作者：Adriaan Jansen

扼杀创造性

你了解实现目标的感受吗？那时的你会对自己的工作以及自己所付出的努力充满自豪感。游戏设计也是如此，但是每次当你完成某种创造时，前面肯定埋伏着一些人 等着去毁灭你的创作。就像你说你想到了一个非常棒的游戏理念，你的团队便会批评它；你创造了一个有趣的游戏机制，但却没有人喜欢它；你将你所创造的游戏原 型推荐给游戏测试者时，他们甚至尝试不到2分钟便将其弃于一边。似乎每个人都在找机会攻击你。特别是当你在创造属于自己的小游戏，当你与一个团队致力于游 戏创造或者只是测试或明确游戏机制时，你经常会遇到这种情况。（请点击此处阅读本系列第1、第2、3部分）

overprotectionfrom gamasutra.com

有时候，尤其是当你刚刚开始实践自己的游戏设计技能时，你有可能创造出并不招人喜欢的游戏。当然，你可能会对自己的成就感到骄傲，且你的父母或好友会认为你的游戏很有趣，但也只有这些人会认可你。这是一种概测法。你在创造出一款真正优秀的游戏之前，可能已制作10款糟糕的游戏。虽然这也是要根据你的才能而定，但掌握游戏设计需要你投入一定的时间和努力。所以即使你一开始并未获得成功也不要灰心，只要好好研究游戏并这样问自己：“为何游戏会如此糟糕？下一次我该如何做得更好？”便可。然后果断停止制作这款糟糕的游戏。当然，任何人都很难舍弃自己辛苦创造出来的作品，但不管怎样，你都需要迈出这一步。

在你致力于游戏创造的过程中，你的团队成员或测试者也会对你的游戏理念或机制提出批评意见。而他们这么做也只是希望你的游戏能够变得更加完善！任何人都可能提供给你有价值的帮助，所以请务必聆听这些意见。不要在此投入过多个人情感，太过抵触这种批评或对此感到沮丧；你应该想象这不是自己的机制，然后重新看待它们。因为你的玩家有可能也是这么看待这些机制的！最重要的是，你必须审视游戏理念的合理性。很多时候这些理念的实施可能并不像你想的那样，有时候你需要学着去接受理念缺乏可行性或过于糟糕的事实。所以你应该懂得舍弃糟糕理念并使用其它机制尝试着去解决你所面临的问题。设计完内容后将其抛弃是游戏设计领域中很常见的一种情况，你应该对此有心理准备。

如果你是一名有志气的游戏设计师，你更要警惕“扼杀创造性”的陷阱。你可能会满怀热情地向好友或亲人展示你的游戏；但是就像你看到某人新发型或装扮很糟不忍揭穿一样，你的朋友或亲人也会对你的游戏持这种态度。所以当你展示自己的游戏，且你真心希望能够完善自身游戏设计能力时，请一定提醒对方诚实说出自己的看法。就像你可以直接让他们在不想继续游戏的情况下停止游戏一样。

总之，你应该做好可能创造出一些缺乏可行性的内容的准备，并从中吸取经验，果断舍弃它们。

找借口

Excuse from gamasutra.com

当你获得一个很棒的游戏理念后，你当然迫切希望能够赶紧开始制作游戏。但是可惜的是，你不懂游戏编程以及美工制作。所以你无法制作这款游戏。你会抱怨称，生活如此不如意！也许这时候你应该重新思考自己的职业选择是否正确，因为对你来说游戏设计实在太困难了。

如果有志气的游戏设计师总是不断以此作借口，那么他们永远都不可能成为一名真正的游戏设计师。他们完全缺乏成为一名优秀设计师所需要的关键元素。最糟糕的是，这些人完全缺少解决问题的创造性和决心。为什么你不学习Unity或Gamemaker之类的编程工具？为何你不使用占位符或免费网络图像，直至你找到合适的美工？为何你不在提高沟通能力时主动寻找一名有共识的伙伴？而如果这些方法都失效，你又为什么不尝试着将游戏理念转变成桌面游戏或纸上模型，以测试或呈现自己的想法？的确，制作游戏不是一件简单的工作，而如果你不能投入更多努力，你很难在整个行业中找到容身之处。

和团队合作制作游戏时你也有可能萌生这些借口。你会抱怨自己不得不等待美工、程序员去落实自己的游戏理念。你会抱怨团队成员多令人讨厌、有多懒等。但是你应该清楚，在这些等待过程中，依然有许多你能够落实的任务。例如为一个新的游戏机制建模；平衡某些不合适的内容；为一些重要的内容创建文件；组织游戏测试；通过阅读书籍或浏览Gamasutra而进一步了解游戏世界。你甚至还可以通过制作一些小游戏实践自己的编程和设计技能。千万不要想着让自己闲下来，要知道游戏世界远比我们想象的大得多。

好高骛远

massive scope from gamasutra.com

说实话我也不好阐述这一点，因为我自己也经常陷入这一误区中。野心是一把双刃剑。游戏开发团队，特别是当他们缺少相关经验时，总是会认为自己能够创造出非常优秀的游戏，且能够取得非常出色的成绩。但随着时间的流逝，人们总是会因为一些事情而分心或变得消极，从而导致整个开发团队甚至难以完成游戏的建模工作。避免这一陷阱的最佳方法是了解你自己及团队。你必须保持客观与理性；判断你的团队是否能够迎接挑战？你们之前是否遇到过与现在相类似的项目？是否具有相似性……而有序的工作流程将让你变得更加实事求是。举个例子来说，如果你不能完成你的SCRUM（游戏邦注：一种迭代式增量软件开发过程），就说明你其实没有自己想象中那么厉害。遗憾的是，这通常是个反复试验的过程。所以你需要变得更强大，学会从中吸取更多经验和教训。

但是！我绝对不是说：“诶，制作游戏太困难了，诶，不要有野心！”在游戏制作中，信仰与理性的反差非常明显。如果你真的觉得自己能够这么做，且相信最终目标是经得起失败的考验，那么你就应该放手去做。而这所造成的最遭结果是，你将感受到现实的残酷，虽然能够因此获得觉悟，但却已损失许多时间（及金钱）。而最好的情况则是，你能够创造出非常出色的作品。著名作曲家Leonard Bernstein曾经说过：“完成任何伟大的作品都需要两样东西：计划及永远不够的时间。”对此我极为赞同，如果你真的有实力且信心满满，顶得住压力和责任，你大可放心将时间与精力投入于这项创作中。一开始就制作表达你自己想法的游戏非常冒险。除了1万小时规则（我们将在本系列文章的第三部分中提到），挖掘自己的能力尚不能够帮你创造出游戏作品。你应该尝试去平衡野心与安全性，只有这样你才能真正找到制作游戏作品的正确方法，感受到创造一个有利可图的项目的愉悦感。（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）

The Game Designer Class – What are his biggest weaknesses?

by Adriaan Jansen

A few weeks ago, I started with a series of blogposts about what it’s like and what it takes to be a game designer. Because we’re talking games here, I’m approaching these posts as an RPG character creation guide. The series consists of the following chapters:

1.Role: What are the tasks of a game designer?

2.Passive Abilities: What are favorable character traits?

3.Powers: What are important skills?

4.Weaknesses: What are the biggest pitfalls?(This chapter!)

In this final chapter, we’ll look into the things that are most likely to keep you from being an awesome game designer. In every career path there are risks that can stop you from achieving your goals. Most of those have a lot to do with lack of knowledge about what it’s going to be like to have the profession you’re aiming for. A good example is a professional sportsman, like a (soccer) football player. When he was 16 or so, he might have dreamed:”I’m going to be a good player, because I have a great technique, I’m fast and I have a great endurance.” But he can easily forget that the world of a sportsman is more elaborate than it looks. Does he know that he might play badly because the target of his wonderful passes is always poorly chosen? Can he handle the pressure of thousands watching him, counting on him to succeed? Even more close to home, would the thought that he won’t be able to go out with his friends on Friday anymore, cross his mind? Game designers have their own pitfalls too. So here is the list of my three most dreaded pitfalls that you could cross in your potential game design career!

Creativity Killing

You know that feeling when you have achieved something? You’re proud of your work and proud of the effort you put in creating it. Well, game design is like that, only every time you think you achieved something, someone is waiting around the corner to destroy it. You think you got a great idea for a game, and the team says it sucks. You just pitched a nice mechanic, but no one likes it. You just proudly presented your prototype to the playtester, but they can’t even bare to play it more than 2 minutes. Everyone is waiting to take a shot at you. This can come up when you made a little game yourself, or it can occur when you’re still making a game with a team and just tested or pitched a mechanic.

Sometimes, in particular when you’re just starting to practice your game design skills, you’ll make games that nobody seems to like. Sure, you may be proud of you accomplishments, and your parents and friends say it’s fun, but they seem to be the only ones. Well, here is a rule of thumb. You’ll create 10 sucky games before you make a good one. It depends on your talent, but getting the hang of game design just takes time and practice. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t succeed straight away. Just look at it and ask yourself:”Why does it suck? What can I do better next time?” Then just drop it. It’s hard to leave a creation you worked hard on, but you need to take steps forward.

You can also have team members or playtesters that only seem able to criticize your ideas or mechanics while you’re still working on the game. However, they’re only doing this because they think the game could be better! Everyone can give valuable input, so listen closely. Don’t take it personal or get all defensive or downhearted. Listen closely to criticism, and try to look at the mechanics like they were not yours. Naturally, that’s how your players will see it! Most important, be reasonable about the quality of your idea. Ideas almost never work out as you think they would, so sometimes you have to accept that the idea doesn’t work out and sucks. Throw it away and try to fix the problem with other mechanics. Design to throw away is a common saying in game design. Be ready to do so.

If you’re an aspiring game designer, the “Creativity Killing” pitfall can also come from an unsuspected corner. You may have friends or family that you passionately show your game to. You know when someones new haircut or outfit looks horrible, but because you don’t want to hurt them, you say it looks great? Your friends will most likely do the same thing regarding your game. When you show your game, and you want to improve your game making abilities, be sure to mention to them that they should be honest. Tell them that they should to stop when they feel like they want to stop, for example.

The bottom line is: Be prepared to make things that just don’t work. Learn from them and throw them away.

The Excuse

So you got this GREAT idea for a game that includes the exciting themes of Laserknights and Midgetgolfing. Of course you’re thrilled to make this game, but alas, you can’t program or make art. So you have no choice, you just can’t make the game. What a bummer, life can be so unfair sometimes! You’d better go back to your mother’s basement to over-think your career choice, because this game design career is way to hard for you.

Aspiring game designers who keep making this excuse will never become a game designer. They’re missing most of the vital ingredients that make for one tasty game designer. The worst part is that these people completely lack the creativity and determination to solve this problem. What’s stopping you from learning how to program in easy to learn tools like Unity or Gamemaker? Why not use placeholders or free internet images until you find an artist? Why aren’t you actively searching for like minded people, while developing your communication skills? If that’s not possible, why aren’t you trying to translate the idea to a board game or paper prototype, just to test or show people what you can do? Making games is hard work, and if you can’t even be bothered to start making one, the industry has no room for you.

The excuse is also there when you already are making game with a team. You’re waiting for art, or for the programmer to finally finish the implementation of your idea. Probably, all you’re doing is generating hate from your team members for annoying them and being a lazy, probably facebooking, bum. There are thousands of things a game designer can do in the meantime. Prototype a new mechanic for example. Balance something that was off. Document important stuff. Organize a playtest. Study the game world by reading from a good book or Gamasutra.  In the “worst” case, you can practice your programming and design skills by making little games. Keep yourself busy, the world of games is as vast as the human imagination!

Massive Scope

This is a bit of a painful one to talk about, because I keep walking into this pitfall. Ambition is a double edged sword. I think a certain “Molyneux” can back me up on that one. Game dev teams, especially when they’re relatively inexperienced, often think they can make this awesome game that is awesome in every corner of its awesome world. However, time is precious, people get distracted or demotivated and the game starts to break before the prototype is finished. The most important way to evade this pitfall is knowing yourself and knowing your team. Be rational and critical. Is your team really up to the challenge? Which project you previously did looks the most like this one? Isn’t the difference too big? A good workflow will most likely help you be realistic. If you can’t complete your SCRUM sprints for example, you’re probably less of a superhero than you think you are. Sadly, this will almost always be a process of trial and error. So toughen up and learn from it as quickly as possible!

However! I really ain’t saying:”Uww, making games is hard, uww, don’t be ambitious!” The contrast between belief and rationalism is strong in game making. If you really believe you can do it, and you really think your goals are worth the potential failure, you should totally go for it. Worst case scenario, you’ll get slapped by reality, learn about yourself and lose a lot of time (and maybe some money). Best case, you create something magnificent. Composer Leonard Bernstein once said:”To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time.” I strongly believe in that, and if you have the strength and determination to work under great stress and responsibility, you shouldn’t waste your life and soul with playing it safe. Making games that express your heart is risky business to begin with. Nothing helps you more in discovering your capabilities than the 10 000 hours-rule mentioned in the third part of this blogpost series. Try to find the balance between ambition and safety, only then you’ll find the spiritual enlightenment of making YOUR game and the mortal delight of a profitable project.

Well, that was it! Hopefully, I made the world of the game designer a bit more approachable and clear for you. For the last time, I’d like to thank  Jesse Schell, the guys and girls from Extra Credits and Joost van Dongen for taking the time to educate me through their videos, books and blogs. Now I’ll continue my struggle with my own ambitions over at Abbey Games, and I’ll try to blog about those struggles there every now and then. Thanks for reading! I learned a lot by writing this series, and I really hoped you enjoyed reading it!(source:GAMASUTRA)