作者：Alfe Clemencio

某一天我曾在Polygon上看到一篇名为“创建一家独立工作室需要花费多少成本”的文章。需要你所有的钱以及你的全部生活。我同意这一事实。但在一开始面对所有人时并非如此。特别是对于那些想要创造自己喜欢的游戏并尝试着将其卖出去并赚到钱的人来说，但是为什么这些游戏开发者不打算“创建一家工作室”去创造自己的游戏呢？

当我们在思考独立游戏时，脑子里浮现出来的景象便是“起居室/地下室程序员”的形象。然而我们到底真正谈论了多少次这样的形象？在游戏开发网站上出现了多少篇关于起居室/地下室程序员的内容呢？

我们将略过关于为什么你想或不想创建一家工作室的讨论。这里我们指的是辞掉日常工作而租一个办公室的那种工作室。我们所做的其实与起居室/地下室独立工作者是一样的。

game studio（from thenextweb）

 为什么你应该创建一家工作室

创建一家工作室并不是件糟糕的事。这标志着你将到达一个转折点或里程碑。然而，里程碑通常意味着你已经到达了之前所设定好的目标。

如果……你应该开始创建一家工作室：

你已经发行了一款能够养活自己的游戏

你通过某种投资获得资金，并且他们希望你拥有一间办公室

你理解如何开始并运行一个业务或雇佣某些能够进行这一工作的人

你想要增加游戏的制作价值并为其赚到更多资金

基本上，如果你拥有钱和经验的话你就应该这么做。

然而对于充满热情的游戏开发者来说，这种情况不一定会发生。或者他们已经拥有一个需要去维持的家庭了。那么他们能够做些什么？

为什么你要选择作为起居室/地下室游戏开发者

你必须维持一个家庭

你没有足够的钱

你并不确定自己是否能够承担创建一家工作室的风险

你想要经验

你真的想要自由去创造自己想要的内容，而不受任何财政压力的阻碍

你听过许多关于独立开发者如何冒着一切风险去追逐自己梦想的故事。你一直都清楚听那些敢于冒险的人讲故事总比听那些没冒过险的人讲有趣得多。你应该问问自己是想拥有紧张的生活方式还是只是简简单单地制作游戏。

同样地，将你的生活依赖于游戏开发也会给成功创造一定的压力。钱的压力将影响你最终选择创造的游戏类型。而作为一名起居室独立开发者这意味着你将拥有更多自由去创造自己真正想要的游戏。

这只是关于时间和进程的问题，即你现在应该了解的

关于哪种情况更好其实并不存在真正的答案。如果你是一名游戏玩家，那么没人会比你更了解情况。这是一个进程问题。就像你所玩的许多电子游戏中的进程一样。即使没有过多的经验你也可以与怪物对抗，并且你很有可能会被压碎。这里并不存在真正的区别。

（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）

Do you Really Need to Start a Studio to Make Games?

by Alfe Clemencio

So one day I saw this article on Polygon entitled What does it really cost to open an indie studio? All your money, most of your life. I agree with the facts of it. It really isn’t for everyone at first. Especially for those who wish to make the game they want to make and try to sell it somewhat commercially. But then what did those game developers who didn’t “start a studio” to make their games?

Of course, they are the “bedroom/basement programmers” image we have when we think indie games. Yet how much do we really talk about that image? How many articles appear on game development websites that talk about bedroom/basement programmers?

We’ll skip talking about setting up and go into more why you would or wouldn’t start a studio. By this we mean the quit-day-job-and-rent-an-office studio. We’ll do the same with going bedroom/basement indie.

Why You Should Start a Studio

Starting a studio is not a bad thing despite what my tone is making. It’s a great sign that you reached a turning point or milestone. However a milestone usually implies you’ve already achieved something beforehand.

You should start a studio if:

You already released a game that you can live off of

You got funding from some kind of investment and they expect you to get an office

You understand how to start and run a business or can hire someone who can

You want to increase the production value of your games and have the money for it

So in a basic sense, you should do it if you have money with experience (your own or hired).

However for the average bright-eyed game developer this isn’t in the cards. Or maybe they already have a family to support and such. What can they do?

Why You Should go Bedroom/Basement Game Developer

How about doing game development as a hobby first to see? Work on it in your spare time and occasionally contract out help for stuff like art and music. Or look for free-to-use-commercially art/music resources. You don’t need to risk everything to do it and keep your day job.

You should go bedroom/basement indie game dev if:

You have to support a family

You don’t have that much money

You are unsure if you can handle the risk of starting a studio

You want experience

You really want the freedom to make what you want without financial pressure

You hear a lot of stories about how the indies risk everything to chase their dream. Keep in mind that it’s always more interesting to hear about people who risk it all compared to those who didn’t take that much risk. Ask yourself if you really want to live that tense lifestyle or if you want to just make games.

Also having your living based on your game development definitely creates that pressure to succeed. The pressure of money will affect what game you ultimately choose to make. Being a bedroom indie means that you will get more freedom from such pressures to make the game you truly want.

It Just a Matter of Timing and Progression, Which you Should Know Best by Now

It’s not a question if which is of these are better than the other. If you are a gamer then no one else should know it better than you. It’s more of a matter of progression. Just like the progression in way too many of the video games you play, right? Take on a monster without enough experience and you’re going to get crushed. No different here.(source:gamasutra)