作者：Ian Schreiber

本文节选自Brenda Brathwaite和Ian Schreiber共同撰写的《Breaking Into the Game Industry：Advice for a Successful Career from Those Who Have Done It》。

Breaking Into the Game Industry from gamasutra.com

游戏设计师需在自己的资料夹中呈现什么内容？

Brenda：游戏，游戏，尽量多的游戏。在你的资料夹中展示游戏作品非常重要，不论你是刚从编程学校毕业的新手，还是自学成才的设计师，抑或是正在转型的行业元老。没有什么代表作的游戏设计师倒不如直接说，“请相信我说的话”，这很难给你带来进一步的面试机会。我曾在很多情况下听到新手开发者说，“学校的课程很满，我腾不出时间制作游戏。”对于专业人士来说，这意味着他缺乏激情和见地，对行业缺乏深刻认识。若单学校的课程就让你招架不过来，那么你要如何承受短暂期限和行业审视的压力？难道你觉得这会更轻松？

在招聘新手或实习游戏设计师时，我通常会收到很多简历。有些会附带庞大设计文档。有些则会介绍有真正投入运作的作品。每次我都会选择有制作出成品游戏的申请者。这些申请者走得更远，已掌握足够技能，怀有足够激情，能够顺利完成项目制作。设计表现好坏的方式多种多样，最终成品让我知道，此设计师有将这些路线考虑在内，无论结果是好是坏。最终成品或关卡比设计文稿更可取。既然可以直接体验一款简单游戏，谁还愿意费神读200页的文件？

尽管这富有挑战性，但还是建议挑选一组人员（游戏邦注：或者单人也可以）参与制作独立游戏或简短游戏。独立领域非常强大，IndieCade和GDC Independent Games Festival之类的会议给新手设计师很多露面和得奖机会。能够参加这些盛会就非常光荣。与此相反，所有人都可以制作简短游戏，这让大家得以在1周内就制作出一款作品。参与其中代表你有干劲和激情，最终可能收获一款成品。

能够基于多种语言进行编程也非常可取。语言偏好因公司、游戏题材及平台而异。对于很多公司来说，最佳组合就是懂得游戏设计的编码员。很多业内杰出人士，从Will Wright到John Romero和Sid Meier，就属于这一类型的设计师。

另一判断申请者是否富有激情的线索是，能够体现他们对电子游戏和游戏设计热衷程度的系列“作品”及体验活动。时常发表博文谈论或分析电子游戏的人士非常可取（游戏邦注：假如他们的分析既准确又合理）。同样，公开抨击游戏的人士鲜少被业内人士看好。此外，很多设计师也会深入分析新构想的执行方式。Facebook和Twitter提供众多线索告知潜在雇主，申请者的喜好。若求职者应聘的是制作社交游戏的职位，我会查看他们的Facebook主页，获悉他们玩什么内容。若没找到相关信息，存在下述两种情况：他们并不是真的对社交游戏感兴趣，或他们删除自己的所有帖子。两种情况都不是什么好兆头。

Steve Meretzky（1981年，Playdom游戏设计副总裁）：我的观点是，要成为游戏设计师，最佳准备方式就是让自己变成多面手。不要只是专攻某方面或某几方面，而是要涉猎各种知识，培养广泛的兴趣。你无法预知自己的下款游戏会涉及什么主题，或者生活趣闻会给下个游戏决策带来什么启发。但你需要确保自己能够迅速把握某个题材，无论是二战时期的飞机、日本神话，还是全球变暖模式。当然每天改变自己的发型或发色，将此发布到自己的Facebook状态栏也非常重要。

hall from gamasutra.com

Tom Hall（1987年，Loot Drop游戏设计师）：若你想要以游戏设计师的身份加入这个行业，你需要掌握什么实际操作技能？你也许是作家、关卡设计师，或美工、程序员。若你没有制作游戏内容的相关技能，那就非常糟糕。大家都有想法，大家都玩游戏。但光有兴趣是不够的。你的兴趣要能够促使你创造出某种形式的内容。

这就引出第二点——真正的游戏作品或游戏模式。这得是真正的作品，完整的内容，是款小型2D游戏，是基于盖瑞模组创建的内容，是通过Pygame编写的内容，包含《小行星大冒险》或《Minecraft》中的有趣元素，要是能够说明你满怀激情，有能力进行游戏制作的作品。在我加入Softdisk时，我已编写50款游戏。要制作出完整游戏作品绝非易事。如果游戏刚能够运作便陷入停止状态，那就是在发出警示信息。我们都遇过这种情况，我在自己的早期作品中就遇到类似情况，这是款涉及魔法元素的游戏——《Slayquest》。我借鉴Softline Magazine的走廊绘制代码，绘制出1-2只怪兽，安排其同玩家巧遇，然后就停下脚步。这是款大规模的游戏，就我当时掌握的技能来说，要制作这样一款大型作品着实有些让人望而生畏。

所以，我理解。多数人在此停下脚步。完成游戏内容，绑定所有松散的细节，进行加工制作，确保核心机制顺利运作。设定目标条件，赢或输。这其实并没有那么困难。但你需要确保自己能够逐一完成这些操作。我有做到。怎么做到的？我制作较小规模的游戏。我制作单屏幕街机游戏。我设计15种文字探险内容。这些都相当不错，至少和当时已发行的作品不相上下。顺利完成游戏制作令我意识到，我可以靠此谋生。

这些作品帮我得到自己的第一份工作，成为Softdisk（游戏邦注：这家公司推出众多探险和街机游戏）的一员。你也许会觉得那时从事游戏设计要简单得多，但其实是现在比较简单。现在我们享有杰出的工具、软件库及游戏模式。看看如今的网页游戏就非常清楚。目前行业共推出30万款iPhone游戏。这些多数都是简单的小型游戏。1-3个人依然能够制作出颇受欢迎的作品。完成规模适当的游戏作品无需耗费很长时间。

例如，我制作了一款翻版《小蜜蜂》，游戏名称是《Bugaboo in Anachronox》。我在15小时内就完成图像、音效、代码等内容的制作。游戏采用我们的脚本语言，但其实脚本语言和工具的选择有很多。或者你可以通过文本呈现！图像元素无关紧要，玩法才是重点，同时要确保完成所有游戏内容的制作。我们没有什么理由不制作游戏。你不懂编码？可以找个懂编码的人合作，或者做个模型。或者像Brenda那样，制作一款非数字游戏。现在你不再有什么障碍，你没有理由说自己无法完成游戏的内容制作。制作款融入棋盘格的新游戏，或是融入《龙与地下城》的雕像。只要准备纸张和少量资金便可。你想要制作游戏。我们有什么理由不制作游戏呢？这不是他人转交给你的魔法棒，不是他人提供的海螺壳，现在你处于主导位置，你有权决定游戏构思。你的欲望赋予你能量，你的毅力帮你创造出游戏。

第三，我要寻找创意火花。很多人表示，他们创造的《魔兽世界》版本就凸显这点，或者他们自己创造的《使命召唤》武器更杰出，这些更多是愿望的满足，算不上游戏设计。这还会让他们自信满满地觉得，自己能够创造出AAA游戏。当然，你可以怀揣这个梦想，但你还需要付诸实践。然后留心游戏设计。

在面试过程中，我会向申请者呈现若干游戏场景，询问他们玩家要如何完成这些任务，真正有创意的人士会问，“你想要多少内容？”然后开始滔滔不绝地陈述。这有点像即兴定义一款游戏的设计。玩家会怎么做？你在游戏开始指导玩家操作什么内容？你的想法如何缺乏想象力？

举例常见的访谈情境，“你是玩家，现在正在开始一款新游戏，被困在城堡的监狱中。你要如何走出来？”我们很容易就会说，“转移守卫的注意，然后透过栅栏抓住他”。这是个预料之中的设计模式。再来就是“反复进行搜寻，然后找到钥匙”。哇，绑架你的人完全忽略这点！

我想要听到的是你如何开始游戏，你迅速教给玩家什么新东西。这可以是简单但涉及玩法和空间的元素：

* “我是个僧侣。我要学习如何从一面墙跳至另一面墙，然后够到40英尺高的窗子。”

* “绑架我的人不知道我是个心灵法师。我通过系列提示学习如何让灵魂出体，然后穿过栅栏。这耗费我大部分精力，所以我知道自己得节省能量。”

* “我被告知，自己会在这个密闭房间中饿死，永远无法出去。但我长生不老；我懂得如何运用时间加速机制，几世纪后，当城堡坍塌时，我依然保持原状。如果我够聪明的话，凭借穿越时空的能力我将能够访问原本无法到达的领域。”

创造全新游戏元素，且牢记这些是游戏的初始内容，你教授玩家的是重要元素。你基于无限可能性定义游戏。你告知玩家什么能做，什么不能做。你告知他们游戏规则。你表示，作为设计师，自己能够找到创造性解决方案让游戏参数达到预期目标。我没有给你设定规则，你所玩的游戏是游戏设计。

是的，若你能提供连贯的设计文稿及范例作品那就再好不过。若你能够将小型游戏分解成编程、美工、设计和音效任务，那就太棒了。但这可以通过学习。而激情、创造性和毅力则无法通过学习。你说你想要制作游戏。不要用嘴说，做给我看。

mcauliffe from gamasutra.com

Kim McAuliffe（1995年，Microsoft Game Studios游戏设计师）：体验游戏（游戏邦注：不要局限于你喜欢的游戏题材）。尝试体验妈妈在Facebook所玩的游戏，查看游戏为何能够吸引她的眼球，尽管你并不怎么感兴趣。体验你兴趣范围之外的游戏作品。能够随意谈论任何游戏题材非常重要。尝试体验棋盘游戏、卡牌游戏等各种题材。在体验过程中分析游戏的主要机制，查看它们如何形成一个连贯的体验，然后总结其中优劣。留心内容何时显得过于随意，或不够随机。修改游戏规则；创造自己的作品。

每次面试，我几乎都会被问道，“若要你制作游戏，你想要制作什么内容？”要准备好有趣的答案，不要只是：“我想要制作续集X。”你会如何制作那些从未被涉猎过的题材？在接受面试前做好准备工作。体验所要应征公司的游戏，然后进行分析。谈论自己喜欢的部分，更重要的是，谈论自己不喜欢的地方，以及你将如何进行调整，将游戏变得更好。

不妨先从关卡设计师着手，通过关卡编辑器创建自己的作品。在没有经验的情况下，直接跳至机制设计有点不切实际，在小型项目/团队中，你可能同时涉猎二者。虽然你最终并不是要停留在关卡设计上，但你需要把握关卡设计师的工作内容。

积极成为多面手。如果你还在校，不妨学习写作、美术、编程和演讲课程。组织、解释和呈现创意构思与构思生成过程一样重要。你需要给整个开发团队撰写文稿，或是撰写供用户阅读的内容，这些内容必须清晰简洁，语法正确。掌握美工和编程基本知识能够让你变成更炙手可热的求职者。

跟进行业消息动态。将主要游戏网站的RSS源添加至你的日常阅读器；在Twitter上关注行业分析师，获悉他们眼中的热点和有价值信息。

突出自己的最佳策略就是制作游戏。创造体现你创造性、知识和技能的可玩作品要比制作精良的简历更有说服力。

我想要向游戏公司传达自己的游戏构思。我该怎么做？

Ian：你不需要这么做。

但你会想要这么做。若没有向游戏公司传达自己的构思，你的美妙想法要怎么付诸实践？如果游戏构思能够给他们带来收益，他们又怎么会拒绝呢？

首先，这里涉及法律问题。如果他们看过你的想法，然后碰巧推出一款外表相似的作品，那么你可以起诉他们。游戏公司清楚这点，他们多半都会公开拒绝浏览你所制作的东西。若他们有看你的作品，这多半是在你签订授权协议，在你同意放弃游戏所有权之后（游戏邦注：而这通常和你最初的呈送目的相违背）。

“构思”在游戏行业中没有什么价值。和好莱坞人士都有杰出电影脚本一样，游戏行业的人员都拥有至少一个“杰出”游戏构思。游戏构思是最简单的元素；而真正的创建过程则非常漫长、艰难和昂贵。将同个“杰出”构思呈现给10个不同团队，你将得到10个不同的产品。游戏构思没有什么；执行才是关键所在。优秀的构思若执行不当，最终只会劳民伤财。

若你希望自己的构思能够变成游戏成品，不妨大胆进行尝试。若你没有相关专业知识，可以通过学习积累，或者同其他有这类技能的人士合作。落到实处的有趣游戏要比单纯的构思更能够掳获用户芳心。（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）

Sponsored Feature: Breaking Into the Game Industry

by Ian Schreiber

Excerpts are from Breaking Into the Game Industry, Advice for a Successful Career from Those Who Have Done It by Brenda Brathwaite and Ian Schreiber, published by Course Technology PTR. The book can be purchased at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and other retailers. Find more books on Game Development at Courseptr.com.

What Do Game Designers Need to Show in Their Portfolios?

Brenda: Games, games, and more games. Showing completed games in your portfolio is a must whether you’re just graduating from a college program, coming in as a self-taught designer, or are a transitioning game industry vet. A game designer who has no games in her portfolio may as well say, “You’ll just have to take my word for it,” and that never bodes well for future interview possibilities. On many occasions, I have heard budding designers say, “Well, with all my college courses, I just didn’t have time to work on games.” To a professional, this suggests a genuine lack of passion and insight as well as a naive view of the industry. If you felt so overwhelmed by your college courses, how will you do under the pressure of intense deadlines and game industry scrutiny? You think it gets easier?

When I am hiring entry-level or intern game designers, inevitably, there will be a pile of résumés. Some will contain giant design docs. Others will contain actual running games. I will go for the actual game every single time. It shows you went further, and had that discipline and devotion to see it through. There are a thousand ways for a design to go right and wrong, and the finished game shows me the designer has considered those paths, for better or worse. Completed games or levels will win over a design doc every single time. Who wants to read 200 pages when you can play a simple game?

Although it might seem challenging, select a group of individuals (or go solo) and participate in indie games and game jams. The indie scene is strong and conferences like IndieCade and the Independent Games Festival at GDC offer budding designers a chance at substantial recognition and awards. Even being selected to show at these festivals is prestigious. Game jams, in contrast, are open to everyone and offer a chance to make a game in just a weekend (with spectacular results, both good and bad). Participation shows drive, genuine passion, and might just get you a finished game at the end.

The ability to code in some language is also highly desired. Language preference varies company to company, genre to genre, and platform to platform. For many, the perfect package is a coder who can design games. Many of the industry’s greats, from Will Wright to John Romero to Sid Meier, are exactly these types of designers.

Another clue into a person’s passion is a “body of work” and play that suggests passion for video games and game design. People who maintain blogs with posts that talk about or dissect video games are useful, provided their analysis is accurate and reasonable. Also, slamming a game publicly isn’t looked upon well by people in the industry, in general. Likewise, many developers also do a thorough review of a new prospect’s playing habits, as much as they are able to. Facebook and Twitter show plenty of clues to let prospective employers know what a person is and is not into. When an employee applies for a job making social games, for instance, I check out their Facebook page to see what they’re playing. If there’s no evidence to be seen, it suggests one of two things: They aren’t really interested in social games, or they delete all their posts. Neither says good things about a prospective hire.

Steve Meretzky (1981, Vice President of Game Design, Playdom): My stock answer to this question is that the best way to prepare to be a game designer is to be a world-class generalist. Instead of being an expert on one thing or a few things, be somewhat knowledgeable and interested in everything. You never know what themes or subjects your next game will be about, and you never know what little fact or tidbit of life experience will inform your next design decision. But be able to become an expert on a subject quickly, whether it’s WW2 era airplanes, Japanese mythology, or models of global warming. And, of course, changing your hairstyle and color several times per day and posting it on your Facebook status is extremely important.

Tom Hall (1987, Game Designer, Loot Drop): If you’re looking to get into the industry as a game designer, what practical concrete skill do you have? You may be a writer, lever designer, artist, or programmer. If someone does not have a concrete skill to actually make data, that is worrisome. Everyone has ideas. Everyone plays games. But mere interest isn’t enough. Your interest should have driven you to make in some fashion.

That leads to second part — an actual game or mod. A work. Something you finished. A little 2D game. Something in Garry’s Mod. Something written with Pygame. Something amazing in Little Big Planet or Minecraft. Something concrete that shows me you have the passion to make and to finish. By the time I joined Softdisk, I had written 50 games. Finishing games is hard. If you have a game, and just got to where it kind-of-plays and stopped, that’s a warning sign. We’ve all done it. I did it on an early game I tried to make, a copy of Wizardry called Slayquest. I got the hallway drawing code from Softline Magazine, drew up a monster or two, got it to where you had an encounter… and stopped. It was so big, and it was too daunting making that big a game from the skills I had at the time.

So, I understand. That’s a stopping point for most people. Finishing it, tying up every last loose end and detail. Crafting the game. Getting the core mechanic just right. Having an end condition, win or lose. It isn’t that hard. But you should be able to get past that. I did. How? I made smaller games. I made single screen arcade games. I made 15 text adventures. Those were actually pretty good, at least comparable to what was being published at the time. Finishing games made me realize, hey, I could actually do this as a job.

And all those games got me my first job at Softdisk, and they published a number of those adventures and arcade games! You can say, ah, times were simpler then, but it’s actually easier now! There are great tools and software libraries and games to mod. Just look at all the web games that are out there. 300,000 iPhone games. Mostly simple small games. One or two or three people can still make a wildly popular game. And finishing a reasonably-scoped game doesn’t take that long.

For instance, I did a very simple clone of Galaxian called Bugaboo in Anachronox. I did the graphics, sound, code, everything in 15 hours. It was in our scripting language, but there are plenty of scripting languages and tools out there. Or just make it in text! Graphics don’t matter. Gameplay does. Finishing does. There’s really no excuse not to make a game. You can’t code? Find someone who can. Or make a mod. Or be like Brenda and make a non-digital game. Now there are no barriers, no excuses as to why you couldn’t finish. Make a new game with a checkerboard. Or with D&D figurines. With a piece of paper and dimes and pennies. You want to make games… why aren’t you making games? It’s not some magic baton that someone hands you. It’s not a conch shell you’re given and now you are the authority to start enacting your vision. Your desire should have given you the power, and your persistence should have produced a game.

Thirdly, I look for a creative spark. Many people come in and say how their version of World of Warcraft would feature this, or their Call of Duty would have a cooler weapon. That’s more desire fulfillment than design. It also hubris to assume from making nothing you can go make a AAA title. Sure, that can be a dream, but you have to take the steps to that dream, to work at it. And have a mind for design.

When you interview, I will give you a few scenarios in a game, and ask how the player gets through them. Truly creative people will ask, “how many do you want?” and rattle them off. It’s sort of an impromptu definition of a game design. What does the player get to do? What are you teaching them to do at the start of the game? And how pedestrian are your ideas?

Take the well-worn interview scenario, “You are the player, starting our new game, locked in a castle prison cell. How do you get out?” It’s so easy to say, “They attract the guard’s attention, then grab him through the bars.” This is the predictable rom-com of design. “You search and find a key” is, too. Wow, your abductors overlooked that!

What I want to hear is how you are starting your game, and what new thing are you immediately teaching the player. Could be something simple but mechanic- and environment-aware, like:

* “I am a monk. I learn how to hop from wall to wall, reaching a window 40 feet up.”

* “My abductors don’t know I am a spirit mage. I learn through a few prompts how to take spirit form, and walk through the bars. It takes most of my energy, so I know I must use it sparingly.”

* “I am told I will die of starvation in this secret cell and will never get out. However, I am immortal; I learn the time-acceleration mechanic, and stand in place for centuries while the castle crumbles around me. Being able to travel through time in a place where I will not be interrupted will give me access to inaccessible areas if I am clever.”

Create something novel and understand that these are the first moments of a game, and you are teaching the players critical things. You are defining the experience from the cloud of infinite possibilities. You are telling the players what they can and can’t do. You are giving them rules. And you’re showing me you can come up with solutions as a designer, creative ways to make things happen given parameters. I’m giving you rules. You are playing the game of game design.

Yes, it would be great if you can make a coherent game design document and have an example. Yes, it would be good if you can break down small games into tasks for programming, art, design, and sound, what I call PADS. But that can be taught. Passion and creativity and persistence cannot. You say you want to make games. Don’t tell me. Show me.

Kim McAuliffe (1995, Game Designer, Microsoft Game Studios): Play games — and not just the games in your favorite genre. Play what your mom is playing on Facebook and figure out why it’s so compelling to her even if it’s not to you. Play things normally out of your comfort zone. Being able to talk about any genre at will is valuable. Play board games, card games, everything. Analyze the major systems as you play, figure out how they work together to form a cohesive experience, decide what you feel works really well and what you think is broken. Know what rubber-banding is. Notice when something feels too random, or not random enough. Modify the rules; create your own.

In every interview I can remember, I’ve been asked, “If you could make any game, what would you make?” Have an interesting answer ready for that, not just “I really want to work on Sequel X.” What would you do that hasn’t already been done? Also, do your homework before interviews. Play the company’s games and dissect them. Talk about what you like, but more importantly, talk about what you don’t like and how you would change things to make the game better.

Be willing to start out as a level designer, and play with level editors to create your own. It might not be possible to leap straight into systems design without prior experience, and on smaller projects/teams, you might be called on to do both. Even if you don’t end up in level design, you need to know what level designers do.

Be multifaceted. If you’re in school, take classes in writing, art, programming, and public speaking. Being able to organize, explain, and present your creative ideas is as important as generating them. You will be writing documents for an entire development team and/or clients to read, so they have to be clear and concise and use good grammar. Having a basic knowledge of what the artists and programmers who will be implementing your ideas do makes you a valuable commodity to hiring managers.

Stay current with industry news and trends. Add RSS feeds from major game sites to your daily reader; follow industry vets on Twitter to see what they think is hot and noteworthy.

The best tactic is to make a game. Having something playable that demonstrates your creativity, knowledge, and skill says more than an artfully written résumé.

I Want to Send My Idea to a Game Company. How Do I Do This?

Ian: You don’t.

But you want to. How can you possibly get your amazing idea made if you don’t submit it to a company? And why would they turn down your idea when it will obviously make them so much money?

For one thing, there’s the legal system. If they so much as look at your idea and then they happen to come out with a game that has even a superficial resemblance, you might sue them. Game companies know this, so many of them will flat out refuse to look at anything you’ve done. If they do look at your work, it will probably only be after they have you sign a release form that signs away all of your rights to the idea, which probably defeats the purpose of sending it in.

Also, “ideas” are worthless in the industry. Just like everyone in Hollywood has a “brilliant” movie script they’re working on (including the janitors), everyone in the game industry has at least one “brilliant” idea for a game. Ideas are the easy part; actually building the game is the long, hard, and expensive part. Give the same “brilliant idea” to ten different teams, and you’ll get ten very different products. Ideas are nothing; execution is everything. A wonderful idea, horribly implemented, loses money.

If you want your game made, go forth and make it. If you don’t have the expertise, you can learn the skills you are missing, or try to team up with someone else who can provide those skills (but you will have to convince them that it is worth their time to work on your idea, rather than their own idea, and the burden of proof is on you since you’re asking for their time). If you have a working game, and the game is fun, that will get people’s attention much more than an idea.（Source：gamasutra）