作者：Abdrew Lamb

首先介绍下我自己，我是Camshaft Software这家公司的联合创始人，我们公司正在创造一款名为《Automation: The Car Company Tycoon Game》的游戏。虽然这款游戏仍处于开发阶段，但是它遵循着与《我的世界》相类似的销售模式，即已经向用户推出了部分游戏内容了。

作为已经踏上“独立工作室旅程”多年并且正在运行一家“算是比较成功”的独立工作室（游戏邦注：我们赚取了足够的预收费，足以支付工资，弥补支出并雇佣一些成员）的我发现，越来越多刚刚开始进行独立游戏开发的人，并且他们总是想着能够一下子就获取巨大利益。

当然，这是我们都需要具有的热情，特别是在这个越来越多大型工作室相继倒闭的时代，我们比以前更需要小型且具有创造性的公司出现。

但是问题在于，许多充满热情的人并未拥有明确的现实理念，即将独立游戏开发当成一种业务而不只是兴趣，并且他们也未拥有足够的资源能够获得这样的信息，所以他们只是创造出一些游戏，并且看着游戏自动获得成功，而这完全区别于《我的世界》这类型游戏的经历，即游戏开发者总是带有足够的先前经验，具有充满商业吸引力的想法并能做出果敢的决定。

所以我认为有必要提出那些新开发者在进入独立游戏开发时常常会出现的错误想法。当然我并不是专家，但是我觉得有必要让新人们知道这些问题。

“我必须找到能够销售游戏的平台”

假设你已经创造了一款高质量的游戏，并且对它进行了优化，它已经拥有一些有趣的游戏机制，那些帮助你测试游戏的人也证实了它非常有趣。而现在你便算取得了商业上的成功吗？这还不够。

首先你需要考虑的便是在哪里销售游戏。我认为你应该遵循如下方法：

如果你创造的是一款手机游戏，将游戏推向主要市场（如App Store或Googel Play）

适当设置基础设施从而让你能够在自己的网站上销售游戏

将你的游戏放到一些较小的销售门户网站，如Desura或Gamers Gate

将你的游戏带到Steam

与发行商一起将你的游戏带到Steam

与发行商一起对游戏实行盒装出售

在开发早期，你最好能够进行这些研究，并尽早与合适的合作者之间建立起友好的关系，如果你到游戏开发后期发现没有销售产品的出路，那就悲剧了。我们主要是通过在自己的网站上销售游戏，但是我们也拥有许多其它选择。

虽然这并不是个大障碍，但是你需要在开发过程中仔细思考这个问题。

“我并不需要做任何市场营销工作”

你需要。比且这一需要远超过你的想象。

在独立开发者之间，市场营销有时候会被当成一个不好的词，但事实上它却不像听起来那样邪恶。如果你希望别人能够知道你的游戏的话，那么这一点便非常重要。

这不只是要你执行AAA级游戏开发需要考虑的市场营销，如设置巨大的广告牌或电视广告，作为独立开发者你需要做的市场营销应该是维系起与游戏媒体之间的关系，确保你能够在整个游戏开发过程中即时提供游戏消息，截图，并编写开发博客等。

你需要尽早开始进行市场营销，至少你需要拥有一个开发博客，你还可以在Youtube上上传一些游戏开发和游戏玩法等相关视频，同时你也需要频繁地更新Facebook页面上的消息。

我们一直致力于《Automation》希望能够尽可能频繁地更新开发过程，呈现出我们所创造的所有有趣的内容，并在一开始就创建一个社区。虽然离游戏最终发行还有几年时间，但是我们已经获得了足够的预售费，并且在我们的论坛上，游戏社区也聚集了1万6000多人了。的确，这是件复杂的工作，你也需要每天投入一些时间去确保所有内容的即时更新，可以说这是帮助你你在持有不足百万美元预算的情况下进行市场营销的最佳方法。

同样地，你需要友善地对待游戏媒体，提供给他们免费的演示版本，带有华丽截图的新闻稿，如果你在某一事件中偶遇他们的话，请记得给他们买瓶酒。如此你所获得的回报将会高于你付出的努力，因为积极的媒体报道比任何横幅广告更有价值。

“但是我如果在准备妥善前告诉人们我的理念，他们便会窃取它”

说实话，并不是这样的。任何有能力使用你的理念的人都很难从自己的项目中抽身。除此之外，理念是廉价的，你有可能拥有许许多多理念。并且它们也总是不断改变着。没有一款完成后的游戏与初始理念是完全吻合的。

此外，没有人会像你那样热爱自己的理念。他们只会在你通过该理念获取成功时才会去窃取它。然后呢？那时候你便已经获得了回报，并开始投身于下一个理念了。

所以这一风险是非常小的，但是如果你将游戏理念隐藏起来的话，你最终所承受的伤害将会非常大。

“人们将会购买我的游戏”，或者“只要创造游戏就会有玩家找上门。”

许多人都认为（在我眼里这是最重要的一点）你在游戏业务中获取成功的方法便是有效地开发游戏，但是在我看来这只是战斗的一部分。

你真正需要问的便是，为什么人们想要购买你的游戏？这一问题听起来虽然尖锐，但却非常重要。

这可能是一款强大的复古平台游戏，一款经过优化的FPS游戏，但是如何做才能让用户在Steam商店众多游戏中停在你的游戏面前，并决定为此掏腰包？

这里存在一些能够帮助你突显游戏的方法。它是否拥有其它游戏未能提供的独特游戏机制？它是否重新使用了人们所喜欢的早前游戏理念，并且是很长一段时间都未出现过新解释的理念？（这也适用于我们的《Automation》，以及《Planetary Annihilation》或《Gamebook Adventures》）

这是否只一个利基模拟领域，并未拥有其它优秀的模拟器？（这对于我们来说非常有效，并且《Farm Simulator》也卖出了好几百万份）。它们的视觉效果是否符合AAA级标准（很明显它们没有），如果没有的话它们是否具有有趣的美学效果能够吸引用户的眼球，或者至少具有一定的吸引力以及精心设计的外观？玩家可以从你们游戏中获得哪些其它游戏未提供的内容？

你要知道购买者在进入游戏时对游戏一点都不了解。他们只知道游戏理念是否有趣，游戏的外观是否能够吸引他们的注意，游戏玩法或预告片是否容易理解，而如果你的游戏不能通过某种方式突显于众多竞争者中，你便只会遭遇忽视。

这一要点非常重要，你需要在决定创造一款游戏，开始持笔写下设计文件时便开始思考这一问题，而如果你想不出任何突显游戏的理由，你便需要投入更多努力去实践理念，或者只能将其丢弃到垃圾桶了。

“我拥有创造并销售一款优秀游戏所需要的所有技能”

实际上，我想说的是没有一个人真正拥有所有技能去独自创造出一款符合商业标准的游戏。

在你开始致力于自己的项目前，你需要仔细思考以下内容，而如果你真正能够做到这些，用户便会非常高兴。

如果你未拥有相关技能，你可以选择1：找到一些拥有这些技能并且你能够支付其工资的人，或者想要成为你们团队一员的人，2：自己去学习技能，3：设计一款只要求自己利索能及范围内的游戏。

环境艺术（通常很难避免）

角色艺术和动画（有时候可能避免，我们便避免了这点）

UI艺术

声音设计

音乐

制作，文件和日程安排

市场营销/媒体交流

游戏设计和平衡

业务技能/会计/法律

我们在自己的项目中结合了所有的这些策略，我认为这提供了一个现实的概述，能够指示你该做些什么才能获得项目所需要的技能。

我们的公司中已经拥有一些出色的环境艺术技能。我们创造了一个未使用角色或角色动画的游戏理念，因为我们团队中未拥有精通这方面技能的人。对于UI技术，一开始我们实行的是外包，但是在长期学习后我们也开始独自完成相关工作了。

关于声音设计我们是外包让一家致力于创造汽车引擎声音的公司创造，并让当地的声音设计师制作UI和环境声，而我们也在慢慢地学习相关声音知识，并且能在重新创造一些内容时派上用场。

对于音乐我们就无计可施了，只能求助于之前的一个同事，因为这是他的最大爱好，所以他在前几年改行进入了音乐领域。

关于制作和文件方面，我们则是靠独自摸索，而现在我们的团队中也加入了一个制作人（出于对我们项目的喜欢），现在他已经成为我们的全职员工2年多了。从技术上来看他并不是完全的游戏制作人，但是作为一个物理学博士，并且还是一个有条理的德国人，他总是能够提供给我们更高质量的文件和制作支持。有时候你需要即兴发挥去获得自己所需要的技能！

我们能够很容易理解游戏平衡和游戏流程，其本身就是一种技术，它可以花很多时间和测试进行编写，并且比起漏洞修复其必要的反馈循环更慢，且包含了更多个体元素。我能够提出的最佳建议便是让测试者尽快尝试游戏原型，这样你便能够更快开始纠正设计和平衡问题，从而避免它们扎得更深。在我们的例子中，我们就很幸运的拥有制作人能够运行一个测试团队，并且他也通过不断地学习而逐渐成为这一领域的专家！

市场营销也可以进行外包，但是你仍需要掌握相关技能才能更好地与玩家沟通，并编写优秀的新闻稿等等。对于我们自己的市场营销，我们已经从其它成功的小型工作室身上学到了该怎么做了。我们也发现一些市场营销公司除了发送新闻稿和支付广告外便未能提供其它新理念了。

你还需要教会自己某些业务技能，但因为比起游戏中的其它技能，它的通用性更强，所以能够带给你更大的帮助。而关于法律和会计技能，你只需要付钱请来律师和会计师便可，多简单！

“这是我的梦想项目，不仅能够让我受益同时也能够带来商业上的成功”

是的，但是这里存在一些注意事项。

一开始便决定项目目标（如果它是致力于成为一个可实行的产品，这便仍可能是你的梦想项目），但是你也必须接受一个现实，即在整个过程中你有可能会做出一些牺牲，创造出一款低于预期的游戏，也许这不符合你的最初愿景，但是对于玩家来说却是好事，这便是通过游戏获得盈利的现实性。记住，如果你是通过创造游戏谋生，你就需要确保能够满足用户的需求，如此他们才会愿意花钱。

如果你想要坚持一种“艺术视觉”，你最好将项目当成一种兴趣就好，这样你便可以随心所欲地进行创造，而无需担心是否能卖得出去或者用户是否喜欢了。

“我不需要将所有时间和努力贡献于这一项目中”

如果你想要获得成功的机会，你就需要尽可能投入更多努力和时间与其中。

如果你拥有其它全职工作，你也能够进行自己的独立项目，但这时候你就不要期待能够拥有过多社交生活或兴趣了。如果你真的想要创造出一款成功的游戏，你就需要把生活的全部焦点都聚集到这里。

不管是明确的下班后时间安排，还是绝对的坚持与具有忍耐力的合作伙伴都非常重要，但是如果你已经拥有一份全职工作以及3个孩子，那么你便很难做到这点。

而当你的游戏发行后，你便需要再次拾回社交生活，并且尽管这只是你的第一个游戏开发项目，但是所有的外部接触都有可能成为游戏开发者间的聚会（你不能停止这么做）。

“我可以独自进行开发而不与其他产业认识接触”

这在某些情况下是正确的。你当然可以这么做，但却不应该这么做。

就拿我们来说吧，我们的许多理念，技术问题解决方法，人才，媒体互动，业务机遇等等都是来自当地的IGDA大会或者其它游戏会议。你能从这些事件上收获到的价值远超过你的想象。

“我将因此变得很有钱且出名”

不，你可能不会变得很有钱或出名，但是却能掌握各种技能，如果足够幸运的话你可能会赚取一些利益，然后继续创造更优秀的游戏，或许还能够雇佣一些有才能的人，并运行着一家属于自己的小小工作室。

（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）

Dispelling Some Myths for the Indie Studio Newbie

by Andrew Lamb

Firstly a quick overview of my background, I’m the co founder of a company called Camshaft Software, who is making a game called Automation: The Car Company Tycoon Game. (www.automationgame.com) It’s still in development but runs a similar sales model to Minecraft, with content being released to customers as it’s completed.

As someone who is quite a few years into the “Indie Studio Journey” and who now runs what could be termed a “Moderately Successful” indie studio (we make enough preorder sales to pay ourselves a wage, cover our own expenses and employ a few people for contract work) I increasingly find myself encountering people who are just starting out in indie games dev, but want to make a start as a commercially viable developer.

This is great, and just the kind of enthusiasm we need, particularly in an era where quite a few larger studios are shutting down and we need small and innovative companies more than ever.

The problem is that a lot of these keen individuals don’t have a clear idea of the realities of turning indie games into a business rather than just a hobby, and there is a fairly limited set of resources for finding that kind of information out, along with what I’d term the “Notch Myth” that they’ll just be able to put a title out there and it’ll automatically succeed, which tends to ignore the fact that in the case of Minecraft, the developer had a lot of prior experience as well as a very commercially appealing idea and a healthy dose of “The right place at the right time”

As such I thought it might be an idea to layout what I’d consider the major misconceptions of new developers coming into indie development. I’m not professing to be an expert, but these seem to be the things that newcomers tend to be unaware of.

“I’ll have a place to sell my game”

Ok, so you’ve made a great quality game, it’s really polished, it’s got some pretty fun game mechanics and everyone you’ve got to test it reckons it’s pretty fun. Now you’re all sorted for commercial success and critical acclaim, right? Yeaaah, not so much.

First thing to think about is WHERE you’ll be able to sell it. In order of most to least likely, I’d be thinking you’ll be able to do the following:

If it’s a mobile game, put the game onto it’s main marketplace (App Store or Google Play)

Put the infrastructure in place to sell the game yourself from your own website

Get your game on some small sales portals like Desura or Gamers Gate

Get your game Greenlit onto Steam

Get your game onto Steam with a Publisher

Get your game into Boxed Distribution with a Publisher

It’s very much worth doing your research about this early in the development process and starting to build relationships with the right people very early on, as it’s going to be painful if you get to the end of development and have no good way of selling your product.  We’ve mostly relied on sales through our website, but we’re some of the way along the process for most of the other options too.

This isn’t a huge hurdle, but you need to be thinking about it all along the process of development

“I don’t need to do any Marketing”

You do. So much more than you think you do.

Marketing sometimes seems to be a considered a bad word among indie developers, but it’s not as evil as it sounds. It’s also critical if you actually want anyone to know that your game exists.

It’s not just the aspects of marketing that you’d think of in AAA development like huge billboards and TV ads, the kind of marketing you need to do as an indie is more about building a relationship with the games press, making sure you always have fresh trailers, screenshots and development blogs out there throughout the whole process of game development.

It’s NEVER too early to start marketing and at the very least you should be maintaining a DevBlog, a Youtube channel with as many good quality development and gameplay videos as you can muster, a regularly updated facebook page, the lot.

We’ve worked hard on Automation to get development updates out as often as possible, show off every cool thing we’re working on, and to build up a community from day one, and for us its paid off, we’re still a few years off release but already are getting healthy preorder sales and have a community of about 16,000 on our forums.  Yes it’s hard work, and yes you will need to dedicate some time in almost every day to keep everything up to date, but it’s the best way you can market short of a multi-million dollar budget.

Also, be nice to the games press, give them free demos, well written and nicely formatted press releases with good screenshots, buy them a beer if you run into them at an event. It’ll pay off far more than the effort it cost you, as good media coverage is worth far more than any banner advert.

“But, If I tell people about my idea before it’s ready, they’ll steal it”

Frankly, no. No they won’t. Anyone competent enough to use your idea is too busy with their own. Besides, ideas are cheap, you should have plenty of them. And they change. No finished game ever matches the idea that spawned it.

Besides, no-one loves your game idea as much as you. They’re not going to steal it until you’ve been successful with it. And then? Well, you’ve already reaped your own rewards and should now be hard at work on the next idea.

The risk is tiny, and the harm you’ll do by hiding your game is immense.

Jill Duffy’s article on this point is worth a read if you want further information. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=15688

“People will buy my game”, OR: “Build it and they will come.”

This is, in my opinion the most important point of all, far too many people think that all you need to succeed in the games business is competently developed game, but in my opinion that’s only part of the battle.

What you really need to ask, why would anyone want to buy your game? This question sounds harsh, but its important.

It could be an entirely competent retro platformer, a well polished FPS or what have you, but why would Joe Public stop in his endless scrolling through the Steam store list stop on YOUR game and decide to fork over his cash?

Here are some possibilities that might help your game stand out. Does it have a unique gameplay mechanic that other games don’t offer? Does it reboot an old game concept that people loved but haven’t had any new interpretations of in a long time? (Also applies to our Automation, and to things like Planetary Annihilation or Gamebook Adventures)

Is it a niche simulation of a field that doesn’t have any other good simulators? (This has worked well for us, and Farm Simulator has sold Millions of units). Are the visuals to AAA standards (Hint, they’re not), if not does it have an interesting aesthetic that’s likely to draw someone’s eye, or at least an attractive and well designed look? What can players get from your game that they can’t get elsewhere?

Remember that the buyer knows nothing of the work that went into the game, nothing of how lovingly crafted some of the details may be. They know only if the concept is interesting to them, if the looks of it draw their eye, and as much about the gameplay as you can get into their head in a 30 second or so trailer, and if at point your game doesn’t stand out in some way from everything else you’re pretty much screwed.

This point is CRITICAL, start thinking about it from the moment decide to make a game, from the moment you put pen to design doc, and if you can’t think of any really damned good reasons why your game will stand out, your idea either needs more work or needs throwing in the bin.

“I have all the skills required to make and sell a great game”

Probably not, and infact I’d say no one person actually has ALL the skills required to make a game at a commercial standard by themselves.

Before you embark on your project, think about the following, and if you can truly do these things at a level that customers will be happy with.

If you don’t have a skill you’ll have to either A: Find someone who does who you can afford, or who wants to be part of your team,  B: Learn that skill yourself, or C: Work to your strengths! Design a game that doesn’t require that skill (where possible)

Environment Art (usually hard to avoid)

Character Art and Animation (Sometimes possible to avoid, we did avoid it)

UI Art

Sound Design

Music

Production, Documentation and Scheduling

Marketing/Press Communication

Game Design and Balancing

Business Skills/Accounting/Legals

We use a combination of all these tactics in our own project, I think this gives a realistic overview of what you could expect to have to do to get the skills you need on your project.

In our own company we already had some decent Environment Art skills. We made a game concept that didn’t use characters or character animation, partially because none of us are any good at it! UI Art we contracted out at first, but after a long learning curve started to teach ourselves.

Sound Design we outsourced to a company who specialized in car engine sounds rather than reinvent the wheel ourselves and to a local sound designer for UI & ambient sounds, though we’re slowly teaching ourselves enough sound knowledge to tweak what others do for us at least, which is useful if we need to do minor reworks of anything.

Music we’re hopeless at, so that is contracted out to an ex co-worker who had just moved into the music business after years of it as a serious hobby.

Production and documentation we fumbled through ourselves, but now have a Producer who joined our team out of the love of the project and now has been working for us for 2 years as a close to full time employee. He wasn’t exactly skilled as a games producer, but being a physics PhD and generally an organized German means he’s provided far higher quality documentation and production support that we’d ever be able to do ourselves. Sometimes you’ve got to improvise to get the skills you need!

Game balancing and game flow is easy to underestimate and basically is a science on its own, it can take a lot of time and a lot of testing to get write, as the necessary feedback cycles are slower and involve more individuals than for example bugfixing. The best advice I can give is to get testers playing early prototypes as soon as you possibly can, the sooner you can start correcting design & balance issues the less ingrained they’ll become. In our case we’re lucky to have our producer running a beta testing team and slowly teaching himself to be an expert in the field!

Marketing can be outsourced somewhat, but you still need to build skills when it comes to communicating with your players, writing good press releases etc. For our own marketing we’ve pretty much taught ourselves what to do, learning from the example of what other successful small studios have done. We’ve found that the few marketing companies we’ve approached don’t really have many new ideas for us beyond the basics of sending out press releases and paying for adverts.

Business skills you’ll have to teach yourself to some extent, but as its a far more generic skill than most things in games you’ll have a lot of help at your disposal. Legals and Accounting are solved by paying a Lawyer and an Accountant, simple as that!

“It can be both my dream project that I’m making for myself and also a commercial success”

Yes, but with some caveats.

Decide from day one what your project is for, if its aimed at being a viable product it can still be your dream project (that’s what Automation is for us), but you must be willing to accept the fact that along the way you’re going to be making some sacrifices that might make the game LESS like your “Vision”, less enjoyable for yourself, but better for your players or more marketable, this is a reality of making games for profit! Remember, when you’re doing this for a living you’re there to make a game your customers enjoy and are willing to pay for.

If you have a really strong “Artistic Vision” that you really want to stick to, then it’s probably best you take the project on as just a hobby, that way you can make it exactly as YOU want without having to worry if it’ll sell or be liked by others.

“I don’t need to dedicate all my time and effort to this project“

If you want to be in with a good chance of success, I’d say that you DO need to dedicate as much time and effort as you possibly can, maybe more.

If you have a full time job it’s still possible to get an indie project off the ground, but don’t expect to have much of a social life, or any other hobbies. If you really want to get something off the ground you’re probably going to have to spend quite a while with this as the entire focus of your life.

A clear after work schedule, a hell of a lot of stubbornness, bloody minded dedication and a tolerant partner are very important here, and if you’ve got a full time job and 3 kids, you’re probably screwed. Sorry.

If your game takes off you’ll be able to start to reclaim your social life, but while you’re getting your first project off the ground most of the human contact you’ll have time for is likely to consist of game developer meetups and conferences(which you should NEVER stop going to, as per the next point)

“I can develop on my own in my basement and not network with other industry people.”

Well, this is kind of true. You CAN but you shouldn’t.

For us so many ideas, solutions to technical problems, talented staff/contractors, media contacts, business opportunities and many other great things have come out of simply going to the local IGDA meetings for a few beers or attending a games conference. The value you’ll reap out of these events can be far above what you’d expect. And a very worthwhile tradeoff for the few working hours they might take out of your day.

“I’ll get rich and famous”

No, you probably won’t, but with a lot of dedication, a fair amount of skill and a bit of luck you could at least get in the position where you be financially comfortable, keep making great games, maybe hire some talented people and run a great little studio, and damn it if that isn’t a great place to be.(source:gamasutra)