游戏邦在:
杂志专栏:
gamerboom.com订阅到鲜果订阅到抓虾google reader订阅到有道订阅到QQ邮箱订阅到帮看

阐述游戏设计师角色定义及职业规划

发布时间:2012-12-25 14:32:22 Tags:,,,

作者:Richard Robledo

作为文章的开场白,我不打算为作为娱乐界巨人的游戏产业作辩护,也不想论证游戏是艺术(这两个话题已经不是争论的焦点了),我想首先剖析游戏开发过程中的一个关键角色。这个角色的职位充满创意,是非常有益的,它为有才能的人娱乐玩家提供了机会。随着大学开始提供游戏设计的课程和学位,越来越多学生将游戏设计师作为自己的职业追求,并希望在这个领域中出人头地。如果你可以有创意地证明这个职位需要什么,那么你仍然非常可能在一支开发团队中占据一席之地。所以准备好进入游戏设计师的世界吧。

game-designers(from diekarriereleiter.de)

game-designers(from diekarriereleiter.de)

游戏设计师是什么?

当你玩电子游戏时,你很轻易地就能准确描述3D建模师或动画师对游戏体验的贡献。换成音效师或音乐制作人也一样。当然,如果少了程序员写的成千上万条码,游戏甚至没办法运行。那么,不太明显的组成部分是由谁负责的呢?例如,在FPS中,谁决定一把枪能打多少环?或每环的威力有多大?或射程?或装弹频率?在冒险游戏中,谁决定红色的钥匙能打开红色的门?在RPG中,谁设定技能树和经济系统?最后也是最重要的,谁负责让游戏变得有趣?别紧张,我不是侮辱你的智商,但就以上所说的,你有理由相信游戏设计是行业中最变化多端的职位了。

游戏设计师的主要职责是设计游戏玩法的元素,并将这些元素转化为可玩的交互体验。这需要游戏设计师具有扎实的技术和深厚的艺术才能,因为他们要使用关卡编辑软件构建游戏中的关卡,还有编写让游戏事件发生的高级程序(脚本)。你必须明白的是,游戏设计师并不只是写写剧情、角色属性和游戏创意。设计师要花费10%的时间用于头脑风暴和构思好概念。剩下的90%的时间则用于执行创意。为了让设想成真,设计师要使用各种艺术和技术工具。

游戏设计师的工具箱

在不同的工作室中,设计师们使用的工具也不同,但有些工具是通用的。事实上,你可能已经很经常地使用其中的许多工具了。开发团队使用何种工具取决于他们的游戏引擎、第三方软件的选择和他们制作的游戏类型。

通用的游戏设计工具

设计的过程始于产生想法。这些想法必须记录下来。像Microsoft Word这种程序是经常使用到的,大多数游戏和玩法概念在公开讨论以前都会先写下来。游戏设计师必须熟练使用文字处理软件,能够将表格、图片、公式、文字、标题和注释等整合成一份完整的文件,而不只是会打字。有些文件,特别是GDD(游戏设计文件)可能会非常大,所以设计师必须知道如何将其转换为更合适的格式,如PDF,以便将文件能过电子邮件传输给同事和客户。

电子表格软件如Microsoft Excel对游戏设计师来说,不仅是必须的,而且应用能力要达到专业级水平。Excel的强大功能在于,设计师在构建系统如难度曲线、经验和经济等的时候,可以用它制作数学公式。另外,设计师应该熟悉Excel的脚本功能,当制作带有特殊数据相关性的表格时,知道如何编写简单的代码。为什么这一点如此重要,因为程序员通常会编写能够直接从Excel中引用数据并将其转换为游戏代码的工具。

Microsoft Visio是一款被许多游戏设计师使用的图表制作软件,主要用于制作流程图和流水线、玩家任务失败后会怎么样?玩家退出游戏后画面显示什么?玩家保存或载入游戏的步骤是什么?这些都得有人设计,最好的办法就是用流程图表示。理想的情况下,游戏的整个流程都应该图表化,这样会让程序员非常高兴的,也有助于后期开发。记住,总是让程序员高兴。

Adobe Photoshop不是难题。所有游戏设计师都使用它,就算不用,也至少知道怎么使用。设计师并不用它处理照片或制作贴图;相反地,他们用它模拟自己的想象图、游戏的样子。在设计师设计冒险游戏中的谜题以前,他们首先在Photoshop中制作概念。就是在这个阶段,设计师决定物品(如生命药水或装备)出现、敌人刷出或开启下一个场景的触发器的位置应该放在哪里。你不必达到2D插画师的水平,但你应该知道怎么使用图层、编辑参考图、制作文本和将文件导出为不同格式。

白板。特别是在团队环境下,经常召开临时会议,白板可以用来写重要的笔记、画设计草图、和列设计任务等。当然,白板虽不是软件,但走进任何一个专业的开发工作室,你都会看到一块白板。如果你够幸运,你甚至会看到一些重要的信息旁边贴着标签“请勿擦除”(根据价值,通常还有几条下划线)。

多样的游戏设计工具

工作室使用授权游戏引擎或自制专利开发代码,这决定了设计师使用的游戏制作工具。游戏设计师应该精通某些常见的授权技术,如Unreal或Unity 3D。设计师使用的这些授权技术的组成部分是关卡编辑器和脚本语言。如果你非常擅长使用Unity 3D构建游戏世界,你可以走进任何一个工作室就开始设计工作,而不必耗费多少摸索时间。

在构建世界和编写脚本方面,自制专利技术的开发工作室通常使用行业标准的第三方软件。Maya和3D Studio Max 不仅可用于美工的建模和动画,还可以用于关卡编辑。这些程序的功能非常多,因为它们支持插件,工作室为了让程序更好地支持引擎,通常会自定义软件。说到脚本语言,“Lua”是最流行的脚本语言之一,也是游戏设计师应该学习的理想语言。

最有价值的游戏设计师

以上提到的工具都用于游戏设计,任何人都可以学习;但游戏设计师怎么才能体现自己对工作室的价值呢?

强大的技术和创意技巧

一些设计师可以写脚本也会做渲染,但不能形象地表达他们的想法。又有一些可以画画和设计漂亮的关卡,但不能有效地将他们的想法转化为脚本事件。优秀的游戏设计师在这两方面都应该很出色;所以,从工作室的成本角度看,设计师应当能一人顶作两人用。

个性化的设计能力

如果你认为在一款打斗游戏中,你给一个角色设计了十连击组合的进攻方式,你就称得上是一名优秀的设计师,那你就错了。如果工作室将在你和另一个为整个游戏设计了更实在的战斗系统的设计师之间作出选择,你认为谁会胜出?一次性的设计是没有价值的。设计一个完整的功能或系统?这才是王道。你的设计要统筹大局,然后让资历浅的设计师去丰富细节。不要只是设计一把能打穿墙壁的散弹枪,而要挑战大局,设计整个武器系统。这才是价值所在,因为这才是最终让你有能力考虑到整个游戏的东西。

有效的沟通能力

游戏设计的位置介于程序、美术和制作之间:介于程序和美术之间的原因是很明显的,而介于制作,唯一的原因是开发商和媒体寻找有趣的游戏时,往往默认找游戏设计师作确认。因此,能说会写、能根据对象调整沟通方式(程序员与美工的的思维方式很不同)、能向第三方描述他们的想法和整个游戏的设计师,会被工作室看重的。

时间管理能力

如果你是毕加索或贝多芬,那你就随意地支配你的时间来完成你的作品吧,但如果你是游戏设计师,你有交付期要赶,那么你就必须遵守开发日程表。在短时间内交付高质量的作品总是让人觉得不可能,但凡事总有例外。除非你有丰富的经验,你才有信心、有能力兑现这种承诺,但优秀的设计师总是能办到的。

指导能力

长话短说,如果你可以将以上技巧传授给其他设计师,不仅会减轻你的工作压力,还有助于提升你的职称和获得好口碑。

通向游戏设计师的道路

在2000年以前,基本上,如果你已经在游戏界工作,你就有可能成为游戏设计师。现在,这种说法仍然成立,但因为许多学校开设了游戏设计这门课,所以新的道路就开辟出来了。瞄准游戏设计部门是完全可能的,以下是成为游戏设计师之前可以走的几条路。

AQ/制作

成为游戏测试员可以让你了解游戏开发和这个行业本身是如何运作的。从QA环节开始做起的测试员后来进入游戏制作部门是自然而然的事。一旦你进入制作部门,你与开发工作室的接触就会增多,这就是你表达你对游戏设计有兴趣的时候。当你接手制作的游戏越来越多,你会更加了解如何设计游戏,可以很轻松地做入门关卡设计的工作。从QA到制作再到设计的过程,大约需要3年或以上。

教育

获得游戏设计的学位越来越普遍了。学校不仅让学生有四年的时间学习游戏设计工具,并且大部分学校还让学生模拟开发周期(包括关键时刻)。这一点非常重要,因为其成果是一款真正的游戏,会载入学生简历。学校也会让学生找实习项目或将简历自动发给专业的开发工作室。根据学生的作品质量和学校的声誉,学生可以定位为中级设计师。

自学

iOS和Android给有抱负的开发者提供了制作小游戏和应用的友好平台。事实上,一个人是完全可能做出一款可玩游戏的。如果你的游戏有趣又能体现你的脚本和关卡制作水平,工作室可能就会因为这一款游戏而雇用你。如果工作室正好也开发这个平台的游戏,那么你的机会就更大了。独立制作一款游戏需要多长的时间?这取决于你之前掌握的知识。可能少至几个月,可能长达数年。

游戏设计师的职业生涯

最后,你可能还想知道作为游戏设计师的技能将给你带来什么。随着资历增加,你的职业之路会有所拓展,但总是通向更高的薪资职位和更大的头衔。这都取决于你的设计能力、工作态度、运气、职场应变能力和你的游戏的成功。

下图表示的是大型开发工作室的游戏设计师的职业走向。

career path1(from animationarena)

career path1(from animationarena)

尽管生涯之路各异,取决于公司和他们决定给的头衔。这条路也可能从制作开始。例如,Hideo Kojima是《合金装备》系列的制作人,他是设计师,但给了自己执行制作人的头衔。当你的工作与制作相给合时,职业生涯的走向就是这样:

career path2(from animationarena)

career path2(from animationarena)

不管你得到的头衔是什么,达到职业生涯的顶峰都需要努力工作。好游戏来自好团队,好团队是由有才华的个人组成的。才能来自实践、认真对待工作、专业的态度和挑战极限。与有才能的人共处一室,你每天都会学到新东西。最重要的是,你必须有成功的渴望。想象一下你自己成为工作室的总监,或得到“年度游戏”的大奖,或设计出一种其他人纷纷效仿的概念。你设计的一切,无论是举足轻重的还是微不足道的,都值得你全力以赴。只有这样,作为游戏设计师的人才能在业界产生影响。借乔布斯的一句话就是:“我要在宇宙中留下痕迹。”(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

What is a video game designer?

By Richard Robledo

Rather than begin this article by trying to justify the video game industry’s position as an entertainment giant or validate video games as art (both topics should no longer be a target for debate), we’re going to immediately dive into the role of a key player in game development. This creative position can be extremely rewarding and offers the opportunity for talented individuals to entertain gamers for hours on end. More and more students are planning to take on this role and turn it into a successful career as colleges are now offering courses and degrees for this particular field. However, it is still very possible to claim your spot on a development team if you can creatively demonstrate what the role calls for. So grab a seat (pretty good chance you’ve already done that), and prepare yourself for an all-inclusive trip into the world of the Video Game Designer.

Who’s the Game Designer?

When you play a video game, it’s very easy to pinpoint what a 3D modeler or animator contributes to the game experience. Same goes for the sound engineer and music composer. Of course, the game wouldn’t even run were it not for the thousands of lines of code written by the programmers. But what about the not-so-obvious components? For example, in a first-person shooter, who determines how many rounds a gun will hold? Or how powerful each round will be? Or the rate of fire? Or reload time? In an adventure game, who causes the red door to open when the red key is used? In an RPG, who sets up the skill trees and economy? Last of all, and most important, who is responsible for making the game fun to play? Relax, your intelligence is not being insulted, but what you’re going to see is the Game Design role is arguably the most diverse in the industry.

A Game Designer’s main function is to conceive the elements of gameplay, and to turn those elements into an interactive experience for the player to enjoy. This requires a robust skill-set both technically and artistically, because the Designer uses level editing software to build levels in a game, as well as high-level programming (scripting) to make things happen in the game world. What you must understand is that a Game Designer does not show up to work and simply write stories, character bios, and game ideas. Brainstorming and coming up with cool concepts are what a Designer does 10% of the time. The remaining 90% is comprised of the execution of the ideas; and, in order to make this happen, the Designer utilizes numerous artistic and technical tools.

The Game Designer tool set

The tools used by Game Designers vary from studio to studio, but there are some programs that all Designers use. In fact, you probably already use many of these tools quite often. Where the tools vary between dev teams all depends on their game engine, choice of 3rd party software, and type of games they create.

Common Game Design tools

The design process begins with ideas, and these ideas need to be written up. A program like Microsoft Word is used everywhere, and most game and gameplay concepts are type up first before being distributed. Game Designers need to be become advanced users of word processing software, as they’ll want to integrate tables, images, creative formatting, a table of contents, headers and footers, and more beyond simply typing paragraphs. Some documentation, especially a GDD (game design document), can become very large in size, so knowing how to convert your documents to a more reasonable format, like a .pdf, makes it easy to send your docs to coworkers and clients via email.

Spreadsheet software like Microsoft Excel is a must-have for Game Designers, and they all put it to professional use. The strength of Excel is its ability for Designers to create mathematical formulas when constructing systems, such as: difficulty curves, experience systems, and economies to name a few. To take it a step further, Designers should become familiar with Excel’s scripting capabilities, and have the know-how to write simple code when designing tables with particular data dependencies. The reason why this is so important is that Programmers often write tools that can pull data directly from Excel and convert it into game code.

Microsoft Visio is a popular example of diagramming software used by all Game Designers for the purpose of creating flowcharts and pipelines. What happens after a player fails a mission? What screen pops up after a player quits out of the game? What steps does a player take to save or load a game? Somebody has to design all of this, and there’s no better way to do it than with a flowchart. Ideally, the entire flow of the game should be diagrammed, as this will make your programmers extremely happy, which might garner you a new feature later in development. Always make your programmers happy.

Adobe Photoshop is a no-brainer. All Game Designers use it, and if they don’t, they at least know how to use it. Designers don’t touch up photos or create textures in Photoshop; instead, they create mock-ups of their vision of how they want the game to look and play out. Before Designers build a puzzle in an adventure game, they first create the concept in Photoshop. This is where they determine where items (like health pickups or ammo) appear, where enemies spawn, or where the trigger that starts the next cutscene is placed. You don’t need to be an advanced user like a 2D illustrator, but you should know how to use layers, edit reference pics, create text, and export files into different formats.

White board. Especially in a team environment where improvised meetings can occur instantaneously, the white board is essential for making important notes, design sketches, design tasks, and more on the fly. Sure, it’s not software, but walk into any professional development studio and you’ll find a white board. If you’re lucky, you may even find information so important that it’s given the all-powerful label, “do not erase,” (usually underlined several times according to its value).

Diverse Game Design tools

Studios either license a game engine or create their own proprietary development code, and this determines the kind of game creation tools a Designer uses. Licensed tech, like Unreal or Unity 3D, are popular enough for a Game Designer to become very proficient at, and then take that expertise to relevant studios. The components of these licensed packages that Designers use are the level editors and scripting languages. If you become very skilled with building worlds in Unity 3D, for example, you can essentially walk into any studio that uses it and begin designing for them with very little ramp-up time.

Dev studios that create their own proprietary technology often use industry standard 3rd party software when it comes to world building and scripting. Maya and 3D Studio Max not only function as modeling and animation tools for artists, but are also used as level editors. These programs are extremely versatile, because they support plug-ins that can be written by a studio to basically customize the software to better support the engine. As far as scripting languages go, “Lua” is one of the most popular and is an ideal language for a Game Designer to learn.

The most valuable Game Designer

All of the above tools are used for designing a game, which anyone can learn; but, what makes a Game Designer valuable to a game studio?

Strong technical and creative skills

Some Designers can script as good as a Rendering Programmer, but are unable to visually communicate their ideas. On the flip side, other Designers can draw up and conceptualize beautiful levels, but cannot grasp how to efficiently and effectively script the events that bring their vision to life. A great Game Designer excels at both; so, from a studio’s cost perspective, this breed of Designer can do the work of two people.

Feature design skills

You would be very mistaken to think your 10-hit combo design for one character in your fighting game qualifies you as a great Designer. If a studio had a choice between you and the Designer that designed the actual combo system for the entire game, who do you think wins? One-off designs are a crumb. Designing an entire feature or system? Now that’s where the good eating is. Think larger in your designs, and let the junior designers fill in the details. Instead of designing a cool shotgun that can penetrate walls, take on the challenge to design an entire weapons system. This is where the value is, because it ultimately leads to you having the ability to envision an entire game.

Effective communication skills

Game design sits somewhere in between Programming, Art, and Production: Programming and Art for obvious reasons, and Production for the sole reason that Publishers and the Media are looking for a game that is fun and frequently default to a Game Designer for validation. Thus, a Designer who can speak and write clearly and confidently, who can adjust their style of communication to the receiving party (programmers think very differently from artists), and who can present their ideas and the game as a whole to third parties will be highly prized by a game studio.

Time management skills

If you’re Picasso or Beethoven, then feel free to take all the time you need to complete your work of art, but if you’re a Game Designer with a ship date to meet, then you need to respect the dev schedule. Delivering quality work within a short amount of time will always feel impossible, but it will always be an expectation. Only with experience will you gain the confidence and ability to deliver the goods, and great Designers make this happen.

Mentoring skills

In short, if you can teach the above skills to other Designers, not only will it make your job less stressful, but it elevates you to a higher-paying position and cooler-sounding title.

The road to the Game Designer

Before the early 2000’s, getting a Game Design job mostly happened if you were already working in the game industry. Today, this still holds true, but other avenues have opened up now that the education system has embraced video game design. Getting your spot in the Game Design Department is entirely possible, and the following are several ways to make it happen.

The QA/Production path

Becoming a game tester introduces you to how game development works, and how the industry itself functions. Moving into game production comes naturally for a tester who ascends through the QA ranks. Once you’re in the production department, you’ll have more interaction with development studios, and this is when you’ll want to express your interest in game design. As you ship more and more titles in a production role, you’ll gain more knowledge about how to design games and can easily find yourself landing an entry-level design position. The path from QA to Production to Design can take 3 years or more to traverse.

The Education path

Receiving a degree in Game Design is becoming more and more common. Spending four years at a college exposes you to the tools a Designer uses, and most schools also put their students through mock development cycles (including crunch time). This is very important, because it results in an actual finished game and Game Design credit to put on the resume. Students also benefit from partnering programs where they can intern at or have their resume and portfolio automatically sent to professional development studios. The quality of a student’s work and school honors can land them a spot as an intermediate Designer.

The Self-starter path

iOS and Android platforms offer a very approachable way for aspiring developers to make small games and apps. In fact, it’s entirely possible for one person to create a playable game. If your game is fun and demonstrates your ability to script and build levels, then you can expect a studio to hire you based on one game. Your chances greatly increase if the studio also makes games for the same platforms. How long would it take you to make your own game? It all depends on your prior knowledge. It could be as short as a few months to as long as several years.

The career path of the Game Designer

Finally, you may want to know where your skills as a Game Designer will take you. It does branch out slightly the higher up you go, but all lead to high-paying positions and big titles. How long these paths will take for you to cross all depends on your design abilities, work ethic, luck, political acumen, and success of your titles.

The diagram below represents a Game Designer’s career path within a large development studio.

Career paths vary, though, depending on the company and the titles they decide to use. The path can also begin to mix with Production. For example, Hideo Kojima, creator of the Metal Gear series, is a Designer, but gives himself the title, Executive Producer. When combined with Production, the path would look like this.

Regardless of the title you’re given, it takes hard work to reach the top. Great games come from great teams, and great teams are made up of talented individuals. Talent comes from experience, taking your job seriously, being professional, and pushing the envelope. Surround yourself with talented people and you’ll learn something new each day. Above all, you must have the desire to succeed and to be great. Envision yourself being the head of a studio, or accepting an award for “Game of the Year,” or conceiving that great new design feature that everyone else will attempt to emulate. With everything you design, no matter how insignificant or superior, it all deserves your best. That is how you will make an impact in the industry as a Game Designer. Take it from Steve Jobs when he said, “I want to put a ding in the universe.” (source:animationarena


上一篇:

下一篇: