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阐述设计师陈述游戏提案的技巧

发布时间:2011-07-24 08:45:52 Tags:,,,,

“说说你对这款游戏的想法吧。”

可怕的一句话。每个设计师都熟知这句话,每个设计师都讨厌这句话,每个设计师都必须克服这句话。坦白地说,这是设计师在职业生涯中的“玻璃天花板”,无形中阻碍了你的升迁大计。你难道会甘心当一名为他人作嫁衣的设计师?你不想飞得更高吗?(注:“玻璃天花板”是指虽然公司高层的职位对某个群体来说并非遥不可及,却无法真正接近,看似前途光明远大,实则是存在障碍阻隔。)

如果你想拥有更广阔的天空,那你必须学会怎么提议。只是把事情做对了是不够的;用事实、数字、感觉来支持你的设计也是不够的,因为你的工作面临着非常真切的障碍,且这道障碍和“做对了”没有任何关系。有些障碍是能意识到的,有些是始料不及的,即使制定了世界上最周全的计划,也难免偶尔的失算。总之,提议的技巧就是技巧。它需要练习、需要努力、需要技术。你没有办法消除了人们潜意识里的偏见,这也是你必须让自己过得好一点的理由。如果你想打破这道无形的障碍,那么你的提议必须有力、简洁、富有针对性、热情。

speaker(from speaketc.com)

speaker(from speaketc.com)

有力

绝对要避免软言软语!没有大概、没有但是、没有可能!你有自己的想法,你就要明确地说出来。别在表达上犯模棱两可的错误。最让我翻白眼的开头语莫过于:

“我不知道,但是……”

“我只是说……”

“也许我是错的,但是……”

“我只是认为……”

嗯嗯呃呃死得最快。你还没开始就失败了。所以如果你像我一样,想克服这点,那就把你的提案写下来吧,然后背对着自己大声念出来。看着书面记录、大声念出来,可以帮助你有力地阐明

不同点。例如,如果与独眼巨人的战斗不是很有趣,以下哪个提议的表达更好:

问题:“你认为独眼巨人怎么样?”

回答1:我不知道……我觉得,我的意思是,我们可能是不是要做点什么来改善抓住玩家的方式?我是说玩家太容易从他手中逃脱了。我在其他游戏中玩过的是,独眼巨人可以冲向玩家,我的意思是,我不知道我们这样做行不行得通……

回答2:独眼巨人应该冲到玩家面前,把他的拳头敲碎在地上。

回答1不仅说到想法来源,也提及适用原因,不过我认为如果我想知道来源或者原因,我自然会发问。以想法开头,然后加以证明其合理性。别还没提议就急着证明。除了有力,还要简洁。

简洁

“废话少说。”

在提议和文件中,你必须努力做到简明扼要。简洁与上文提到的有说服力密切相关。要有力,你就必须简洁;要简洁,你就必须有力。二者互不可或缺。简洁就意味着要有备而来。如果你正在应聘一份工作,面试官会要求你准备“2分钟的自述”,但这个自述对你来说其实就是“2个句子的自述”。如果你不能在两个句子的长度以内回答另一个设计师你的想法好在哪里,那么你可能无法让面试官满意。

这有些困难吧。我瞎掰,嗯嗯呃呃。在交谈中,许多次当我说话时,我还在组织我的观点,所以我的大脑就要下意识地快速运转。这种情况我们大家都遇到过吧。特别是如果你参加大会、小组会议或者误闯浴室(但愿这种事不会发生吧)。除了大量的练习,唯一的解决方法是,绝对不打无准备的战。如果你觉得有好想法,你应该准备一个两句话的提议。

针对性

我经常说:了解听众。如果听你陈述提案的人对编程一窍不通,那么就没有必要在文中把代码列出来了。同样地,如果他们是程序员,那么他们有可能对支持创意的技术更感兴趣。

不是说作为程序员就可以忽略艺术性调整,或者作为美工就可以无视技术性改良,远非如此。所谓可靠,更多的是关于准备证明,而不是给出一份不同的提案。我们返回顾刚才那个独眼巨人的问题,我们应该如何修正:

“为什么我们要执行这个奔跑进攻的动作而不是带有范围影响力的地面重击?”

回答1:(因为)我们现在缺少单独击中玩家的技术;另外,抵抗这类敌人的有效策略是识破巨人的伎俩。攻击效果范围会消除这种优势。

回答2:(因为)独眼巨人应该是最可怕的怪物之一,最壮观的画面莫过于这个庞然大物冲向玩家;此外,对抗这类敌人的有效策略是识破巨人的伎俩。攻击效果范围会消除这种优势。

对于以上两种回答,我们都有充分的理由判断哪个是较弱的方案,但关键在于我们开口就需要富有针对性。我们会选择第二种回答。但回答2已经完善了吗?强大、简洁、可靠是已经做到了,但如果你的表达方式平平淡淡,那你又前功尽弃了。

热情

如果你对自己的想法不抱热情,那你也别指望其他人会有兴趣。你要保持兴奋的状态!这是你从未有过的好到毙的主意,傻子才会错过它。你从来没见过Ron Ponpeil(游戏邦注:美国发明家、销营名人) 在讲台上对他的新发明嗯嗯呃呃吧?是啊,他站在那滔滔不绝,恨不得你马上试试他的新发明。

虽然看似傻里傻气,当我努力让自己兴高采烈地表达一个想法,我终于明白孩子气是怎么一回事了。我之前已经写过记住孩童般的幻想是多么重要,因为你也可以从中受益。当你装得年轻一点,什么事看起来都很酷。

热情这种东西是相当有感染力、相当强大的。它的威力在于抓住听众的注意力,同时摆脱苍白无力的表达方式。如果你没有激情,无论你以多么强有力、多么简洁的方式表达你的想法都没有意义(我甚至可以说,没有热情就没有力量)。如果你没有热情,你不可能表达得好。提案成败,最关键的就是热情!

结尾

为游戏提案的机会不是天天都有的。真有那么一天时,你肯定非常希望自己胸有成竹。但胸有成竹意味着勤加练习。吃饭时间到了?向你的同事推荐餐馆吧。新电影上映了?谈谈大家都得去看的理由吧。有人询问游戏推荐?阐明为什么要玩某款游戏吧。你必须时时训练如何进行提议,这可不是三天打渔两天晒网的事。你甚至得学会提议自己并不喜好的东西。

你必须这么做,因为你面临着压力。我在前文已经说过了,提议确实有无形的压力(游戏邦注:例如,“魅力偏见”、“娃娃脸偏见”、期望效应、“非我发明”、业绩与爱好的矛盾等,“魅力偏见”是指认为外表佳的人比没有魅力的人更聪明、更能干、更端正、更友好;“娃娃脸偏见”是指认为长着娃娃脸的人必定幼稚、无能、天真;“非我发明”在是指避免采用非本人、本团体所提出的意见、已有发明和外来产品等),所以你还不加把劲?有力、简洁、可靠、热情!啊,都不管用?那你自己当老板吧!(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

The Art Of The Pitch

“So tell me your idea for the game.”

Dreadful words. Every designer knows them, every designer hates them, and every designer must overcome them. Frankly, they are the greatest barrier you will face in your career, because it is what follows next that defines your glass ceiling. Are you satisfied being a designer that executes on ideas not your own, or do you aspire for more?

If you envision more, then you must learn to pitch. It is not enough to simply be right; it is not enough to back up your design with facts, with figures, or with feeling, because you are facing very real barriers in your job that have nothing to do with being right. Some barriers are conscious, others unconscious, and even with all the planning in the world, there are times when you still get shut down. At the end of the day, the Art of the Pitch is just that: an art. It takes practice, it takes hard work, and it takes skill. The cards are stacked against you, and there is very little you can do to combat people’s unconscious bias, which is all the more reason to not make life harder. If you want to smash through that ceiling, then you must be be forceful, succinct, relatable and passionate.

Be Forceful

Avoid soft language at all cost. No maybes. No buts. No could. You have your opinion, and you are going to share it. Don’t pussy foot around it. Nothing makes me want to roll my eyes harder than when I hear someone start with any of the following:

“I dunno, but…”

“I’m just saying…”

“Maybe I’m wrong, but…”

“I just think…”

Humming and hawing is the quickest way to shoot your pitch right in the foot. You fail before you begin, so if you, like me, struggle with this, it can be helpful to write your pitch down, and then read it aloud back to yourself. Seeing it in writing and hearing it aloud helps to elucidate the difference in power. Take the following example. Given that the Cyclops is not very fun to fight, which of the following is a stronger proposal:

“What do you think of the Cyclops?”

I dunno… it seems to me that like, I mean, if we did something to make him able to catch the player a little better maybe? I’m just saying it’s really easy to run away from him. I was playing this other game and they did something where he could sorta run at the player, I mean, I dunno if that would work here…

VS

He should fucking run at the player and smash his fist into the ground.

Boom! If I want to know where the idea came from, or why it’s a good fit, I’ll ask. Start with the idea, and then justify. Don’t start justifying before you even start with the pitch. You will notice that in addition to being more forceful it is also shorter, and that is the second step in the pitch.

Be Succinct

“Omit needless words.”

In a pitch, as in a document, you much strive to be concise. This is tied directly into the first step. To be forceful you must be succinct; to be succinct you must be forceful. It is hard to achieve one without the other, and they are both necessary. Being succinct means being prepared, and if you were interviewing for a job they would say to prepare your “2 Minute Drill”, but in this case it should be your “2 Sentence Drill”. If you cannot tell another designer why your idea is cool in as few as 2 sentences, then you probably won’t convince her.

This can be a hard one. I ramble. I say um, and like, and hmm. Many times I am still formulating my idea while I talk, and my brain is subconsciously trying to let me play catchup. It happens to all of us. Especially if you get caught unaware: walking through the halls, team meetings, or god forbid in the bathroom. The only solution, besides lots of practice, is to never be caught unprepared. If you feel you have good ideas, then you should be preparing your 2 sentence pitch.

Be Relatable

I say it often, and I’ll say it again: know your audience. If the person you are pitching to has little experience in programming, then it makes no sense to frame it in that context. Likewise if they are programmers, then chances are they are more interested in the science behind the idea.

This isn’t to say that a programmer would ignore artistic justifications, or an artist would doze through the technological ramifications, far from it. Being relatable is less about giving a different pitch, and more about preparing for your justification. Let’s return to the question of the Cyclops, and how we should fix him.

“Why should we implement this running attack instead of an area affect ground pound?”

We currently lack the tech for only hitting the player if he is standing on the ground; additionally, part of the valid strategy against this class of enemy is to out maneuver him by getting behind him. An AOE attack would negate this advantage.

VS

This is supposed to be one of the scariest monsters in the cast, and picture how imposing it would be to see this big ass dude running right at you; additionally, part of the valid strategy against this class of enemy is to out maneuver him by getting behind him. An AOE attack would negate this advantage.

In both cases we end with a strong reason why it is the weaker solution, but we open with something that speaks more directly to our audience. We prime the latter with the former, and this will go a long way, but is it enough? The delivery is strong, it’s succinct, and it’s relatable, but if you deliver in a lackluster manner, you completely negate all of that hard work.

Be Passionate

If you are not excited for an idea, then you cannot expect anyone else to be excited. You gotta get pumped! This is the best god damn idea you’ve ever had, and we would be a fool to pass it up. You’d never see Ron Ponpeil on stage humming and hawing over his latest invention. No, he’s up there practically dying for you to try it.

Silly as it may seem, when I try and get pumped for an idea I try and remember what it was like to be a kid. I have written before about the importance of remembering your childlike wonder, and it can help you here as well. When you were younger everything was awesome. Everything. If you need a reminder, it was something like this.

Passion is contagious and powerful, and its power to draw the audience is matched, in equal measure, by the power of a lackluster delivery to push them away. Without passion it does not matter how forcibly or succinctly you deliver the message (I would even argue you can’t be forceful without passion). Without passion you cannot relate. It is the great lynch pin that makes or breaks your pitch.

But Wait, There’s More!

It is not every day that you get a chance to pitch an idea for the game. When that day comes you damn well better hope you are ready, and being ready means a lot of practice. Time to go to lunch? Pitch a restaurant to your coworkers. New movie came out? Pitch why you should all go see it. Someone ask for a game recommendation?

Pitch why you think someone should play a certain game. You should be practicing how to pitch all the time. This is not a sometime thing; it’s an always thing. Pitch things you don’t even like.

You have to do this, because the burden is on you. As I said in the beginning the cards are stacked against you. There are so many unconscious barriers to the pitch (Attractiveness Bias, Baby-Face Bias, Expectation Effect, Not Invented Here, Performance vs Preference, etc), so why would you add more? Be forceful, be succinct, be relatable, be passionate, and hey, if all else fails, be your own boss.(source:flarkminator


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