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开发者分析《Style Me Girl》盈利的5个诀窍

发布时间:2013-04-03 15:48:06 Tags:,,,,

作者:Simon Newstead

一款数字游戏

我们的第一款游戏《Style Me Girl》在发行后的前两周便获得了惊人的下载量,并直窜亚马逊游戏榜单第一名的位置。虽然下载量和排行已经足够突出了,但是真正让我们欣慰的还是盈利(在Kindle Fire上的表现尤为出色)。

Style Me Girl(from iteratingfun)

Style Me Girl(from iteratingfun)

机制

为了找出推动盈利的元素,我们最好能够着眼于核心游戏机制:

core game mechanics(from iteratingfun)

core game mechanics(from iteratingfun)

在我们的《Style Me Girl》中,最主要的便是时尚谜题机制,即玩家需要为模型穿上一系列衣服并拍照,而每一种搭配也都具有独特的时尚风格。游戏是使用专有的算法去评定分数,并坚固了所使用的道具,时尚风格以及照片的吸引力。通过一个关卡将能打开下一个关卡(迎来新的模特和时尚风格),并推动故事的发展。每周的故事发展将伴随着新关卡的出现。

其次便是名为“Style Catch”的抓取掉落道具的迷你游戏。“Style Catch”将升级难度并提供更多可支配的货币(让玩家可以购买其它道具)。

作为一款免费游戏,《Style Me Girl》设有硬货币Cash(玩家可以通过应用内部购买获得)和软货币Coins(通过拍照和“Style Catch”获得)。

获得盈利的5个诀窍

1.整合故事情节

不过游戏类型是怎样的,如果游戏拥有关卡,那么故事便需要提供更多动机去推动玩家的前进。玩家都具有自己的情感,并且都会被好故事所吸引。在我们的例子中,即使没有故事情节游戏也能很好地运行。但是因为通过玩家反馈我们注意到他们非常沉迷于故事中的主角和目标的设定。并且故事所需要的建造资源也不多,所以我们也能够获得较高的投资回报率。

2.重玩价值和收集品

推动《Style Me Girl》吸引更多付费用户的一大元素便是奖励成功完成所有关卡的玩家3颗星。当然了,完成度起着一定的作用,但是最关键的还在于让玩家能够通过获胜而获得稀有的“签名版本”道具。这是他们在商店所买不到的,并且属于成功的标志,能够推动着玩家获得更多签名版本。这么做也能让重玩价值和收集品发挥更大的功效。

3.能量和加速

虽然这已经是陈词滥调了,但却仍然不可忽视–不耐烦的玩家往往都会变成付费玩家。让付费道具去生成能量能够推动玩家主动打开钱包。《Style Me Girl》的现金购买便是如此,尽管“Style Catch”只是为了让玩家赚取软货币。虽然很奇怪,但却出乎意料的有效。

4.美学和功能

研究表明,纯美学道具并不能像功能性虚拟物品那样带来较多的盈利并有效地节省时间,但是如果你能够将它们结合在一起的话便会有不一样的功效。在我们的游戏中,玩家可以在商店中用现金购买的道具便是吸引人的流行服饰,这不仅能让玩家穿得好看也能推动他们更好地进行游戏。

5.A/B测试

虽然这并不是游戏设计中最重要的一部分,但却是帮助我们获得盈利的必不可少的环节。我们在与游戏内部经济(游戏邦住:货币收益率,一开始的货币价值以及购买转化率等等)相关的主要环节执行A/B测试。我们并未涉及A/B测试个体道具价格的点,但这却是我们的前进方向。运行测试不仅能够帮助我们提高游戏盈利,同时也不会破坏用户留存(但却并非总是如此)。

结论

这些诀窍并不复杂,当然也不是第一次被用于游戏中了。如果你能在设计下一款游戏时牢记这些基本原理,你便有可能从中获得更大的回报,并创造出双赢的局面。

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

Shopping up a virtual storm – 5 tips for monetization

By Simon Newstead

A Numbers Game

Our debut game Style Me Girl gained impressive downloads in its first two weeks, reaching the #1 position in the Amazon game charts. Whilst the downloads and rankings were nice, what made us really happy was the monetization, with Kindle Fire performing particularly well.

Mechanics

To look at what drives monetization it’s always helpful to look at the core game mechanics:

In our case with Style Me Girl, the primary is a fashion puzzle mechanic where the player must dress a series of models for different Photoshoots, each with a unique fashion genre. The game uses a proprietary judging algorithm to determine scores, taking into account the items used, the fashion genre as well as the attractiveness of the photo taken. Passing the level unlocks the next level (model and fashion genre), progressing the story. Story evolves with new levels added dynamically from the cloud each week.

The secondary is a casual “catch the falling item” mini-game called Style Catch. Style Catch escalates in difficulty and provides and increasing payout of coins, used for shopping.

A freemium game, Style Me Girl has a hard currency Cash (purchased via IAP) and soft currency Coins, earned in Photoshoots and Style Catch.

5 Tips for Monetization

1. Incorporate a storyline

No matter the game type, if your game has levels, story serves up more motivation for players to progress through them. Players are emotional beings, and we are all compelled to be drawn into a good story. In our case, the game could have functioned just fine without a story line. However we saw from player feedback a deep engagement with the protagonist and goals in the story arcs. Given how little engineering resource is often needed on story, the ROI to include it is usually pretty compelling.

2. Replayability and collectibles

One thing that drives many paying users of Style Me Girl is successfully completing all levels with perfect 3 star results. Why? Of course completionism plays a part but the main one is being able to win rare “signature edition” items. These cannot be bought in the shop and a sign of success is sporting an outfit featuring 1 or more signature editions. It’s always good to make room for replayability and collectibles can play well in that.

3. Energy and speed up

It’s a cliche but it’s true – impatient players are paying players. Energy regeneration through paid items is a proven way to open up the purse strings. We saw that in Style Me Girl and cash purchase, even though Style Catch itself is just a game to let you earn the soft currency. Strange but it works.

4. Aesthetics and functionality

Whilst studies show that pure aesthetic items don’t monetize as well as time saving and functional virtual goods, if you can combine them together that can work extra well. In our case the cash items bought in the shop are attractive fashions, which lets users both look good and play good. Combinations are always good. Think the success of Toms, based on looking good and feeling good about it. Or owning the latest Macbook Air, a style statement as well as solid productivity tool.

5. A/B testing

Like eating enough fiber, it may not be a glamorous part of game design but it certainly is necessary to get the most out of your game. We implement A/B testing in the major parts related to the in-game economy – coins earning rate, starting currency values, purchase conversion rate etc. We don’t go to the point of A/B testing individual item prices yet though, but that’s the direction. Running tests has helped us increase monetization while not affecting retention (not always the case), and it’s something we’re going to dive into even further.

Conclusion

These tips are certainly not rocket science and not the first time they have been used in games.That said, keeping these fundamentals in mind when designing your next game ensures you’re getting biggest bang for your development buck. And that makes everyone happy.(source:iteratingfun)


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