作者：James Bowling

我们中的很多人都是受到推动才开始创造电子游戏。虽然这是一份辛苦，漫长且充满压力的工作，但是我们却不能自拔。有很多开发者（包括我自己）只能在业余时间进行创造，所以我们的夜晚通常都是忙碌的并可能因此而冷落了一些重要的人。

Astro Attack (from game.feng)

《双星攻击》便是我在业余时间所开发的游戏，这花费了我大概一年的时间。在开发过程中我学到了有关如何在创造游戏的同时保持理智并维持与周围的人之间的关系的一些经验教训。

清楚努力是一种有限资源。

你可能认为自己应该拥有一份全职工作，并在晚上的时候去执行游戏开发的相关工作，但事实上这却是很困难的。你的努力总是有限的。如果你在一份工作中投入太多精力，那么其它事肯定会因此受到影响。每个人所拥有的局限性是不同的，所以你必须找出自己的局限。一旦你清楚自己拥有多少执行时间，你便可以开始规划如何去分配这些时间。

进行简短，常规的beta测试。

让人们玩你的游戏并提供给你反馈，这能够不断激励你继续下去。人们也很乐意看到自己的反馈能够推动你的游戏的发展，如此便能够创造反馈循环。你应该每隔几周规划一次发行，并将其坚持下去。如此人们便能够看到你始终致力于完善玩家体验。你必须清楚在变动版本中到底改变了哪些内容，以及你希望在此获得有关下次发行的怎样的反馈。如果你不这么做，人们很快便会对你的游戏失去兴趣，你也将不能再获得有益的反馈。

有效利用业余时间。

与运行一家大型工作室不同的是，你并不需要投入大量的钱去创造游戏，你只是在利用自己宝贵的自由时间。当你发行了一个测试更新版本时，特别是任何与游戏玩法相关的内容，你应该在决定如何处理它之前先进行一两周的beta测试。如果你不能主动去寻求反馈便很难真正解决问题。你应该有效利用自己那漫长的开发过程。

即使别人认为你不合群也要能理解。

你需要将周末和晚上花费在创造自己的项目，这便意味着你没有足够的时间去接触生活中的其他人。如果你是在家工作，你可能会认为自己仍处于社交状态，但事实上你已经脱离了那里。我的工作伙伴便说过，在沙发上边工作边聊天就像敲办公室的门一样。

当你在计划工作时确保所有人都能获得消息。这不仅能够获得他们的理解也将获得他们的期待。

不要害怕拒绝一些社交活动，但也不要全部拒绝。你可以告诉别人因为将周二晚上留给了游戏创造而不能去看电影，希望之后再和他们约时间见面。

你的游戏并不像你想象的那么重要。

你花了很多时间在游戏中，你也承诺去发行beta更新内容。但是当你花更多时间于游戏上时，你就会觉得这个项目更重要，但其实当你完成所有的一切，你便会离开这个项目继续去执行其它项目。

在业余时间创造一款游戏是一个漫长，辛苦且让人受挫的过程。这里所存在的一大挑战便是要在维持日常生活的同时创造游戏，这是一件非常具有挑战性的任务，你需要做出一些非常艰难的决定。但只要你足够坦诚且保持交流，你便一定能够克服这一挑战。毕竟平衡不只是适用于游戏中。

（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）

Tips For Making Video Games And Keeping Friends

by James Bowling

Many of us are driven to create video games. It’s hard, long, and stressful, but damn it, we just can’t help ourselves. There are plenty of devs (myself included) that need to scratch that creative itch in their spare time, and it’s very easy to get lost in a world of late nights and frustrated significant others.

Astro Attack was developed in my spare time, over about a year. During that development, I learnt a few hard lessons about how to create a game while also maintaining my sanity, and the relationships of those around me.

Here are a few things I learned making and releasing a game in my spare time.

Know that effort is a limited resource.

You might think you can just work a full time job, and get everything done in the evenings, but humans don’t work like that. There is a finite amount of effort you can put into things. If you work too hard on one commitment, the other will suffer. Everyone has different limits, so find yours. Once you have a good idea of how much productive time you have, then you can start to figure out how best to spend it.

Run short, regular, beta tests.

Getting people playing your game gives you amazing feedback, and keeps you motivated. People love seeing their feedback make its way into you game too, so create that feedback loop. Schedule a release every couple of weeks, and stick to it. The commitment will see you working on the stuff that improves the player experience, rather than what’s fun to make. Make sure to be very clear in your patch notes what’s changed, and what you want feedback on for the next release. Without that people will lose interest, and give you unfocused feedback.

Use part time to your advantage.

Unlike running a big studio, you’re not burning through cash to make the game happen, it’s just your precious free time. When you release a beta update, especially anything to do with gameplay, let it sit in beta for a week or two before making any decisions on how to address it. Being too reactive to feedback can lead to bad decisions that don’t solve the problem. Make the most of your lengthy development process.

Be considerate of others when you’re being anti social.

You will need weekends and late nights to make your passion project happen, and that means you’ll have less time to spend with other people in your life. If you’re working from home, you might think you’re still being social, but you’re actually checked out. My partner said having a conversation while working on the couch is like knocking on the office door.

Keeping everyone in the loop when you plan to work, and when you’ll be done. It lets other work around it, and manages their expectations. Most importantly, when your time is up, stop.

Don’t be afraid to say no to social events, but don’t neglect them all. It’s ok to tell someone you’re not going to the movie because you’ve set aside Tuesday night to work on your game, but make time to spend with them later.

Your game isn’t as important as you think.

You spend a lot of time on your game, and you’re committed to release beta updates. You need to hit those dates to make progress and realise your game dev dreams. The more time you spend on it, the more important the project will feel, but when all’s said and done, it’s a project you’ll work on for a while, then move on. The relationships around you will (hopefully) last longer than the development time of a single project.

Making a game in your spare time is a long, hard, and exhausting process. One of the biggest challenges is making the game while also maintaining the rest if your life. It’s challenging, and you need to make some tough decisions, but with honesty and communication, you can make it work. Balance isn’t just for games.（source：gamasutra）