作者：Alex Nichiporchik

12小时的工作时间。报酬很低。总是因为时差原因在大半夜接到电话。在大型推广活动期间需要在半夜醒来检查重大问题通知。连周末也要加班，几乎没有周末。这便是2015年的游戏开发情况，似乎这已经变成了一项越来越困难的工作。

我是否该拿5周的假期去换取6位数的薪酬？在这辈子看来是不可能了。

而我还是想建议你们不要全职开发电子游戏。不要选择全职独立开发者的角色。相反地，你们最好和我一样找一份真正的工作并获取各种不同的经历—-前往不同产业并与不同的人一起工作。

我是在与世界各地的一些开发者交谈后并听到他们中的许多人表示想要着手创造属于自己的第一款游戏后才决定写下这篇文章。虽然我可以自私地说着：“做吧！我们会发行并资助你的游戏！”，但我还是希望让他们了解事实。为了能在今天成为一名成功的独立开发者，你需要有能够承担失败的勇气。

在本文中我将分享自己的一些个人经历，阻止你们全职开发独立游戏的最有力的理由以及受大学驱动的游戏开发泡沫所面对的最大问题。

“如果我刚从学校毕业便选择全职开发独立游戏，我便会遭遇失败。”

快速决策。每日机遇。打破任何可能性范围。一个不断发展且充满多样化的产业会一直挑战你的神经线。我便是在这里成长的。但是如果我只是刚从学校毕业便选择全职开发独立游戏，我便会遭遇失败。这并不是一种好方法，我会因此深陷泥潭而不愿意再回到这个产业中。

我之所以喜欢这里是受到自身背景的影响—-我成长于拉脱维亚这个不大的东欧国家。作为一个前苏联国家，你可能已经记不得财政稳定是什么样的状态。我们家一直都很穷。每一天我们都在为了生存努力着。我们身边充斥着各种不利因素，如果你与别人有什么不同的话，你便会立马遭遇攻击。即使你感到疲倦，也不会有人上前给你一个拥抱。如果你丢了工作，你也不会得到社会补助或福利。这便是我的生活背景。

在14岁的时候，我知道了为电子游戏编写故事这门职业。我可以使用英语和俄语编写故事，网上的读者也因为各种原因喜欢着我写的内容。这也将我带到了游戏新闻行业，并最终将我引向市场营销和游戏开发。

到18岁的时候我已经是一名游戏制作人，并在竞争激烈的市场营销环境中领导着一支销售团队。我开始致力于电子游戏产业，之后我也幸运地尝试了各种不同的工作。

我从为电子游戏编写故事到面向自身玩家经营在线商店，再到从事市场营销执行者，游戏制作人等工作。

而正是因为所有的这些经历才推动着我创建了tinyBuild。如果没有在不同公司，产业工作的经历以及在此期间累计的知识和认识到的人，我便不可能从事今天的这份工作。

就像正是因为拥有联盟营销经验，我才能更好地理解合作游戏。这也推动着我们完成一些原本需要花费许多时间进行研究的非常高产的交易。因为我能够联系X公司的市场营销负责人，使用他所使用的语言，提出交易条件并最终完成交易。

交叉推广网页游戏与运行基于点击的广告活动的经验让我能够更轻松地在无数“流量服务供应商”中做出筛选。

我在管理拥有来自不同背景的不同人的团队的经验对之后创建自己的公司很有帮助。当然了，我也失败过很多次。

而我们团队中的所有人也是如此。就像Luke之前便成功经营着组织业务会议的工作。Yulia则与独立开发者共事过。Mike曾为电子游戏编写过故事，并且非常了解PR游戏。Tom本身便是一个独立开发者。我们都不是直接选择这个产业并希望能在此获得最佳结果。我们都投入了好几年时间不断学习，犯错并适应这个产业。

这也是为什么你不应该马上就开发游戏。你需要先找一份实际的工作并先兼职开发电子游戏。不要一头就扎进游戏开发中。

电子游戏是一个不同的媒体

创造电子游戏与创造其它形式的媒体的区别在于用户能够以你想象不到的方式与你的产品进行互动。这让提前计划变得不可能，你所玩过的任何优秀的游戏都是经历了无数次的迭代，而在这期间时间轴，范围都会发生改变，所以最终你所看到的内容也与开发者事先计划的是不同的。

你同样也会看到相反的一面，特别是在最近的电子游戏时代中。总是会出现带有漏洞且并不直观的大型项目—-因为时间和发行安排的限制，开发者往往没有足够的时间进行迭代，并且这么做的成本也很高。

输入方法总是不断变化着。用户也不断变化着。人们发现游戏的方式每隔6个月便会发生改变。YouTuber呢？那已经是2014的事了。今天是Twitch streamer的时代。但是到明年1月份这个空间也会达到饱和，所以不要太过指望于它。

听起来很混乱吧？但事实就是如此。

以下是你不该这么做的3大原因：

1.压力非常大

如果你不能忍受不确定性—-不要选择电子游戏。在工作室中也是如此，在那里大型项目的开发团队会不断壮大着，而在游戏发行后，大多数团队成员都会被解雇。虽然这很残酷，但却是没办法的事。

你明天还有饭吃吗？我听说超市的鸡肉拉面正在促销。

人们是否注意到了你花3年时间创造的作品？真是前景黯淡啊。

2.工作和生活严重失衡

早上到达办公室，晚上7点离开。吃晚饭。回办公室继续上班。如果你足够幸运的话你便能够看一小时的电视节目或玩自己喜欢的游戏。

和孩子们在一起的时间呢？别指望了。

你的兴趣呢？你的工作就是你的兴趣，接受它吧！

假期？天哪，想都别想！

当你变成全职独立开发者时，玩电子游戏也会变成一种强制性的工作。你需要看看其它公司在做些什么。别人在做什么样的UI，故事，渲染和游戏设计。否则你将只会被远远甩在后面并开始创造一些被人已经创造过的东西。

这对于生活在西欧的人来说应该非常煎熬，因为在那里他们通常都拥有5周的假期。

而我们唯一想到的调节方法便是以几天的城市之旅的方式组织会议。不过大多数情况下我们都会因为工作太累而选择在晚上到酒吧开会。

3.第一次你可能会遭遇失败

是的，你的第一款游戏非常有可能会遭遇失败。所以千万不要让自己浪费3年的时间去创造它，并幻想着它会成为下一款“热门独立游戏”。

如果你能够接受失败，并乐观地看待失败（游戏邦注：抱最好的希望,做最坏的打算)，你便能够很快恢复过来并再次尝试。在成功之前请不断保持尝试。

你需要做的：

想办法支持自己，如找一份工作

拥有耐心

为上述两点做好准备

游戏开发大学毕业生泡沫

如今，在毕业后直接进入游戏开发领域的大学生们正创造出巨大的泡沫。我发现越来越多大学在推动着人们的游戏开发梦想。看看那些著名的开发者们！他们的确做到了。

在你真正实践前，你会认为这是非常美好的。

糟糕的是，这些教育机构大多是在西欧及发达国家。而这些地方的人们都非常期待假期的到来，工作生活的平衡以及轻松没有压力的工作环境。

在我提到的这些表面内容之上还有一个非常重要的实际因素—-生活在像荷兰，德国，丹麦，瑞典等国家是非常烧钱的。这里的物价非常高。

雇用员工更加昂贵。为了支付工资，并支付所有相关社会税，你需要将你的成本乘以2。也许你能找到一些自由职业者，但如果你们是一支由刚毕业的大学生组成的团队，我会觉得你们想要组建团队是非常奇怪的事。

东欧国家

在这里东欧又一次驳回了这一话题。这片区域拥有较低的烧钱率。默认的高压工作环境。各种不确定性。较低的物价。极高的技术教育。

在过去几年里我已经参加过至少20个跨越俄罗斯，乌克兰，白俄罗斯，波兰的游戏开发活动。但在这里我却未曾看到大学毕业后便直接进入游戏开发领域的人。这片区域创造了像《巫师》，《这是我的战争》，《Metro Series》以及上千款手机游戏，我们的项目《疯狂派对》和《羊群分离法》也是来自这里。

既然知识和技术之间的界限越来越不明显，我认为这片区域将拥有超越西欧的优势。而我并不是不想谈论美国的游戏开发，只是那里的情况跟这里非常相似—-都没有需要支付高额费用的真正安全的社会制度。

只要准备好迎接失败你便有可能获得成功

总之现在有越来越多人在创造游戏。而这对于大多数想获得成功的人来说却是不利的。有些开发者可能会去模仿别人的成功。而当所有人都在做着同样的事时，这里的泡沫便会炸裂。

我们会看到越来越多相似的游戏遭遇失败。

而只有能够承担起这种失败的人才有可能再次尝试。并且只有那些具有创造性思维的人才更有可能获得成功。

（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）

Don’t develop games full-time

by Alex Nichiporchik

12 hour work days. Severely underpaid. Constant late-night calls because timezones. Waking up in the middle of the night to check notifications for disasters during big promotions. Crunching weeks on-end with no weekends. Forget about holidays. This is game development in 2015 and it’s not getting any easier.

Would I trade it back for my six figure corporate job with 5 weeks of holiday? Not in this lifetime!

But I do suggest you don’t develop video games full time. Don’t go full time indie. Instead, do what I did and actually get jobs and work up a variety of different experiences – from different industries to working with different people.

The idea to write this article came after talking to dozens of development teams from around the world, and hearing most of them wanting to go all-in on their first game. While I could be selfish and say “yes, go ahead – do it! we’ll publish & fund your game!”, I steer away from the all-in scenario. In order to a successful indie today, you need to be able to afford to fail.

In this post I’ll share some of my own personal background for context, the top reasons to not develop indie games full time, and the bigger issue of the gamedev bubble fueled by universities.

“If I had just graduated and got in here full-time, I’d fail”

Quick decisions. Daily opportunities. Breaking the boundaries of what’s possible. A constantly evolving, dynamic industry that’ll put your nerves to the ultimate test. This is where I thrive. However if I had just graduated and got in here full-time, I’d fail. Not in a good way, I’d burn myself so hard that I wouldn’t get back to the industry anymore.

The reason I love it is because of my background – I grew up in Eastern Europe, in a little country called Latvia. As a post-soviet country, you can forget about financial stability. My family never had money. Every day was a constant fight for survival. Aggression is all around you, if you’re any different, you get bullied (in some cases to suicide). If you were harassed, nobody came in to give you a hug. If you were out of a job, nobody came in to give you social security or wellfare. This is for context.

At 14 — despite the school system saying I suck at it — I discovered the art of writing about video games. I could write in both English and Russian and people on the Internet liked it for some reason. This launched a career in game journalism, eventually leading into marketing and game development.

By 18 I had already worked as a game producer and was leading a sales team in a cut-throat marketing environment. I got to start working in the video games industry, and then dropped out to try plenty of different things – via a series of fortunate and not so much events.

I went from writing about video games, to starting online stores for pro-gamers and doing deliveries for them, to being a marketing exec, a game producer, an affiliate persuading the “get rich online quick” myth, to trading stocks and currencies online.

All of this — over 10 years of experience — prepared me for tinyBuild. Without the knowledge or experience working in different companies, industries, and with different people — I would never be able to do the amazingly dumb orange-branded stunts today.

For example, because of the affiliate marketing experience, I understand the partnerships game. This enabled us to pull off some very fruitful deals that’d usually require days of research. Instead, I’m able to come up to the marketing guy at company X, speak his language, propose a deal, and seal it right there.

Experience in cross-promoting web games and running click-based advertising campaigns enables easy filtering through the hundreds of “traffic service provider” offers for mobile games. The list goes on and on.

The encounters I had while managing teams of different people, different backgrounds and heritage, go a long way when building your own company. And I failed more than once. Hit walls. Got knocked over.

It’s the same for everyone on our team really. Luke comes from the perspective of building a successful business to business conference. Yulia comes from working with indie developers and making connections. Mike wrote about video games and knows the PR game. Tom was an indie developer himself. We didn’t just jump straight in and hope for the best. It took years of experience, learning, making mistakes, and adapting along with the industry.

This is why you shouldn’t develop games. You should find a real job and work part-time on video games. Don’t go directly into game development.

Video games are a different medium

The difference between making video games and any other form of entertainment is that the user can interact with your product in ways you couldn’t imagine. This makes planning next to impossible, and any great game you’ve ever played went through hundreds of iterations where timelines shifted, scope grew, and the end result is not what it was initially planned to be.

You’ve also seen the flip side of this, especially in recent generation games. Huge projects being released with bugs, feeling unintuitive — because timelines and release schedules, and no time to iterate and too expensive to deviate.

The input methods are changing. The audience is constantly evolving. The way people discover games changes every 6 months. Youtubers? No, that’s 2014. Twitch streamers is where it’s at today. By January that space will be saturated, so don’t count on it being your sure way in.

Sounds like chaos? It totally is.

And here are top3 reasons you shouldn’t do it:

1. It’s extremely stressful

If you can’t live with uncertainty – don’t get into video games. This also goes for studio jobs where big projects get teams scaled up fast, and after the game has shipped, most of the team is laid off. This is normal. It sucks, but it’s the way it is.

Will you be able to eat tomorrow? I heard there’s a sale on chicken ramen in the supermarket

Will the work of 3 years be noticed by anyone? Odds are stacked against it.

2. The work-life balance sucks

Get into the office at 9am, leave around 7pm. Have dinner. Back to work. Sneak in an hour of a TV show or your favorite game if you’re lucky.

Time for kids? Don’t count on it.

Hobbies? Your job is your hobby, embrace it!

Holidays? LOL!

Even playing video games become mandatory when you’re working full-time indie. You need to see what other companies are doing. What kind of UI, storytelling, rendering, game design tricks everyone does. Otherwise you fall behind and start to invent the wheel, wasting time.

This is especially hard for people in Western Europe, where 5 weeks of holidays is the norm.

The only way we keep sane is by sneaking in a few days of city trips when we’re at conventions. Sometimes. More often than not we’re too tired after days of work, and just call it a night at a bar.

3. You will probably fail the first time

Yes, your first game will likely flop. So don’t waste 3 years of your life making it, hoping to become the next “INDIE HIT X”. Odds are heavily stacked against it.

If you embrace failure, and give it your best (hope for the best, prepare for the worst), you will be able to get back up and try again. Keep on trying until you succeed.

You do, however, need to have

Means to sustain yourself, read: A JOB

Lots of patience

Be prepared for the two points abov

The gamedev college graduates bubble

Coming into indie game development straight out of college is building a big bubble right now. I see more and more universities evangelizing this dream of game development. Look at these famous devs! They totally did it, and we will prepare you for it!

That’s fantastic, until everyone is doing it.

What’s worse, these educational institutions are mostly in Western Europe and in developed parts of the world. This is where people do expect holidays, a great work-life balance, and a stress-free work environment.

On top of the superficial things I mention, there’s the tangible subject of burnrates. Putting it simply – living in countries like The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, etc — is expensive. Cost of life is high.

Employing people is even more expensive. In order to pay a proper salary, with all of the social taxes involved, you need to multiply your costs by a factor of 2. You can always get freelancers, which you should do – but if you’re a team graduating out of college, odds are you all want to be on the team.

The Eastern Europe Disruption

This is where Eastern Europe comes in and disrupts the whole subject. Low burn rates. By default stressful work environments. Uncertainty. Low cost of life. Highly technical education.

I’ve visited at least 20 game dev events across Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland last few years. I’ve never seen students there who are about to graduate and jump straight into game development. This is where we got games like The Witcher, This War of Mine, Metro Series, thousands of mobile games, and our own projects like Party Hard and Divide By Sheep come from.

Now that the gaps in knowledge and technology are becoming non-existent, I see that region having an advantage over everything that’s going on in Western Europe. Not that I specifically don’t talk about gamedev in the US, because there it’s a similar situation — no overly safe social systems that require lots of overhead costs.

Be ready to fail and you can succeed

There are more people in general making games. Odds are heavily stacked against most of them succeeding. Devs inspired by post-mortems of successes are trying to replicate said successes. When everyone is doing the same thing, it’s a bubble that’s about to burst.

We will see more and more heartbreaking post-mortems of games not becoming successful.

Only those who can afford to fail will be able to try again. And only those who think outside of the box have a bigger chance to succeed.

This is indie game development in 2015.(source:gamasutra)