作者：Nick Hoddinott

Polarbit为很多手机设备开发3D游戏，他们的作品包含许多响当当的游戏如：《极限滑雪》（SXX），《Krash Bandicoot》和《泰格伍兹高尔夫球巡回赛07》（Tiger Woods 07）等等。他们也向Android市场发行了如《雷霆极速》（Raging Thunder）等3D游戏作品。以下是游戏邦编译的Polarbit人成员访谈内容：

能为我们简单介绍一下公司情况以及你们从事游戏开发的背景吗？

Polarbit是从2005年初开始做游戏开发的，创始人在手机游戏开发方面有厚实的背景，他们实际上很早就为手机设备做游戏了。

我们各自的背景不同，有的来自街机游戏模拟器开发领域。Rage和NeoRage NeoGeo模拟器正是出自Polarbit创立团队的部分成员之手。我们也有一些同事来自掌机和PC游戏领域，也有些同事是在Polarbit里学习成长起来的。

我们的工作可以分为两个互有关联的部分——游戏和中间设备开发。

我们已开发并自我维护的中间设备平台称为Fuse，它能让我们只需利用单一的源代码将产品投放到所有主流手机平台。换句话说，我们Android游戏的源代码与iPhone、Ovi、PC等等其它平台游戏上的源代码是完全一样的，这样除了Fuse本身以外，我们不需要移植任何代码。

这样我们就可以依托自己的Fuse来进行游戏开发，包括Polarbit自有版权的游戏和为其它游戏发行商开发的游戏。

raging_thunder

Polarbit已经创作了很多高水准的手机游戏版本，比如《Spore》、《蛊惑狼赛车3D》和《Fifa 10》。有没有一款你们自认为最有代表性的游戏，或者说当你们被问到的时候会首先想到的一款游戏？

这就像是在问我们最喜欢自己的哪一个孩子一样。我们认为最成功的是《雷霆极速》（Raging Thunder），在3D手机游戏还未流行时，它让我们在塞班（Symbian）、奔迈（Palm）以及其它平台上大放光彩。

甚至在App Store还未上线时，我们就已经推出了该游戏的iPhone免费版本，我们也因此在iPhone平台扩大了影响力。如今，我们有RT（Raging Thunder）以及很多其它游戏作品投放于Android和Ovi应用店，这为我们一些高水准的作品在这些平台赢得关注很有帮助。

如果作为第三方开发商，我们认为《Crash Bandicoot》是最出色的产品，它使发行商对我们的开发技术坚信不疑，还有《FIFA10》，我们也很喜欢。

当然你问的这个问题要基于我们所开发的是哪种类型的游戏，比如我们几乎都是开发3D游戏为主，所以要我们来评论2D和3D游戏发展的区别可能不是很适宜。

你们所有的Android游戏都适用于其它手机平台吗，还是你们一开始就只针对Android开发游戏？你们最喜欢为哪个平台创作游戏产品？

正如我前面提到的，我们没有为任何一个特定平台开发游戏。我们研发出自己的Fuse，它和那些平台是可兼容的。

关于开发工具，只要它能帮助我们完成工作，并且适用起来不会让我们觉得繁琐，我们就都可以采用。

能否介绍一下你们游戏开发周期的大体情况？你们是怎么一步步创作一个新的游戏产品，还有你们的团队协作情况？

从游戏设计到部署，我们平均花半年的时间来完成一个高水准的游戏，不同游戏的时间不一样，但最长差不多是半年。

我们通常和专注度较高的小团队合作。我们倾向于雇用技术过硬的人，公司希望的完美状态是，Polarbit的任何一个员工在经过数月的磨练后都能在开发环节独当一面。

依项目的大小和类型不同，一般需要1-4个编码员，一两个美工，还有一个协调员，不过有时需要更多团队成员。

你们的哪一款Android游戏最流行？

有趣的是我们所开发的游戏都有它自己的粉丝团。《雷霆极速》的下载量目前最多，但这很难讲，因为各个手机平台上的赛车游戏一直都很受欢迎。

我们很高兴看到服务器上的所有游戏都有很多用户在玩游戏。关于这一点，我觉得Polarbit在为跨平台玩家提供服务方面无人可敌，Android用户可以轻松地与iPhone或者诺基亚的Ovi用户同台竞技。

你们团队使用Android的哪款设备（用来测试或者为个人目的所用）？

因为Fuse可以测试和兼容多种移动设备，所以我们办公室同事使用的手机差别很大，在我们这里可以找到大多种瑞典市场上的手机设备。

摩托罗拉和索爱一样，在Polarbit总部都很受欢迎。

我自己是用HTC的Tattoo，它的外观和规格都不错，而且它采用的QVGA屏幕可以加强电池的续航能力。

事实上现在讨论这个观点有些为时过早。

一般来讲，如Android Market，App Store和Ovi Store等应用商店都对我们很有帮助，因为它们缩短了开发商和终端用户的距离。所需步骤更少，意味着更少的人在分享蛋糕，从而我们能争取的份额就相对多了。

至于Android Market，我们希望谷歌可以向更多地区开放付费应用服务。在我们针对这个平台建立范围更广的业务之前，现在不好说它的长期赢利能力。”

Android Market的一系列问题备受用户和开发者诟病，Polarbit在该平台发布应用时可曾遇到什么困难？

我们发布这么多款Android应用还没有遇到什么真正的难题。我们认为Android Market最大的问题在于，它的付费应用服务地区很有限，另外我们也希望Android Market可以为开发者提供更精准的产品投放服务，方便开发者知晓哪些设备支持或不支持运行自己的应用程序。

从我们收到的用户反馈情况来看，有不少用户认为这个平台的支付方式并不理想，比如说他们如果要从欧洲开发商那里购买某款应用，就不能使用美国运通卡，这一点确实是个麻烦。

盗版是Android应用开发者最关心的话题，你们在这方面遇到过困扰吗？是否觉得大家应该在打击盗版方面多做努力？

噢当然！我们也深受盗版问题的困扰。可以说在我们合作的每一个平台上都有这个问题，有一些人就是不愿意花钱下载应用。

正因为这个问题很棘手，采取反盗版措施也为很多开发商带来很多额外工作。如果相关部门和机构也介入此事，就会增加我们的许多额外成本，最终的结果是我们的努力也会受挫。

无论你采用什么防盗手段，下定决心要偷你成果的人还是会不择手段。在手机游戏这类低成本市场，你必须要做的是保护你的成本不被盗窃——因为这是个随意的盗版行为，人们不用去官方网站就可以方便地从朋友那获取你的游戏。

Android公认的平台分裂性问题对你们影响不小吧？你们团队是怎么解决这个问题的？

我们可以这样看问题，手机设备的分裂性问题不可避免，这也是我们自己开发Fuse的原因所在。当然，也有一些手机设备制造商在落实和贯彻Android使用标准方面做得比其他人更好。

你们还有一些未发布的Android游戏，据说是3D赛车游戏《雷霆极速》的继集，能事先和我们分享下这方面的最新消息吗？

哦不，暂时不便透露。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Interview with mobile 3D game developers, Polarbit

By Nick Hoddinott

Polarbit are a developer of 3D games for multiple mobile formats. They have an enviable back catalogue of titles containing some seriously big name games, such as SSX, Krash Bandicoot and Tiger Woods 07. They’ve released a number of 3D titles to the Android Market, such as the excellent Raging Thunder. I have a feeling they are going to be a very big player in the Android Market over the next few years. The guys at Polarbit kindly indulged me a few moments of their time for an interview. Here it is in full-Firstly, can you tell us a little bit about your company and its background in games development?

“Polarbit have been going at it since early 2005. The founders all have a solid background in mobile game development, going back as far as there have actually been games done on mobile devices.

Some of us come from the emulator scene a€“ arcade emulation specifically. The guys that did the Rage and NeoRage NeoGeo emulators are part of Polarbits founding team. Some of us come from the console and PC side and some of us have earned our stripes at Polarbit.

Our work can be divided into two interconnected sections a€“ game and middleware development.

We have developed and maintain our own Middleware platform, called Fuse. Fuse enables us to reach all major mobile platforms with one single source code. In other words, the source code for our Android games is exactly the same code as that for iPhone, or Ovi, or PC and so on. Consequently a€“ no need for porting of any code, besides Fuse itself.

We then rely on Fuse in our development, both proprietary titles and for external parties such as publishers.”

Polarbit have created mobile versions of a number of high profile games, such as Spore, Crash Bandicoot Nitro Racing 3D and Fifa 10. Which, if any, do you guys consider your flagship game, the one you’d name first when asked to list your portfolio?

“This is almost like asking which of our children we prefer.

The first title we did was Raging Thunder. It made a name for us on Symbian, Palm and other platforms back when 3D titles for mobile phones was uncommon.

We also got Raging Thunder out as a free download for the iPhone, even before the AppStore was launched – so it put us on the map there as well. Today, we have RT, and all our other titles, out for Android and on the Ovi Store and getting a lot of positive attention for getting high-quality games out early on these platforms as well.

If we go by the third-party stuff wea€?ve done, Crash Bandicoot did a lot for us in showing that we are a solid developer for publishers to rely on. FIFA10 is also a major title, which we are very happy with.”

“It depends on which game youa€?re making, I guess. Wea€?ve mostly done 3D games, and might not be the best people to comment the differences between 2D and 3D development.”

Are all of your Android titles ports of other versions or have any been developed for Android from scratch? Which is your preferred development environment for creating titles?

“As I mentioned, we dona€?t really develop for any one specific platform. We develop our games for Fuse, and then we port Fuse to new platforms as they are made available.

Wea€?re agnostics when it comes to tools. As long as they get the job done and arena€?t too annoying to work with, theya€?re fine.”

Can you tell us a little bit about the general development cycle for your titles? How do you approach creating a new title and how is your team structured?

“Wea€?ll spend about half a year on average on a high-end title, from design to deployment. It varies a bit from title to title, but by and large about six months.

We typically work with smallish, focused teams. We strive to employ only highly skilled people a€“ the ideal situation is that any one Polarbit employee can step up and take a lead artist or developer role after a couple of months in the company.

Depending on the size and specifics of a given project, they might include 1-4 coders, 1 or 2 artists and a coordinator. In some cases more.”

Which of your Android titles has proven the most popular?

“Ita€?s interesting, because all the titles we have out so far seem to have a dedicated group of people playing them. Raging Thunder has seen the most downloads so far, but thata€?s more or less to be expected. Racing titles have a broad appeal on all platforms.

Wea€?re seeing quite a lot of multiplayer activity for all titles on the server, which is something wea€?re really happy about. At this point, I think Polarbit are unique in offering cross-platform multiplayer – that is, Android users can seamlessly play against iPhone users and Nokia Ovi users.”

Which, if any, Android devices do your team use (either for testing or for their own personal use)?

“Since it is crucial for us that Fuse is tested and verified to support as many devices as possible, we have quite a few different handsets lying around the office. I think we have most devices that are currently available in Sweden, a few that arena€?t and some pre-release stuff.

The Motorola Droid is very popular at Polarbit HQ, as is the SonyEricsson

X10 (you have something to look forward to there, in case you havena€?t been able to try one out yet).

I personally use an HTC Tattoo. Nice form-factor and you get good battery life due to the QVGA screen.”

“Ita€?s very early to tell at this point.

In general, application stores like Android Market, AppStore and Ovi Store are A Good Thing for developers, since it shortens the distance between us and the end-user. Fewer steps mean less people to share the pie, and more pie for us.

For Android Market specifically, we would like to see paid application made available on a wider range of markets. Before we have a broad deployment of the service, we cana€?t say much about the long-term profitability.”

The Android Market receives a lot of criticism from users and developers alike, how has Polarbit’s experience of publishing apps on the market been?

“We havena€?t had any major difficulties in publishing our titles a€“ in getting them out there.

The biggest issue we see with Android Market is, like I said, that paid applications are only available in a few markets. Wea€?d also really like to see it made easier for developers to precisely specify which devices, or groups of devices, that support or do not support an application.

From the customer feedback wea€?ve received so far, it seems some people have had difficulties with transactions and payment options. Amex cards for instance wona€?t work when buying something from a European seller, which is a problem for some.”

Piracy is a major concern for developers of Android apps, have you been affected by piracy of any of your apps? Do you feel that more could or should be done to combat piracy of Android apps?

“Yeah, of course wea€?re affected by piracy. Thata€?s true for any platform wea€?ve worked with. Some people just dona€?t feel like paying for stuff.

Ita€?s a tricky issue, though. Anti-piracy measures tend to create quite a bit of extra work on behalf of the developers. If there are certification authorities and stuff involved, you can bet that ita€?ll add extra costs as well. And ultimately, our work will still get cracked and traded.

The people that are determined to steal your stuff will find some way to do it, whichever measures you take to prevent them. What you need to protect yourself from a€“ and this is especially true in low-cost markets such as mobile games – is the casual piracy, people trading your games because ita€?s easier to get it from a friend than from the official source. Or in the case of Android Market, because it isna€?t conveniently available in your particular national market at all.”

Has the well publicised fragmentation of the Android OS affected you in any way? If so, how have your team been working around this?

“The way we see it, device fragmentation is par for the course on mobile platforms. Thata€?s why wea€?ve developed Fuse. Of course, some handset manufacturers are better than others when it comes to implementing and adhering to standardsa€”

You have a few more Android games in the pipeline, notably a sequel to 3D racer, Raging Thunder, can you divulge any other upcoming releases to whet our appetites?

“Not at this point, no. Sorry.”

For more news regarding Polarbit and their upcoming titles, check out their website.（source:thisandroidlife）