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关于开发社交游戏的10个注意事项

发布时间:2013-03-22 14:12:24 Tags:,,,,

作者:Nicholas Greene

社交游戏是一个庞大的产业。有许多原因可以让你产生制作一款社交游戏的想法。尽管获得利润是主要原因(如果你的游戏火了,你就可以获得大笔收益),但也不可低估成功游戏在打造品牌上所发挥的作用。这是一种带来新客户,提高公司知名度,甚至是从这一过程中获利的绝佳途径。

但制作社交游戏并非简单的过程。这并不像有些人所想象的那样简单,不只是组建一个团队,勾勒一些模糊的目标,任其随意发展。如果你想获得成功,在游戏开发过程中就必须注意一些事项——尤其是在高风险的社交游戏设计领域。

用户粘性最重要

任何社交游戏的第一个原则就是必须吸引用户。这就需要让游戏吸引他们玩游戏,重返游戏。例如,《FarmVille》就有Wither等功能,迫使玩家经常登录游戏,以免让自己辛勤耕作的庄稼枯萎。虽然最好的做法是让玩家因为他们真心喜欢游戏体验而重返游戏,但我还是认为开发者也应该采取一些留住用户的策略。

无论你采用哪种方式,都需要让玩家为游戏所着迷。

User-Engagement(from socialmediastrategiessumnit)

User-Engagement(from socialmediastrategiessumnit)

不应将盈利视为唯一追求

如果你开发社交游戏,就不应该将收益视为第一考虑因素——盈利崇拜已经将包括Zynga在内的诸多社交游戏公司拖向深渊。更重要的是,这些奉行盈利优先原则的开发商遭遇的失败率很可能超过成功率。毕竟,着眼于盈利而设计游戏,会让你忽略更重要的环节。这种倾向只会驱使你加快马力按计划推出游戏,甚少关心游戏体验,从长期来看这只会让玩家绕道而行。

内容墙就是开发者应注意的一个禁忌。没错,它们确实有可能让开发商通过“鲸鱼”玩家(游戏邦注:即那些对游戏上瘾,舍得花钱继续玩游戏的群体)获利,但同时,这也有可能导致大批休闲玩家流失,致使游戏流量大幅下滑(即许多玩家不再玩游戏)。不应该让玩家产生只有花钱才能继续玩游戏的感觉,这是一种很糟糕的游戏策划。

短期利润不应凌驾于长期计划之上

假如你已经获得了一个可以让你赚取大笔收益的绝妙游戏理念。唯一的问题就在于,你还没有吃透这个理念,它最终有可能让你损失一些用户,也可能严重损害你的品牌形象,甚至可能让你亏钱。但这有什么关系呢?至少你确实会赚到一些钱。

一般原则来看,如果你酝酿了一个能够让你获得巨大的短期收益,但却可能带来长期损害的理念,最好还是不要制作这款游戏。因为这正是社交游戏行业陷入目前这种境况的一个主要原因:现在人人都想赚钱,却从不考虑如何培养用户关系,或者树立明确的目标。他们只考虑当下,不顾将来。

Tunnel-of-Cash(from socialmediastrategiessummit)

Tunnel-of-Cash(from socialmediastrategiessummit)

市场竞争极为激烈

社交游戏是一个有利可图的领域,但其中也不乏风险。今年似乎每个领域的公司都想进入游戏开发行业。所以这个市场变得十分拥挤。用户也因此拥有了许多选择,所以你得让自己的游戏脱颖而出或十分抢眼才有可能获得成功。

发展迅速的开发环境

社交游戏的开发环境已经飙到了十分危险的发展速度,甚至还可能导致大型开发商无力支撑。用户仍会索求更多内容,如果你想让吸引用户就必须及时跟上他们的诉求。如果你计划投身社交游戏开发领域,那就要付出大量精力和努力。这好比是展开一项社交活动,你要全身心投入其中。

寻找广告合作伙伴

可以考虑通过广告合作伙伴提供的奖励,鼓励玩家去体验你的游戏。例如,我就试玩过一款因注册Netflix而得到大量游戏虚拟货币的社交游戏,我至今仍在订阅Netflix,并且玩这款游戏的时间也相对更长久。

人们为“时髦”而花钱

如果你想让社交游戏盈利,你并不需要设置内容墙,或者给予付费玩家一些不公平的特权。其实只要给予他们一些很拉风,或者在视觉上显得很华贵的东西即可。正如在《英雄联盟》和《军团要塞2》(虽然这两者都不是社交游戏)中一样,玩家还是很意愿为那些让自己的虚拟形象看起来更酷的东西花钱。这一点值得借鉴。

Team-Fortress-Hats(from socialmediastrategiessummit)

Team-Fortress-Hats(from socialmediastrategiessummit)

不要盲目模仿

Zynga在这方面的倾向并非秘密。这家社交游戏巨头陨落的原因之一就是其首席执行官Mark Pincus模仿其他热门游戏的主张,“你并不比竞争对手更聪明,只要模仿他们的做法即可。”

了解数据的价值

虽然你不应该彻底沦为数据的奴隶,但也要对它们有所了解。要密切关注你流失了多少用户,有多人用户经常玩游戏,他们玩游戏的频繁和长度,他们玩游戏的行为是否产生了点击率,以及游戏用户主力军的特点等。要像其他营销活动一样,监测所有相关信息。

确定你的目标

最后,不要只是为开发游戏而开发游戏。要确保你着手开发工作时就有一个明确的目标,就像开展营销活动一样,要清楚你的诉求是什么。(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

Top Ten Things to Understand about Social Games

by Nicholas Greene

Social gaming is big business. After all, There are a great many reasons why you’d want to develop a social game. Although profit is chief among them (if your title catches on, you can rake in some serious coin), one should never underestimate the amount of publicity a well-designed game can net a brand. It’s a great way to bring in new customers, improve perception of your organization, and maybe even make ab it of money in the process.

Making a social game isn’t exactly a simple process, though. It’s nowhere near as easy as some people would have you believe. It’s not a matter of just assembling a team, painting out a few vague objectives, and turning them loose.  There are a few things you’ll need to know about game development if you’re going to succeed – particularly in the high-stakes, cutthroat arena of social game design.

User Engagement is The Most Important Factor

The first rule of any social game is that it needs to engage the user. There needs to be something about the title which keeps them playing, something which compels them to keep coming back. Farmville, for example (though I’m hesitant to call it a game) has features such as Wither, which forces people to log on regularly lest they lose the crops they’ve so lovingly tended. While I’d say it’s preferable that your players keep coming back because they genuinely enjoy the experience, I suppose there’s something to be said for getting them hooked, as well.

However you do it, you want to keep your players compelled.

Monetization Shouldn’t be the Only Pursuit

Money shouldn’t be your number one concern if you’re going social – an obsession with monetization has led to the death of many a social game developer, including Zynga. What’s more, those developers who set out to design a game with the express purpose of making money tend to fail more often than they succeed. After all, caring about nothing but how much cash you can pull in tends to make you lose focus of what’s important. It tends to throw a wrench in the gears as far as planning goes, and drives players away in the long run.

Content walls are a perfect example of what not to do. Yes, they’ll be guaranteed to net money from the “Whales” – people so hopelessly addicted and obsessed that they’ll pay anything just to keep playing. At the same time, they’re also guaranteed to drive out the vast majority of the more casual players, leading to a massive hike in churn (the amount of players who stop playing a social game). Players should never feel like they have to shell out cash just to keep playing. That’s just poor planning.

Speaking of planning…

Short Term Profit Should Never Trump Long Term Planning

So, you’ve got a great idea that’s going to make you a nice, fat wad of cash. The only problem is that you haven’t really thought it through all that much. It might well end up costing you some users. It could severely damage your brand’s reputation. It might even end up losing you money. But who cares, right? At least you’re going to make some good cash.

As a general rule, if you’ve formulated an idea that’s going to make you huge short-term profits, but could cause some damage in the long term…don’t bother implementing it. That’s the whole reason the social games industry is in such dire straits right now: everybody’s interested in getting money now, with no thoughts about cultivating consumer relationships or working towards any clear goal. It’s all about the present.

The Market is Extremely Competitive

Social gaming is a profitable arena, even if it is a bit of a hazardous one. Nowadays, it seems like every organization on the block wants to get into game development. As a result, the market is positively flooded. Consumers as a result have an unprecedented level of choice regarding what games they play. Yours will need to be incredibly unique or eye-catching in order to succeed.

The Development Environment Moves Fast

Particularly when Churn enters the equation, the development environment in social gaming moves at a breakneck speed.  It can get fast enough that even larger, fully staffed devs are unable to keep up. Users will keep demanding more content, and you’ll need to keep on top of customer complaints and concerns if you’re going to keep them engage. Should you be planning to involve yourself in social game development, you’re going to need to put a lot of work into it. Just like running a social campaign, it’s a full time job.

Talk to Advertising Partners

Consider inspiring people to start playing your game by offering them rewards through advertising partners (or, if you’re a marketer yourself, try looking for a few social game developers who might be interested in talking shop). As an example, I tried my hand at a social game which offered a large quantity of in-game currency as a reward for signing up for Netflix. I did so, and I still use the subscription to this day – I also ended up playing the game for quite ab it longer than I would have otherwise.

People will Pay for “Cool”

If you’re going to monetize a social game, you don’t need to install content walls or give players who pay an unfair advantage. It’s honestly enough to just give them something cool or completely aesthetic in return for their cash. As demonstrated by titles such as League of Legends and Team Fortress 2 (though neither of them are social games) people are perfectly willing to pay for something which does little other than make their avatar look cool. Take that lesson to heart.

Don’t Ape Other Games

Zynga is in the toilet right now. That’s no secret. One of the reasons for the fall of this social game development titan – among many others – is CEO Mark Pincus’s insistence that they simply copy other, more popular titles. ”I don’t f***ing want innovation!” Pincus snarled. “You’re not smarter than your competitor. Just copy what they do and do it until you get their numbers.”

I think I’ll let that quote speak for itself.

Metrics Exist: Know Them

While you shouldn’t allow yourself to become completely consumed by metrics, you should be aware of them. Keep a close eye on how many users you’re losing, how many people are playing on a regular basis, how often (and long) they’re playing, whether or not their play leads to clickthroughs, and the demographic that most commonly plays your title. Monitor all relevant information, just as you would in any other marketing pursuit.

You Need to Define your Objective

Last, but not least, don’t just develop a game for the sake of developing a game. Make sure you’ve a clear-cut objective before you set out along the development path. Know what you want to accomplish with the game, just as you would before starting up a marketing campaign.(source:socialmediastrategiessummit


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