作者：Clelia Rivera

Epic Games已经开发了一些热门的游戏，如拥有1900万销量的《战争机器》。但是他们却并未满足于此。他们还创造了非常棒的游戏引擎技术，如Unreal Engine 3（游戏邦注：获得了超过20项的技术奖）。他们始终致力于创造出更多让人兴奋的新事物。其高级在线工程师Joe Graf便是一大倡导者。他是《战争机器3》的首席引擎程序员兼首席游戏玩法程序员，而现在他正致力于Epic的在线和社交功能的开发。

Joe Graf （from gamesauce）

Gamesauce：是什么激起你对电子游戏的热情？

Joe：如果没有游戏，我便不会对电脑产生兴趣。在十几岁的时候我便模仿杂志上的内容进行程序编写。并不断修改代码以呈现出不同效果，我甚至投入了大把时间进行反复的实验。《Telengard》便是我通过操纵代码而进行实验的第一款商业游戏。我尝试了各种改变去放大怪物，修改文本并分配战利品等。这是我所面向的首批“模块”。正是因为这种尝试——即能够接触到游戏并立刻看到改变，让我立下了长大后要当程序员的目标。这就像是学习咒语并在屏幕上召唤内容一样：非常强大。

GS：你是何时决定进入电子游戏领域？

小时候的游戏改装体验真的非常有趣，但是我却未能坚持下去。我在“现实世界”中扮演了10多年顾问的角色。每当结束了一天的工作精疲力竭回到家中时，我都会玩《半条命》这款多人游戏。当Valve发行了《半条命》的软件工具开发包时，我下载了这一新内容，并重拾我在年少时期中止的实验——我改变了现有的武器而创造出一些新武器。我最喜欢的便是Snark RPG。我改变了RPG的外形并创造了一组Snark而不是造成巨大的破坏。使用RPG激光引导将Snark丢进沙坑中并看着敌人四处乱逃的场景非常有趣。随后我发现了Unreal Tournament和UnrealScript，它们为我开启了模块世界的大门。在创造了一系列模块（如传送地雷和受激光引导的撞球）后，我碰巧看到了Epic网页上所刊登的程序员招聘广告。但是我的申请晚了一步，他们已经招到了合适的人才。不过这次也让我获得了承包其项目内容的机会，并最终加入了Scion Studios（被Epic所收购）。

GS：过去的工作经验中有什么是让你印象深刻的？

很多。递交产品便是一种很棒的经验，所以在我进入Epic前以及在Epic任职时我都始终严格把守着自己负责的每一项产品。像《战争机器1》的创造便是一次很棒的经历，因为严格的媒体审查和紧凑的时间安排为我们最后交付产品添加了更多压力。

Gears of War(from evilcontrollers)

GS：能否说说在Epic Games的工作感受？哪种技能对于你现在的工作最有帮助？

说实话，在Epic工作真的就像是一种史诗般的体验。公司总是能够有效地推动所有员工尽其所能创造出最优秀的产品。在公司四处走走，看看别人的工作进展便是一种很棒的体验。

我想对我现在的工作最有帮助的便是之前作为顾问的经历。作为顾问，我们总是能够看到许多不同类型的结构，各种公司文化以及他们解决问题的方法。我们总需要面对不同的项目而做出改变。而我总是能够很好地适应游戏产业的节奏。每天早上起来我便开始期待着迎接各种变化，并始终愿意接受我今天的想法也许不适合于明天公司发展的事实。在我刚刚加入Epic时，他们是以PC游戏的而有名，随后变成了主机游戏，而现在则是手机游戏。所以学着接受并热爱改变便是推动着我们在这个产业中快速发展的重要技能。

GS：社交元素是如何影响游戏开发？

一直以来游戏都具有社交属性。好吧，除了单人纸牌游戏。在成长过程中，我发现棒球游戏也具有社交元素：“我必须选择最好的朋友，否则他将会生气”或者“我不能选择他，因为他并不是我的团队成员。”当人们提及“社交”时，我总是将其理解为“社交网络”。社交网络能够让更多人认识到你的产品，但是将其添加到游戏设计中并不意味着你的游戏就具有社交性。为了让游戏具有社交性，设计师就需要将各个群组的人汇聚在一起共享游戏体验，不管他们彼此间是相互合作还是竞争。这并不是一种全新的游戏组件。一直以来团队都是社交游戏中的一种形式表现。《光晕》的派别系统以及《无尽之剑2》中的ClashMob系统都是非常典型的例子，就像挑选好友加入自己的棒球队一样。

GS：在游戏中整合社交组件时开发者会遇到怎样的困难？

我认为最大的困难便是使用社交组件去完善游戏玩法。最理想的情况便是，游戏中拥有更多互动，游戏玩法便能够得到更大的完善。如果能够做到这一点，你便能创造出玩家真正想看到的社交游戏。如果你不能有效地整合社交元素，玩家便会觉得你只是为了推销游戏才添加这些功能。所以开发者最好能够在一开始便规划功能设置，即始终致力于创造出能够带给玩家更棒的社交互动的游戏体验。

GS：你认为一款优秀的社交游戏需要具备哪些特性？

如果游戏玩法具有更多的社交性，玩家便能从中感受到更棒的游戏体验。就像我之前所说的，我认为一款优秀的社交游戏必须具有有趣的游戏玩法，但是如果玩家能够与别人进行分享，他们定能从中感受到更大的乐趣。

GS：你认为未来的游戏市场将如何发展？

肯定会不断地发生改变。我们正处在游戏历史的特殊点上。不管是业务模式还是平台选择都在不断发生着变化。而这种变化节奏其实就是一种催化剂——至少是对于未来几年的发展而言，所以我期待业务模式，游戏玩法和玩家行为/喜好能够出现更多的改变。

GS：能否说说你对Epic Games的期望？

我不能在此透露那些还未公开的项目，但是我们有可能基于一些以创造的社交功能而进一步开发。我们真心希望能将游戏社区整合到游戏体验中。

（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）

Epic Interview with Joe Graf

by Clelia Rivera

Epic Games develops hit games such as the Gears of War franchise, with more than 19 million copies sold. But they don’t stop there. They develop award-winning game engine technology, such as Unreal Engine 3, which holds more than 20 tech awards. They are always working towards something new and exciting. As Senior Online Architect, Joe Graf supports that mission. He was the Lead Engine Programmer and Lead Gameplay Programmer for the third installment of Gears. Now, he works on Epic’s online and social features.

Gamesauce: What made you passionate about video games?

Joe: Without games, I might never have become  interested in computers. When I was a teenager, I used to copy programs out of magazines (yes, that’s real and that’s how old I am). Then you could tinker with the code to make it behave differently, and I spent countless hours experimenting. Telengard was the first commercial game that I ever experimented on by manipulating the code. I made all kinds of changes to scale up monsters, change text, loot drops, etc. Those were the first “mods” I ever worked on. Being able to touch the game and see the changes immediately made me want to be a programmer when I grew up. It was like learning magical incantations that summoned something on screen: very powerful.

GS: When did you decide to start a career in video games?

It’s funny that with the early experience I had modding games as a teen, it didn’t occur to me to be in the games industry until much later in life. I had been a consultant in the “real world” for more than a decade. I was very burned out and took some evening time to play Half-Life multiplayer. When Valve released the SDK for Half-Life, I downloaded it and started where I had left off in those teenage years—I tweaked their existing weapons to make entirely new ones. My favorite was what I called the Snark RPG. I changed the RPG’s shell to spawn a set of Snarks instead of doing splash damage. It was super fun to drop Snarks into a bunker via the RPG laser guidance and watch as the enemy fled from them. Then I discovered Unreal Tournament and UnrealScript. That opened up a whole world of modding to me. After creating a bunch of mods for my clan and some crazy weapon mods (translocator mines and laser-guided Eightball), I saw an ad for a programming role on the Epic website. I applied immediately, only I was too late. Epic had already filled the role. However, that led me to an opportunity to do contracting for them and eventually I joined Scion Studios, which became Epic during a merger.

GS: Which past career experience has been most memorable to you?

Wow, there’ve been so many. Shipping any product tends to be a memorable experience, so I’d have to go with all of the products I shipped before and during my tenure at Epic. The first Gears of War was an especially profound experience due to the intense media scrutiny and the tight time constraint of having a fixed ship date.

GS: Can you tell us about working with Epic Games? What skills have proven useful to you in your current position?

Working at Epic is truly an epic experience. Every person here is motivated to make the best products they can. It’s pretty inspirational to walk around and get a glimpse of what others are working on.

Perhaps the best skill I have, I developed as a consultant. When you are a consultant, you see many different organizational structures, company cultures, and ways of approaching problems. You are constantly adapting to change on every project. As a result, the pace of the game industry seems natural to me. I wake up expecting change and can get used to the notion that what I am doing today may not be best for the company tomorrow. When I joined Epic, they were known for PC games, then console games, and now mobile games. Learning to love change is a great skill in an industry that moves much faster than most.

GS: How has the social factor affected game development?

Historically, games have always been inherently social. Well, except for solitaire. As I was growing up, even pickup baseball games had a social element to them: “I have to pick my best friend or he’ll be mad” or “don’t pick him because he’s not part of our group.” When many people say “social,” I think they are really saying “social networks.” Social networks bring awareness to your product, but including them as part of your game design doesn’t necessarily make your game more social. For it to be social, I feel a game needs to bring groups of people together to have a shared experience, whether that’s a cooperative or competitive one. When you think about it that way, the social components of a game are not new. Clans have been around and are one form. Halo’s party system is a fine example. Infinity Blade II’s ClashMob system is another approach. And so is picking your friends to be on your baseball team.

GS: What difficulties may developers face when integrating social components into a game?

I think this biggest difficulty is in making sure the social components enhance the gameplay. Ideally, the more interactions you have, the more the gameplay is enhanced. If you can pull that off, then you’ll have a very social game that people will want to evangelize on your behalf. If you incorporate social interactions poorly, it will feel like you bolted the features on in order to meet some kind of marketing checklist. So with that said, plan the features from the beginning with an eye toward making the game experience for players better the more they participate in social interactions.

GS: What is one lesson Epic Games learned by creating Infinity Blade series?

Continue to take risks. Shadow Complex was a huge success for ChAIR. Naturally, people thought that Shadow Complex 2 would be their next game. Instead, our board decided they should take a risk and try a mobile game. In hindsight, it wasn’t much of a risk.

GS: What traits do you believe help create a good social game?

The more the social hooks support the gameplay, the better the experience for the player.As I suggested in the previous response on difficulties of adding social components, I feel that a good social game has fun gameplay, but is more enjoyable when shared with others. The more the social hooks support the gameplay, the better the experience for the player.

GS: What do you predict for the future of the market?

Constant change. We’re at a unique point in games history. There have been multiple disruptions from business models to platform choices. The pace of these disruptions feels like it’s accelerating, at least for the next few years, so I expect lots of change in business models, gameplay, and player behavior/preference.

GS: Can you tell us about what we can look forward to from Epic Games?

We don’t talk about unannounced projects, but you can expect us to build on the social features that we’ve created to date. We’re really looking to make community an important part of your gaming experience.(source:gamesauce)