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盘点独立游戏开发者的12个开发和运营技巧
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Mode 7是位于牛津的独立游戏工作室，其进展中的项目是极受人欢迎的多人和单人策略游戏《Frozen Synapse》，本作可在PC和Mac上运行。该工作室成员Paul Taylor在Games Brief上发表客座文章，以下是游戏邦编译的相关内容：
本文的目标群体是那些想要制作游戏的人，这正是我们在Mode 7对自己的定位。我们并没有成为下个Zynga或动视公司的抱负，只是想做小型但能够盈利的工作室。如果你认为自己的定位与我们相近，或者你希望通过制作独立游戏维持生计，那么你可能发觉以下内容对自己有所帮助。在此，我并不想装作对行业相当熟悉，我还远未达到那种水平，我们也都是边做边学。
Frozen Synapse
1、需要商业头脑
要通过独立游戏维持生计，首先你需要有商业思维。如果这种说法令你感到无所适从或者你对此不感兴趣，那么就需要马上找个有商业头脑、富有创造性且支持相关项目的运营合作伙伴。你应该尝试成为或找到良好的商业会计，从Business Link之类的组织那里得到些许基础建议。开发者需要从艰难的商业操作中脱身，你的会计应该要帮你解决任何自己感到棘手的问题。
2、制定切实可行的销售目标
独立游戏能带来多少利润呢？到现在为止，鲜有独立游戏销售量能超过100万套。《Amnesia》所取得的成果较为合理，这款独立游戏的开发者已有适当用户基础。游戏特色是接近AAA级游戏的图像设计，销售量近期上升至将近20万套。对其他独立游戏开发者而言，游戏的销售量能突破1万或2万便足以欢呼雀跃。
因此，需要制定多少销售目标并没有确切的答案。坦诚来说，如果某个新开发者告诉我他的游戏只能运行于PC上，而且想要获得逾1万的销售量，我会为他的处境感到担忧。我认为对某个有抱负心的独立游戏而言，理想的项目时长在1.5至2年间，但这只是我的个人观点而已。
3、想法、美工和可玩性
平心而论，在游戏发布前，没人真正知道哪种游戏好卖。他们可以猜测，根据许多相关数据做出预测，但无法得到准确的答案。尽管如此，为了让你的游戏有可能成为令人满意的产品，我认为有几个要点需要注意：
萌生好想法无规律可循，你需要预想哪些事物能够满足所有玩家或你认为能够产生作用的特定群体的诉求。
对于这个方面，我也无法直接提供什么建议，重点在于开发者要记住应考虑受众对你的想法会有何反应。我认为《Retro City Rampage》、《Farmville》、《Uplink》和《粘粘世界》这4款风格迥异的游戏很明显地传达出作者的想法，相对于我的连篇累牍来说，它们能更清晰地阐明我的观点。只要你接触上述游戏，立时就可以清楚明白游戏中的内容以及玩游戏的乐趣所在，这正是想法所要达成的目标。
如果想取得成功，那么你的独立游戏就必须在视觉上吸引人。每天都有大量给人带来视觉冲击的独立游戏浮现，看看等网站的报道就能知道这一点。玩家选择游戏是因为图像，而为游戏所吸引是因为可玩性，这二者你都需要。这里我说的并不是昂贵的AAA级游戏图像，我指的是那些能够立即产生巨大视觉冲击的内容。《Dwarf Fortress》做到了这一点，其ASCII界面瞬时吸引用户关注。
你需要找到用极低成本制作闪亮新颖视觉效果的方法。这听起来不是很容易，但作为富有创造力的独立游戏开发者，这正是你发挥才能之处。Lexaloffle（游戏邦注：某独立游戏公司。）以低成本但引人注目的方式重现被人所遗忘的图像技术，实现上述目标。这也是他们的游戏预告片已有20万人观看的原因。
最后，有两样东西对你不无裨益：细节和趣味性。游戏在视觉上取得成效后，你可以回头添加各种内容，包括有趣的事物、小动画、诡异的细节、隐藏区域和菜单图像等。手工制成的小细节融合起来才能构筑精品，评论员和消费者会注意到你付出的辛劳。
好的游戏设计人员会牢牢把握两种对立的技术：抽象规则系统和实际设计方法。如果你精通前者但感到后者甚为棘手，尽早让他人参与到游戏中，因为那时的反馈信息能够有所帮助。“早发布随后经常修改并测试”的想法也正是因此而产生。需要提醒的是，对大部分玩家来说，如果没有像样的艺术（游戏邦注：这里的艺术指上文提到的美工。）作为前提，他们几乎未曾考虑评价游戏的可玩性。
Dwarf Fortress
游戏设计是个需要花毕生精力来掌握的技能，这是个职业。和许多职业类似，很多人认为只要他们有机会从事，就会做得很棒，这些人的想法绝对是错误的。如果游戏的可玩性不足以让人们向朋友推荐你的游戏，你就无法获得使自己得以继续发展的资金，事实就是这样。
4、设计付费模式
在设计游戏时，考虑付费模式。这里我提些中肯的意见，就目前PC和Mac上的盈利而言，包含虚拟商品的免费游戏位居首位。它们允许钟爱游戏的消费者花更多钱，也可以从其他渠道获得少量营收，比如玩家购买游戏的完整版。虽然事态如此，但此类方式营收最高并不意味着你必须采用这种方法，或许它并不适合你想要制作的游戏。记住，我们是想要制作游戏的人。你制作游戏的原因在于创造，而不是想要尽可能多赚钱。
因此，传统的一次性付费对个人和小公司来说仍然是行之有效的方案。需要注意的是，如果你确实选择一次性付费方式，我建议你尽早关注扩展包和为真正喜欢游戏的消费者提供更多价值的方式。有证据表明，一次性付费比免费更容易让玩家着迷，因而你可能获得某些想要得到更多内容的激情粉丝。
这种方式对消费者也更为友善，你无需不断叨扰人们让其付费，让你与消费者间的关系较为和善。要想知道如何让多数消费者长期沉浸在游戏中，看看Penny Arcade的做法。他们制作粉丝喜爱的产品，与玩家保持互惠关系。游戏邦认为，独立游戏公司也可以采取相同的方法。
5、提供预购服务并增加其价值
对独立开发者制作一次性付费游戏来说，实行预购是种非常有效的手段。当有人预购我们即将面世的游戏《Frozen Synapse》时，他们可立刻获得测试版和能提供给朋友的免费版。到目前为止，这种方法已经使我们获得一定的成功。在我们以这种方式发布游戏前，最重要的事情便是等待直至测试版足够好玩并稍加润色。以上是我给考虑采用这种方式的开发者的建议。
我们决定不在发布预购版同时发布游戏样本，确保只有那些真正对我们的想法怀有热情并愿意投入时间的人才会得到测试版。虽然我认为这会限制预购群体的数量，却也创造出能够显著改善游戏开发的极度狂热和支持性玩家群体。当游戏准备通过测试版接触更多受众时，上述做法可能将它提升至最佳状态。
我认为，如果你的作品像《Minecraft》那样容易让玩家接受，那么就没有在开发早期不出测试版的理由。和上述所有建议类似，你做出此等决定之前需要考虑是否适合自己的游戏。
6、考虑通过网络打击盗版
盗版是独立开发者面临的一个很现实的问题，这意味着某些网络内容（游戏邦注：这里作者指代需要用户购买后才能通过网络获得的游戏内容。）是你游戏的必需品，为那些真正想要付费的消费者提供游戏的价值所在。当人们知道他们可以从其他地方免费获得完整版游戏时，只有那些好心人才会选择付费购买。
通过融入网络内容解决这个问题的方法多种多样，但我建议你采用取悦消费者而不是与消费者站在对立面的方式。别强迫游戏毫无目的地与你的服务器连接，找寻可增加价值的有趣网络内容。
7、兼顾直接销售和间接销售
为让某款PC上的可下载游戏取得令人满意的成就，你需要接触每个主销售渠道。获得销售渠道的技巧是什么呢？那就是制作一款流行的游戏并尽早发布其相关信息。别只依靠分销商为你出售游戏，直接销售也可以赚很多钱。你需要如下内容作为支持：可靠的付费供应商（游戏邦注：作者推荐Fastspring。）；让用户可轻松获得游戏信息的清晰网站以及测试版下载和购买页面；花时间优化网站并逐渐更新；以产生流量为基础的市场计划；网站无需过于华丽，简单有效即可。
尽量在博客、视频或社交网络上多发布相关信息。以我的经验来看，造势与成功之间有直接的联系，吸引公众注意对你自己或他人都有益处。
9、时刻关注销售量
Google Analytics
你必须在网站上设立优良的站点分析，这是我曾经得到过的最有用的销售建议。如若不然，你无从知晓游戏售出或滞销的原因。我强烈推荐使用Google Analytics，功能极为强大而且免费。
10、与其他独立开发者和社群配合
独立开发者逐渐开始协作，比如《Super Meat Boy》等交叉销售游戏或Cliffski的项目。积极参与独立游戏社群对你的工作有益，但是别卷入暗战之中。
11、理智使用展会
别在展会上花过多的资金，我还从未见过有人付大笔资金参展后便马上得到丰厚的收获。尝试找到合法的方式，免费参加展会。但是，前往某些展会并与其他人谈论你的游戏是必不可少的步骤，这种小机会或许能够带来真正有价值的巨大收获。如果你在英国，我建议你参加Gamecity，正是这个展会让我决定加入游戏业。
12、做自己的事，永不放弃
坚持对独立开发者来说是最可贵的，你会在制作中犯错误，吸取教训重新上路。只有你真正喜欢这件事，才能够做成，这也是独立游戏在这个残酷世界中的亮点所在！（本文为游戏邦/编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）
12 BUSINESS TIPS FOR INDIE GAME DEVELOPERS
This is a guest post from Paul Taylor of Mode 7, an indie development studio based in Oxford. Their current project is Frozen Synapse, a critically acclaimed multiplayer and single player squad-based tactical game for PC and Mac.
This post will be of most use to people in the “Anyone Who Wants to Make Games” category, which is where we at Mode 7 would place ourselves. We don’t have ambitions to be the next Zynga or A we want to be small but profitable. If you find yourself in a similar position, or even if you’re a one-man-band developer trying to make a living from indie games, you may find the following helpful. I don’t pretend to have all the answers – far from it – we’re all learning as we go.
1. Business brain required
To make a living from indie games, you will have to start running your own business. If this idea scares you, or you find it uninteresting, then get yourself a commercially-minded but creatively-sympathetic business partner immediately. You should try and get hold of a good business accountant (hard to find!) and get some basic advice from organisations like Business Link. There is nothing about the basics of running a business which is remotely difficult: your accountant should be able to help you out with anything you don’t understand.
2. Have realistic sales targets
How much money can an indie game make? Well, we’ve now seen that a statistically insignificant percentage of indie games can sell over a million copies! More sanely, Amnesia, an indie game from a developer with an existing fanbase, which features graphics approaching AAA quality recently managed to sell nearly 200,000 units. Other indies are delighted when their games break 10k or 20k units.
So, this is a “how-long-is-a-piece-of-string” situation. But suffice it to say, if a new developer told me that his or her PC-only game required sales of over 10k units to break even, I would be concerned for them. I think the ideal project duration for an ambitious indie game is 1.5 – 2 years, but that’s just my personal opinion!
3. Concept, Aesthetic, Gameplay
Fundamentally, nobody really knows whic工口GAMEs will sell well until they are launched. T with a lot of relevant data they can make ballpark predictions, but they can’t know. However, I think there are boxes to tick in order to allow your game a chance of being a decent product:
There’s no formula for coming up
you’re trying to divine something that will appeal to a range of people, or a specific niche that you think is under-served.
Also, there’s almost no point giving direct advice about this, save that it’s important to bear in mind what people other than yourself will think about your concept. Here are four very different games that I believe have
they’ll illustrate my point better than another paragraph of my waffle: Retro City R F U World of Goo. As soon as you encounter each of those games, it’s very clear what’s going on and why you’re likely to have fun if you play them. That’s the goal of a concept.
Your indie game must look spectacular to even be a mild success. Heaps of visually attractive indie games are coming out literally on a daily basis: just take a look at TIGsource
or RockPaperShotgun to see what I mean. People will come for the graphics and s you need both. I’m not talking about expensive AAA I mean something that has a massive visual impact instantly. Even Dwarf Fortress does this: its ASCII look is immediately intriguing.
You need to develop a way of creating a brilliant original look with very little cost. Not easy, but as an inventive indie, doing clever things is your job! Lexaloffle have done this by resurrecting a forgotten graphics technique in a low-fi but striking way… That’s why their trailer has 200k views already!
Finally, two things that will never, ever hurt you: detail and “spice”. Once your game is visually functional, go back and add stuff – funny things, little animations, quirky details, hidden areas, motion graphics for the menus. Polish is an accumulation of small, hand-crafted details: reviewers and customers will notice the effort you’ve put in.
Good game design involves both a strong grasp of abstract rule systems and a practical hands-on iterative approach: skills which are at opposite poles. If you’re good at the former but poor at the latter, get other people involved at the earliest possible time when feedback is useful. This is where the tried and tested “release early and often” concept comes in. One word of warning: most gamers find it almost impossible to evaluate gameplay without some decent art on top.
Game design is a skill that takes a lifetime to master: it’s a vocation. Like many vocations, a lot of people think they’d be great at it if they just had a chance to do it: these people are almost always wrong. If your gameplay isn’t good enough for people to recommend your game to their friends, you won’t sell enough copies to keep going: that’s a fact.
4. Make payment models part of your design process
Think of your payment model as part of your game design. Here’s some mild conjecture: free-to-play games incorporating virtual goods offer the highest possible ceiling in terms of revenue on PC and Mac right now. They allow customers who love the game to pay more than average, and they also capture small amounts of revenue from players at the other end of the scale, who otherwise might not buy a “full version” of the game. However, just because something has the highest ceiling does not mean that’s where you should aim: it may simply not be suitable for the type of game you want to make. Remember, we’re in the “Anyone Who Wants to Make a Game” you’re doing this because you have something you want to create, not because you want to make the most money possible.
So, it’s important information that traditional “pay-once” titles are still very viable for individuals and small companies. One caveat: if you do go down the pay-once route, I would definitely urge you to look into DLC and ways of offering more value to customers who truly love your game. Pay-once arguably offers more opportunity for immersion and scope than free-to-play, so you may well gain some very passionate fans who would love to get hold of more content.
It’s also more customer-friendly: you don’t have to keep badgering people to give you money every five seconds. That could lead to a more meaningful relationship with your customers. For a good example of how to make the most of long-term customer commitments in gaming, look at Penny Arcade. They make products (and hold events)
they have a truly mutually beneficial relationship with their community. There’s no reason that an indie games company couldn’t adopt the same approach.
5. Offer pre-orders – and add value to them
Pre-orders are a very strong route for indie developers making pay-once games. When someone pre-orders our forthcoming title Frozen Synapse, they immediately get a copy of the beta as well as a fr this has had a reasonable degree of success for us so far. The most important thing we did was to wait until the beta was exciting to play and fairly polished before we released it in this way: I’d urge anyone considering this to do the same.
We decided not to put out a demo with the pre-order, ensuring that only those who were excited by the concept enough to invest made it in to the beta. While I believe that this has restricted the size of our pre-order community, it has also created an extremely passionate and supportive group who have helped us out significantly with development. When the game is ready to reach a wider audience through a demo, it will be in the best possible shape because of this decision.
I think, though, that if you have an alpha with the ease-of-use and accessibility of something like Minecraft there is simply no excuse for failing to have a demo at an early stage. Like everything, you should make this decision based on what suits your game.
6. Consider online to beat piracy
Piracy is a very real issue for indie developers: it effectively means that your game needs some kind of online component in order to offer value to customers who do want to pay. Only very good-natured people will buy something they know they can get for free elsewhere with no negative consequences.
There are many ways of solving this problem by incorporating online components, but I’d urge you to do that in a way which is pro-customer rather than anti-customer. Don’t just force the game to contact your server for no reason: think of an interesting online feature which can add value.
7. Go direct, and go indirect
To have a decent success on the PC with a downloadable game, you’ll need to be on every major portal. The secret of getting on portals? Make a popular game and release information about it early! Don’t just rely on distributors to sell your game for you, though: there is still significant money to be made from direct sales. You’ll need the following: A reliable payment provider (we recommend Fastspring); A clear website which allows easy access to information about your game, a demo dow Time spent on optimising your website and tunin A marketing plan based o Your website doesn’t have to be flashy or even particularly attractive (providing your game itself looks good); it just has to be simple and work.
8. Market, market, market
The only thing I want to add to this now is that it never seems to be possible to over-do it on the blogging, videos or social network front. Loudness seems to correlate directly with success in my experience: be as attention-seeking as possible without harming yourself or others!
9. Know your numbers
You must have a good web analytics package on your website: this is the single most useful piece of marketing advice anyone has ever given me. Without this, you won’t know why your game is selling or not selling. Google Analytics is immensely powerful and free: I highly recommend it.
10. Work with other indies, and the indie community
Increasingly, indie developers are banding together and collaborating. Look at some of the cross-marketing in games like Super Meat Boy, or projects like Cliffski’. Getting actively involved with the indie games community can really benefit your work: just don’t get distracted by the posturing and in-fighting.
11. Use events wisely
Don’t spend much money on events: I’ve yet to find anyone who can demonstrate a clear return from paying for a big stand at a show or similar. Definitely try and find legal ways of going to events for free! In any case, do go to some events and talk to a lot of people about your games: there is always a small-but-not-insignificant chance of making a really valuable contact. If you’re in the UK (or even if you’re not) I urge you to support Gamecity – it’s an event which sums up why I want to be part of the games industry.
12. Do it, and don’t ever give up
Persistence is the most important trait you’ll need as an indie developer. You’ll need to make mistakes, learn from them and carry on anyway. You have to love doing this in order to do it at all: that’s why the indie games scene is one of the best places to be in this cruel world! (Source: )
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& & 关于独立开发者在Kickstarter成功融资的10个建议& && &发布时间： 12:16:49& & Tags：,,
& && && && && && &&&
我们曾在过去的中提到，独立游戏开发者在资金问题上的艰难处境有目共睹，但Kickstarter、8-bit Funding等大众融资渠道的出现，为几乎两手空空的小型初创企业和年轻游戏设计者打开了一扇大门。这种大众融资渠道既为独立开发者解决了项目开发成本 的问题，又为他们提供了免费进行市场调查、创建粉丝社群的平台，有助于他们探测项目的市场需求，而且几乎不会让他们遭受任何损失。
Bravado Waffle Studios就通过Kickstarter网站为其首款游戏《RoboArena》筹措到了项目开发资金，以下是他们为各位希望获得大众融资的开发者的一些建议：
Kickstarter
1.项目视频介绍是必需装备：提供一个高质量的视频内容，可以极大增加融资的成功机率。俗话说，有图有真相，所以提供视频无疑是最有说服力的宣传。
2.出色的项目说明：你的项目说明越是完善，大众就越有可能关注这个项目。你的吆喝调门越高，就越有可能说服他们资助这个项目。总之你的推广工作越到位，就越有可能获得更高的媒体曝光率，并成为Kickstarter首页推荐项目。
3.要善于讲述精彩的故事：Kickstarter的大众投资者往往更愿意支持那些令人印象深刻、搞笑的项目经理人，所以你必须做足说好故事的工作，想法逗乐大众，让他们爱屋及乌，因为你的独特之处而支持你的项目。
4.设定合理的融资目标：在Kickstarter网站上，开发者只有成功筹得资金或是颗粒无收这两种结果，所以必须设定一个现实的目标。没有人希望自己看到的只是一张画饼，所以必须保证项目信息的公开透明，向支持者阐明他们的资金将如何帮助实现你的目标。
5.通过奖励手段，吸引不同群体成为你的潜在支持者：人人都喜欢因自己的出力而得到不错的奖品和回报，所以项目经理人得想好哪些支持者会捐1美元，哪些人的资助额可能高达1000美元，并从他们的角度来考虑如何吸引大众支持这个项目，这样就会增加他们投资的可能性。总之，这种融资活动就是你和大众交换价值的一种过程，找到可行的奖励方法，会让你更有胜算。
6.借鉴他人成功经验，汲取其失败教训：这一点是老生常谈，但项目经理人还是不可忽视它的作用，要善于从其他成功融资项目中找到自己可采纳的策略，并从中发现哪些方法行不通，避免自己也走上同样的岔道。同时要注意不要只将目光局限于游戏融资项目，应该兼顾其他领域的项目经验，看看他们的经理人如何宣传推广，如何奖励支持者，这些经验可以让你受益无穷。
7.定期汇报项目进展并答谢支持者：Kickstarter可以让项目形成一个粉丝和支持者社群，所以项目经理人得时常与这些人群互动，答谢他们的支持，成为他们的新朋友，让他们感觉是一个团体中的一员。即便最后你并没有获得融资，你也已经由此创建一个与粉丝对话的沟通机制，这对你后来的市场营销活动大有帮助。
8.找到目标支持者并向他们推广项目：在Kickstarter上能否获得的成功，往往取决于项目经理人的推广活动规模。所以必须通过多种途径找到自己的粉丝群体和目标市场，让他们了解项目情况。通常情况下，你也可以在一般支持者的范围之外寻找资助来源，通过本地报纸、博客和其他平台引进更多支持者。
9.时常与支持者社群互动：Kickstarter是一个友好型的社区，如果你时常活跃于各个社群，那么他们也终会给予积极的响应和回报。
10.不惧失败，重新再来：Kickstarter只是许多个大众融资平台之一，假如你首次出师未捷，那就重新调整策略再多尝试几次。但要记住将原来融资项目的链接引到新的页面，因为原来的融资项目如果过期了，你就不可再编辑该页面。 （本文为游戏邦/编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）
10 Tips For Raising Funds With Kickstarter For Indie Game Developers
Starting out as an indie game developer is hard! Ridiculously hard! But it doesn’t have to be. Web 2.0 has brought us many new ways to waste… I mean spend our time: Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Reddit… However, this newly interconnected and social internet has also opened up new and exciting avenues for small startup developers and young game designers! I’m talking about Crowd Funding!
The crowd funding revolution has begun, as a recent Gamasutra feature has pointed out. We believe that places like Kickstarter are going to become hugely popular and important for startup game developers in the very near future, if it isn’t already! They provide a way for fans to give back and support your development, they provide free market research, free community building, and getting funding through them is infinitely easier than seeking out venture capital and traditional investors. It’s a very exciting platform to test out because there is literally nothing to loose and everything to gain!
Here at Bravado Waffle Studios, we are turning to Kickstarter to raise needed development funds for our debut game RoboArena inspired by classic games like RoboRally, X-Com, and RoboSport. You can learn more about the project and help support it here: RoboArena Kickstarter Campaign
Here’s a list of the top 10 tips we’ve gathered from researching and interviewing successful Kickstarter campaign managers:
1. A video is a MUST- Having a good quality video increases your chances to succeed massively. A picture is worth a thousand words, so show your fans what you’ve got!
2. Polish your presentation- The more polished your presentation is, the more likely people will watch the entire thing. The more honed your pitch, is the more likely they will be moved to donate. The more momentum you can build this way, the better of a chance you will have at getting media coverage and featured on the front page of Kickstarter!
3. Tell a story- Kickstarters often donate to the person just as much as the project, so be likable, be funny, be memorable, and tell them your story. People love to laugh, so make them laugh, make them like you as much as you make them like your project!
4. Set reasonable funding goals- Kickstarter is all or nothing, so be reasonable in what you need! Nobody likes to feel like they are being scammed, so be transparent as well, and tell your supporters exactly how their funds will help your project.
5. Make your rewards and pledge tiers appeal to your potential supporters- Everybody likes swag and cool rewards for their support, so think about who will be supporting you&&from the $1 tier to the $1000 tier. Think about what you can give each to entice them to pledge by putting yourself in their shoes, this will enhance the likelihood that they will donate to the cause. It is all about exchanging value with your audience, find ways to do this and you will succeed!
6. Study successful AND unsuccessful campaigns- This should go without saying. Study up, see what works and what doesn’t for your particular field. Find things you like in successful campaigns and adapt them to your own, and see what didn’t work at all and avoid it like the plague. Don’t just stick to the gaming campaigns either, look around at other successful campaigns and see how they promoted, pitched, and rewarded their supporters. You will learn a lot!
7. Use your Updates to personally thank your pledgers- Kickstarter is all about building a community of fans and supporters, so talk with them! Thank them! Be their new best friend and make them feel a part of something bigger! This way, even if you don’t get funded, you will have established a dialog with your fan base and that is some of the most valuable marketing you can do!
8. Find your fans and get the campaign in front of them- Right now success on Kickstarter is often determined by how much outreach the campaign managers do. So find your fans, find your market, and get your story in front of them in any way possible. Often you may need to look outside your normal audience to find funding as well, think about ways you can get your story out there and in local newspapers, on blogs, and other places to draw in more supporters.
9. Give and you shalt receive- The Kickstarter community is a friendly bunch, so be active in the community and they will return the favor.
10. If at first you don’t succeed… try try again- Kickstarter is only one of many crowd funding platforms, if you fail at first, hone your pitch and try again! Be sure to include a link to your new campaign before your Kickstarter campaign runs out since after that, you can no longer edit the home page.
There’s many more tips out there for running a crowd funding campaign, but these top 10 should get you thinking in the right direction. We guarantee that no matter what, it will be an incredibly exciting and very educational experience! I know it has been for us!（）
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& & PopCap游戏打破开发社交游戏的三大神话& && &发布时间： 11:22:58& & Tags：,,
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社交游戏领域的Zynga，Playdom和Playfish这三大公司时刻提防着独立开发者对其地位发起挑战。
当听到Zynga叙说Facebook中的游戏时，你不得不恍然大悟道“只有实力雄厚的游戏公司才能在Facebook这个平台上赚取利益啊”。而这也正是Zynga希望大众能够明白的一个事实。在这些不败神话的影响下，很多公司也就只能通过抄袭像《FarmVille》这些优秀有趣的游戏而得以存活。
以下是PopCap的《宝石迷阵闪电战》所推翻的游戏巨头所定义的社交游戏3大神话：
bejeweled-blitz
误解1：依赖于数据度量方法
根据Zynga和Playdom的开发经验，你可能会认为设计一款社交游戏要准确度量玩家的想法，并按照这个度量制造游戏。
但是这种方法却不适用于很多独立开发公司，因为他们不仅缺乏健全的数据库资源，而且还很难对数据进行更精确且深层次的分析。这使得很多公司不得不把成功当成遥不可及的梦想。而这也正是那些巨头公司想看到的情况。
PopCap则采用了独立友好型战略方法。他们是通过自己的技巧独立设计游戏的：
Vechey（游戏邦注：PopCap创始人）说道：“我们花了很多时间和精力设计《宝石迷阵闪电战》这款游戏，所以其他人将很难抄袭它。我们甚至会琢磨于页面中的一行要设置几颗宝石，它们的重力要达到多少才适合等等。可以说，我们所做的每一步决策都是匠心独运的。如果换成是Zynga，他们也许会说‘我们分析了成百上万次的游戏过程，发现了所有的重力级别和行距的保留级别都达到的最高层次。’因为对于Zynga来说，这是一种数学科学，但是对于PopCap来说，这却是一种技巧性的工作。”
Vechey补充道：“Zynga与我们的不同在于，Zynga是纯粹按照用户的需求制造游戏的，而我们却完全相反。我们会事先思考玩家所喜欢的东西是什么，而我们也正想为他们制造这种东西。与Zynga和PopCap的区别一样，微软和苹果也存在着这种差异性。微软通过目标用户的驱动而制造了Zune。而苹果在诞生iPad前却从未曾对其用户进行调查或列出一大串的功能列表供其用户选择。但是这并不能说PopCap就等于苹果而Zynga就等于微软。我们只是一个不受用户驱动的公司，而且也并未专注于数据。所以用户才会因此看到不一样的游戏产品呢。”
游戏开发者们完全可以按照自己的感觉制造高质量的游戏，也能在Facebook上取得成功。但是千万不要盲目地依赖用户的想法而制造游戏（这么说并不是全盘否定了这种度量方法）。
误解2：必须在一开始就制定虚拟商品的盈利策略
《宝石迷阵闪电战》游戏中的虚拟商品只是一些游戏道具。
Roberts（游戏邦注：PopCap首席执行官）说道：“一年前每一个人都曾对我说过，除非在一开始我们就制造出能够盈利的虚拟物品，否则我们将会遭遇惨重的失败。然而事实却并非如此。”
PopCap并未失败！PopCap今年的营收共有10%是来自于Facebook平台：据Robert估计，PopCap今年将有10%的营收来自于Facebook平台，25%的营收来自手机平台。
PopCap旗下共有40多款电脑游戏和Mac游戏，手机游戏以及在线游戏，而仅凭1款游戏就能在Facebook上获得10%的营收不得不让人吃惊。
PopCap的案例表示，如果你也能够在Facebook上制造一款有趣且令人着迷的游戏，并使其尽可能简单的适合玩家操作，那么你将能从中获取巨大的收益。所以不要再盲目地接受使虚拟商品盈利的方法了。
误解3：社交游戏是一款完全新型的游戏
很多人经常会说，如果一款社交游戏在一开始就缺乏“社交性”，那么它将不会取得成功。而PopCap的《宝石迷阵闪电战》却成功推翻了这一观点。《宝石迷阵闪电战》的成功说明，一款不具备“社交性”的游戏稍加调整后，也能风靡于Facebook这个社交平台。不要再执迷于社交游戏就必须具备“社交性”才能出现在Facebook平台上的这种观点了。《宝石迷阵闪电战》是一款轻松简单的游戏，非常适合Facebook用户体验。
即使到现在，《宝石迷阵闪电战》所具备的社交功能最多也只体现在游戏排行榜上。但是即使这样它也能吸引无数的社交游戏玩家。据调查，每天大约有25%的玩家会打开这个游戏游玩。
对于很多独立游戏开发者来说，不应该只依赖于社交游戏的社交功能来制造游戏，因为在游戏刚发行阶段一般都很难立马吸引无数的玩家。而且很多玩家或许在这个平台上一个朋友都没有。这时，不要考虑社交因素而更注重赋予游戏娱乐性就变得尤其重要了。
PopCap的实例证明，他们能够吸引那些对游戏上瘾的玩家融入Facebook环境中，并使他们对游戏产生持续性的热情。社交游戏领域的其他巨头可能认为这种事情不可能发生，但是PopCap却做到了这一点。
很多大型社交游戏开发者认为，Facebook上的任何一款游戏如果缺少用户的病毒式传播和大量的广告推广，就将无法迅速获取知名度，产生足够的影响力。然而PopCap却证明了一个单一的，且令人满意的游戏机制能够做到这点。所以，请不要再执迷于“社交游戏不得不‘社交’”的谬论了。（本文为游戏邦/编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）
3 Social Game Design Myths Busted by @PopCap
The 3-headed monster of Zynga, Playdom, and Playfish guards against indie developers entering their space.
If you listen to what Zynga says about Facebook games you’d think that only the massive social game companies can make money with Facebook games. And that’s exactly what they want you to believe. These scary myths are designed to put you off from trying Facebook game development out, because it might be — just might be — that good, fun games end up stealing some of Farmville’s lunch in the long run.
But in that recent interview with Inside Social Games, PopCap busts three of the most pervasive social game myths that might stop indies from releasing a game on Facebook. Read on and see how PopCap’s experience with Bejeweled Blitz busts a whole bunch of social game development myths.
Myth 1 — It’s all about metrics
Listening to the links of Zynga and Playdom, you’d think that designing a social game was all about looking at user metrics and building your game entirely based on what those metrics tell you.
This leads to problems for indies because you don’t have the resources to build data warehouses and sophisticated, deep analytics. So success looks out of reach. Exactly what they want you to believe.
PopCap takes a more indie-friendly route. They use their own sense of craft to make the game as good as possible:
Vechey: … It’s really hard to copy Bejeweled, because there’s a feeling that we spent a lot of time on. We worked a lot on how many gems should go in a row, what the gravity is. Those decisions are a craft.
If PopCap was Zynga they’d have said, “we analyzed millions of gameplay sessions, and found the gravity level and row length at which retention was highest”. For Zynga it’s a
for PopCap it’s a craft.
The thing that’s different between Zynga and us is that they’re building the game that their customers tell them to build, it’s whatever their people click on. We’re almost the opposite. We decide in advance what people will think what is good and give it to them. In the same way Microsoft made the Zune — that’s the focus group driven product, while Apple made the iPod, where they never ask people what they want or go through a features list. Not to say that we’re Apple and Zynga is Microsoft. But we’ve just never been a user-driven company, and we’re not devoted to the statistics. So you’ll get different products.
You can use your own sense of what makes a great game and still build something successful on Facebook. Don’t blindly accept the metrics myth! (But of course some metrics do matter so check out my Pirate Metrics for Social Games post…)
Myth 2 — You need to work in monetization from the start
The virtual goods available in Bejeweled Blitz are simple powerups and an obvious after thought:
Roberts: A year ago everyone was telling us that you couldn’t do social games unless you built monetization in from the start, that we would fail. But we didn’t.
Fail they did not! 10% of PopCap’s revenue for this year is lined up to come from Facebook:
PopCap will make about 10 percent of its total revenue from Facebook this year, and 25 percent from all mobile platforms, according to Roberts.
Remember that PopCap has over 40 PC download games as well as games for the Mac, mobile, and online. For 10% of their revenue to come from their one real foray into Facebook is staggering.
PopCap shows that if you build a fun, addictive game on Facebook and keep it simple then you can monetize it after release. So don’t blindly accept the monetization myth either.
Myth 3 — Social games are a whole new game
You’ll often hear that social games can’t work if they’re not highly social right from the beginning. PopCap’s success with Bejeweled Blitz shows that you can take a non-social game, tweak it a bit, and make it work on Facebook. Don’t believe that social games have to be social to work on Facebook. Bejeweled Blitz is simply a (very) fun game that fits well into a Facebook user’s day.
Even now, Bejeweled Blitz’s social features consist of a leaderboard and not much else. But it works. 25% of players show up for a game every day or more.
Building social games that don’t RELY on social features is essential for indies because you can’t rely on getting hundreds of thousands of players early on. Most of your players probably won’t have a single friend playing the game. So it needs to be fun even without any social aspect.
PopCap has proven that you can tweak an addictive single player game to the Facebook environment and create a sustainable hit. The other big players in the social game space say this can’t be done. PopCap shows it can.
The big social game developers want you to believe that no Facebook game can succeed without a massive viral and advertising push to establish network effects fast and furiously. PopCap shows that a satisfying single mechanic can work! Don’t believe the “social games have to be social” myth either.（）
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John Vechey：为开发好游戏PopCap甘当慢公司& && &发布时间： 08:21:42& & Tags：,,,,
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休闲游戏在最近几年的人气飙升，促使原来被边缘化的电子游戏成为主流娱乐产业——Wii是最大功臣之一，而最近的智能手机和社交网站的崛起，则开始取代游戏机成为休闲游戏争相涌入的平台。
PopCap就是当今最受赞誉和影响力的休闲游戏公司之一，这家位于西雅图的公司旗下拥有多款名气响亮的畅销游戏，例如《宝石迷阵》、《Peggle》和《植物大战僵尸》等。
休闲游戏的普及率已经超乎人们想象，夸张一点来说，随便向人群抛出一枚石子，就有可能砸中一个《愤怒的小鸟》玩家。有些权威人士认为，Rovio和PopCap等成功的新兴游戏公司，有可能成长为规模堪比迪士尼的跨媒介大型企业。PopCap联合创始人John Vechey在最近的媒体访谈中对此提出了他的看法，以下是游戏邦编译的访谈内容：
Plants vs Zombies
去年是休闲游戏领域乐观发展的一年，《植物大战僵尸》在不同平台大获成功，而《愤怒的小鸟》和《糖果小怪物》也成了手机游戏的闪亮之星并虏获了无数玩家，这些成功的典型对PopCap来说都会有益无害吗？
没错，我们认为游戏领域与其他行业有所不同。我们几乎与所有竞争对手都成了朋友，不管是手机上的《愤怒的小鸟》，还是Facebook中的Zynga游戏，它们都在为这个行业引进大量玩家，所以我们也可以从中受益。
世界上多数人都有自己最爱的电影，但很少人会说“我根本就不喜欢看电影”。而从游戏领域来看，仍然有不少人会说，“我不是游戏玩家，我也不玩游戏”。我们这几年看到的成功游戏都发挥了增加玩家数量的作用，现在有许多人因为《愤怒的小鸟》才开始搜索游戏。这对我们来说也是件好事，对整个行业来说也是如此。总之这种好处人人有份！
对《愤怒的小鸟》有何看法？
对我来说，这款游戏就像高尔夫球一样困难而不是有趣，不过如果你发现自己上手了，就会觉得很有成就感。我会玩一些像《糖果小怪物》之类的游戏——甚至可以持续数小时，而且每个关卡的成就都是三颗星。《愤怒的小鸟》积分系统对我来说有点难以捉摸，我喜欢这款游戏，但觉得它的游戏机制如果不这么迟钝的话，效果应该还会更好，不过这也只是我的个人感觉。
有许多玩游戏的用户并不认为自己是游戏玩家，但过去一年休闲游戏玩家数量确实在急剧膨胀，是否认为这个市场正趋于饱和？
我认为这个市场的发展潜力无穷无尽。我无法预测它的发展速度有多快，自从2000年《宝石迷阵》问世以来，休闲游戏市场一直在飞速前进，后来有几年开始陷入低迷。但现在Facebook和智能手机打出的组合拳又开始让休闲游戏看到了巨大的发展空间。
PopCap的目标是：世上所有人心目中都有一个最喜爱的五款游戏名单，我们希望自己的一些作品也能够有幸进入这份名单。我们不在乎实现这个目标需要10年还是20年，总之我很清楚，PopCap还有很长的路要走。
我们是一家非常重视自身表现的公司，也相信市场和游戏平台并非静止不变的事物——万物都在发生变化，只是时快时慢有所不同而已。对我们来说，最重要的就是推出强大的游戏和游戏品牌。我们不需要每年推出50款C+或B-水平的低劣游戏，我们最应该做的是反复投资出色的游戏作品，同时不断尝试创造自己认为很棒的新游戏体验。就像皮卡斯公司，他们并不需要发行比竞争对手多十倍的电影内容，但他们确实很专注于制作好每一部电影。我们也是如此，甘愿放慢脚步制作好游戏，要知道龟兔赛跑的最终赢家正是乌龟。
peggle-deluxe-screenshot
因为《愤怒的小鸟》和《植物大战僵尸》的成功，有些业界人士认为Rovio和PopCap这种公司将来的规模会超过迪士尼，你的看法是什么？
我确实认为像Rovio、Zynga和PopCap这种类型的公司未来终会向迪士尼看齐。孩之宝推出的变形金刚，就足以证明娱乐内容也可以打造知名的玩具品牌。
我认为未来很有可能出现这种情况，我们会发现游戏只是这些公司运营的项目之一，用户还可以通过玩具、电影、电视或其他媒介形式与游戏品牌互动。
但迪士尼毕竟是一个娱乐巨头，我们现在也不宜过早妄言自己将超越迪士尼，但我确实认为，再过30多年，我们最终会比现在更有成为迪士尼的潜质。
同时我也认为，大型传媒公司现在缺乏与观众有效互动的产品体验，所以它们也已经开始向我们靠拢了。
游戏质量是一个关键因素。PopCap似乎是为数不多的可同时在休闲及硬核市场获益的游戏公司之一，你们的游戏几乎都属于可爱友好的风格，但游戏玩法的深度却也受到了硬核玩家的欢迎，你们是否有意采用了这种平衡策略？
我们只是在游戏开发过程中多下功夫，我们首先是为自己开发游戏，然后剔除那些自认为不好玩的游戏。只要发现哪款游戏很值得一玩，我们就会想方设法增强它的可玩性，以方便更多玩家体验游戏，假如我们无法达到理想的效果，最后也会取消这个项目。
PopCap的每一个成员骨子里其实都是硬核玩家，如果我们发现游戏很好玩，我们就知道它会吸引硬核玩家，而当你增加游戏可玩性，使其不再局限于硬核玩家时，你就扩大了游戏的影响范围。我们花了大量时间制作自己喜欢，同时又能吸引更多用户的游戏。
你们的产品在掌上游戏设备中取得了不少成就，索尼PSP2（NGP）即将上市，有些人认为这个平台上的游戏体验缺乏那种“上手即玩”的吸引力，你怎么看？
（笑）我认为掌机游戏及其设备都面临一个共同挑战：手机平台。我外出旅行时不会随身携带DS设备，因为它只适合我专心坐在同一个地方体验专门运行于DS的游戏。
PSP2也存在同样的问题，现在人人都习惯随身携带智能手机，玩家确实想获得更好的硬件设备和更具沉浸感的游戏体验，但如果是在外出途中，我并不需要如此沉浸地投入游戏世界中，这也正是这类掌机设备所面临的难题。
你的意思是说这些掌机设备已经落伍了，因为它们无法提供像智能手机这么方便的功能（例如结合电话、照相机、游戏机、音乐播放器等多种用途于一体）？
我认为这些传统设备如果想在竞争中幸存下来，就得与时俱进，突破目前的局限性。至于它们是否会采取这种行动，或者是否有必要如此，或者它们的未来面貌又将如何这类问题，我倒真是不知道。但可以肯定的是，它们无法回避这个挑战。
提到游戏平台的进化，这让我想起刚登台的iPad 2……
我们确实很推崇iPad，因为它所提供的游戏体验真是太棒了。我们希望更多用户选择iPad，这样我们就可以更有针对性地开发iPad游戏——就如我们针对Xbox 360开发多人模式游戏一样，
但iPad 2还有更多潜力值得挖掘，例如LAN游戏。假如你在iPad上玩多人模式游戏，就可以轻松拿着iPad坐在沙发上玩个够。
PopCap过去主要针对PC和苹果触屏设备开发游戏，但最近你们也涉足Xbox 360和任天堂DS平台，针对这些掌机设备移植游戏的最大挑战是什么？
我认为最大挑战要分为两个方面来说。首先，你得研究这些掌机设备用户所欢迎的游戏模式。例如我们将《植物大战僵尸》移植到Xbox 360的时候，几乎有一半的开发时间是用于设计它的多人玩法模式，我们希望它可以提供“沙发玩游戏”的最佳体验，因为我们清楚这就是Xbox 360用户所需要的体验。
其次，我们花了大量时间调整掌机界面的控制系统，iPhone或PC游戏的成功点与Xbox 360、任天堂DS游戏是截然不同的概念。所以这对我们来说真是一个创意大挑战，我们在这两个地方投入了不少心血。
你们已经进军掌机游戏平台，未来是否会推出专门运行于其中一个平台的游戏？
我们不会推出仅限运行一个平台的游戏，无论我们创建的是什么游戏，我们都会致力于将它推向多个平台。我们认为这一点对PopCap的发展战略来说极为重要，对我们的用户也会有很大影响。
我们会不会针对掌机平台专门开发一款游戏？PopCap在不同的发展阶段也都讨论过这个问题，甚至还创建了一些掌机游戏的原型。我认为在今后五年内，我们至少会开始创建一款掌机游戏。
我们对这个设想并没有明确的支持或反对标准，问题的关键在于我们是否能够产生一个极佳的掌机游戏创意。我们对PC、手机或其他任何平台的项目也都会以这个前提为核心。
你刚才提到针对Xbox 360和DS调整游戏控制界面充满不少挑战，而且这个过程与针对PC和智能手机调整内容非常不同。但掌机设备的界面也在发生变化，比如现在的Kinect和PS Move……
是的，我们也在关注体感技术。但问题是出色的Wii、Move和Kinect游戏一开始就是针对体感控制系统而设计的，我们还没有发现哪款移植游戏属于这种控制系统上的成功范例。假中我们有一款自认为很适合移植到其他平台的游戏，我们会首先考虑它在这些界面上是否也能提供不打折扣的游戏体验。如果把《宝石迷阵》移植到Kinect系统中，游戏还是原来的样子，但玩家得通过自己的手势来控制游戏，这并不能形成理想的Kinect游戏体验。
我们不是手机公司，不是掌机公司，也不是电脑公司，我们只是游戏公司，这就是我们的基因。（本文为游戏邦/编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）
PopCap chief: ‘We’re the tortoise’John Vechey on whether the maker of Plants vs Zombies will become as big as Disney and how the iPad 2 changes gaming
The growth in popularity of casual gaming in recent years has catapulted video games from fringe to mainstream entertainment. The Wii has been immensely influential in this regard, but recently smartphones and social media have started replacing consoles as the “go-to” platforms for casual gaming.
One of the best and most influential developers behind casual-core video games is PopCap. The Seattle-based company’s catalogue features some of the most critically acclaimed and biggest-selling titles of all time – Bejewelled, Peggle and Plants vs Zombies among them.
With casual gaming becoming more and more popular – throw a rock into a crowd and you’ll hit someone playing Angry Birds – some pundits have begun speculating that companies such as Rovio and PopCap may some day be as big as Disney. We thought it we’d find out from PopCap’s chief executive John Vechey what he thought of that assessment, as well as his opinion on several other topics.
Last year was a fantastic year for casual games and casual gaming – with the success of Plants vs Zombies on various platforms, Angry Birds and Cut the Rope – especially on mobile platforms. It’s really captured the imagination of millions. Has all this competition been good for PopCap?
I think so. I mean, we don’t really think of gaming as some industry. We’re friends with nearly every single every game company in our competitive environment. When you look at Angry Birds on mobile phones and Zynga’s games on Facebook, they’re really great for us because people are playing more games because of them.
L the majority of people in the world will argue about movies and have favourite movies, but very few of them will say, “I don’t like movies at all”. In gaming right now there are still more people or as many people who say, “I’m not a gamer and I don’t play games” as there are people who play games. Any game that has the success we’ve seen from some titles in the last year, increases the number of people who play games. There are people discovering gaming for the first time, because of Angry Birds. And that is good for us! And it’s good for the industry! (Laughs) It’s all good!
What did you think of Angry Birds?
Angry Birds to me is like golf in that it’s more frustrating than fun. However, it’s incredibly rewarding when things go your way in it. I can play something like Cut the Rope – and I did for hours – and get three stars on every level. With Angry Birds, the scoring is a bit to arbitrary for my tastes. I like it, but I feel it would be a better game if it wasn’t so opaque – but that’s me.
There are a lot of people who play games who don’t consider themselves gamers, but the audience for casual games has grown in leaps and bounds in the last year. Do you think the market is becoming saturated?
I think the sky’s the limit. I can’t predict how fast it’ when started in 2,000 with Bejeweled there was a big acceleration in casual gaming. Then it settled down a bit over the next few years. Now with Facebook and smartphones being a great one-two punch, it’s picked up again and you’re seeing huge growth again.
PopCap’ everyone in the world has a top five games list and we want a couple of our titles on everyone’s top five list. Whether that takes us 10 to 50 years to accomplish this, we don’t care. I know we have so much further to go.
We’re a very inwardly focused company. We believe markets and platforms aren’t static – everything changes, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. For us, it’s about focusing on great games and great game franchises. We don’t need to release 50 games per year that are C+ or B- quality releases. What we need to do is keep reinvesting in the great games we have and continue to experiment wit工口GAMEs that we think would make amazing experiences. We’re like P they don’t feel the need to make 10 times as many movies as their competitors, but they do feel the need to keep making every movie great. We’re okay being the tortoise. The tortoise eventually wins the race.
Do the backyard shuffle … PopCap’s Plants vs Zombies There are some pundits who – because of the success of Angry Birds and PvZ – are saying that companies such as Rovio and PopCap will become bigger than Disney. What’s your take on that?
I definitely think that companies such as Rovio and Zynga and PopCap are going to end up looking like companies such as Disney. You look at what Hasbro’s done with Transformers and how that revitalised the brand in the toy business.
I think that what’s going to happen is, at some point we’re going to see that gaming is just one aspect of what we do. How else can our customers want to interact with what we do? Whether that’s toys or movies or TV or some other medium, it’s another way that customers gain appreciation for it.
Look, Disney’s a giant company and I think it would be foolhardy to say, “hey, we’re gonna be bigger than Disney”, but I think that in 30 or so years, we’re going to look a lot more like Disney than we do right now.
I think the fact that the big media companies don’t have great interactive experiences for their audiences nailed yet, will mean that eventually, they’re going to start to look more like us.
The quality of their games is factor. PopCap seems to be one of those developers who seem to straddle the casual and core markets. Your games are visually very cute and friendly, but the depth of play is guaranteed to bring in the core crowd too. Is it a tricky balancing act?
We get that just by the nature of the development process. We make games first and foremost for ourselves and we cancel titles that we aren’t having fun with. Once we’ve started having fun with a title, we try to make that experience as accessible to as many people as possible, and once again, if we can’t do that we cancel it.
By nature, everyone at PopCap is a hardcore gamer. If we find it fun, we’ve got the core audience. Once you make that experience accessible to people outside that core audience, you increase your game’s reach. We spend a lot of time making what we enjoy appeal to as many people as possible.
Your titles have had a lot of success on portable devices. The Sony PSP2 (NGP) is on the horizon, and it’s come under fire from some quarters who say that the experiences available on it don’t lend themselves to the easy “pick-up-and-play” appeal that audiences want on portable gaming devices. What’s your take on that?
(Laughs) I think the thing with portable gaming – and portable gaming devices – is they all h the mobile phone. I don’t carry my DS with me anymore when I go travelling. It just sits there until there’s a game I absolutely have to play on it, which isn’t available on any other platform.
The PSP2 will have the same problem. People always have their smartphones with them. Yeah, you’re always going to get better hardware and more immersive expereinces, but when I’m on the road, I’m looking for a less immersive experience. That’s really what all those devices are up against.
Peggle … 2D time-wasters will never go out of fashion So would you say these portable devices are on their way out, because they don’t offer all of the conveniences of a smartphone – such as a phone, a camera, a gaming device, a music player and so forth?
I think that if they want to survive, in my mind, they’ll have to evolve into something that’s way beyond what they are now. Whether or not they do that, or what they need to do, or what they’ll even look like, I’ll be honest, I don’t know. But it’s very definitely a challenge they face.
Speaking of evolving platforms, the iPad 2 just got released …
We’re really rooting for the iPad, just because so many great experiences can be made. We need more users on it for us to develop more specific content for it – the way we did with multiplayers on the Xbox 360 – but there are all sorts of things the iPad 2 can do, such as LAN gaming. Usually that involves a big headache of setting up machines, feeling really nerdy and wondering why women talk to you at all. With the iPad, if you have a multiplayer game, you can just bring your iPad round, sit on the couch and have a blast.
In the past, PopCap mainly made games for PCs and Apple’s touchscreen platforms, but recently you made the jump to Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS. What were the main challenges in porting your games to these consoles?
I think the big challenge there breaks into two parts. First, you have to look at the modes that are expected by the audiences of those consoles. For example, when we ported Plants vs Zombies to the Xbox 360, we probably spent well over half the development time on designing its multiplayer mode. We wanted to make it a really great, “on the couch” type of experience because we knew that that’s what people expect and want from an Xbox 360 game.
Second, we spent a lot of time adapting our control systems to the console interface. What makes a great iPhone game or a PC game is different to what makes a great Xbox 360 game – and in turn, what makes a great Nintendo DS game. So, really the creative challenge that we embrace and take very seriously, focuses a lot on those two areas.
Now that you’ve made the jump on to these platforms, will we see PopCap make a title exclusively for one of those consoles?
We will never release a game that’s exclusive to any platform. Whatever gaming experiences we create and continue to create, we’re all about the multi-platform aspect of gaming. We feel it’s very important to our strategy and very important to our customers.
Will we ever start a title off on a console? Well, it’s something that we’ve talked about at various stages. We’ve even done some prototypes of some games on a console. I can see us at least starting on a console in the next five years, certainly.
We don’t have a hard and fast rule for it’s all about whether or not we’ve got a great idea for a console game. And the same goes for PC, or mobile phones, or any other platform we’re currently on.
You talked about the challenges of adapating to the Xbox 360 and DS control interface – being, as they are, very different from PCs and smartphones. But the interfaces of consoles are changing again, with the introduction of Kinect and the PS Move …
Yeah, we’re looking at them. The problem we have with those interfaces is… well, the great Wii and Move and Kinect games you see are designed from scratch to be great Wii and Move and Kinect games. We have yet to see a game that’s a port or an adaptation on those control systems that’s a great game too. To the extent that one of our games would be a good adaptation, then, yeah, we could think about porting it. But the question, once again, would focus on whether the game would be a great experience with those interfaces. For example, Bejeweled on Kinect would just be Bejeweled exactly how it is, but you’d control it by moving your hands, which wouldn’t exactly be a great Kinect experience.
We’re not a mobile company or a console company or a PC company. We’re a games company – that’s our DNA.（）
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