作者：James Batchelor

独立开发商Twirlbound是从2013年开始制作游戏，但其年轻的团队仍然热衷于学习并通过游戏jam和其它各种活动去挑战自己。

jam(from develop-online)

去年，该团队参加了Brains Eden（游戏邦注：每年在剑桥的安格利亚鲁斯金大学所举办的游戏节）。该活动要求参与者在48小时内创造一款游戏，并且会给予获奖者到一些不错的工作室实习的机会，同时还会支持他们的游戏开发道路。

Twirlbound的团队成员包括Matthijs Van de Laar，Martin tuurworld，Marc Peyre，Bert Ruiter和Timo Van Hugten。而Van Hugten便是2015年Brains Eden的冠军，并因此获得实习机会且最终获得了在Guerrilla Cambridge的工作机会。

这五个人共同创造了《Hexagoal》，即重新呈现拥有久远历史的空气曲棍球方式并致力于让两名玩家在同一台智能手机或平板电脑上相互对抗。这支团队不仅能在周末创造出可行的游戏原型，他们也将对其进行优化并在3个月后将游戏发行于iOS和Android平台上。

而他们之所以能够做到这点便是在游戏jam一开始便拥有一个明确的想法。

Van de Laar解释道：“我们马上将2015年Brains Eden的主题，即位移作为游戏机制，即将其带到游戏关卡或区域中。”

“我们知道自己想要创造一款有趣的街机游戏，特别是多人游戏，所以我们才打算创造一款让两名玩家去改变比赛场地的空气曲棍球般的游戏。”

“结果便是我们创造了一个带有多个会突然出现的气泡按键的多边形比赛场地，并在玩家带球移动的区域中创造连锁效应。”

Hexagoal(from develop-online)

该团队是从周六开始工作，那时候他们已经拥有一个能够在周一早上向其他参与者战士的完整版本的《Hexagoal》。Van de Laar表示，来自其他参与者以及产业代表和顾问的反馈都非常有价值。

他说道：“这是非常有益的反馈，并且看到这些人在测试你只花几个小时所创造的游戏真的很有趣。比赛的最后一天也很有趣，人们会回到我们的场所进一步尝试《Hexagoal》。”

幸运的是，当他们决定将《Hexagoal》带向手机平台时，这些反馈并未迫使他们投入更多工作。实际上Twirlbound也表示他们并不需要做出太多改变。

Van de Laar说道：“我们需要修改一些界面问题以更好地匹配Android和iOS设备，但是主要游戏玩法还是保持不变。我们会根据Brains Eden的现场游戏状况去调整三个值而让游戏更加平衡。”

现在已经可以申请今年的Brains Eden了。活动时间是在今年的6月24日周五至6月27日周一。

（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）

From game jam to app store in three months: The story of Hexagoal

By James Batchelor

Dutch indie Twirlbound may have been making games since 2013, but its young team is still keen to learn more and challenge themselves via game jams and other events.

Last year, the team took part in Brains Eden – an annual games festival hosted in Cambridge at Anglia Ruskin University. The event tasks participants with building a game in just 48 hours, with prizes including internships at major games studios and support kickstarting their games development career.

Twirlbound’s team comprised of Matthijs Van de Laar, Martin Stuurworld, Marc Peyré, Bert Ruiter and Timo Van Hugten. In fact, Van Hugten was the big winner of Brains Eden 2015, securing an internship that eventually led to employment at Guerrilla Cambridge.

Together the quintet built Hexagoal, a quirky new take on the time-honoured air hockey formula that was designed to enable two players to battle it out on the same smartphone or tablet. Not only were the team able to build a working prototype by the end of the weekend, they were able to polish and release it for iOS and Android just three months later.

Crucial to this was a clear idea from the beginning of the game jam.

“We immediately arrived at displacement – the theme for Brains Eden 2015 – as the mechanic by applying it on the game’s level or terrain,” Van de Laar explained.

“We knew we wanted to make a fun arcade game, preferably multiplayer – hence we were inclined to make a sort of air hockey game with two players who deform the playing field rather than some pawn.

“The result was a hexagonal game field with bubbly buttons that could pop in and out, creating a ripple effect on the terrain that moves the balls in the field.”

Work began on Saturday, with a fully playable version of Hexagoal showcased to the other participants on Monday morning. Van de Laar said the feedback from fellow jammers, as well as the industry representatives and mentors that help support Brains Eden, was invaluable.

“It was good feedback and it was fun to see these people blind test the game you made in only a couple of hours,” he said. “The final playday was fun too, with people coming back to our location to play some more Hexagoal.”

Fortunately, this feedback did not create too much work when it came to bringing Hexagoal to mobile stores. In fact, Twirlbound reports that there was very little to change.

“We had to fix some interface problems to make it fit for all Android and iOS devices, but the main gameplay was very solid and fun,” says Van de Laar. “We tweaked about three values only to make it a bit more balanced, based on the onsite playsessions at Brains Eden, and that was about it.”

Applications are now open for Brains Eden – both in terms of participants and developers wanting to take part as mentors. The even will run from Friday, June 24th to Monday, June 27th.（source：develop-online）