作者：Lee Bradley

极少开发工作室能像Halfbrick工作室一样，实现自主发行。

这家位于澳大利亚的工作室已经为发行商开发Game Boy Advance（GBA）和PlayStation Portable（PSP）设备的授权游戏若干年了。

虽然这些经历给Halfbrick带来一定程度的成功，但直到它开始自己搞发行，才发挥自己的全部潜能。

随着如《水果忍者》和《Jetpack Joyride》等游戏在全球受捧，Halfbrick已经跻身于顶尖工作室行列，它专注于手机游戏开发。

在本文中，Halfbrick首席营销官Phil Larsen探讨了该工作室在发展过程中积累的经验，并概述了Halfbrick如何向“伟大的”手机开发工作室迈进的历程。

合约工作

Halfbrick自2001年成立后，就为其他工作室授权合作掌机游戏，如EA的《Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue》和THQ的《Nicktoons: Battle for Volcano Island》。

尽管说不上是最出色的工作，但给Halfbrick带来成长、学习和获得行业认可的机会。

Larsen表示：“我们希望最终摆脱发行商合约这种模式，但回顾我们以前制作过的游戏，我们仍然充满喜爱之情。我们知道自己从合约工作中学习到了成功的工作室必须具备的所有东西。”

Larsen感叹道：“那时我们主要开发GBA、DS和PSP游戏——这些是今天的手机游戏开发的先驱。”

“我们以自己积累的经验为基础，与世界各地的游戏公司合作。”

“今天我们获得的一切都归功于当初的合约工作。我们不后悔，那是一段美好的回忆！”

XBLIG

正是在微软于2009年开放它的Xbox360的XBLIG（Xbox Live独立游戏）渠道时，Halfbrick看到了自主发行的机遇。

“那对我们来说是一段意义重大的日子，我们看到这些渠道开发了，任何一条渠道都有成功的可能。一开始，我们计划了4款游戏，在几个月内陆续发行，并根据前一款游戏的情况修改随后发布的产品。”

不幸的是，因为微软管理不当，XBLIG没有兑现它的承诺。尽管如此， Larsen敏锐地看到了积极面。

Larsen继续道：“尽管它最终没有获得商业上的成功，开发XBLIG为Halfbrick树立了原创游戏开发者的形象，事实上给我们带来的名气比销售结果还大。”

“我们坚持品质至上，终于引起人们的关注。因为决心和坚持不懈的学习，我们最终实现了自主发行的梦想。”

PlayStation Mini

在Halfbrick继续寻找理想的平台的时候，它把视野转向与XBLIG齐名的Sony的PlayStation Mini。

Larsen解释道：“我们是第一批从事PlayStation Mini游戏的开发者。事实上，我们给这个平台开发了两款独占产品——《Age of Zombies》和《Aero Racer》。”

“我很幸运能亲自指导开发《Age of Zombies》，这款游戏大获成功——荣获“2010年最流行的Mini游戏”大奖。我们仍然自豪地把我们获得的奖项展示出来！”

然而，与XBLIG一样，PlayStation Mini的繁荣没能维持，幸好iOS版《Age of Zombies》的成绩突出，甚至比该游戏的原版还更成功。

“我们在Mini上已经玩完了”，所以又继续寻找主要平台了。

虽然iOS似乎非常适合我们，但我们的工作室希望再尝试一下家用游戏主机。Halfbrick的下一个项目是它有史以来最有野心的一个。

Xbox Live Arcade

最初针对Nintendo DS设计的《Raskulls》是一款动作平台游戏，却最终在Xbox Live Arcade上安家落户。

这款游戏开发历时两年，耗费了大量时间和资源，远远超过Halfbrick当初的设想。

Larsen指出：“我们为《Raskulls》骄傲，但它确实开发得太久了。”

《Raskulls》具备使Halfbrick成为最火的独立游戏开发工作室之一的资格，一定程度上，它也确实做到了——评价颇高，销售强劲。

但说到市场，还是该工作室的另一个项目产生的影响更大。

“《水果忍者》的构想、开发和发布是与《Raskulls》的开发同时进行的。”这款游戏永远地改变了Halfbrick。

《水果忍者》

“我们有一个活动叫作‘Halfbrick星期五’，每到那一天，所有人都可以提出自己的游戏想法并做成原型。”

“《水果忍者》就是在那个活动中产生的。它是由Luke Muscat设计的一款单屏触屏游戏。坦白说，《水果忍者》的创意确实很棒很简单。我从看到第一张概念图就喜欢上它了。”

“这个灵感其实来源于一个晚间广告。广告中的人把东西切成片，以表现某品牌新刀的锋利。他们切了一片菠萝，可以看得出刀非常麻利。

我们一把原型放到设备上运行，就知道这款游戏很特别，于是我们就竭尽所能地开发它了。”

《Raskulls》在XBLA第一年的成绩是1万下载量，而《水果忍者》在第一个月就达到20万下载量了。

到2012年5月，《水果忍者》的下载量达到3亿次，也就是说在美国占总数三分之一的iPhone下载了该游戏。

跨平台战略

《水果忍者》证明了手机游戏大有市场，所以Halfbrick决定开拓这片市场。

“整个手机市场都爆发了，我们确实成功了，因此，所有人员都投身于手机游戏了。”

“不过那并不是说我们只开发手机游戏。我们把《水果忍者Kinect》移植到XBLA上，这个项目真是一个英明的决定。”

“通常来说，我们对产品的要求有三点：能吸引玩家，二能给品牌增加新意，三能赢利。这三点《水果忍者Kinect》都做到了。”

甚至不成功的新平台实验也是值得研究的。Larsen举了把《Age of Zombies》移植到Xperia Play的例子。

“我们挑选了适合那个平台的游戏，Xperia实现了大多数特征，伪移植就这样完成了。它虽然没有一鸣惊人，但丰富Halfbrick的经验。这对我们非常重要。”

《水果忍者》本可能让手机游戏，特别是iOS游戏成为Halfbrick的主要焦点，但他们决定向尽可能多的平台发起挑战。

《Jetpack Joyride》

“与《Jetpack Joyride》有关的一切都进展得非常顺利。”Larsen谈起Halfbrick的另一款成功的手机游戏。

“我们花了很多时间制作，设计整合得很完美，我们制作的系统实现了所有有趣的功能。

“在开发过程中，我们信心十足，觉得《Jetpack Joyride》一定会火，粉丝和媒体都会喜欢它。

“这款游戏广受好评，赢得2012苹果设计大奖，我们尽量持续更新它。”

《Jetpack Joyride》的跨平台表现也相当好：总下载量达到数百万，长期占据排行榜。

“顺便一提，我们准备对该游戏进行有史以来最大的一次更新。游戏中将加入新交通工具和喷气背包。它是一款生命力旺盛的游戏，我们想继续支持它，粉丝也希望我们这么做。”

“我们对《Jetpack Joyride》的未来充满信心。”

扩张

借助《Jetpack Joyride》的人气，Halfbrick得以进一步扩张：它在悉尼和旧金山新开工作室，负责商业和游戏开发的方方面面。

Halfbrick还于2012年收购了Onan Games并获得它的Mandreel技术，使Halfbrick得以大大减少移植iOS、Android、Flash和HTML5的时间和成本。

该工作室甚至尝试了自主发行。它在2011年底发行了Spryfox的《Steambirds: Survival》。

虽然Larsen表示：“我们仍然是一家游戏公司，这就是Halfbrick的追求目标。” 但Halfbrick已经在利用游戏的人气做推广了。

确实，它正在把市场拓展到其他几个地区，最显著的就是亚洲，这多亏了《水果忍者》的巨大成功。

“确实是惊人的成功，我们占据中国苹果应用市场排行榜第一名的时间比其他任何公司都久，那促使我们的品牌成为一种现象。”

“现在，我们在中国有许多大合作伙伴，机遇无限。中国市场将是我们未来几个月和几年的工作重心之一。”

理念

尽管如此，Halfbrick并不愿意让商业和扩张阻碍它的游戏设计道路。

这从Halfbrick的最新游戏《Fish Out of Water》可以得到印证。当这款游戏于年初发布时，许多人都为它的标价感到吃惊，尽管《Jetpack Joyride》改用免费模式获得成功。

Larsen解释道：“我们喜欢快速制作原型，如果没意思，我们就抛弃。我们对市场变化的适应性就体现在采用免费模式上。”

“我们不会从选择一种赢利模式开始，然后使它变得有趣。我们希望尝试赢利、增加沉浸感和病毒性传播力的新方法。我们在原型阶段就会考虑到这些东西。”

冲浪游戏《Fish Out of Water》的演变过程就是一个好例子。我们没有把它设计成免费游戏，所以它发布时是付费下载的。

“最根到底，我们强调的是品质，我们知道只要我们坚持自己的风格、适时重制，Halfbrick就能成功。”

迅速改变

回顾Halfbrick的历程，Larsen对工作室和手机游戏业的未来充满信心。

“过去几年确实充满惊喜，我看到游戏下载量突破数百万，也目睹了开发者的加入和离开，感觉到市场正经历着前所未有地迅速变化。

“每一秒都是一股冲击波，因为你总是知道新的东西即将来临。游戏不是一个允许停滞不前的行业——只要你达到一个目标，你就会发现又有更多目标出现了。”

至于未来，Larsen相信Halfbrick会有光明的前景——“我们尝试了那么多，希望继续尝试下去！”从它丰富的平台经验和专注品质的理念中，我们可以看到Halfbrick的锦绣前程。

Larsen指出：“Halfbrick的一个关键目标当然是，巩固自己作为一家‘伟大的’手机游戏公司的地位。”

“我们已经制作了五款成功的游戏，但我们仍然想再接再厉！

“给粉丝们留下遗产和价值是很重要的，这样我们才能依靠高品质的内容。这样才能最大化Halfbrick的品牌价值。

“就纯数字而言，并非所有游戏都能成为《水果忍者》——最好避免把它当成你自己的成功标准。但如果我们想让所有游戏都成为宝贵的经验，以它为目标确实有用。”（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）

Riding the joyride: Halfbrick, a studio profile

by Lee Bradley

Few developers embody the potential of self-publishing better than Halfbrick Studios.

The Brisbane, Australia-based outfit toiled for years developing licensed games for publishers on devices like the Game Boy Advance and the PlayStation Portable.

And while this approach offered Halfbrick some degree of success, it was only when the studio struck out on its own that it realised its full potential.

Now with globe-straddling hits like Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride to its name, Halfbrick has ascended to the very top of the industry, with mobile as its primary focus.

In our latest company profile, chief marketing officer Phil Larsen reflects on that ascent, discusses the lessons Halfbrick learned along the way, and outlines the studio’s quest to become one of the “all-time greats” of mobile development.

Contract work

Founded in 2001, Halfbrick started out working on licensed handheld games like EA’s Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue and THQ’s Nicktoons: Battle for Volcano Island.

Hardly the most glamorous of work, it nevertheless afforded Halfbrick the opportunity to grow, learn and establish an industry presence.

“We wanted to get out of the publisher contract model eventually,” says Larsen, “but we still look back fondly on the games we created, and are very aware that we learned everything we needed to become a successful studio because of those years in work-for-hire.

Phil Larsen

“We were primarily developing in GBA, DS and PSP – perfect precursors to mobile development in today’s landscape.

“We built on what we learned and made amazing contacts in the industry all over the world,” he continues.

“Everything we are today is because of that time and what we’ve achieved since then. No regrets, and great memories!”

Xbox Live Indie Games

It was only when Microsoft launched its Xbox Live Indie Games channel for Xbox 360 in 2009 that Halfbrick saw the opportunity to go its own way and self-publish.

“That was a very interesting time for us,” says Larsen. “We saw all of these channels opening up, and any one of them could have exploded in popularity.

“We started off with a plan of four games, released one after another over the course of several months, building and making changes to subsequent games based on what we learned from the previous releases.”

Unfortunately, however, thanks largely to mismanagement by Microsoft, XBLIG failed to live up to its promise. Despite this, Larsen is keen to focus on the positives.

“Despite the fact that it ultimately wasn’t financially successful, [developing for XBLIG] established Halfbrick as an IP creator and actually grew our name far bigger than our sales showed,” he says.

“We stuck to our guns for quality. People took notice, and we became a self-publishing company through determination and a constant will to learn.”

PlayStation Minis

As Halfbrick’s search for the ideal platform continued, the company shifted its sights to Sony’s XBLIG equivalent, PlayStation Minis.

“On PlayStation, we were in on the ground floor for the Minis initiative,” explains Larsen. “In actual fact, we created two games pretty much exclusively for that service – Age of Zombies and Aero Racer.

“I was fortunate enough to direct Age of Zombies personally, and it became a big hit in that space – the most popular Mini of 2010. We still have all the awards we racked up and display them proudly!”

Age of Zombies

Yet, just like XBLIG, PlayStation Minis failed to flourish, something highlighted by the subsequent release of Age of Zombies on iOS, which far outstripped the performance of the original.

“We had pretty much maxed out Minis,” says Larsen, so the search for a primary platform continued.

And while iOS seemed like a great fit, the studio wanted one more bite of the home console cherry. Halfbrick’s next project would be its most ambitious project yet.

Xbox Live Arcade

Initially conceived for Nintendo DS, Raskulls is an action platformer that eventually found a home on Xbox Live Arcade.

In development for around two years, it took a vast amount of time and resources, far more than Halfbrick had initially intended.

“We’re very proud of Raskulls, but yes, it took longer than we were comfortable with,” says Larsen.

Raskulls should have been the title that ensured Halfbrick became one of the hottest indies around, and to a degree it did, with warm reviews and strong sales.

But by the time it came to market, another of the studios project’s had make a far larger impact.

Raskulls

“Fruit Ninja was conceived, developed and released during the development of Raskulls,” says Larsen. It changed the company forever.

Fruit Ninja

“We have an initiative called Halfbrick Fridays, where everyone can pitch new ideas and prototype them,” says Larsen.

“Fruit Ninja was one of those ideas; created by Luke Muscat, designed specifically as a one-screen touch based game. Straight up, it was a great, simple idea. I loved it from the first concept
image.

“The original inspiration actually came from late-night infomercials where they slice stuff to demonstrate the amazing sharpness of this brand new knife set, available now with a special exclusive offer for credit card payments!

“They sliced a pineapple to display the awesome slicing power. Who could resist?

“As soon as we had it running on device, we knew it was special and put everything we could into its development.”

While Raskulls would go on to shift 100,00 copies in its first year on XBLA, Fruit Ninja racked up 200,000 in its first month on mobile.

By May 2012, it had been downloaded 300 million times and was on one third of all US iPhones.

Multiplatform Approach

Fruit Ninja was evidence of the huge market that could be reached through mobile devices and Halfbrick was determined to lead the charge.

“The entire mobile market exploded,” says Larsen, “and we really hit our stride, so it was really all hands on deck for mobile.”

“That didn’t mean we became a mobile-only studio though. We went right back to XBLA with Fruit Ninja Kinect, a project that made infinite amounts of sense.”

Fruit Ninja

“In general, we will take a game anywhere if it looks like it will gel with the players, bring something new and exciting to the brand, and hopefully make some money. Fruit Ninja Kinect did all three.”

Even experiments with new platforms that fail to take off are worth pursuing, says Larsen, citing an Age of Zombies port for Xperia Play.

“We picked the game that would play well on the platform, made the most of the unique features to Xperia, and bam – port done. It didn’t set the world on fire, but it made for a great addition to the Halfbrick portfolio. That’s very important to us.”

Fruit Ninja may have ensured that mobile, and particularly iOS, became Halfbrick’s primary focus, but they’ve made it their mission to approach as many platforms as possible.

Jetpack Joyride

“Everything about Jetpack Joyride pretty much ruled,” says Larsen of Halfbrick’s next big mobile hit.

“We had a great time making it, the design came together perfectly, and we created a system that enabled us to really play with all kinds of fun features.

“I was pretty confident throughout the development that Jetpack Joyride would be a major success, and that both our fans and the media would love it.

“We released the game to widespread acclaim, won the 2012 Apple Design Award, and updated it with ongoing content as much as possible.”

Jetpack Joyride

Jetpack Joyride also performed rather well across numerous platforms, with downloads in the multi-millions and a strong and sustained chart presence.

“Incidentally, we’re about to release one of the biggest updates to the game ever,” adds Larsen, “with a new vehicle and jetpacks. It’s just a great living, breathing product for us that we love to support and fans love us for it.

“We are very excited about the future of Jetpack Joyride and Barry Steakfries.”

Expansion

The success of Halfbrick’s back catalogue has allowed the company to expand, opening studios in Sydney and San Francisco to handle various elements of business and game development.

It also enabled the company to acquire Onan Games and its Mandreel technology in 2012, ensuring that Halfbrick can greatly reduce the time and expense of porting its games across iOS, Android, Flash and HTML5.

The company has even tried its hand at publishing, releasing Spryfox’s Steambirds: Survival towards the tail end of 2011.

Beyond that the company has capitalised on the popularity of its games with merchandising, and while Larsen says “we’re still a games company,” it’s something Halfbrick intends to pursue.

Indeed, it’s reaching out on several fronts, most notably in the East thanks to the spectacular success of Fruit Ninja.

“It’s really blown up in an amazing way,” says Larsen. “We’ve been number one on the App Store in China longer than any other country, and that has helped our brand become a phenomenon.

“We now have a lot of awesome partners, friends and opportunities in China, and it’s definitely one of our top priorities in the coming months and years.”

Philosophy

Despite all this, Halfbrick is reluctant to let business and the desire to grow get in the way of designing games.

This is evidenced by the studio’s latest release, Fish Out of Water, which surprised many when it released with a premium price tag earlier this year, despite the huge bump enjoyed by Jetpack
Joyride when it switched to F2P.

Fish Out of Water!

“We love rapid prototyping, and if it isn’t fun, it hits the bin,” says Larsen. “A good example of how we adapt this style when the market changes is in regards to freemium games.

“We don’t start with the monetisation model then try to add fun to it. We want to embrace new ways to monetize and increase engagement and virality, and simply start prototyping with those things in front of mind.”

Fish Out of Water, a game that started out as a surfing title and evolved into a free toy and then ultimately a full release, is a good example. It wasn’t designed as a F2P game, so it launched as premium.

“At the end of the day we want quality, and we know Halfbrick can get there if we stick to our style and take the time to iterate properly,” says Larsen.

Rapid Change

Reflecting on Halfbrick’s life so far, Larsen is enthusiastic about the future of both the company and mobile industry at large.

“The past few years have been truly amazing,” he says. “I’ve been around for billions of downloads, seen developers come and go, and watched the market change faster than ever before.

“Every second has been a blast, in no small part because you always know there’s something new around the corner. This isn’t a place for stagnation – as soon as you achieve one goal, ten more will appear.”

As for the future, Larsen believes that Halfbrick’s journey – “We’ve tried it all and will hopefully do it all again!” – its experimentation with different platforms, and its commitment to quality will see the company flourish.

The Halfbrick team

“A pretty key goal for Halfbrick is definitely to solidify itself as one of the all-time greats in mobile games,” he says.

“We’ve made five pretty huge games, but we always want to improve!

“It’s important to create a legacy and value for fans, so that we can always be relied upon for quality content. It’s about maximising the Halfbrick brand.

“Not every game will become a Fruit Ninja in terms of sheer numbers – it’s fine to avoid setting that as an automatic benchmark of success for yourself. But if we commit to making every game a valued part of our portfolio, it helps lift everything up with it.”(source:pocketgamer)