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

Remode分享初创企业在游戏行业中的发展经验

发布时间:2013-04-15 14:16:22 Tags:,,,,

作者:Martin Darby

Remode联合创始人Martin Darby提供了如何创建初创工作室的相关建议。

很多新公司总是会在刚开始的前三年便走上破产之路。从自身经历来看,我很容易找到出现这种情况的原因。而我所创造的工作室Remode到目前为止已经连续运营5年了。

在第5年的末端,我们获得了12.5%的净利润,并且团队成员也扩展到18名。我们能够有效地利用在线游戏和手机游戏的势头。尽管有些人会说我们的成功靠的是运气,但不可否认的是,我们的血汗与眼泪也是非常重要的组成元素。

不管是个人还是商业上的成功都在提醒着我们已不再是初创企业了,这也让我们有权利去评估最初三年的发展。

start-up(from under30ceo.com)

start-up(from under30ceo.com)

创造一家公司并推动着它向前发展是件非常困难的事。我们总是能够很轻松地谈论事情该如何做等等,但事实上真正去落实行动的话就没那么简单了。

这并不是什么新咒语。问题仍然保留着,即为什么你要如此辛苦地去创建自己的工作室?我整理了一个关于为何所有的这一切如此困难的理论。我认为很大一方面便是源于各种矛盾。

对于大多数初创企业(游戏邦注:就像Mojang及其旗下游戏《我的世界》的巨大成功)来说,他们总是很难承受得住伴随着任何发展业务的种种问题和挫折。就像在Remode过去5年发展中有4年时间里我一直都在思考着如何解决这些问题,而现在我更有信心去面对它们了。

这些矛盾就像海上所激起的巨石,而初创企业则是漂浮在海面上的船只,而你便是操控方向盘的船长。如果你未能即时意识到前方的礁石,整只船便会遭遇下沉的危险。

矛盾1:你不能做这项工作,但是你却必须做这项工作

我在业务中所学到的第一件事便是,工作室中至少需要有一个人始终观察着外部局势,维护着关系网,评估市场上的发展趋势,提高公众意识并签订协议。如果你们工作室中只有几个成员,并且所有成员身上都背负着大量的工作,那么做到这一点便非常困难。这便意味着一个人需要同时担负起多个角色,如此便大大增加了他的工作时间,压力和所需要面对的未知数。

而当团队成员出现分裂时,这种问题将变得更加糟糕。如果开发者不再尊重销售人员的工作,认为那纯粹是“不实际的工作”,那么销售人员便也会反击开发者,即认为他们是“不理解外部世界的内向人。”这真的很愚蠢,而一旦出现了这种想法,工作室中便会弥漫着浓厚的高压氛围。

不管你在做什么,不要只是坐着而创造一款游戏那么简单。不管你在做什么,如果你不能真正理解一种技术的使用方法,那就别抱着坐享其成的美梦。这是一种很难实现的平衡。

矛盾2:你需要集中提供内容,但同时你也需要广泛撒网

我曾经对很多人说过:一定要具有针对性,否则你便不可能面向市场传达最准确的信息。

在现实中,我们总是很难判断该在哪里划定界限,并且不同人所划定的界限也不同。我认为你最好能在一开始注重那些能够带来利益的内容,然后再转向你的目标。

围绕着市场而发展的话,它便能够带给你所需要的信息。

在早期的时候,我经常会担心这一平衡以及我们的选择是否正确。在2007年和2008年,似乎新闻记者的一大任务便是去平衡这个产业。

如今,经验告诉我初创企业的发展时期便是为了弄明白这一点。除非你在一开始便取得了惊人的成功,否则历史将遗忘掉你在初创阶段的发展。而这同样也意味着,如果你已经经历了3年以上的发展,但却仍像最初那样混乱,那就只能说是你本身存在问题了。

矛盾3:你必须足够客观,但也必须拥有完全的同感

不用说,如果你想将生活当成主要业务的话你就必须尽可能理性地思考。这并不意味着你不会像其他人那样受挫。

这将意味着你需要基于证据做出总结,而不是做出选择后再寻找任何证据去支持它;这便是戏剧化的肥皂剧思想。

这是一条能够保持平衡的细线,如果你能够更好地使用它,你便会更具有情感性。然而值得讽刺的是,你需要比以前更具同感,且与自己的情感更好地协调在一起。

因为公司是建立在人们的基础上,而那些“战斗”在最前方的人必须保证你能够理解他们所作出的挑战,如此才能更好地完善过程和管理。这并不意味着你交叉着某些线,但却意味着你必须具有绝对的逻辑性。不过实际行动却比听起来的复杂得多。

矛盾4:这并不是关于产品,但它却是关于产品

娱乐的“受热作驱动”属性给游戏产业带来了一个经久不衰的问题。在创造出一款热门游戏之前,游戏公司很少能够取得成功并赚取巨大利润,但是VC和其他权益投资者并未真正对产品感兴趣。

他们认为你可以创造一件优秀的产品是既定的事实,并想要知道的是为什么市场需要这家公司,以及该公司将如何使自己变成市场中的巨头。

这是一个很难解决的问题,并且会导致两种情况,即如果协商不顺利的话会出现争论,而如果协商顺利的话也会出现刻意回避某些问题的情况。

对此并不存在正确或错误的答案,因为每一家公司都是不同的,但是我认为思考如何面对各种各样的风险才是最关键的。

如果你真的想要发展一家初创企业,那就先想办法去平衡这些不同的元素。如果你顺利通过了初创阶段,那么接下来便需要面对真正的工作了。

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

How to keep your start-up studio afloat

by Martin Darby

Remode co-founder Martin Darby offers advice on how to make your start-up studio last

It is commonly claimed that new companies go bust within the first three years. After the journey I have taken, it’s easy to see why. Remode, the studio I started, has now been in business for five years.

It’s only at the end of the five years that we have gone profitable with a 12.5 per cent net margin and a team of 18. We are able to capitalise on the momentum in online and mobile games. While some might say that this is lucky, the reality is that it has involved a hell of a lot of blood, sweat and tears.

This very personal, as well as a business victory is also a reminder of the fact that we are not a start-up anymore, and that has given me a chance to reflect on those critical first three years.

Starting a company and keeping it going onwards and upwards is hard. Really, really, hard. I’m a big believer in the fact that it’s easy to sit there and talk about the way things should be, but actually getting out there and proving it is a million times more difficult.

This general mantra is nothing new. The question remain; why is setting up your own studio so tough? I’ve been working up a theory as to why all this is so difficult. I think a large facet of it is that it’s full of contradictions that defy natural human bias towards black and white thinking.

For most start-ups – the phenomenal unpredicted successes like Mojang and Minecraft withstanding – it is difficult to weather the range of problems and setbacks that come with any growing business. For four of the five years my head has been spinning, but now I feel stronger for it.

These contradictions are like rocks just under or above the ocean surface, and the start-up as a ship on a stormy sea. If you navigate around them you survive, but it is very easy to be wrecked by obstacles you don’t realise were there until it is too late.

CONTRADICTION 1: YOU CAN’T DO THE WORK, BUT YOU MUST DO THE WORK

One of the first things I was told in business is that you must have at least one person looking outwards at all times, forging networks, assessing what is going on in the market, building awareness and signing deals. This is extremely difficult when there are only a few of you and there are jobs to be done and products to be made.
What that means is that one person can often be covering both roles, which can add lots of hours, stress and unknowns.

The problems can get worse when this splits full time. If developers begin to disrespect sales as ‘schmoozing’ and ‘not real work’, and sales end up resenting developers as ‘introverts who don’t understand the world’. It sounds stupid, and truthfully it is, but this is the sort of thinking that a pressure cooker start-up environment – in which tangiable results are not yet evident – can create.

Whatever you do, don’t simply sit there and make a game. Whatever you do, don’t try and ride the tech gravy train if you don’t truly understand it. It’s a difficult balance.

CONTRADICTION 2: YOU NEED A FOCUSED OFFERING, BUT YOU MUST CAST A WIDE NET

I’ve read business textbooks and spoken to many people who all say the same thing: be specific or you won’t send out the right message to the market.

In reality it is very difficult to know where to draw the line, and everyone would draw it in a slightly different place. What I found is that in the beginning you are best off doing whatever it takes to bring in revenues, and then move towards your goal.

Pivot, and the market should be the one sending you the message.

In the early years I worried about this balance constantly, and about whether or not we would be seen in the right light. In 2007 and 2008 it felt like journalists were on a constant mission to homogenise the industry.

Experience now tells me that the start-up period is actually about figuring this out. From what I have seen, unless you experience an extraordinary take-off – which is not common – then, more often than not, history will forget the start-up phase. However this also means that if you are more than three years old and are still the same jack-of-all-trades you were in the beginning, then you probably have a problem.

CONTRADICTION 3: YOU MUST BE OBJECTIVE, BUT YOU MUST HAVE COMPLETE EMPATHY

It goes without saying that to endure life as head of a business you need to think as rationally as possible. That does not mean you are not human and you won’t get frustrated like everyone else.

What it does mean is that you need to be able to draw conclusions based on supporting evidence, rather than forming an opinion and then looking for any evidence you can to support it; that’s the way of dramatic soap opera-thinking.

It’s a fine line and the better you are at it, the more emotionally disengaged you can appear. However, the irony is that you need to be more empathetic and in tune with your emotions than ever.

This is because a company is built on people and those at the coalface need to know you understand their challenges in order to improve process and management. This doesn’t mean you cross certain lines, but it does mean that you need to be logical without being a robot. It’s much harder than it sounds.

CONTRADICTION 4: IT IS NOT ABOUT THE PRODUCT, BUT IT IS ABOUT THE PRODUCT

Games businesses have a consistent problem created by the ‘hit-driven’ nature of entertainment. The company rarely takes off and makes huge profits until a hit has been created, but VCs and other equity investors are not interested in the product.

They see it as a given that you can make a good product and want to understand why the market needs this company, and how it can become a key player within it.

It can be a very difficult problem to overcome, leading to either a disagreement if negotiations go badly or a big elephant in the room if negotiations go OK.

There is no right or wrong answer here, as every company is different, but I would say that thinking about how you are diversifying risk is a key point.

Tadhg Kelly has written more about this at whatgamesare.com.

A SERIOUS BUSINESS

If you are serious about growing a start-up, then try to find a balance between these variables. Expect to have to become who you need to be to deal with it. If you get past the start-up phase, then the real work begins.(source:develop-online)


上一篇:

下一篇: