《割绳子》欲复制小鸟的疯狂

    可能你已经见过围绕《愤怒的小鸟》（Angry Birds）开发的各种小玩意——T恤、帽衫、毛绒玩具、钥匙链、背包、iPhone手机套，甚至还有人字拖。现在，《割绳子》（Cut the Rope）游戏（排名第四的付费iPhone应用程序）的开发商希望也能如法炮制，开发游戏中的绿色小怪物Om Nom所具有的商业价值。

    《割绳子》这款游戏在所有平台上的付费和免费版本所取得的下载次数在2月份达到了1亿次。它的玩法是设法割断绳子，让糖果落入Om Nom张开的嘴里。Om Nom已经是YouTube 上的常客，其母公司ZeptoLab去年首推了一系列官方漫画。现在，这家俄罗斯公司计划借助与美泰（Mattel）的一笔交易，使Om Nom 再上一层楼。“一切归根结底都在于设计，” ZeptoLab公司首席执行官米莎•利亚林说。“如果人们喜欢某样东西的设计和外观，就可以把它的形象运用到各种各样的东西上。”

    与美泰交易的第一项成果是一款互动桌面游戏，类似美泰售价20美元的“敲木头”（Knock on Wood）游戏，该游戏依托于《愤怒的小鸟》的特许经营权。【它在亚马逊网站（Amazon.com）上在桌面游戏中排名第一。】ZeptoLab与美泰公司合作的另一项成果就是推出了拥有三个触点的Om Nom小雕像，可以放在iPad显示屏上，增强游戏体验。它通过美泰所谓的Apptivity技术来实现，能够让实体玩具在屏幕上挪来挪去，实现游戏内的目标。美泰对《水果忍者》（Fruit Ninja）等其他流行应用游戏中的角色也如法炮制。

    问及ZeptoLab介入游戏衍生品开发的做法时，利亚林表示自己基本不会干涉此事。他坐在椅子上，微笑着回答：“我让大家做自己想做的事，什么都行。他们可以去关注到底卖出了多少玩具，有哪些客户值得关注。我要做得事是关注游戏，它的玩法不是够酷，用户体验是否一如既往的出色。”

    ZeptoLab还与另一家大名鼎鼎的玩具制造商孩之宝（Hasbro）达成了协议，绿色小怪兽Om Nom将登陆后者的经典桌上游戏四子棋（Connect Four）。当然，ZeptoLab还在行动，它将为A/V jacks开发一款用于电视的内置游戏。而游戏制作商JAKKS Pacific将制作一款独立的“割绳子”牌手柄。JAKKS Pacific曾为不少大牌公司制作过类似产品，迪士尼（Disney）旗下的皮克斯（Pixar）工作室就是其中之一。

    当然，ZeptoLab仍在不停对游戏进行升级换代。《割绳子》最近发布了新版本——《割绳子试验：洗澡澡》。他们还会不断发布新的版本，就和《愤怒的小鸟季节版》一样。不过，利亚林认为，ZeptoLab必须适当控制新版本的发布频率以及附属产品，比如iPad的附加小雕像等。他说：“当游戏定价为99美分时，意味着差不多要卖到人手一份才行。一个可行的方案是，千万不要分化客户，不要添加一些让某些人摸不着头脑的新功能。”

    小鸟漫天乱飞，猪头四处逃窜，为了让Om Nom能拥有前者那样的知名度，ZeptoLab打算将其形象扩展到服装领域。它已经与服装公司LF USA达成协议，合作的产品将于2012年晚些时候上市。

    You've likely seen Angry Birds schwag -- t-shirts, hoodies, stuffed animals, key chains, backpacks, iPhone cases, even flip-flops. Now the makers of Cut the Rope, the fourth most popular paid iPhone app, are looking to do the same with Om Nom, their game's little green monster mascot.

    The game hit 100 million downloads in February, including both paid and free version of the title, across all platforms. Its gameplay involves strategically cutting a rope so as to land a piece of candy into Om Nom's open maw. Om Nom is already a fixture on YouTube, where his parent company, ZeptoLab, debuted a series of official cartoons last year. Now, the Russian firm plans to take Om Nom to the next level, in part through a deal with Mattel (MAT). "All of this stuff comes down to design," says Misha Lyalin, CEO of ZeptoLab. "If people love the design and look of something, you can make it into all kinds of stuff."

    The first result of the Mattel deal is an interactive board game similar to Mattel's $20 "Knock on Wood" game, which is based on the Angry Birds franchise. (That item is ranked number one in board games on Amazon.com (AMZN).) Another result of ZeptoLab's Mattel partnership is the creation of an Om Nom figurine with three touch points that mounts to an iPad for enhanced gameplay. That's done through what Mattel calls "Apptivity," which lets physical toys be moved around on the screen to achieve goals within a game. Mattel has made the same figures out of characters from other popular app games such as Fruit Ninja.

    In terms of ZeptoLab's actual involvement with the creation of these spin-off products, Lyalin says it's minimal: "I let the game companies do what they want to do," he says, lounging back in his chair with a smile. "They can worry about how many toys they sell and who they'll sell to. What I want to worry about is whether my gameplay is cool, whether the experience is stellar."

    The company has also closed a deal with a second big-name toy maker. It co-branded the Om Nom character with Hasbro, which will use the green guy in its classic board games like Connect Four. And through yet another partnership, ZeptoLab will create a plug-in game that can connect to the A/V jacks on a television. The game-maker, JAKKS Pacific, will develop a standalone Cut the Rope branded controller. That firm has made similar products for major brands like Disney's (DIS) Pixar studio.

    Plus, the company is still putting out new iterations of the game itself. Cut the Rope just recently released an update, for its Cut the Rope: Experiments game, called Bath Time. They will continue to offer up new editions -- much like Angry Birds "Seasons" -- but Lyalin knows there has to be a balance in terms of rolling out new versions or extra features like the iPad-attachable figurine. "When you sell a game for 99 cents you basically have to hit everybody," he says. "The way to do that is make sure you don't cut huge chunks of your audience out by adding some new feature that doesn't make sense to them."

    In its quest to make Om Nom as recognizable as those spherical birds and fat green pigs, ZeptoLab will also be putting its franchise character on clothing. That deal has been signed with the apparel company LF USA and will bear fruit later in 2012.