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每日观察:关注Richard Garriott对游戏设计师的看法(3.21)

发布时间:2013-03-21 10:15:18 Tags:,,

1)移动VoIP服务供应商Rebtel最近调查显示,90%受访者表示自己会将数据流量视为选择手机套餐的重要考虑因素,但有23.1%受访者表示不知道使用应用程序也会消耗许多数据流量,15.7%用户对此则毫不知情。

仅有30.4%受访者选择自助式数据套餐,这意味着他们很可能面临高额的话费帐单。三分之一用户认为1GB的流量足以观看10小时的移动视频内容,但实际上这只够看2小时的视频。

iphone-data-usage(from techzoom.org)

iphone-data-usage(from techzoom.org)

2)据pocketgamer报道,EA首席创意官Richard Hilleman在最近采访中指出,Android代表智能电视游戏的未来方向。

他称对于智能电视制造商来说,他们若试图与谷歌Android对抗,结果很可能失败;EA对Android抱有很大信心,并且这一平台也能够为EA产品创造出色的体验。

EA-Chief-Creative-Officer-Rich-Hilleman(from lincolnbeasley)

EA-Chief-Creative-Officer-Rich-Hilleman(from lincolnbeasley)

但他也指出,无论市场接受的是哪个平台,用户体验才是游戏玩家重视的关键因素;“如果我们过度索求金钱,控制方式太复杂,要求用户投入太多时间,就会失去玩家——移动和社交游戏解决了这些问题并重新召回玩家。”

3)据mobile-ent报道,儿童应用评价网站Kids Best iPad Apps最近针对440款应用的调查发现,仅有24%(104款)应用在App Store推广页面中提供了隐私政策选项。

尽管有24%应用提供了这一选项,但用户点击这些链接的一个普遍结果就是被引向一个毫无隐私政策的网站。

app privacy(from cultofmac.com)

app privacy(from cultofmac.com)

该网站指出,有不少开发者仅忙于创造出色的儿童应用,却疏忽了隐私政策方面的问题,美国之外的开发者尤其如此。

4)据gamasutra报道,游戏行业元老及Portalarium创始人Richard Garriott在最近采访中表示,他在电子游戏行业中几乎没有遇到任何与其相当的优秀游戏设计师,但他这并不是在自夸,只是认为事实确实如此,多数游戏设计师很缺水准。

Richard Garriott(from 9v8v.com)

Richard Garriott(from 9v8v.com)

在他看来,行业中的出色游戏设计师非常稀少,仅有Chris Roberts、Will Wright、Peter Molyneux等人可列入这一范畴,但总体来看,游戏行业的优秀设计人才远低于实际需求。

Garriot指出,他认为多数人之所以担任游戏设计师,是因为他们别无所长,无法接手其他游戏开发工作;美术人员或程序员总是不乏求职门路,而如果你不属于这两种类型,却仍然喜欢游戏,那就只能从QA入手最后成为设计师。在Garriot看来,多数美术人员和程序员实际上也能够设计游戏,甚至比专门的游戏设计师更胜一筹,因为他们了解游戏的技术或美术需求。

他补充解释称,目前行业现状就是,许多设计师是因为无法胜任其他工作而成为设计师,实际上游戏设计是行业中最难以学习的一项技能,你无法通过在学校进行培训而成为游戏设计师。(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

1)Nearly a quarter of mobile users are clueless that apps gobble data

by Zen Terrelonge

Despite 90 per cent saying data allowance is highly important when choosing a contract.

Mobile VoIP provider Rebtel has surveyed smartphone users to determine their data knowledge to find that while consumers like the idea of data, they don’t really know what it means.

90 per cent of respondents said data played a big part in choosing their phone contracts, though 23.1 per cent say they didn’t know app usage can swallow their allowance, and 15.7 per cent said they were unsure.

Just 30.4 per cent of respondents have an all you can eat data package, which means the opportunity to encounter a bill shock could happen very easily. Indeed,  a third of consumers thought that 1GB of data would allow ten hours of mobile video viewing, so they’ll likely be disappointed to hear they’d only receive around two hours worth.

41.5 per cent added that they’d be ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’ to consider only buying data from operators in the future to use VoIP apps like Rebtel and Skype to make voice calls.

Andreas Bernstrom, CEO at Rebtel, says: “One of the key factors in the dizzying rise of the smartphone in recent years is the mainstream adoption of apps into our daily lives. Despite this, our research hints that many mobile users still lack a basic understanding of data and how it works.

“With the advent of 4G networks we are seeing an end to operators offering ‘all you can eat’ data packages and a return to complex and often expensive tiered access offerings. With such a large number of users unaware that apps can drain their data it does raise concern that many consumers will find themselves facing unnecessarily large mobile bills.”(source:mobile-ent

2)EA CCO Hilleman claims Android is the future for smart TV gaming

by James Nouch

Speaking at the TV Connect event in London, Electronic Arts chief creative officer Richard Hilleman has argued that Android represents the future of smart TV gaming.

Hilleman claimed that Android is “crabgrass” to smart TV manufacturers, and they will “probably fail” in their attempts to compete with Google’s OS.

“The Androids are coming and this is good news. We have lots of faith that they can deliver a good experience for the types of product we make.”

The complexity problem

But whatever platform the market accepts, Hilleman believes that user experience will be key to its adoption by gamers.

“We lose gamers when we ask for too much money, too much controller complexity, and too much time – mobile and social gaming addressed these failures and brought gamers back,” Hilleman explained.

“We have to take the complexity problem way more seriously.”(source:pocketgamer

3)Just 24 per cent of children’s iPad apps provide a privacy policy

by Zen Terrelonge

Some developers claim they’re too busy to consider it as an option.

Kids Best iPad Apps is a reviews site that offers parents and teachers guidance on the top children’s apps available for Apple’s tablet. During a survey of 440 apps, the company found that just 24 per cent (104) of apps offer a privacy policy option on their App Store promotional pages.

That said, while the option was available for 24 per cent, a common result of clicking the link was being redirected to a website without a privacy policy anywhere in sight.

Mitchell Cogert, CEO of Kids Best iPad Apps, said: “Given the importance of this issue, our site has stopped reviewing apps without a published privacy policy. Parents need reassurance that developers are not taking advantage of an app’s access to their children. Parents can visit our site today and find out if an app is collecting information from their kids.

“When I contacted developers about this issue, I found they are so busy creating the next great kids app, they haven’t even thought about a privacy policy. This seems especially true with developers outside the US.”(source:mobile-ent

4)’I think most game designers really just suck’ – Richard Garriott

By Mike Rose

“I’ve met virtually no one in our industry who I think is close to as good a game designer as I am. I’m not saying that because I think I’m so brilliant. What I’m saying is, I think most game designers really just suck.”

- Richard “Lord British” Garriott, industry veteran and Portalarium founder, believes that the video game industry is dramatically underskilled.

Off the back of his Shroud of the Avatar Kickstarter success, Garriott was extremely candid in an interview with PC Gamer, explaining that most of the designers he has worked with in the industry lack the skills necessary to create good video games.

“I think there’s really very few great game designers,” he said. “I think Chris Roberts is one of them, Will Wright’s another, Peter Molyneux is another. They clearly exist, but on the whole, I think that the design talent in our industry is dramatically lower than we need, as an industry. It’s a very hard skill to learn.”

Garriott suggests that a lot of video game designers take up the role because they lack the necessary skills for other roles. “If you like games, you eventually get to the point where you’d like to make one,” he noted.

“But if you had this magic art talent as a youth, you can refine your skills and show a portfolio and say, ‘I’m a good artist, go hire me.’ If you’re nerdy enough to hack into a computer, programming on your own, you can go to school and learn proper structure, make code samples and go ‘Look, I’m a good programmer, hire me.’”

He added, “But if you’re not a good artist and not a good programmer, but you still like games, you become a designer, if you follow me. You get into Q&A and often design.”

Garriott goes on to say that he believes most artists and programmers are, in fact, just as good at designing games as the dedicated designers are. “They’re often better, because they understand the technology or the art,” he adds.

“So we’re leaning on a lot of designers who get that job because they’re not qualified for the other jobs, rather than that they are really strongly qualified as a designer,” he reasons. “It’s really hard to go to school to be a good designer.”

Garriott isn’t finished there. He continues, “And every designer that I work with – all throughout life – I think, frankly, is lazy,” although he follows this up by suggesting he is over-exaggerating for the sake of giving PC Gamer “another zinger.”

“But if you follow,” he continues, “they generally say, ‘You know, I really like Medal of Honor, but I would have bigger weapons, or I would have more healing packs, or,’ you know. They go to make one or two changes to a game they otherwise love versus really sitting down and rethinking, ‘How can I really move the needle here?’”

The Portalarium head notes that he pushes his own team to really think about the whole picture when it comes to design, considering the “why” alongside the “what.”

“What’s your motivation for being into it?” he says. “What are the side stories? If you have these characters in there, what were their lives before they showed up on this map? If you didn’t think of one, go back. Do it again. I want you to know it.”

[Update: Garriott has responded, noting "My point was, that game design is the hardest, but also the most valuable skill to build in the industry." You can read his full comment below.] (source:gamasutra


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