干货：延长手机游戏生命周期的5个技巧

【手游网译稿，转载请注明出处】

手游网注：手机游戏的生命周期短，是目前游戏界普遍的观点。依照业内的观察，一款手游通常在推出半年后就会进入疲倦期，因此如何尽可能地延长手游的生命周期、对一款游戏发掘更多的价值，就成为了业内经常讨论的问题。最近，国外知名手机游戏公司Pocket Gems的首席执行官Ben Liu对于如何延长手机游戏的生命周期提出了自己的看法，并为开发者给出了5点可行的建议。手游网译此文供国内从业者阅读参考——

Tap Paradise Cove

本周，Pocket Gems将为旗下的手游《Tap Paradise Cove》（天堂港湾，以下统一简称为TPC）庆祝它的第二个生日。这款游戏在2012年推出，而当时手机游戏普遍的生命周期只有个把月。但是，我们注意到手游行业的趋势是，如果玩家真正喜欢某款手游，并且开发者们能持续更新它的话，手游的生命周期也可以达到数年。一个典型的例子是Gungho的《智龙迷城》，它上线的时间和 TPC 差不多，而它如今的表现情况依然令人赞叹。当然我们也很欣慰地看到，我们旗下的多款手游也能做到长线运营，尤其是《天堂港湾》，它已经在Top50榜单上保持了超过100周之久。

我认为（上述游戏）能取得这样的成功的部分原因在于，这些游戏的制作人员不断地花时间在游戏内容、产品特性、可玩性等方面推陈出新，我们始终以“运营即服务”为宗旨，希望玩家每次玩我们的游戏时，都能获得新的体验。下个星期，我将在GDC（游戏开发者大会，手游网注）上以TPC为例发表演讲，介绍我们如何通过将休闲玩家转化为重度玩家，从而延长了TPC的生命周期。在这之前，我不妨先针对“如何延长手机游戏的生命周期”这一话题进行阐述。

1、保持经常性的内容更新

一款成功的手机游戏是具有生命力的，因此不能说发布完产品就能万事大吉了，你需要经常性地发布内容更新以留住玩家。我们一直在给TPC，以及我们的旗下的其它游戏添加新的内容。例如另一款游戏《Campus Life》，上周发布的更新中加入了超过300多个新元素。

玩家总是希望能持续性地在游戏中看到新角色或新的美术设计。但我们也发现，以经常性的方式在游戏中添加新的支线任务，也有可能把已经不在活跃的玩家吸引回来。这听起来可能有点唬人，特别是对一些小团队而言，但是将资源（原文为assets，应该是指游戏装备、道具等，手游网注）再利用到新的、有趣的地方（譬如装备的分解、洗练之类的，手游网注），招揽玩家来创造属于他们的新内容，对于创造一个可持续循环的内容有莫大的帮助。我们也建立了一种核心机制，允许我们快速、便捷地改变资源和数值。

2、在主要特性上不断迭代

一个成功的游戏开发者应当将游戏的首发日当做作为游戏研发工作的“第一天”。除了保持经常性的内容更新之外，加入新的特性和玩法可以让玩家更好地享受游戏，即便他们已经玩了一阵子。例如，在TPC上线一段时间后，我们加入了一个新的玩法机制：海盗可以攻击玩家的村庄。海盗会包围你的村子，直到你回到游戏当中击退他们。一个月后，我们以此为基础，引入了PVP功能，这对于我们的用户来说是一次令他们惊叹的更新。

3、整合真正的社会机制

每款成功的手游，或多或少都会融入到社会当中，同时你会发现那些最成功的游戏产品，都是掌握“融入社会”这方面的大师。提供一种机制，让玩家和身边的朋友一起玩（不论主动还是被动的）是至关重要的。在这方面，我们不认为人工邀请、推送消息等方式能起到多好的作用。当我们注意到PVP玩法可以成为一个重度游戏机制时，我们将其引入到了TPC中，让玩家可以和他们的朋友对战，并看到了用户参与度的飙升。

4、扩大游戏的核心循环机制

在我们以前推出的游戏中，我们学到的另一件事情是，扩大游戏的核心循环（the core gameplay loop）可以提供更深层次的交互性体验。TPC最初是一款休闲为主的游戏，但随着时间的推移，我们加入了越来越多的核心循环内容。在这一过程中我们发现，游戏的过程变得更加有趣了，游戏的在线时长也有了明显的增长。时至今日，TPC已经不再仅仅是简单的建造房屋、收集金钱（这是游戏上线之初的样子），如今玩家可以打造装备、探索航路、与海盗征战等等。简而言之，留住现有的玩家，比获取一个新玩家简单的多，让他们进一步深入游戏当中就是我们成功的关键。

5、与你的玩家保持沟通

我所分享的最后一点，就是：与你的玩家建立长期的合作伙伴关系。对于我们公司来说，我们始终保持着对玩家的沟通交流，分析用户数据，对他们的反馈作出回应。要想成功地做到“游戏即服务”，是基于能够及时对游戏做出改动和调整的能力的。包括不断迭代、听取玩家的建议、用他们的反馈有助于保留老玩家，同时带来新玩家。

关于原文作者：Ben Liu现任Pocket Gems的CEO，他取得了斯坦福大学的电子工程学、经济学双学士学位，以及斯坦福大学的工商管理学硕士学位。Pocket Gems公司是免费手游及F2P模式的先行者，并取得了不俗的成绩，获得红杉资本的投资。截至目前旗下游戏产品下载量已超过1.5亿次。

（阅读英文原文请点击下页）

This week, Pocket Gems is celebrating the second birthday of our game, Tap Paradise Cove (TPC). When we launched the game in 2012, the typical lifespan for mobile games was about a month on average on the good side. A trend which we’ve noticed across the industry is that when players really love a game, and developers continue to evolve it, mobile games can live on for years. GungHo, for example, has done this well with Puzzle & Dragons which launched around the same time as TPC and is also still doing well today. We’ve been lucky enough to see this in our games as well, especially with Tap Paradise Cove, which has been a top-50 grossing game consistently for 100 weeks and counting.

We think that part of the reason titles like this have been so successful is because the makers of these games have continued to grow and evolve them in meaningful ways over time with new content, features and gameplay. Our goal has always been to run our games as a service and to make the player experience fresh and new each time our game is played. Next week, I’ll be speaking at GDC about how we’ve expanded the life cycle of TPC by introducing hardcore game mechanics to players who were initially drawn to casual games. In the meantime, here are five “anti-aging” tips for mobile games:

1. Release Frequent Content Updates

Successful mobile games these days are living, breathing products. It’s not enough to release a product then just sit back and watch, you need frequent content updates to keep players coming back. We’re constantly adding new content to TPC and do the same for all our games. Campus Life, for example, just passed 300 downloadable content updates last week.

Players want to see new art and new characters on an ongoing basis. We’ve also found that adding side quests to the game on a recurring basis brings players back to it even if they have been less active for a while. It might sound like an intimidating feat, especially for smaller teams, but reusing assets in new and interesting ways and enlisting players to create content of their own can be both be extremely helpful in creating a sustainable content cycle. We have also built core technology that allows us to change each asset and value in the game quickly and easily.

2. Continuously Iterate on Key Features

A successful mobile developer should consider launch day as “Day One” of the game’s development. In addition to frequent content updates, adding in new features and gameplay modes gives players more to enjoy within a game that they already play. For example, a few months after the launch of TPC we released a new gameplay mechanic in which pirates would attack the players’ town. The pirates stay on the screen and put your town under siege until the player goes back into the game and defeats them. A month later, we built on this and added player versus player battle element to the game. It was a huge improvement for the game and added an incredibly fun new dimension for our franchise.

3. Integrate Truly Social Mechanics

Every successful mobile game has some level of social integration, and you’ll find the most successful games have mastered this aspect. Providing a way to either passively or actively play with friends is essential in a mobile game. At Pocket Gems, we try to think of what would be fun to do with your friends. We don’t think efforts to create artificial mechanisms for sending them messages and invites work. While PvP gameplay would traditionally be considered a hardcore game mechanic, we saw engagement soar when we introduced that element to TPC and allowed people to battle their friends.

4. Expand the Core Gameplay Loop

Another thing that we learned from our previous games is expanding the core gameplay loop offers deeper interactive experiences. TPC began as a mostly casual game built around exploration, but over time we expanded the core loop to include more and more activities. In doing so we found that the game became more fun and that our average session length increased significantly. Today, rather than being able to simply build houses and collect coins, as in the initial launch version of the game, players are able to also craft items, go on voyages, battle pirates, and much more. Keeping existing players is easier than getting new ones and adding depth to a game they’re already playing is one of our keys to success.

5. Talk to Your Players

The last tip for today is to make the player a partner in building and evolving the game. At Pocket Gems, we’re constantly talking with our players, analyzing player data and responding to their feedback. The success of mobile games-as-a-service depends on the ability to evolve and change the game over time. Constantly iterating, listening to players, and using their feedback to revise and ship new features can help retain existing players and bring in new ones.