作者：James Brightman

Seamus Blackley是手机游戏工作室Innovative Leisure联合创始人，也是游戏行业最具个人魅力的元老之一。虽然THQ不再涉入移动游戏领域，但Blackley有幸于今年夏天获得一些投资者的支持。

他指出：“当我们在DICE峰会上提到我们公司的性质时，许多业内人士对我们投以好奇的目光，显然，无人知晓目前游戏行业的动态。在此之后，一些投资者向我们表示出极大的兴趣，此时我也渐渐理解到，当你开始经营一家公司时，你应多向投资者进行推广，他们的加入可能有助于公司的发展。”

Seamus Blackley(from gamesindustry)

他称：“我与合作伙伴讨论过这个话题，他们是一群对行业剧变很感兴趣的人。我们喜欢这种剧变，因为我们坚信质量高于一切。最后，一家聚集大批优秀人才并且喜欢游戏的风投公司Hummer Winblad为我们注入了种子资金。为此，我们得以开始发行自己的游戏。在人们试图弄清游戏行业的发展动态之时，立即采取可靠的行动，远比依赖于大公司的稳定性更有优势。这一点或许能够解释THQ现在为何会处境动荡，并且放弃社交与移动游戏业务。这正是该领域的正确发展之路。”

Blackley对THQ全新发展方向以及Jason Rubin的领导能力表现出十足的信心。他解释道：“我想Jason有机会做出一番大事业，所以，在电子游戏永远不会瓦解的时代，我对THQ及Innovative Leisure的发展相当自信。”

如果你是经典游戏的粉丝，那么你可能会被这家由明星团队打造的创业工作室Innovative Leisure深深吸引，这支团队包括《Battlezone》的设计师Ed Rotberg，《Major Havoc》及《Space Duel》的设计师Owen Rubin，《Gravitar》的设计师及《Missile Command》的联合开发者Rich Adam，《Asteroid》和《Centipede》的联合开发者Ed Logg，《Touch Me》和《Shooting Gallery》的设计师Dennis Koble，《Black Widow》设计师Bruce Merrit，以及《Rip-Off》等游戏的设计者Tim Skelly，他是其中唯一的非雅达利元老街机游戏设计师，曾效力于Cinematronics工作室。

毫无疑问，我们高度期盼这个精英团队在iOS平台上制作出“新型的街机游戏”。那么今年能实现这一愿景吗？

Blackley指出：“希望如此吧。我们开发者也不会因此立下誓言。当你是个开发者，而且某人询问游戏何时问世时，这种感受就如同当你是个大学生时，某个并不熟络的亲戚询问你的专业那般让你难受。你恨不得立马杀了他。然而这完全是一个合理的问题。作为开发者，你应时刻牢记必须完成的事项，这类似于作家的写作生涯。首先你需有个惊人的创意，你知道记录下来可能会破坏自己的灵感，所以，确定自己感兴趣的事物，并完美地实现它实则是个痛苦的过程。而我们十分荣幸地组合了这样一个优秀的团队。”

Blackley承认，这番言辞完全摘自自己在DICE大会上的演讲稿。但他解释道：“我再次发表这番言论，而且可能会反复提及50多次，这是因为我认为目前游戏行业内的所有人应认识到，最重要的一点是‘重视游戏玩法’。这才是目前游戏行业的当务之急。如果我们向玩家呈现乏味、蓄意、剥削性的游戏内容，那么我们的工作室将走向灭亡，而人们也会对此嗤之以鼻（不论是Zynga还是其它游戏工作室）。”

我们向Blackley打探制作移动游戏的真正难度时，他表示，从财政的角度上看，它的制作难度显然低于主机游戏。然而，就主机游戏市场方面，Blackley提出了一个有趣的观点。

他表示：“我认为，预算及较小规模的开发团队是一种次要优势。只有单从商业角度出发，而不是从用户角度考虑的人们才会认为这些因素相当重要。现在，用户需要的是出色且与众不同的游戏，它的玩法不同，且适合不同生活方式的人们。而且幸运的话，你可以同较小规模的开发团队传递出这样的游戏内容，因为你回归到纯粹的游戏设计。”

“这让我想到其它媒介的前沿趋势，比如音乐媒介。如果你仔细观察音乐，你会发现音乐市场过度饱和，随后就出现了不插电的MTV——这类似不插电的视频游戏。你可以认为这是一种十分经济的模式，事实上现在只要5个成员就可以完成过去150个人都无法制作出来的产品。”

Blackley表示，一小群精英设计师聚集在一起，结合各自能力共同打造出一款出色的游戏，这种场景十分特别。虽然这存在难度，但Blackley认为，相比制作AAA主机游戏，这种方式实则更具挑战性。

他指出：“我们并非因为制作方法更加简单，制作成本更加低廉，或其它因素才开发移动游戏——其实它的难度更大。当5个成员共同制作一款游戏时，我们的工作空间十分有限。但你却可以做出大型开发团队无法完成的项目。游戏的即时性与可玩性是吸引用户的主要因素，而游戏只能顺应这种运作方式。但这就意味着用户不再打算体验大型主机游戏了？不，事实并非如此，它只能说明这个领域出现了一种玩家真正喜爱的新型游戏方式。”

Blackley表示，毫无疑问，主机游戏，或类似主机模式的游戏体验仍将长存。但他表示自己已厌倦看到“关于主机游戏衰落的夸张新闻报道。”

他指出：“让我们以Ouya项目为例，它除了是个大胆创举，还直接测试了用户对主机内容的热情度。你必须谨记，用户体验主机游戏是为了获得高端的游戏体验，而并非基于其它因素。”

“当你问道：‘你仍想玩主机游戏吗？’时，人们不会回答自己想要一台连接到电视的专业设备。他们想要的是在客厅里享受到优质的娱乐体验。他们尤其需要这种体验，他们也不在意获得这类游戏体验的来源。这同在iPad玩游戏的感觉完全不同。你也从未期望平板电脑可以传递所有主机平台的元素。”

Blackley继续提到：“所以，我想除非我们把这种游戏搞砸了，并且没有人能够在保证收益商业利益并传递高质量的内容之时，用户还是会追求这种主机游戏体验。而如果搞砸了，只要人们还是有这种需求，这种游戏就还会以其他形式卷土重来。我并不认为它必然会遵循盒装类游戏的零售模式，应该说它是一种不同技术局限性的工艺产物”。

Blackley表示，尽管数字技术发展迅速，但还是有玩家会到零售商店购买盒装游戏。这可能与玩家心理有关。

他解释道：“目前，这代玩家的固定观念是到GameStop或者Best Buy购买游戏，然后把它带回家，拆开看个究竟。其实这种做法的奇妙感类似于购买塑料玩具，即你购买了一个盒子，不清楚盒中玩具的模样，只有当你到家时你才清楚玩具的长相。主机游戏也是如此，无论你浏览多少玩家评价，你仍无法知晓游戏的性质。”

“只有当你播放游戏光盘时，你才知晓游戏的模样。它可能是款出色的游戏，可能会再次改变你的生活，正如《马里奥64代》、《侠盗猎车手》或者《现代战争》一样，又或许它的效果十分糟糕。然而你渴望的是精彩瞬间，它可以改变你的生活，从而把你带离现实的痛苦境地。”

Blackley也看到数字与移动领域的巨变引发了一些主流发行巨头的担忧，然而，明智的发行商却会利用其中的某些商机。

他指到：“因此，我认为主机游戏体验不会消逝，无论是提供主机游戏的专门设备，还是其它含有特定用户行为模式的设备也同样如此。就短期而言，这对大型传统游戏公司的开发者来说有何意义？我想，它意味着他们将历经艰苦的管理过程，其本身也将遭受某些痛苦与麻烦的折磨。而如果你同Bobby Kotick或John Riccitiello这些智者交流，就会发现他们理解动荡时期也存在商机。其实，我还想看看他们的实际举措，而THQ工作室的Jason及一些既聪明又有趣的家伙打算采取一些明智、有趣且不可思议的行动，实现这一观点。幸好，我只是怀着轻松的心态在此领域制作移动游戏。”

Blackley指出，无论开发者所提供的游戏体验运用了哪些技术，游戏获胜的法宝在于尊重用户。当前，众多游戏公司均忽视了目标群体的感受。Blackley强调“无视用户意味着自我毁灭。”他解释道：“我们不要自绝后路，我们需要尊重用户，从而丧失了这一大好时机。”

虽然Zynga这一方面较为突出的一个典范，但过去曾经出现大量无视用户群体并衰败的游戏公司。所幸当前的游戏公司及相关高管能从历史中吸取经验教训，而不致于重蹈覆辙。

Blackley表示：“我想，无论是雅达利，还是其它大型的游戏公司都曾采取一些利用玩家的举动。大多数时候，其结果只会适得其反（即使在短期内颇具意义）。Zynga也曾有过类似经历。”

“另一方面，当Zynga开始关注用户，注重他们的游戏体验，提供他们喜爱的游戏内容时，Zynga取得满意的效果。而我们从中吸取的经验教训是，当你利用所有游戏数据及反馈来取悦用户时，用户也会帮助游戏公司获得发展。然而，当你利用这些数据来压榨用户时，那就会给自己带来灭顶之灾。”

“游戏对用户来说是一种娱乐，但商务人士却容易将娱乐视为一种一次性物品，例如，‘如果这款游戏质量不高，谁会在意呢？用户还会继续玩的。’不，这绝非真正情况。对用户而言，玩游戏是他们一天中的重要时刻。它们不是休息的调味剂；而是他们一天中的关键，而且用户常常满怀激情地投入其中。然而，如果他们在再次体验游戏时发现其中有些许的变化，那么你会破坏他们一整天的心情，而且他们会在网上对你不断地抨击。他们绝对会整垮你。如果你能换位思考下用户的喜好——我希望你也能体验一些游戏，了解游戏中的种种元素……”

Innovative Leisure工作室的重要优势在于了解用户的真正喜好。Blackley及其团队成员在制作游戏时都会为玩家着想。

Blackley解释道：“问题在于，嘴上说说很容易，但在运营公司并付诸行动时却相当困难。你必须设计出能够实现这一观点的游戏。以玩家为主的开发者通常可以设计出很棒的产品。我认为，大多数在此方面表现优异的开发者其实已经把自己定位为目标群体，他们将自己当作用户，体验着大量的游戏，去感受其中的种种。”

“当我面访开发者，并谈论与其共事的开发者时，我通常会询问他们所玩的游戏类型及其iPad上储存的游戏种类，这是个关键的问题——目前你沉迷于3-4款的游戏吗？因为如果你没有体验游戏，你该如何相信自己能够为他人呈现有趣的游戏？这不是抽象的问题；它十分现实。”（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）

Xbox co-creator: “It’s about gameplay, stupid”

By James Brightman

Seamus Blackley of Innovative Leisure talks about “video games unplugged” and how five guys can make a game 150 can’t

Seamus Blackley, co-creator of the original Xbox and founder of mobile startup Innovative Leisure, is one of the more intelligent and charismatic veterans of the games business that you’ll ever meet, and so when Blackley talks we listen. Blackley was giving a presentation at The International Games Innovation Conference held at The Strong in Rochester, NY and GamesIndustry International was on-hand to chat him up afterwards.

Blackley was sure to point out how he was giving a speech at 6AM Pacific time, which no human should have to do, before he proceeded to update us on the state of Innovative Leisure. While THQ is no longer getting involved with mobile, Blackley was lucky enough over the summer to gain some investor support.

“Around DICE when we announced the company we got a lot of interest from a lot of people and the thing that became apparent is that nobody knows really what’s going on right now [in the games business]. We got a good amount of interest from investors and I’ve come to understand that typically when you start a company you have to come out and pitch all the investors, and that investors were coming to us was probably a good thing,” he said.

“I talked it over with my partners, and this is a group of people who’ve been around and excelled when conditions have been really turbulent. We love these turbulent periods because we believe quality trumps all,” he continued. “We ended up getting a venture company – Hummer Winblad – who really are just great people and love games. So it affords us the ability to self-publish, and in a world where everyone is trying to figure out what’s going on, the advantage to follow what’s working right away is probably more than the stability of being attached to a big organization. So it kind of worked out perfectly that THQ has been turbulent and decided to ditch social and mobile gaming. It’s a case of the universe finding the right thing to happen.”

As for THQ’s new direction and leadership from Jason Rubin, Blackley is fairly optimistic. “I think Jason actually has a chance of really making a difference, so I’m incredibly enthusiastic for them and for us, which in the world of video game business breakups never happens,” he noted.

If you’re a fan of classic games, you’d be blown away by the all-star team comprising Innovative Leisure, which includes Ed Rotberg, the creator of Battlezone, Owen Rubin, creator of Major Havoc and Space Duel, Rich Adam, creator of Gravitar and co-developer of Missile Command, Ed Logg, co-creator of Asteroids and Centipede, Dennis Koble, creator of Touch Me and Shooting Gallery, Bruce Merrit, creator of Black Widow, and Tim Skelly, who’s the only non-Atari veteran arcade game designer who worked for Cinematronics and created games such as Rip-Off.

It goes without saying that expectations are high to see what this group can do to create the “new arcade” on iOS. So are the games actually coming out this year?

“God I hope so. As a developer you never want to curse yourself with that,” warned Blackley. “When you’re a developer and someone asks you when your game is coming out, it’s the same feeling as when you’re in college and a relative you haven’t seen asks you what your major is. You just want to instantly kill them. But it’s a totally reasonable question. In your mind as a developer, you’re thinking of all the things that still have to get done, and… it’s like what happens to writers. You have this amazing idea on your mind, and you know that by putting it down on paper you’re just going to destroy it, and so it’s like this painful process of making sure the thing you’re really excited about [turns out well]. Fortunately for us, we have this group of guys that collaborate in ways I’ve never seen before.”

Blackley fully admitted that he plagiarized his speech at the conference… from himself. It was quite similar to his DICE Summit talk, but there’s a reason for that: “The reason I gave that talk again – and I would give it 50 more times – is I think the most important thing to remind everyone in the industry right now is ‘it’s about gameplay, stupid’. That’s really the most important thing in the world right now. Anywhere we’re serving up any kind of jaded, calculated, exploitative content, we’re losing, and people are getting kicked in the teeth for it, from Zynga to everywhere else.”

We asked Blackley about how easy (or difficult) making games for mobile really is. It’s obviously a lot less difficult than the console market from a financial standpoint. Blackley has an interesting perspective on the market, however.

“With respect to budgets and smaller teams sizes, I really think that’s secondary. That’s an analysis by people who are thinking about this in an abstracted business way, not thinking about it from the standpoint of the audience. What’s happening is the audience is demanding stuff that is cool and different, and plays differently and fits into their lives in a different way.

And you’re able to deliver that, luckily, with smaller groups of people, because you’re getting back to sort of the purity of what game design is,” he observed.

“It reminds me of trends in all sorts of other media, like in music. If you look at music, there’s this huge overproduction and then MTV Unplugged shows up – it’s that kind of moment in games. This is really like video games unplugged. You can think about it in economic terms, but the reality is five guys can make a product that 150 guys can’t make.”

Blackley pointed out that there’s something very, very special about a small group of talented designers getting their heads together to make a cool game. It’s not easy, though, and Blackley actually thinks it’s a greater challenge than a triple-A console production.

“It’s not because it’s easier or cheaper or something – it’s harder. There’s nowhere to hide when you have five guys making a game,” he said. “You can do something that a huge team can’t do. There’s a kind of immediacy and playfulness that is thrilling to the audience, that you can’t get any other way. Does that mean people don’t want to have giant console games anymore?

No, it doesn’t mean that, but it means there’s a whole new way and people really like it.”

Indeed, consoles – or at least console-like gaming experiences – will be here to stay, for a long, long time, Blackley said. Blackley said he’s tired of seeing “histrionic articles in the press about the death of consoles.”

“I think if we look at the Ouya as an example, aside from being an awesome, ballsy project, it’s a great litmus test for the enthusiasm of the audience for console content. You have to remember that people want to play console games because they want to have a super premium high-end experience – it doesn’t really have to do with anything else,” he said.

“When you say, ‘Do you still want console games?’ – people aren’t saying that they want a dedicated device hooked up to a television. What they’re thinking is that they need to have a super premium entertainment experience in the living room. They still want that really badly. They don’t care how it comes to them. And it’s totally different than playing a game on your iPad.

You’re not expecting [a tablet game] to give you dreams and nightmares and all that stuff.”

He continued, “So I think unless we screw it up and no one finds a way to keep delivering [high end] content while still making business sense, that people are still going to want that. And if we do screw it up, people will demand it and it’s going to come back in some other way. I don’t think it’s necessarily tied to a packaged goods retail cycle. It’s fashionable to say that it’s an artifact of various technological limitations or whatever.”

And while digital is quickly advancing, there’s still some magic in going to the store to buy a disc and bring it home, Blackley remarked. It’s part of the gamer’s psychology, he said.

“There’s a huge amount of positive reinforcement with a generation of gamers right now about going to the GameStop or Best Buy and buying a game, taking it home and seeing what it’s like.

There’s a magical thing about that. There’s a trend with vinyl toys right now where you buy a box and don’t know which toy it is, and you get it home and find out. There’s an element of that with the console game, no matter how many reviews you read,” he commented.

“You put the disc in and find out what the game’s like. It might be awesome, it might change your life again, like Mario 64 did or like GTA did or Modern Warfare, or it might be a dud. But that moment is what you crave – that moment of this wonderful, life changing place you can go which is so much better than this hellish earthly existence we have.”

Blackley still sees the digital and mobile upheaval causing a lot of angst for executives at major publishers, but there’s also plenty of opportunity for those smart enough to take advantage.

“So I don’t think that [console experience is] ever going to go away – whether it’s dedicated consoles providing it or some other device that makes sense within consumer behavior patterns.

In the near term, what does that mean for guys with massive legacy businesses? I think it means a lot of pain and trouble managing things, and they are having a lot of pain and trouble,” he said. “The flip side of that is, if you talk to Bobby Kotick or John Riccitiello, really smart guys, and they understand these moments of turmoil are also moments of opportunity. I want to see what they do too, and Jason [Rubin] at THQ – these are smart, interesting guys, and they are going to do something smart and interesting and weird. And fortunately, I just get to hang out and make mobile games for a while.”

The key to success, no matter what technology is being used to provide the experience, is to absolutely respect the customer, Blackley said. There have been too many examples of companies shafting the very consumers they need to support them. Blackley stressed that “when you disrespect the customer you trash yourself.” He noted in his talk, “let’s not be doomed, let’s respect the customer, let’s not screw ourselves and squander the opportunity that we have now.”

While Zynga may be one of the more prominent recent examples, history is littered with the failed companies that have disrespected customers. Hopefully, the game companies and executives of today can learn from history and not repeat it.

“I think that every large game company from Atari forward has at some point in its history made decisions that were cynical and that were exploitative. In almost every case, that has ended up totally backfiring, even though in the short term it seems to make sense. And yeah, Zynga has really had its share of that. The backlash against those guys for games that they’ve copied and the business practices that they’ve used has been immediate,” Blackley said.

“On the flip side, the times when Zynga has paid attention to its customers and taken care of them and given them content that they really liked, Zynga has done incredibly well. In just looking at that, the lesson is when you use all of that data and all of that feedback to delight the customer more, the customers will do anything to help your business. But when you use that data to try to squeeze more money out of your customers, they will kill you,” he continued.

“It’s entertainment for these people, and it’s easy for business people to think that entertainment is a sort of disposable item – like, ‘who cares if it’s not good? Customers will just move on.’ No, that could not be farther from the truth. For this audience, these games are the point of their day. It’s not the thing they’re doing to take a little break; it’s like the point of their day and they’re incredibly enthusiastic about it. And when they come back to a game and they feel short changed, you’ve ruined their day and they will now proceed to crucify you online. They will absolutely crucify you. If you can get your head around what it’s like to be in that audience – God forbid you play some games and see what it’s like…”

Knowing what the gaming audience is really like could be a big asset for Innovative Leisure. Blackley and his team are all gamers at heart.

“The problem is that’s easy to say but to simultaneously run a business and also keep that in mind is really a trick; it’s really a hard thing to do. You have to design your business to make it possible to do that. Guys who’ve done that well have designed their business to do that. Most of the guys who’ve done that well I think are people who’ve found a way to keep themselves in their own target audience – to keep themselves being their own customer and playing a lot of games,” Blackley noted.

“When we interview people and when I talk to people about working with them, I always ask them what they’re playing and what they have on their iPad. It’s a serious question – are you obsessed with three or four games right now? Because if you’re not, how can you trust yourself to make judgment calls about stuff you’re going to serve up to others? It’s not an abstract thing at all; it’s a real thing.” (source:gamesindustry)