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Tim FitzRandolph讲述打造一款经典游戏的幕后故事

发布时间:2013-11-07 16:45:35 Tags:,,,,

听Tim FitzRandolph讲述自己的游戏创造故事

作者:Jon Jordan

像《JellyCar》,《小鳄鱼爱洗澡》(游戏邦注:获得了超过2.75亿的下载量)以及最近刚刚发行的《Stack Rabbit》(一款位于美国前10名下载排行的游戏)的创造者Tim FitzRandolph是位于加州格兰岱尔市的迪士尼Mobile Games Studio的创意副总裁。

Pockey Gamer:孩童时期你最喜欢的游戏是什么?

Tim FitzRandolph:我早前的游戏记忆是源自雅达利2600,主要是《青蛙过河》和《三角洲部队》。而在拥有了NES后,我最常玩的就是《超级玛丽兄弟》,《俄罗斯方块》和《超级玛丽兄弟3》。

我的家人们也玩过许多早前的PC游戏,我最深刻的记忆应该是与父母和兄弟姐妹一起玩Sierra的冒险游戏(我们玩过《Kings Quest》,《Police Quest》,以及我最喜欢的系列《Space Quest》)。

你是何时意识到想要将创造游戏作为一项职业?

回想起来我是从中学的时候便开始制作游戏,即那时我基于BASIC(以及之后的Z-80汇编语言)为自己的TI-85图像计算机编写一些简单的游戏。

但是大学毕业后我才真正考虑将游戏创造作为一项职业。在学校我学的是电影制作,因为我想要在创造性领域(带有技术元素)谋职。而最终证明游戏才是创造性表达与技术工厂的最佳结合—-这便是我一直以来所寻找的理想职业。我真的花了很长一段时间才意识到这一点。

你在产业中的第一个角色是什么?

我的第一份工作便是迪士尼的首席测试员,即致力于任天堂DS上的游戏《Spectrobes》。这是在日本开发的一款游戏,而迪士尼需要一名能够讲日语并翻译漏洞的首席测试员。对于游戏的激情以及日语能力最终为我赢得了这份工作,从那时起我便一直待在迪士尼(到现在已经8年了)!

disney-mobile-tim-FitzRandolph(from pocketgamer)

disney-mobile-tim-FitzRandolph(from pocketgamer)

你是如何看待自己的首次成功?

我的第一次大成功是独立创造出一款完整的游戏。完成一个项目总是比起初看上去难很多,我也仍对自己完成的任何项目感到自豪。

你是何时意识到手机游戏的潜能?

实际上我在青少年时期就参加过任天堂的游戏竞赛,并赢得了一台Game Boy。所以我算是掌上型/手机游戏系统的忠实粉丝了。

而对于智能手机/平板电脑游戏,《JellyCar》的最初版本给我带来了很大的影响,因为开发这款游戏让我注意到这些设备成为游戏平台的巨大潜能,我也为此激动不已。

你认为手机游戏领域中发生过的最大事件是什么?

绝对是App Store的问世。我仍然记得那时候的自己迫切地下载与尝试各种已发行的游戏,并感受到了这股新潜能所带来的刺激感。

最让你感到自豪的是什么?

应该是我在大学期间做出的到国外旅行的决定。这一决定在很多方面影响着我的生活:我在旅程中遇到了未来的妻子;学到了能够作为之后职业起点的技能;当然了,生活在一个完全不同的文化中也带给了我非常宝贵的经历。

你最近喜欢哪款手机游戏?

在我的手机中标记为“最佳游戏”的文件夹里能够看到许多熟悉的名字:《水果忍者》,《愤怒的小鸟》,《割绳子》,《植物大战僵尸》以及我个人很喜欢的《QWOP》。

而最近我所喜欢的游戏有《Star Thief》,《超级六边形》,《Paint It Back》以及我们正在创造的超酷游戏原型。

你能否预测下手机游戏的未来?

我不能保证它在未来会呈现出怎样的形式,但是我希望能够看到它们采取更多方法并基于社交性与玩家维系在一起。手机和平板电脑是我们经常随身携带的设备,它们帮助我们实现各种交流,而这也是当前一款游戏很难做到的。

举个例子来说吧,如果有些人能够想办法让我的手机具有任天堂3DS的StreetPass那样的性能,即能够交换两个正在玩同样游戏的玩家的数据,这便太惊人了,要知道我们每天遇到的带着这些设备的人的数量真的非常巨大!

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

Hall of Fame: Tim FitzRandolph

by Jon Jordan

The creator of successful mobile game franchises such as JellyCar, Where’s My Water? – which has been downloaded over 275 million times, and the just-released Stack Rabbit (a US top 10 top downloaded game) – Tim FitzRandolph is the vice president of creative at Disney’s Mobile Games Studio in Glendale, CA.

Pocket Gamer: What were your favourite games as a kid?

Tim FitzRandolph: My earliest gaming memories were from the Atari 2600, mostly Frogger and River Raid. After that comes my NES, which was basically Super Mario Bros., Tetris, and Super Mario Bros. 3.

My family also played lots of early PC games, and I have particularly fond memories of playing through many Sierra adventure games with my parents and siblings (we played Kings Quest, Police Quest, and my favorite series, Space Quest).

When did you realize you wanted to make games as a career?

Thinking back I’ve actually been making games since high school, when I programmed some simple games for my TI-85 graphic calculator in BASIC (and later Z-80 assembly!).

But I never even considered games as a potential career until after university. In school I studied film making, because I wanted a career in a creative field that also had technical aspects. It turns out that games are the perfect combination of creative expression and technical engineering – exactly what I was looking for! It just took me a long time to realize it.

What was your first role in the industry?

My first job was as a lead tester here at Disney, working on a Nintendo DS game called Spectrobes. The game was being developed in Japan and Disney needed a lead tester who could also speak the language and translate bugs. My passion for games plus my Japanese language skill got my foot in the door, and I’ve been at Disney ever since (eight years now)!

What do you consider your first significant success?

My first major success was creating a game from start to finish by myself. Finishing a project is a lot harder than it seems like at first, and I still feel proud of any project that I finish.

When did the potential for mobile games become apparent to you?

I actually participated in a Nintendo gaming competition in my teens, and won a Game Boy and Tetris for making it to the finals. So I’ve been a fan of handheld/mobile gaming systems for a long time.

As for smartphone/tablet gaming, the original version of JellyCar was also a notable ‘first’ for me, since developing it opened my eyes to the potential for these devices to be a gaming platform that I could personally get really excited about.

What do you think has been the most significant event in mobile gaming?

Definitely the day the App Store launched. I still remember avidly downloading and trying out all of the launch games (Trism!), and feeling the excitement of new potential.

What are you most proud of?

My decision to travel abroad during university. That decision shaped my life in so many ways: I met my future wife; learned a skill that provided the starting point for my career; and of course gave me the invaluable experience of living in another culture.

Which mobile games have you enjoyed recently?

Looking at my folder on my phone labeled ‘best games’, I see a lot of familiar names: Fruit Ninja, Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, Plants vs. Zombies, and a personal favorite QWOP.

More recently I’ve been enjoying Star Thief, Super Hexagon, Paint It Back, and the steady stream of cool prototypes we’re creating at work.

What are your predictions for the future of mobile games?

I’m not sure what form it’ll take, but I’d really like to see more ways to simply and naturally connect players socially. Mobile phones and tablets are devices we are always carrying around with us, and they allow for all kinds of communication that’s currently difficult to implement in just a single game.

For example, if someone could find a way to make my phone behave like the Nintendo 3DS StreetPass and exchange data between people who are playing the same games that I’m playing, that would be amazing, since the amount of people that encounter each day that are carrying these devices is huge!(source:pocketgamer)


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