After releasing his first few games to zero fanfare, he submitted his third to game festivals. He got accepted, the right people with industry clout played his game, and Passage became an indie darling. Now, instead of firing press releases at every game news site that moves and competing with behemoths like Activision, he announces new titles with a single tweet. Even with a large following (for an indie), Rohrer knows the value of scaling outreach.

So how do indie developers talk to the press? Hookshot’s excellent feature provides a great list of methods and ideas.

I’ve read plenty of articles about Far Cry 3, CODBLOPS 2, Dishonored and Hitman: Absolution. I have a good understanding of what each game offers, how each has been reviewed, and if I plan on buying them. They’ll continue jostling each other for attention on Kotaku and Gamespot until they eventually make room for Far Cry 4, CODBLOPS 3, Dishonored 2, Hitman 6.

But right now, I’m more interested in what Grasshopper does next.(source:gamasutra)