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5年内创造100款游戏的经验教训

发布时间:2016-11-14 17:01:33 Tags:,,,,

作者:James Cox

在过去4年里我一直致力于“5年创造并发行100款游戏”这一项目。现在我所累积的游戏数量是80款,而在写下本文的时候我还只剩下不到一年时间。这一挑战是从2012年6月开始并将于2017年7月结束。基于我现在的节奏,我将需要以每个月开发2.5款游戏的速度才有可能完成这一目标。在我所创造并发行的80款游戏中,大概有10款游戏是作为试验品被隐藏于网络后。其中的9款游戏属于非数字游戏,还有3款游戏是作为经典项目而发行。

另外其它58款游戏属于简短的数字游戏,而尽管它们都很小但却还是受到了一些关注,即在IndieCade上获得了“媒体选择”的称号,并出现在了东京国立美术馆以及OK Go乐队的MV《I Won’t Let You Down》中,还获得了来自像Serious Play等大会的多个奖项,并出现在了像EGX和东京游戏展等多个大会的“独立区域”。即使我还有20款游戏要开发,但是我已经从这一过程中学到了许多。虽然现在我不好向你们推荐这样的挑战(游戏邦注:毕竟5年并不断且创造100款游戏的确是一个较大的承诺),但我却可以和你们分享我从中获得的一切:不管是我通过创造80款游戏所创造的创意工作流还是我的兴趣和设计直觉的改变,再或者是我从这样的目标中真正学到了什么。

我将在此列出我今后要发布的一些文章的计划。我会和你们分享这一挑战在某种方式上对我的从新塑造,其中也包括我在此学到的一些经验教训。

写作计划

planning(from gamasutra)

planning(from gamasutra)

我想要写一篇有关这一旅程的终点的内容:即关于我现在对自己如此接近终点的想法,我在过去4年里所吸取的经验教训,这种开发风格的建议和技巧等等。但是如果要将其全部写到一篇文章中会太长,并且我所学到的一切都和游戏开发相关,所以如果全部整合到一起会很奇怪。那最简单的解决方法是什么呢?我可以将其分解到不同文章中,并且每篇文章都可以基于不同主题。如此读者便可以选择适合自己的内容并略过不相干的内容。

我将在剩下的2016年以及2017年发表这些文章。

《Rules of the Game: Why We All Need Our Own Working Definition of ‘Game’》

《Drag and Dropping Games into Existence》

《Violence is a Trite Mechanic》

《Intermedia Translation Games》

《Coping with Blank Canvas Syndrome》

《Work Flow in a Marathon of Sprints》

《I Play, Therefore I Make: The Unhealthy View of Playing as Making》

《Love Short Games: Why Short Games are More Important Than We Know》

《Every Display, an Installation》

《Burn Out: More a Sleep than a Lightning Strike》

《Music Video(games) and Low Performance-Anxiety Play》

《Creativity and Constraints: How Time Limits, Stripping Down, and Dumb Code Can Make Good Games》

最近我发表了《Intermedia Translation Games》。我将该文章放置在该列表的第四位。而那些我较早开始写的内容需要花更长时间进行研究,组织与完善。但是一旦这些文章被发表,我便会通过添加超链接对其进行更新。当然还有另一种更新方法:我会在自己的网站和twitter上更新内容。当我完成第100款游戏时,我也会发布结束挑战后的分析内容。

现在我已经发布了有关游戏的一些感悟:即从电子游戏的研究到需要更多独特视角再到中间挑战阶段。

而在写这些内容的同时我总是会问自己一个问题,“在5年内创造100款游戏有什么作用?”答案其实非常简单:它能够影响一切。通过在较短时间内创造出这么多游戏,我将在任何特定开发循环中萌生各种想法。这个过程不断地塑造着我看待游戏的方式:玩游戏,创造游戏并分析游戏。我也因此获得了更多强大的想法。

一些数字

表格1:每年创造的游戏数量;获得多少大会选择(游戏邦注:基于游戏出现在多少大会,节庆和展会上),游戏获得多少奖励,我参与了多少访谈

推测数字

numbers(from gamasutra)

numbers(from gamasutra)

就像上面所呈现的,2014年是游戏输出最多的一年,而2016则是游戏获得最多大会选择的一年。并且2014到2016年间数字出现了明显的下滑。主要原因便是我消耗了太多精力了。所以我会通过逐渐恢复并获得更多支持去避免数字的下滑。

在4年内创造80款游戏的影响

在我2.5年的记录中,我曾思考过这一挑战的积极面与消极面。而这一次让我们进入一个灰色地带。即比起尝试着将优点与缺点区分开来,我更想呈现这一目标所拥有的一些影响。

制作压力:在短时间内创造出这么多游戏需要我拥有发行导向型心态。对此我所坚持的一个规则便是直到真正觉得游戏完成了才能发行,所以我从未觉得自己是为了学习而花时间去创造游戏。我尝试着将各种新元素整合到每一款游戏中。不管是全新代码,全新设计理念还是全新美术风格。

在创造过程中始终充满信心:我并没有感受到所谓的骗子综合症。这一挑战反倒让我更加自信,即让我相信自己有能力创造游戏。尽管我不认为自己在视觉设计上有多厉害,但我却能够将其设计出来。而持续创造游戏也不断巩固着我作为创造者的身份。

越来越多游戏:这一挑战创造了许多游戏。同样地我也拥有许多能够分享的游戏。而为了一些展会将游戏带向某些地方,我所面对的问题便会从“我是否拥有合适的游戏?”变成“哪款游戏最合适?”而随着游戏数量的减少,这将逐渐侵蚀最后的动机。在前两年的游戏开发中,我可以依靠大会提交截止日期去激励自己完成项目。但现在因为我拥有太多可选择的游戏了,截止日期动机因素也就不像过去那般奏效了。

设计信心:通常我都会在进行编码前先规划游戏。这能帮我明确自己的设计敏感度。并不是因为我会匆忙推动过程的发展,而是因为这将删除一些问题而成就更有效的设计。如果游戏中的任何元素不能支持核心内容,我便会将其删除。

有关时间的本能:通常我都清楚自己创造一款游戏需要花费多少时间。这一半是受到我并不是在创造需要花费几年时间才能发行的游戏的影响。这同时也会阻止我去接触一些更大型的项目,即使我有能力完成它们。

具有试验性的游戏就更好了:对于小型游戏来说,越特别通常越好。如果我创造的是一款《马里奥》复制游戏,或许结果也就那样。但如果我创造的是一款基于试验的游戏,我便可以从中了解到自己的设计敏感度。

有关接受度的直觉:并非我的80款游戏都是出色的,但它们也绝非都是糟糕的。因为创造了这么多游戏,所以我可以在制作初期便预测到它们的发展走向。即使我觉得一款游戏最终的结果不会特别好,我也会尝试着去完成它并发行它。因为偶尔也会出现一些例外。这些游戏的制作时间通常不会超过一个月,所以我也不会在一款糟糕的游戏上浪费太多时间。而如果游戏突然变得受欢迎了,那么情况就不同了。

时间并不是救世主:如果一款游戏不能吸引关注,那么你再优化它也无济于事。在我那80款游戏中,被喜欢(不管是在我看来还是在公众看来)的游戏通常是在开发一天或两天内就有不错的表现。所以投入更多时间于一个项目中并不意味着它就能够获得更多关注。就像我的游戏《Temporality》虽然只花了4天开发时间,但却在Serious Play Conference获得了银奖并在National Japan Media andArts Festival获得了Jury Select。相反地,我花了2个月创造的《RUNNER》到现在为止的点击率还不到200.

经验教训

在我精疲力竭前,我会在心里对自己何时想要完成这些游戏制定一个计划。这里的“完成”包含发行游戏与添加补丁。如果我在一个项目中多花了时间,这将进一步延误下一个项目。这种循环是无止尽的,一次的延误只会导致下一次的延误。而我克服这种问题的方法便是设置应急时间。给自己留点休息时间是有益的,甚至是一整天的休息时间。你也可以以此去完成之前的一些项目,处理一些并不着急的麻烦,甚至去挽救你的日常生活。不要让遥远的担心变成任何紧急事件,你应该让自己变成一个具有前瞻性的开发者。

最后一年

还剩下20款要开发的游戏以及仅有的8个月时间,也就说明我平均每个月要创造2.5款游戏。这似乎是个过于艰巨的任务,特别是在经历了2015和2016年的滞后之后。对于我来说,我还有一些要完成的早前项目以及一款需要确定规则的实体游戏。通过这一挑战,我更加明确自己想要创造怎样的内容并清楚该如何去创造它们。最终我将在2017年6月迎来挑战的结局,我也非常希望自己能够战胜这一挑战。

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

Making 100 Games in 5 Years: The Final Year

by James Cox

For the past four years, I’ve been working towards creating and releasing 100 games in 5 years. My current count is 80, and as of writing this, I have a little under a year left. The challenge began in June 2012 and will end June 2017. At my current pace, I will need to make 2.5 games a month to reach this goal. Of the 80 games I’ve made and released, about 10 of them are hidden around the web as experiments, games I can’t attribute authorship to without spoiling the experience. 9 of them are non-digital games, and 3 of them are released class projects.

The other 58 are short-form digital games, and even though they are small, they have garnered attention, receiving Media Choice at IndieCade, showing in the National Art Center Tokyo alongside OK Go’s I Won’t Let You Down (both Jury Selects in the Japan Media Arts Festival), receiving multiple awards from conferences such as Serious Play, and showing in Indie Areas at events including EGX and Tokyo Game Show. Even with 20 games left, I’ve leaned a lot in pursuit of this goal. Currently, I cannot recommend this challenge (5 years is a long time and making 100 games is a huge commitment), but I can share what I’ve experienced: from the creative work flow I’ve developed through making 80 games, to how my interests and design instincts have shifted, to what I’ve learned from such a lofty goal.

Here, I lay out what my plans are for releasing further writings and what they will be. Then I provide some numbers from this journey so far, share some of the ways this challenge has shaped me, and conclude with one lesson I’ve learned.

The ‘Game Plan’ for Writing

I wanted to write a single post about the final leg of this journey: how I feel now that I’m so close, the lessons I’ve learned through these 4 years, tips and tricks of this development style, and so on. But there is too much to cover in just one go, and while everything I’ve gained is related to game development, it’s too disparate to fit into a single entry. The simplest solution? I’m separating it into different manageable posts, each covering a different topic. This way, they’ll be condensed into readable chunks, and everyone can glean the pieces relevant to them, while skipping the irrelevant.

Writings to be released in the remainder of 2016 and throughout 2017.

? Rules of the Game: Why We All Need Our Own Working Definition of ‘Game’

? Drag and Dropping Games into Existence

? Violence is a Trite Mechanic

? Intermedia Translation Games

? Coping with Blank Canvas Syndrome

? Work Flow in a Marathon of Sprints

? I Play, Therefore I Make: The Unhealthy View of Playing as Making

? Love Short Games: Why Short Games are More Important Than We Know

? Every Display, an Installation

? Burn Out: More a Sleep than a Lightning Strike

? Music Video(games) and Low Performance-Anxiety Play

? Creativity and Constraints: How Time Limits, Stripping Down, and Dumb Code Can Make Good Games

I recently posted Intermedia Translation Games. It’s placement as fourth on the list is because these pieces won’t be released in any particular order. Some that I start writing earlier may take longer to flesh out, research, organize. However, once any of them are published, this article will be updated with the appropriate hyperlink. Another way to stay updated: I post updates on my site, Just404it.com, and on my twitter, @just404it, when I release games and writing. Ultimately, once the 100th game is complete, a post-mortem of the challenge will be set free on the web.

At this stage, I’ve already published a few musings on games: from research on metafiction in videogames to a call for more unique fantasy to a mid-challenge write up.

A question I’ve asked myself while writing these is “how does making 100 games in 5 years pertain to ____?” The simplest answer: it affects everything. By creating so many games in such a condensed period of time, I’m constantly confronted by all manners of thoughts that occur during any given development cycle. My trip digit goal has shaped and informed the way I view games: playing them, making them, analyzing them. It’s changed the elements I appreciate in games, and it’s given me strong opinions. Opinions both supported and opinions shifted by this experience.

Some Numbers

Year Games Conference Selections Awards Podium Presentations, Lectures, And Panels
2012 11 2 0 0
2013 17 5 1 0
2014 34 11 5* 1
2015 11 12 1 3
2016 7 15 1 5
Total: 80 45 8 9

Table 1: The number of games made each year; how many conference selections (based on how many games were displayed at conferences, festivals, and expos), how many awards my games received, and how many talks I’ve given.

*2 of the 2014 awards were “Game of the Year” and “Best Digital Game” by my undergraduate alma mater Miami University of Ohio.

Divining the Numbers

As seen above, 2014 was my best year for game output, while 2016 was the best for conference selection. Also apparent is the drop between 2014 and 2016. The reason is burning out. What did I expect from making 34 games in a year? Something I’m perpetually recovering from and building supports to prevent from happening again.

The Effects of Making 80 Games in 4 Years

In my 2.5 year write up, I speculated about the positives and negatives of this challenge. This time, let’s enter a bit of a grey area. Rather than try to separate the good from the bad, I want to lay out a few effects this goal has had.

Pressure to Produce: Making so many games in this a period of time forces a very release-oriented mindset. One of my rules is that I won’t release a game until it feels complete, so I never feel like I can take the time to make a game to purely learn. I do, however, try to incorporate something new into each of my games. Be it a new piece of code, a new design idea, new art style.

Confidence through Creation: I don’t feel impostor syndrome. This challenge has given me the confidence to believe in myself: I can make games. While I don’t believe I have a defining visual style, I do have a design voice. Continually making games helps reinforce my identity as a creator.

Here’s a Game for That: This challenge produces a lot of games. As such, I have a lot of games to share. For submitting to venues for show, the question changes from “Do I have a game that would fit?” to “Which games fit best?” On the downside, it eats away at deadline motivation. In my first two years of game-making, I could count on a conference submission deadline to help motivate me to finish a project. Now, because I have games to fall back on, deadline motivators don’t work as well as they used to.

Design Confidence: I generally can lay out a game before I ever touch the code. It’s made me very scope-down savvy in my design sensibilities. Not because I’m rushing the process, but because cutting out fluff makes for a stronger design. If any element of a game doesn’t support the central message, I remove it.

Timing Instincts: I can generally gauge how long it’ll take me to build a game. This is half influenced by the fact that I don’t make games that take years to release, and half because I’ve learned how long my process takes. This also discourages me from working on larger projects, even if I could complete them.

Experimental is Better: For small games, the stranger the game, the better it is. This has held true for both my own exploration and for public reception. If I was to make a Mario clone, it would be just that. When I make an experimental game, I also learn more about my own design sensibilities.

Reception Intuition: Not all of my 80 games are good, not all of them are bad. Having made so many, I can predict early in production which way they’ll go. Even if I get the feeling a game will turn out poorly, I try to complete it and release it anyway. This habit formed because there are occasionally anomalies. These games usually take less than a month to make, so there isn’t much lost time on a bad one. And if it turns out good, then my sensibilities shift.

Time is Not a Savior: If a game doesn’t attract attention, polishing it won’t save it. The games in my 80 that were favorably viewed (both in my eyes and in the public’s) executed well within a day or two of development. More so, extra time on a project doesn’t mean it’ll receive more attention. My game Temporality won Silver at Serious Play Conference, was a Jury Select in the National Japan Media and Arts Festival, and was made in 4 days. The game only required four days for me to implement, so I only spent four days on it. On the other hand, I spent 2 months creating RUNNER, and, as of writing this, it has under 200 plays.

A Lesson to be Learned

I need to be ok with doing less. Before I burnt out, I had a structured mental plan for when I wanted to have games completed. This “completion” included having games released and patched. When I fell behind on one project, it would delay others. This cycle was self-perpetuating, delays leading to delays leading to delays. The way I’m overcoming this now is by keeping emergency time. It’s good to have established breaks, even full-on days for just relaxing. It’s also good to keep time open to complete old projects, to handle non-immediate troubles, to catch up on life. Don’t let far-off worries become emergencies; take care of yourself by being proactive.

The Final Year

With 20 games left, and roughly 8 months remaining, I need to make about 2.5 games a month. It may seem like a tall order, especially since 2015 and 2016 lagged. In my favor, I have several old projects I mean to complete and one physical game I need to type the rules up for. Through this challenge, my design voice is solid, I know what I want to make, and I know how to make it. Ultimately, we’ll see how this challenge ends in June 2017, but I’m glad I took it up.(source:gamasutra

 


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