玩过《愤怒鸟》（Angry Birds）的人都知道，这是一款游戏很有个性，充满智慧和活力的游戏，但其芬兰开发商Rovio告诉我们，《愤怒鸟》成为iPhone最火的游戏绝非偶然，而是有一套独门的开发秘方。

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Rovio承认他们总结了一套开发热门游戏的成功法则，也许不少游戏开发者会非常好奇，意欲效仿一二，好让自己的游戏作品也一举成名。

当然，Rovio的这个成功法是专门为苹果便携式游戏而量身定做的，而且会随着时间推移不断进化和改良。该法则还充分考虑到了Rovio团队的创意研发、玩家心理分析等工作所需的周期。

《愤怒鸟》为何如此受捧并非复杂的学问，这款动作类益智游戏充满易操作性、即时性和娱乐性，物美价廉，而且经常提供更多玩法的免费更新版，但《愤怒鸟》并不仅仅是一个成功法则的结果，而是一系列法则的总合。

该成功法则是一项不断改进的计划，并不仅仅停留在如何让《愤怒鸟》成为苹果游戏长青树的基本开发原理。

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总结经验

事实上，这个所谓的开发秘方问世也在Rovio工作室的意料之外，当时《愤怒鸟》几乎还没有动工。

一开始，《愤怒鸟》这个年轻的开发团队，所有的家当几乎就是一个视频截图工具和12名成员，大家对这个游戏的前途多少有点茫然。

Rovio首席运营官尼古拉斯·海德（Niklas Hed）表示，“当时我们都不知道这个游戏到底是什么状况，希望总结一些在视频载图上比较容易理解的玩法，但几个月后就忘了……后来开始讨论开发游戏的一些捷径，希望找到一种普适性的游戏开发模式为我们所用，随后列出了一张游戏开发必备要素的清单。”

当时，海德和其他同事回顾了Rovio之前的游戏项目，他们原来是诺基亚的分包商，曾为50款游戏加工润色，并开发了《暗黑惊悚》（Darkest Fear）和《Totomi》这两款iPhone游戏，从这些作品中总结了一些游戏开发的必备法则。

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当然，单单这个法则还不足以成就《愤怒鸟》，大量的技术、时间和游戏测试也是让游戏臻于完美不容忽视的因素。但不管怎么说，这个秘方确实是该工作室游戏开发过程中甚为宝贵的财富。

海德对该法则的具体细节讳莫如深，不过如果深究其中详情也确实没有多大意义，但他还是承认，该法则的一些游戏开发要点其实是非常平淡无奇的，就好像产生一个好创意并不需要导师的启发。

将《愤怒鸟》的成功法则总结出来并且公之于众，理论上讲倒个好主意，但意义不大，因为他们所创造的法则仅适用于Rovio本身。其他人可以从中学到的无非就是从自己的实际出发，订制适合自身的成功法则。回顾自己过去的项目，从成功和失败中不断总结经验，也许就是最大的成功秘诀，这一点虽然是老生常谈，但永远都很管用。

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市场调研

除了Rovio所制定的完美成功法则，大量的市场调研工作也不可或缺。海德坦言Rovio的第一款iPhone游戏简直就是个“悲剧”，这一点也已经列入了他们的成功法则中，避免游戏开发走弯路，他表示同意在游戏开发结束前要做足大量功课的说法。

他总结道，“市场调研只是游戏成功的因素之一，但它确实有助于引导我们的开发工作。这也是我为Rovio游戏开发秘诀而自豪的原因，我们清楚《愤怒鸟》为何如此成功。”（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译）

If you’ve played Angry Birds you’ll know that it’s far from formulaic. It is a game with character, spirit and energy, all of which are hard to quantify with numbers and conventions.

However, Angry Birds’ status as one of the most successful titles on the iPhone is no accident, says its developer.

Finnish studio Rovio is sure it has crafted a magic recipe for making a hit game; that fabled equation for creative triumph that has long eluded those looking to make catchy pop tunes and good reads with mathematical precision.

Of course, Rovio’s equation for success is highly tailored. It is about making popular games on the Apple portables, and it has evolved over time.

The formula is one that sets the perimeters in which the Rovio team can play with ideas, and provides focus on what makes a game popular with players.

Getting at why Angry Birds itself was so well liked by consumers is not rocket science. Simple, immediate and satisfying, the action-puzzler game costs just 59p, and as the provider of numerous free updates it offers dozens of hours of gameplay. The game, however, is not just the result of the equation. It is part of the sum’s formulation.

Rovio’s secret for success is an ongoing project, and apparently goes a little deeper than the fundamentals of what makes Angry Birds one of the perennial poster children of Apple’s new gaming model.

A NEAR HIT

In fact, the reality of developing a secret recipe for making a hit came as an unexpected benefit for the studio, and Angry Birds itself almost went unmade.

When the youthful Finnish team began work on Angry Birds, they had just one screenshot, a headcount of 12, and a slightly uncertain vision of what the game would be.

“We didn’t understand what the game was really about at that point,” admits Rovio COO Niklas Hed. “We wanted a way to come up with some easy to understand gameplay for the screenshot, and it got forgotten about for a few months.

“Then we started discussing how we could take the luck out of the equation when making a game. We wondered if there was some kind of common pattern we could use. Then we started defining a requirement list of things every game should have.”

At that point, Hed and his colleagues looked back to Rovio’s early history, and a time when they worked as sub-contractors for Nokia. The studio had fleshed out 50 games previously, and went on to create two iPhone titles – Darkest Fear and Totomi – all of which let it build its equation.

Of course, the equation alone wasn’t the making of Angry Birds. It also took a great deal of skill, time and play testing, and the result is a title with a finesse that has made it famous.

Still, the secret recipe born from the development process has become a valuable asset for the studio.

Hed is keeping his magic formula a closely guarded secret, and there is little point in trying to get him to reveal its nuances, but he does admit that some of the factors on the list of criteria are obvious; simple details like building a creation that doesn’t require a tutorial.

The notion of pulling Rovio’s formula from Angry Bird’s is a nice one in theory, but it would rather miss the point. What Hed and his colleagues have created is a equation that works for them, with their games. What can be learned from the Rovio case is that many studios may already be sitting on the elements that will form a customised equation for them. Taking a clinical look at back catalogue – and successes and failures – may hold the secret to defining success in quantifiable terms. It’s obvious, but crucial.

CORNER THE MARKET

In forming the basis for Rovio’s perfect formula, the Helsinki-based outfit also dedicated numerous hours to market research. Hed also confesses that Rovio’s ‘disastrous’ first iPhone games also helped forge the equation, and is happy to agree that there’s is plenty more that can be done before it is complete.

“It is only one part of what makes a game be successful,” concludes Rovio’s COO, adding: “But it is something that we are guarding. That’s why I’m so glad we have an equation like this,because we know why we made Angry Birds as successful as it is.”（source:casualgaming）