作者：Alexander Brandon

若你在他国谋得工作，或者在他国雇佣人员，那么恭喜你！你已走向国际化。虽然在他国同他人共事颇为有趣，而且能够获得收益，但有若干事项需要引起大家的注意。做好充分准备能够让你省去众多麻烦。这些注意事项适用于所有行业，但有几点专门针对游戏行业。

为什么要走国际化路线？跨国运作旨在完成其他地方所无法完成的工作。理想情况下，这应该是你采取跨国路线的原因所在。是否运用这一规则取决于你的行事风格。

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外包业务流程（游戏邦注：例如IT和供应链）已出现多年，其成功既取决于适当的管理和监督，也依赖于国内的操作。

另一将工作任务分配至其他地方的原因在于，成本更低，但记住“一分钱一分货”的道理也同样体现在其他国家。你也许觉得自己通过外包大部分美工任务省下50%的制作成本，但若无法确保测试工作是由负责项目本身的团队完成，你就得保证内容的质量符合标准，在无法满足这些要求时提供合理的违反条款。

在处理创意内容方面，除参照项目开始前或至少前制作阶段的标准评估满意度外，我们很难就此进行量化。

若你依然觉得国际化路线是自己的最佳选择，需牢记下列几个要素：

时区：这点非常明显，当发行候选版本到期时，时间差异会带来严重破坏性。多腾出天时间（游戏邦注：这取决于你的外包商或用户位置）能够让你在应对发行商的TRC检验时不会显得那么慌乱。

给计划表和交货日期腾出额外时间能够让你顺利摆脱另一变量。此外，要弄清用户何时回家，然后保证自己能够呈现相应内容。最后，要考虑不同于自己所在国家的假期，将这些时间也考虑在内。“请求宽恕总比寻求许可好些”这个原则是否也适用于开发者和发行商？这听起来有点令人胆怯，但有时情况确实如此。这里的关键所在是我们不应让这种情况出现。

旅行/手机/现场工作人员：反复沟通通过当前技术完全以轻松实现。但除去网络渠道，有时单手机费用和旅行费用就会抵消你从制作成本中剩下的资金。此外，不要误以为纽约和旧金山湾区是最昂贵的居住地。在全球排名前10的高消费城市中，日本占据4个：东京（第1），名古屋（第2），横滨（第5）和神户（第7），这也充分说明为什么日本会积极在西方项目中进行投资。

付款方式：不要认为签订合约时的谷歌兑换率会是个可靠的货币兑换标准。这种情况时常出现。一方可能因在项目进展过程中兑换率发生变化而遭遇大笔资金损失。

兑换率需参照付款时的标准，双方应在合约充分执行前就此达成协议。关于实际付款方面，电汇和邮寄支票更费时间，且成本更高。目前最佳的付费方式是通过PayPal，他们在国内和国际转账上收取统一费用，远低于多数银行。

国际法：协商合同会产生额外费用。有时一方会选择翻译合同内容，这一费用可能多达数千美元。此外，有些国家还设有伦理法，这些可能无法为你的法律团队所接受，或者也许需要投入更多时间进行谈判。

因合约涉及的资金数额和时间长度（尤其是有名人参与其中）而异，最终签订合约至少需要3周时间，而整个过程则可能长达6个月。

语言：在和异国人士共事的过程中，我遇到许多有趣的场景。有个关于声音方面的建议是，不要让俄罗斯演员扮演高度情绪化的角色。你可以要求来自莫斯科的演员痛苦地尖叫，想象自己的四肢被截取，但你看到的多半是温和的哀怨声。

总之，要选择能够代表自己语言特点的人员。选择熟悉自身语言，及特定学科（游戏邦注：美工、编程和设计）具体术语的人员能够帮你省下大把的翻译时间。

此外，还要留心风俗习惯。例如在日本，你不能将名片放在后口袋中。这被看作是一种侮辱。若事先没有进行练习，就不要尝试进行鞠躬。要学会如何鞠躬需要很长时间，自以为自己懂得和真正懂得完全是两码事。

把握这些基本事项后，你将从跨国项目运营中收获更多，不再对其望而却步。

游戏邦注：原文发布于2010年11月17日，文章叙述以当时为背景。（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）

Quick Tips on International Game Development

by Alexander Brandon

You’ve scored a gig in another country. Or, you’ve hired someone in another country. Either way, congratulations! You’re about to go international. While working with someone in another country can be fun and rewarding, there are a few things to consider before the process begins. Being prepared will save you a lot of headache, trust me. These apply in most industries but a few surprises wait in store for us game folk.

Why do it? At times working internationally is done to find work that can’t be done anywhere else. Ideally this is why you should consider it. If you want Katsuhiro Otomo or Masamune Shiro and ONLY those artists and their teams to do the concept art and art assets for your project, that’s a quick example. Another example is that the London Symphony has attributes that can’t be matched anywhere else, even Los Angeles, though admittedly you’re comparing apples to oranges. Still, the rule applies depending on your stylistic preference.

Outsourcing business processes such as IT and supply chain has been done for years with success just as dependent on proper management and oversight as domestic operations.

Another reason to take your work (or look for it) elsewhere is that it is cheaper, but bear in mind that “you get what you pay for” applies just as much in another country as it does your own. You may think you’re saving 50% in production costs by outsourcing a bulk of your artwork, but if you aren’t assured that your tests have been done by the same team that will be working on the project itself, confirm your qualitative requirements and ensure you have solid exit clauses if those requirements aren’t met.

Dealing with creative content, this can be very difficult to quantify beyond satisfaction that is measured based on references prior to the start of a project or at least during pre-production.

If you decide that an international route is still your best bet, some factors to keep strictly in mind are:

Time Zone: This should be obvious, but time differences can wreak havoc when a release candidate is due. Making sure to build in the extra day (or more) it can take depending on your contractor or customers location will mean less panic for a TRC check from your publisher.

This additional time in the schedule at appropriate milestones and delivery dates will ensure you take another variable out of the equation. In addition, know when people go home and be sure to set your availability as well. Finally, consider holidays that differ from yours and build that time in as well. Easy for me to say of course is the phrase “it’s better to ask forgiveness than to ask permission” true when it comes to a developer and a publisher? Frightening, but sometimes the answer is yes. The point is, it shouldn’t be true.

Travel / Phone / Onsite staff: Communication back and forth can be established easily with today’s technology. Beyond the internet however, phone charges and travel costs at times can offset the savings you establish from the production costs alone. In addition, don’t be fooled into thinking New York and the Bay Area are the most expensive places to live. Japan boasts four out of the top ten most expensive cities in the world for cost of living: Tokyo (#1), Nagoya (#4), Yokohama (#5), and Kobe (#7), which partially explains why Japan has invested heavily in Western development.

Payment: Never , even under torture, consider a straight exchange rate from Google at the time of contract signing to be a reliable way to convert currency. This happens alarmingly often. Hundreds or even thousands of dollars can be lost on either side depending on rate changes throughout the project.

The exchange rate should be figured at the time of each payment, and the rate source should be mutually agreed upon before a contract is fully executed. For actual payment, wiring money and mailing checks can be more time consuming and costly than one would imagine. Currently the best way to go is PayPal. They charge a flat rate for domestic and international transfers that are far less than most banks.

International law: There can be added cost to negotiating a contract. Sometimes the other party may opt to have it translated, and that is a cost that can run as high as several thousand dollars US. In addition, some countries (Finland is one example) have ethics laws that may not be acceptable to your legal team, or may involve more time in negotiation.

Depending on the size of the contract in money and time, particularly if a celebrity is involved, expect at least three weeks minimum to elapse before it is signed, with the process taking as long as 6 months.

Language: I’ve seen some pretty funny situations when working with clients from other countries. Specifically a tip for voice over folks is to almost never use authentic Russian actors for highly emotional roles. You can tell an actor from Moscow to scream in pain, to imagine his limbs are being pulled off, but you might get a muted grunt if you’re lucky. That if course is pretty specific.

In general, ensure that someone actually working as a representative speaks your language, or vice versa depending on the gig. Having someone on your end familiar with the language as well as the specific terms for whatever discipline youre dealing with (art, engineering, design) can save hours and hours of translation time.

In addition, be mindful of customs. In Japan, for example, do not put a business card in your back pocket. It is considered an insult. And don’t try to bow if you havent done it with practice. There is a way to do it that takes time to learn and thinking you know how is far from knowing how.

Once you have all these basic considerations entrenched in your development practices, you’ll find doing business internationally a lot more rewarding and a lot less surprising.（Source：gamasutra）