作者：Lena LeRay

Dylan Cuthbert是因为《星际火狐》这款游戏被人们所熟知。而他同时也是Q-Games（游戏邦注：James Mielke便是在此想出了BitSummit的理念）的总裁。如果没有Q-Games的员工的支持，BitSummit便不可能起步。Cuthbert将在此回答一些有关BitSummit的问题，并讲述了自己与Q-Game的参与以及BitSumit的发展。

bitsummit2015(from indiegames)

作为Q-Games的总裁，从一开始你便参与了BitSummit的策划，是吧？当这个关于运行一个以日本独立开发为核心的活动理念被提出来时你的反应是什么？

我认为这是一个很棒的理念，只要它不会花费我们太多时间和金钱！当然了，最终它还是耗费了我们大量的时间与金钱，但幸好这一切付出都是值得的。

你在该组织以及每年运行BitSummit中扮演着怎样的角色？你的责任是否改变了许多？JIGA的成立是否影响了你的参与性？

我始终避免直接参与其中，并尝试着引导整体的生产与结构。JIGA让我们能够独立于Q-Games而进行创造，从总体上看它为我们吸引了许多合作伙伴去分担责任。我们投入了许多努力去创建BitSummit，毕竟多多益善不是吗！在JIGA之前，人们可能认为一切事物都是Q-Games所做的，但在像这样的活动中，我们需要更多不同的独立开发者进行合作与分享。

关于BitSummit本身，从第一年到第二年甚至到第三年，最大/最重要的改变是什么？

从第一年到第二年，最主要的改变便是规模。不过我们并未计算准确的变化。而关于第三年，主要的改变包括与Indie Megabooth的合作以及JIGA的成立。它们真的带给了我们超乎预期的帮助。

今年是BitSummit第一次决定审核能够参与活动的游戏。你对于这样的改变有何看法？

其实BitSummit一直都会审核游戏，只是因为今年有太多递交的游戏，所以审核也就变得更加重要。明年我们也决定想办法添加更多展位。

你认为BitSummit的最大优势和劣势分别是什么？

它的最大优势便是能够将外国独立开发者与日本开发者凝聚在一起。而劣势便是我们为此需要聘请更多翻译！

关于该组织/运行BitSummit，你认为最大的挑战是什么？

抽时间去处理所有问题！我们都是全职的专业开发者，而运行像这样的活动真的需要付出血与泪！

关于该组织/运行BitSummit你最开心的是什么？

即看到人们访问京都，这座世界上最大的城市之一，并看到他们对日本出色的独立游戏所做出的反应。同时我也会见到许多并不认识的人，其中有些人真的非常有趣。

你认为BitSummit对于日本独立开发领域有何影响？

我们的确创造了一些变化—-一些更大型的公司似乎对于独立开发者的作品更感兴趣，并且我们也看到越来越多日本开发者选择走上独立开发者的道路。

对于BitSummit你是否还有其它想法，并且随着时间的发展你认为它将发生什么样的变化？

我认为现在的规模刚刚好，而关于该活动的管理也会越来越好。从该活动所获得的奖励来看，我们的确创造了一些很棒的变化，并且我们也希望能够在此添加更多不同的类别。而明年我们也将尝试避免在最后时刻匆忙赶工的情况。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转发，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Interview: Dylan Cuthbert on BitSummit’s evolution

Lena LeRay

Dylan Cuthbert is probably best known for his work on Starfox. However, he’s also the president of Q-Games, which is where James Mielke was working at when he came up with the idea for BitSummit. Without the support of the folks at Q-Games, BitSummit might never have gotten off the ground. Cuthbert has answered some questions for us about BitSummit, talking about his own and Q-Game’s involvement as well as how BitSummit has grown.

As the president of Q-Games, you’ve been involved with BitSummit since the beginning, right? What was your initial reaction when the idea for running a Japanese indie-centric event was brought up?

I thought it sounded a great idea as long as it didn’t cost us too much time and money! It of course has ended up costing us quite a bit of time and money but it is worth every penny!

What has been your role(s) in the organization and running of BitSummit each year? Have your responsibilities changed much? How has the creation of JIGA affected your involvement?

I try not to get directly involved and just try to direct the overall production and structure. JIGA allowed us to make the whole thing independent of Q-Games and it ushered in a whole bunch of people as partners to share the responsibility. It takes a lot of effort to create BitSummit and the more the merrier! Before JIGA people would think it was just something that Q does, but really an event like this needs to be more collaborative and shared amongst a variety of indie developers.

Regarding BitSummit itself, what in your opinion were the biggest/most important changes from year one to year two and from year two to year three?

From year 1 to 2, the main change was size. We didn’t realise how packed it would get. For year 3, the main change was the inclusion of the Indie Megabooth and the formation of JIGA. The combination of both really helped boost everything beyond our expectations.

This is the first year that BitSummit curated which games would be shown at the event. What are your thoughts on that change in particular?

Actually I think they’ve always been curated, it’s just that this year we had so many entries we had to reject a lot more than usual so the curation was more important. We do want to work out a way to include more booths next year.

What do you think are BitSummit’s greatest strengths and weaknesses?

It’s greatest strength is the unifying power you sense between foreign indie devs and Japanese devs. Weakness-wise, we probably need more staff translators!

What has been the biggest challenge about organizing/running BitSummit?

Finding the time to deal with It all! We are full-time professional devs and running a show like this takes blood, sweat, and tears.

What has been your favorite thing about organizing/running BitSummit?

Seeing everyone visiting Kyoto, one of the best cities in the world, and seeing their reaction to all the very cool indie games in Japan. I also get to meet lots of people I haven’t met before, some of whom are pretty interesting!

What if any effect do you think BitSummit has had on the Japanese indie scene in general?

I think we’re already seeing a ripple – larger companies seem more interested in what indie devs are up to, and just going by the entry application count we are seeing a lot more Japanese devs going indie now.

Do you have any other thoughts on BitSummit and how it’s changed over time that you’d like to share?

I think it’s at a good size now and the management of it has gotten better and better. I think we’ll see some nice changes in the way awards are assigned, and hopefully see a few more categories added too. We’ll try to make it less of a last minute rush next year.（source：indiegames）