作者：Staff

你是否需要投入更多员工为游戏创建原型？Arkadium的开发与研究部门总监Tom Rassweiler认为开发者必须清楚自己何时需要投入更多资源去创建游戏原型，他将自己的想法归结为5大点。

Tom-Rassweiler(from gil.poly.edu)

他写道：“大家都清楚原型建造所具有的优势，大多数团队在开始执行每个项目前也会投入较多的时间去创建游戏原型。但同样的，许多团队都认为自己缺少足够的时间去创建一个最优秀的原型，特别是当面对着重视快速收益的客户或高层管理员时。”

以下便是Rassweiler面对那些未能投入足够人力于原型建造的工作室的警示：

你的游戏机制并不有趣

“当你开始向客户推广游戏，或已经致力于项目并投入了几个月时间于开发过程中时（更糟糕的是在发行时），你突然发现自己的游戏机制既不有趣也不够直观。原型设计团队能够帮助你的公司避免将时间与金钱浪费在一款带有问题机制的游戏中。”

具有创造性，切勿盲目模仿

“如果你说‘我们的竞争者一直都在使用这一解决方法，想必他们已经经历了严格的用户测试，那么我们也这么做吧’，随后你便开始遵循其它团队的做法。这便不是一种创造性的表现。更糟糕的是这么做你便不可能从中学到任何内容。研究与开发部能够帮助你创造出属于自己的解决方法。”

挑战更大的项目？你需要投入更多时间

“如果你最初是一家使用小团队去开发小游戏的公司，但是现在希望挑战一些更大且更复杂的项目，你就需要预先留出更多时间去创建原型并进行评估。”

微交易更费力

“如果你不知道如何创造一款成功的微交易游戏，你最终便会遭遇项目规模问题：创造微交易游戏要求你必须投入更多时间去创造内容，平衡经济并进行测试。而如果你的游戏机制不甚完美，你所投入的这些额外时间都将只是浪费。”

产品质量可能影响公司或品牌形象

“最后，你需要思考如何才能为用户创建一个优质的品牌。创建一个优质的品牌需要你能够持续发行一些成功的游戏。而优秀的游戏原型则能够帮助你避免发行一些糟糕的产品或因此破坏公司的形象和玩家的信任。”

（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）

Five signs that you need more prototyping

By Staff

Do you need to dedicate more staff to prototyping on your game? Arkadium’s director of R&D Tom Rassweiler believes that there is a knack to knowing when you need to dedicate more resources to prototyping, and has condensed his thoughts into five warning signs.

“The advantages of prototyping are generally well known, and most development teams spend sometime prototyping before each project,” he writes. “However, it is also generally true that teams never feel they have enough time to prototype well, especially when clients or managers are heavily focused on quick revenue.”

For those studios concerned that they are not putting enough manpower into their prototyping, Rassweiler suggesting looking for these signs:

Your game mechanic isn’t fun

“You’ve pitched games to clients, or started projects and then a couple of months into development (or worse yet, at the point of release) you realize that the game mechanic is neither fun nor intuitive. A prototyping team can keep your company from wasting time and investment on games with deep problems in the mechanic.”

Innovate, don’t follow

“If you hear yourself saying, ‘Our competitor uses this solution all the time, and they must have done user testing, so let’s just do it that way’ — then you’re just following other teams. You’re not innovating. Worse yet, you’re not learning anything for yourself. R&D can help you develop your own solutions.”

Going bigger? You’ll need more time

“If you’re a company that previously made small games with small teams, but are starting to expand into bigger, more complex projects, you will need to set aside more time upfront for prototyping and evaluation.”

Microtransactions take a lot of work

“If you are having problems developing successful microtransaction-based games, you’re facing a corollary of the above problem with project size: microtransaction-based games require a lot more time to create content, balance the economy and test. This extra time will be wasted if the mechanic isn’t perfect.”

Valuing your company image helps build your brand

“Finally, be wary if you’re having a hard time building a quality brand with your consumers. Building a quality brand requires that you release successful games consistently. Good prototyping can help you avoid releasing flops and ruining your company’s image and your player’s trust.”(source:GAMASUTRA)