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面向多屏幕设备设计游戏是未来趋势

发布时间:2014-06-09 16:15:38 Tags:,,,,

作者:James Batchelor

Spil Games首席执行官Erik Goossens的母亲遭遇了一个问题。

与如今的许多人一样,她在浏览网页的时候主要是将时间花在休闲游戏网站上,如Zibbo,即他儿子的公司所拥有的瞄准30岁以上的女性并充满文字游戏和益智游戏的网站。

同样的,与如今的许多人一样,她也喜欢在自己的平板电脑上玩这些游戏——除了一些未出现在应用商店中的游戏。尽管她通过平板电脑的浏览器访问了Zibbo等网站,但是她却不能获得这些游戏。

对于Goossens女士的儿子来说,这既是让他受挫的根源,也是他获得灵感的源泉:“我的母亲从未获得这些游戏。我尝试着向她解释HTML5,Unity和Flash等等之间的差别,但她只是看着我说道,‘儿子,我不在乎什么HTML,你只要让我能够玩这些游戏就行。’”

“所以这便是我要传达的内容:想出能够跨越多个屏幕呈现游戏的方法。”

10年前,游戏只能出现在4种不同的屏幕上,针对于主机的电视屏幕,游戏机,家庭电脑和笔记本电脑的显示器以及原始的手机显示器上。

但现在,人们的起居室已经出现了多种不同的屏幕。尽管主机和游戏机的门户网站仍保持不变,但现在PC已经能够够连接到一些与Valve的Steam Machines等装备相关的大屏幕电视上了。虽然智能电视的渗透率还很低,但是它们却能够为游戏提供另外一个潜在的平台。当然,我们还有智能手机和平板电脑。

屏幕融合

所有的这些系统从本质上上说来都是不同的,但对于休闲游戏玩家,就像Goossen的母亲这样,他们并不能理解阻止自己在任何设备上玩喜欢的游戏的技术障碍。因为这种情况已经改变不了了,所以Spil Games便只能亲自解决这一问题。

Goossens说道:“我们必须解决的两个最大的问题便是多屏幕环境所创造的分裂性,以及该如何跨越这些屏幕获得盈利。因为我们并不能一夜间改变用户。我们拥有许多休闲游戏玩家。他们并不会花过多钱于游戏中,但他们也是我们想要努力迎合的用户。我们已经做了这件事10年之久,所以在今后10年里我们仍会继续这么做。”

Tablet Defense Grid Gold(from develop-online)

Tablet Defense Grid Gold(from develop-online)

为了解决分裂性问题,Spil Games投入重资面向HTML5开发游戏。编程语言让玩家能够在任何设备的浏览器上玩游戏,从而让开发者可以面向更广泛的用户呈现游戏。

回到9月,该公司宣称自己花费了500万美元去帮助开发者创造HTML5游戏,计划于今年在Spil的3个重要屏幕——平板电脑,智能手机和台式电脑上发行1200款游戏。Goossens计划在应用商店中发行其中最受欢迎的200款游戏。

在Spil大力推动HTML5发展的几个月内,还有无数开发者对该系统报以怀疑态度。

Goossens说道:“我们意识到在游戏领域中人们对HTML5还存在一些消极的看法,但对于我们来说,在当前这的确是一种可行的系统。如今我们正在向市场传递HTML5游戏,并且比起Flash游戏,我们的用户似乎更加喜欢HTML5游戏。”

关于多屏幕

然而,与HTML5这样灵活的技术一样,屏幕规格也是一大问题所在。针对台式电脑和平板电脑的游戏设计比较轻松,因为它们具有类似的屏幕纵横比;只需要上下伸缩调节便可。但如果加上较小的智能手机屏幕,再加上手机和平板电脑的触屏输入,游戏设计便会变得更加复杂。

Spil Games的解决方法是每个季度将其30个合作开发商成员聚集在一起,并花几天的时间去强调并解决关于多屏幕游戏的创造和游戏的任何问题。

Goossens解释道:“在过去几年里我们一直在创造指导方针:UI规则之类的。例如当你拥有一款通过鼠标控制的游戏,菜单和互动机制通常位于屏幕的上方,但是在平板电脑上,你的拇指总是位于屏幕的下方,所以所有的一切就需要移到下方。”

“还有另外一个例子是,平板电脑屏幕上并不存在足够的空间去设置菜单,所以你需要一个能够将其导出的区域,但这就意味着你不能将该区域用于设置其它内容。在过去12个多月的时间里我们便致力于创造这样的指导方针,我们已经训练了有合作关系的工作室如何使用它们,为什么需要它们以及其它开发中们需要思考的内容等待。”

“到目前为止,我们的大多数开发者都是先面向平板电脑创造游戏。然后他们会按比例放大游戏到PC上,并按比例缩小到智能手机。对于我们来说平板电脑的用户群体最大。这也是我们的用户投入最多时间的平台:只要在家连接着无线网络便可以玩游戏。这便是我们的最有效点。”

我们将任何能够说明这些指导方针的代码开发上传到中心服务器上,如此其它工作室也能够了解它。然后便是致力于训练工作室去熟悉HTML5的500万美元的投入。Goossens承认这是一笔巨额的投资,但这也是必要的投资。

Goossens说道:“许多开发者需要从Flash转向HTML5;他们需要创建新的程序库并培训自己的团队,而这需要花费一定的时间。实际上我们投入了更多时间和金钱于游戏中,但我们这么做只是希望自己所喜欢并在乎的开发者们能够适应这样的转变。”

“这并不是因为我们是博爱主义者,也不是因为我们多善良或多喜欢这些人;而是因为我们想要从中创造一项业务,所以我们需要帮助这个产业到达那个层次。”

当然,HTML5并不是确保游戏跨越多个设备运行的唯一方法。随着像Unity等技术的易用性的提高,Spil Games的老板表示开发者仍需要仔细考虑该投资于怎样的内容。Goossens说道:“如果你正在尝试着创造Supercell通过《Clash of Clans》所取得的成功,那么HTML5可能就不合适了。如果你正在尝试着创造一款主机游戏,这便是一种不合适的技术。”

“但如果你想要面向休闲用户创造游戏,即那些经常会在一个回合中投入20至40分钟与你进行互动的玩家,那么这便是一种有效的方法。像我们这样的公司可以使用HTML5去传递我们如今所需要的高质量的游戏。”

休闲连接

Goossens表示,并不只有Spil Games将受益于多屏幕游戏;整个产业都需要承认这个事实,休闲玩家正在他们的日常生活中使用多种设备。特别是这样的用户数还在不断壮大。

他说道:“实际上共有12亿人在玩游戏——这是前所未有的巨大用户数。他们在超过3个屏幕上玩游戏,这也是导致屏幕分烈性问题的原因,但我们将会解决这一问题。有许多人每天会花大量的时间在玩我们的游戏。”

但就像任天堂和其它公司注意到的那样,休闲用户或主流用户也是非常善变的。在2006年和2007年,他们沉浸于玩Wii游戏。但之后他们也很快转向Facebook玩《FarmVille》。然后他们又开始在智能手机上玩《愤怒的小鸟》。而现在他们正在向平板电脑转移。所以开发者该如何紧跟这些用户的脚步呢?

Goossens说道:“其实我并不认为他们真的在发生转移。我认为这只是关于出现了新平台。就像我的母亲偶尔也会玩《Bookworm》的下载版本。她同样也会不时到Facebook玩Zunga的游戏,因为她喜欢农场游戏的机制。而现在她在平板电脑上玩着《Candy Crush》。然后她也会到我们的网站上玩一些麻将类游戏。

“10年前,我们拥有较少的用户,并且他们更专注于某些特定的平台。而现在我们拥有更多的用户,他们都属于平台不可知论者,这也是我们为何坚信多屏幕方法的原因。我们认为跟随着用户的脚步前行才是最佳方法。”

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

Designing games for the multi-screen world

By James Batchelor

The mother of Spil Games’ CEO Erik Goossens has a problem.

Like many people nowadays, she spends her time on casual games portals while browsing the web; sites like Zibbo, the portal owned by her son’s firm that targets mostly women over 30 with word and puzzle games.

And, like many people nowadays, she also enjoys playing these games on her tablet – except that some of them aren’t available on app stores. Even if she accesses Zibbo or similar sites through her tablet’s browser, the games are never guaranteed to work.

For Mrs Goossens’ son, it’s a source of both frustration and inspiration: “My mum just doesn’t get it. I try to explain the differences between HTML5, Unity and Flash and so forth, but she just looks at me and says, ‘Son, I don’t care about your HTML-whatever – just make it work. I want to play games’.

“So that’s what we want to deliver: a solution to the problem of multi-screen game delivery.”

Ten years ago, games were limited to four distinct screens: TVs for consoles, gaming handhelds, monitors on home computers and laptops and primitive phone displays.

But now any given living room can have multiple varieties of numerous screens. While the portals to console and handheld games remain unchanged, PCs now hook up to those large-screen TVs with ventures such as Valve’s Steam Machines. Smart TVs, while their penetration remains low, offer another potential platform for games. And then, of course, there are smartphones and tablets.

SCREEN DIGEST

All of these are intrinsically different systems, but the casual gamer – like Goossens’ mother – has no understanding of the technical barriers preventing them playing their favourite titles on any device. Since that’s unlikely to change, Spil Games has taken matters into its own hands.

“The two biggest things we have to solve is the fragmentation created by a multi-screen environment, and how the hell you’re going to monetise across those screens,” explains Goossens. “Because we’re not going to change our audience overnight. We’ve got a huge audience playing casual games. They don’t necessarily spend much money on them, but that’s the audience we cater to. We’ve been catering to it for ten years, and we’ll continue up to do so for the next ten years.”

To solve that fragmentation, Spil Games has invested heavily in developing games for HTML5. The programming language allows games to be played in browsers on any device, opening them to a far wider audience than something like Flash.

Back in September, the firm announced it was spending $5m on helping developers make HTML5 games, with plans to release 1,200 titles this year that work across Spil’s three primary screens: tablet, smartphone and desktop. Goossens plans to release 200 of the most popular of these on app stores.

While Spil has been banging the HTML5 drum for several months, there are devs out there who are sceptical about the benefits of using it. But the exec says the casual games firm stands by its faith in the format.

“We realise there’s a negative connotation around HTML5 in games, but for us it works, here and now,” says Goossens. “We are delivering HTML5 games right now to the market that our users like as much or more than they used to love Flash games.”

MULTI-SCREEN THINKING

However, even with a flexible technology like HTML5, there is the issue of screen size. Designing a game that works on desktops and tablets isn’t too much of a chore since the screen aspect ratios are similar; it’s merely a case of scaling up and down. But throw smaller smartphone displays into the mix, plus the addition of touch inputs for both phones and tablets, and game design becomes more complicated.

Spil Games’ solution is to gather members of its 30 partner developers every quarter and spend a couple of days highlighting and solving any issues they have with how multi-screen games are built and played.

“We have been developing guidelines over the past year: UI rules and so on,” explains Goossens. “For example, when you have a mouse-controlled game, the menu and interactions are typically at the top of the screen, but on a tablet, your thumbs are at the bottom of the screen so everything has to be moved down.

“As another example, there’s not enough real estate on a tablet screen for the menu so you need an area that triggers it to flow in, but that means you can’t use that area for other things. Those kind of guidelines have been developed over the past 12 months, and we’ve trained the studios we work with on how to use them, why they were there and the things developers should think about.

“By now, most of our developers make games for tablets first. Then they scale up to a PC and scale down to a smartphone. The tablet is the biggest audience for us. That’s where the most time spent on games is moving to: over a wi-fi connection at home. That’s our sweet spot.”

Any code developed that demonstrates these guidelines is uploaded to a central server so other studios can learn from it. And then there’s that $5m dedicated to training studios in HTML5. It’s a huge investment, Goossens admits, but a necessary one.

“A lot of developers need capital to switch from working in Flash to HTML5; they need to build new libraries and train their teams, and that takes time. We’re actually spending more money and time on games than we should, but we do it to accommodate this transition for developers that we like and care about,” says Goossens.

“And it’s not because we’re philanthropists and we’re so nice and we love these guys; it’s because we want to build a business out of this so we need to help the industry get to that level.”

Of course, HTML5 is not the only way to ensure games work across any device. With the growing accessibility of technologies like Unity, the Spil Games boss says devs still need to think carefully about what they invest in.
“If you’re trying to achieve what Supercell has done with Clash of Clans, HTML5 sucks,” says Goossens. “If you’re trying to build a game for the consoles, it’s really a bad technology to do that with.

“But if you want to build games for a casual audience that usually spent 20 to 40 minutes interacting with you in a session, and play through three of four games in that period, it’s great. It works. Companies like ourselves can use HTML5 to deliver the quality of games that we need today.”

CASUAL CONNECTIONS

It’s not just Spil Games that will benefit from multi-screen titles, Goossens argues; the entire industry needs to account for the fact that casual gamers are using multiple devices in their daily lives. Particularly given how big that audience has become.

“The fact is there are 1.2bn people playing games – we’ve never had an audience larger than that before,” he says.
“Yes, sure, they do it over three screens, which leads to platform fragmentation issues, but we’ll solve that. That’s a bunch of people spending a shitload of time playing our games every day.”

But as Nintendo and other firms have found, the casual or mainstream audience can be fickle. In 2006 and 2007, they were all playing Wii. Later, there were all on Facebook enjoying FarmVille. Then they were on smartphones playing Angry Birds, and now they’re migrating to tablets. How can developers keep up with an audience that is constantly on the move when no one can predict their next preferred platform?

“I don’t think they actually move,” argues Goossens. “I think it’s just the addition of new platforms. My mum, again, still plays a downloadable version of Bookworm every now and then. She also goes to Facebook from time to time, where she plays Zynga games because she likes the farming mechanic. And now she plays Candy Crush on a tablet. And then she also comes to our sites sometimes, playing Mahjong titles.

“Ten years ago, we had a smaller audience that was more dedicated to certain platforms. Now it’s a more massive audience that is platform-agnostic and that’s why we believe in the multi-screen approach. We believe we need to be where our user is, rather than the other way around.”(source:develop-online)

 


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