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准独立游戏开发者可参考的10大建议

发布时间:2012-01-30 17:27:58 Tags:,,,,

作者:Rampant Coyote

如何才能成为一名独立游戏开发者?这是一个不断发展的过程。也许会因此彻底改变你的生活。

以下我将提出几点建议,帮助你们朝着成功独立游戏开发者的方向迈进:

Portrait of independent game designer(from shiningmangod.com)

Portrait of independent game designer(from shiningmangod.com)

1.付出。将开发独立游戏作为你生活中最先考虑的事。为了成为独立开发者而愿意牺牲那些次要的事物。这是件非常困难的事,因为制作游戏也许需要你牺牲大把的游戏时间。而大多数独立开发者都是因为喜欢游戏才选择这个目标,所以对于他们来说这个抉择很艰难。我们暂时看不到这种牺牲的价值。但是你必须马上明确——自己是否想以独立开发者为目标,是否想成为独立开发者这样的人?在这之后,你还需要不断地提醒自己,直到这个信仰真正融入你的基因,成为你生活中必不可少的一部分。

2.善于管理时间。游戏开发并不总是趣事,大多数时间所面临的都是些“枯燥乏味的工作”。而时间管理也是一种无聊的活动,但是这缺少不可缺少的过程。可以从图书馆借一本关于时间管理的书籍,或者在网上搜索并阅读相关内容。如果你希望在忙碌的开发过程中有多余的时间玩游戏,或者跟进自己喜欢的电视节目最新进展,你就更需要学会管理时间。

3.做事有条理。使用列表。任务列表特别重要。还有排出重要和次要事项的优先列表,时间安排表,以及可以不断调整的灵活列表等。但是不同人适用不同类型的列表。就像对我来说,我更喜欢优先列表,因为那些太过复杂的内容总是会把我搞晕。不论你使用何种方式,你都必须有序地组织你的任务,一步一步地落实每一项安排,直至完成游戏开发。

4.谦逊而果敢。小说作者总是能够果断地删除那些自己很喜欢但是却会破坏最终故事内容的元素。开发游戏亦是如此——在投入2周以上的时间实践并检验之前,要果排除不切实际的功能或内容。完成了一款游戏的人必须谦卑且果敢地面临即将到来的发行任务。足够谦逊才能意识到并非自己想出的所有观点都能创造出一款“伟大”的游戏,才能够意识到从自己脑子里蹦出的理念也有可能给游戏带来负面影响。谦逊的开发者必须承认自己的游戏不够完美,并愿意接受任何批评。同时,开发者必须果敢地删掉某些游戏内容,从而为目标用户创造出更加优秀的游戏体验;果敢地放弃那些非常了不起,但是却受到时间或质量限制的想法。

5.不苛求完美。这也是一种果敢,如果你总是不断希望添加一个新功能或新理念以打造“完美”游戏,那么你就很容易将自己绕进误区中;这样你不仅达不到完美境界,甚至只会卡在无收获的困局中。在我们不断尝试并声称追求完美与质量的同时,我们也必须设置一些容忍底线,并接受这些“不完美”。

6.持续学习。这一点吓跑了许多人,但是如果不愿意学习,那将会是你成为独立开发者的一大阻碍。独立就意味着开发者必须掌握并知晓游戏开发过程的每一个环节,即使是他们所讨厌的内容(游戏邦注:这包括市场营销,交易,编程,美术,音效,平台,UI设计,新的工具,颜色理论,讲故事,新技术等)。真正优秀的独立开发者必须知道如何让自己走出安逸区,这需要足够的勇气与努力。作为一名独立游戏开发者,你不能只是待在自己小小的空间而等待其他人完成剩下的工作。

7.接受风险。制作独立游戏并没有多大的保障。在制作并发行每一款游戏时,你都需要投入时间和金钱,并可能会牺牲名誉和自我形象。这是些没有保障的付出,能够获取投入的等价回报就已经很幸运了,更不要轻易期盼获得更多价值。你需要明确自己在争取完成目标的前提下能够接受多大的风险。判断游戏开发是否值得你用房子做按揭或者辞掉稳定工作?不论答案是什么,你都必须为自己划定最后的界限。

8.实践。画草图。快速编写1、2页的新理念设计。阅读关于编程或项目管理的书籍,执行其中有帮助的内容。发挥你不断进步的时间管理技巧,合理安排时间以更好地完成你当前的游戏项目。同时你也需要不断地练习并完善你的技巧(并掌握新技能)。

9.从小处做起。如果你一下子包揽超过自身能力的工作,最终可能导致自己失去耐心而选择完全退出。你必须在开发过程中落实这一点。

10.有始有终。在快完成游戏时千万不要一下子跳到下一个新项目中而让游戏成为一件半成品。许多开发者可以同时参与许多不同开发项目(游戏邦注:有时候是通过外包的方式),但是说实在的,一次专注于一项任务才能够获得更大成效。如果你目前的项目不能取得好结果,你选择中止它,而开始开发下一个项目,那么后者将有可能重蹈前者覆辙。所以决定改变或放弃任何目标都需要开发者慎重考虑。如果你在未完成一个项目之前开发另一个项目,那么你有可能同时失去这两个项目。所以你必须提前明确游戏的最终发行时间和方式。

这就是我对准独立游戏开发者的一些建议。尽管这些方法并非放之四海皆准的真理,但多少能够给那些重视这些方法的人一点帮助。

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

Ten Tips for Becoming an Indie Game Developer

Posted by Rampant Coyote on January 12, 2012

Post-Mortems on indie games always seem more interesting to me than post-mortems on big-studio games. It may be because they are just less conventional overall, or that the post-mortems I read of mainstream games usually conform to the Game Developer Magazine “5 things that went right / 5 things that went wrong” formula. I dunno.

I really enjoyed Sophie Houlden’s post-mortem of Switft*Stitch, and the things that really hit home for me were the following comments:

“Swift*Stitch is my first finished commercial game, and probably the only game I’ve spent more than a couple of months on that has actually been finished. Suffice to say, I didn’t have the skills to finish a game when I started it. I thought I did, but that was me being an idiot again.”

Followed by this (the bolding is mine):

“… I finally managed to become the kind of person who can finish games. Basically it comes down to making lists of what has to be done, and doing it no matter what. I’d only take a break if I’d been productive enough to not feel guilty for taking a break, and that got me through the bit that people who haven’t finished a game call the last 10%, and the people who have finished a game call the last 90%.”

This has to happen with every developer. I still struggle with it, and I had help from a career in mainstream games where I was driven to that point by my team and management. As much as being an indie is about individualism and being true to your own creative self, I think there is a part of it that is really about that transformation – perhaps into an ideal, the person you want to be, or “becoming who you really are.” I’d never thought about it that way before reading this, but it rings true to me.

It’s kind of a mindset thing – and again, something I struggle with. Some days I am that game developer, other days I am not.  Maybe if I was that person all the time, Rampant Games would be a full-time business for me and I’d be rolling in the dough with a couple of full-time employees by now. I don’t know.  I think that’s something I may have to work on, and I’m glad Sophie explained it in that way. It’s food for thought.

But that’s also why I, heedless of my own hypocrisy, urge new aspiring game developers to START SMALL (which I say in big caps here). You may possess the raw abilities necessary to ship a larger game, but they haven’t had a chance to grow in experience or disposition to handle something like that. You aren’t that person yet. But you can be.

The process of shipping a commercial game (as opposed to just throwing quick demos up to the public… I’m really talking about the quality and player experience of the game here, not whether or how it is monetized) is a massive undertaking even for the simplest games. I’ve done it several times, and I still underestimate the difficulty on a regular basis. People who haven’t done it really can’t grasp the challenge (thus the oft-quoted 10%/90% thing Sophie mentions).

Becoming a game developer – someone who can finish games as Sophie puts it – is a growing process. It probably involves making changes to your life. Not necessarily huge or sweeping changes, although for some people it might. And the changes won’t be the same for everyone, as everybody works differently, and some folks may already be further along in the process than others. But if you aren’t already shipping finished games, you may not be that person yet.

Some suggestions on how to become an indie game developer. Completely serious, this time:

#1 – Commit. Make indie game development a priority in your life. Be willing to juggle, shuffle, and sacrifice lesser things to be an indie developer. And you should be willing to make that commitment right away. This is a tough one, as making games may require you to sacrifice a significant chunk of game-playing. Since most of us become indies because we love games, this is a hard thing to do. It may not be worth it to you. But decide right now – is this what you want to be, and are you willing to do what it takes to be that person? Then once you do this, recommit often, daily if needed, until it’s practically part of your DNA.

#2 – Become a Time Manager. A lot of game development is not sexy stuff like making explosions and brilliant gameplay ideas. It’s a lot of “scut work.” And time management is about as unsexy of a term – and action – as I can think of. But it’s completely necessary. I still suck at it, but I’m getting better. Get a book on time management from the library, or read up on it online.  If you want to actually have time to play games or catch up on episodes of favorite TV shows once in a while, this is necessary. That’s the hidden sexiness of time management – it allows you to have ‘spare time’ while still being productive.

#3 – Become organized. Lists. Lists work great for me, and apparently work great for Sophie. Task lists are critical. Prioritizing, scheduling, reevaluating, and executing those lists are all part of the process. The exact system you use may vary! Something that works for me may not work for you. I find that simpler prioritized lists work best for me – too much complication screws me up. But one way or another, you have to organize your tasks and execute on them in order to see them (and your game) through them to completion.

#4 – Be humble and ruthless. Novel writers talk about “killing your babies,” or cutting things from their stories that they love but detract from the finished version. Good writing is often more of a case of good editing and good cutting. The same is true of games – except its best if you cut a major feature or section before you spend two weeks or more implementing it. A person who finishes a game has to be both humble and ruthless when it comes to shipping the game.  Humble enough to realize that not every idea that proceeds from their brain about what will make the game “cool” is actually worthwhile, humble enough to realize that a lot of great ideas may actually detract from the game they are building in one way or another. Humble enough to accept that your game is not going to be perfect no matter what you do, and willing to accept criticism. You must be ruthless enough to carve all of that away for the sake of making a better experience for their target audience, and ruthless enough to kill even those super-awesome ideas that WOULD be awesome, but can’t be finished with reasonable timeliness or quality.

#5 – Understand that the Perfect is the Enemy of the Great.  It’s part of being ruthless, but it’s really easy to get caught in a loop where you endlessly tinker with one feature or idea until it’s “perfect.” It’s never perfect, and you’ll never get done if you get stuck here. As much as we try and claim that we go after perfection and quality, we have to set tolerance thresholds and be willing to be satisfied with these.

#6 – Be Willing to Learn. This scares a lot of people, and it’s something that will definitely hamper your ability to be an indie developer. Indies have to be a little bit of everything, and have to know a little bit about every part of the process – even the parts they hate. Marketing, business, programming, art, sound, new platforms, UI design, new tools, color theory, storytelling, new technology, etc. A good indie needs to be pushing outside of their comfort zone. It takes courage and effort to go beyond that. As an indie, you can’t just stay in your own little box and assume it’s somebody else’s job. Because even if you aren’t a lone wolf, you will need to provide input and act as an intelligent sounding board for the dude (or dudette) who is in charge of that stuff, and if you are the one shipping the product, the buck still stops with you.

#7 – Accept Risks. Making indie games isn’t safe. You are going to be sacrificing time and money, and possibly your reputation and self-image, with every game you make and release. There’s no guarantees – and often, even any likelihood – that you’ll get back what you put into it, let alone improve things. You need to determine how much risk you can accept to meet your goals. Is it worth a second mortgage on your house and quitting your day job? Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. But you are the person who has to decide where you’ll draw the line.

#8 – Practice. Work on sketches. Work on short “game jams.” Write up quick one- or two-page designs for new concepts. Read a book on programming or project management and implement parts that might work for you. Use your growing Time Management skills to devote some time to honing your craft in a way that’s not strictly devoted to getting your current project out the door. You need to constantly exercise and grow your skills (and gain new ones).

#9 – Start Small. I said this already, didn’t I? I’ll say it again. If you bite off more than you can chew (and you have no idea, starting out, how much – or how little – that is), you will probably choke on it, quit, and never come back. This is on the job training. Work your way up to your mega-project.

#10 – Finish. Don’t jump into a new project and leave an old one hanging. Some developers can do several projects at once – usually with a lot of outsourcing – but most of us work best on one project at a time. If your current project is just not working out, cancel the it (been there, done that), back-burner it until another project is completed (ditto), or whatever. But it needs to be a serious, carefully considered decision to change or quit your goal. If you keep starting new projects, you’ll never finish any of them.  Don’t be wishy-washy about when and how you will release the game to the public.

So there you go. If you really want to be an indie game developer, these are my suggestions for what you need to do to get there. It’s not for everybody. It shouldn’t be. But it can be for almost anybody if it is important to them.(source:rampantgames


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