作者：Josh Bycer

最近我们就独立市场这一主题在Perceptive Podcast上进行了交谈。在播客中，我们的主题主要是关于游戏设计障碍以及游戏发行。而当深入交谈时我们意识到所有关于游戏设计与营销的谈话归根结底便是你必须回答的有关自己游戏的一个艰难问题。

Game-WisdomPromo(from gamasutra)

有什么意义？

如今游戏的发行数量不断剧增，但是我们所拥有的时间却保持不变。每一天都会有许多游戏问世。话虽这么说，当我们在决定报导，游戏，评价，宣传哪一款游戏时，我们总是需要了解一个问题，即这么做的意义是什么？

为什么我要在你的游戏中花费自己1分钟的时间，更别说30分钟了。在《Critical Thought》中我谈论了游戏独特性vs完善的平衡。虽然独立游戏可能更加独特，但却因为某些原因而缺少更多优化。而AAA级游戏虽然拥有更棒的优化，但却总是呈现给我们一些相似的游戏玩法。

游戏中的每一道障碍都会让玩家想起这个问题。如今，独特性已经不再独特：当你在阅读本文时，世界上便会涌现出好几款游戏。如果我因为一款游戏而不开心，我大不了去玩其它游戏就好了。

而关于完善游戏，如果我们之前曾尝试过同样的游戏玩法，也就是如果我已经玩过《孤岛惊魂4》（或《暗影魔多》，《疯狂麦克斯》等游戏），我为什么又要去尝试下一款《孤岛惊魂》或《刺客信条》呢？同样地，如果你正基于一个受欢迎的游戏类型在开发游戏，那我为什么不玩现有的游戏而去玩你的游戏呢？

尽管我之前曾以评论者的角度讨论过这些内容，但这一问题同样也延伸到了游戏开发中。

引人注目：

游戏开发是一个非常危险的职业。就像我们说过的，要想在今天的市场上获得成功不仅需要从美术师的角度进行思考也要从商人的角度进行思考。这两个角色将在你的游戏中发挥不同技能。

但是如果你在一开始并未想出一个有价值的理念，那这一切也就毫无意义。但除了能够销售你的游戏外，我们的问题同样涉及到理念是否能够发挥作用。就像我们见证了许多拥有优秀理念的独立游戏但却未能发挥真正的作用。

在Game-Wisdom我们多次讨论了协调游戏设计的概念，在这里它也将再次发挥作用。

独立市场中似乎全充斥着半成品游戏或者那些从简单机制延伸了数个小时游戏玩法的内容。

在节目中我们讨论了复制其它游戏与提升设计间的区别。如果你的游戏理念只是关于“这就像X一样”，那么你最好止步于此。在这里尝试与受欢迎的游戏展开直接竞争其实就像我们在手机游戏市场和MMO游戏市场所看到的情形。

但如果你的理念是关于“这就像X，但却又是不同的，”这便是一个优秀的理念。你可以说《星露谷》与《牧场物语》/《新牧场无语》相似，但其中也包含一些提升元素。关于提升设计有什么意义还有许多需要分享的内容，但在本文中我就不进一步说明了。如果你都不能回答你的游戏有何意义，你就不要指望消费者能够帮你回答这一问题。

确保创造原创作品与拥有和其它游戏相似的元素之间的平衡是非常困难的。让我们再次以这种极端的情况为例：一款独立游戏或许拥有特殊的游戏玩法，但却需要玩家花费大量时间去理解它们，或者一款AAA级游戏虽然具有强大的易用性，但却都是一些我们所认识的内容。

这也引出了我们的最后一点。

进行促销：

我们已经谈过无数次了解PR和市场对于游戏开发者的重要性。如果你的游戏真的非常让人惊艳，它便很有可能凭借自己的实力走到最高点。

而虽然这么说，设计师仍需要清楚如何宣传自己的游戏。让我们回到上一点的最后一部分。独特的游戏需要设计师去解释这款游戏到底有什么独特之处。

但问题就在于如果你的游戏越独特，你的任务也就越艰巨。

我想问你，你是否能够在10秒内向别人解释像《Stellaris》或《著名探险家》等游戏机制？

我知道如果是像《星露谷》或《超级食肉男孩》，再或者是像《塔洛斯的法则》或《时空幻境》等游戏我便能够做到。

对于那些基于现有设计的游戏来说，它们所面临的挑战是：你该如何说服玩家你的游戏值得他们去尝试？如果我已经玩过《英雄联盟》，为什么我还要去尝试《魔兽争霸2》？如果你的游戏是受到一款受欢迎游戏的启发，你便需要想办法去说服别人你并不是在复制其它游戏。

AAA级市场是围绕着授权和大型工作室诞生的。不管何时当有人发行了一款成功的游戏，我们便知道其它工作室肯定会从中寻找灵感。但是当所有人都从中获取相同资源时，游戏便越难从中突显自己了。

就像在《侠盗猎车手3》问世后我们便看到了许多开放世界游戏。

这便是最后一点麻烦：消费者将同时面对所有的这些内容。我们正通过比较不同的射击游戏，潜行游戏等等去了解为什么会有这么多独立游戏同时发行。

而当我们决定是否投入自己有限的时间去玩游戏时，我不得不再一次问你这一问题：你的游戏有何意义？

结论：

我相信我们正在从市场最底端开始进行改变。我们所面对的并非“独立危机”，而是我们的市场即将进行一场重组。

对于开发者来说，因为优秀工作室的不断增多，他们所面对的门槛也就不断上升。与此同时开发者去说服玩家尝试自己游戏的任务也变得更加艰巨。

但这里的要点便在于，如果那些尝试着通过专业渠道去宣传游戏的人都很难跟上市场的发展节奏，我们又该如何期待消费者去找到自己的游戏呢？

（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）

The One Question Every Game Designer Must Answer

by Josh Bycer

Recently we had another great Perceptive Podcast chat on the subject of the Indie market. On the cast, the topic of the bar of game design and releasing a game came up. Talking about it more, we came to the realization that all this talk about designing and marketing your game comes down to one tough question that you must answer about your game.

What’s the Point?

The number of games being released has grown, but our time hasn’t. For every unique game that is being released, there are dozens more coming out daily. With that said, when deciding what games to cover, play, review, spotlight, etc, there’s one question we need to know: What’s the Point?

Why should I give your game 1 minute of my time, let alone 30? In a Critical Thought, I talked about the balance of uniqueness vs. refinement with games. Indie games can be very unique, but lack polish for one reason or another. AAA games are very polish, but usually feature the same gameplay we’ve seen time and time again.

Every barrier in your game brings up that question. Something that annoys me one minute in is going to only get worse when we’re talking about hours of play. Uniqueness these days is not unique: As you’re reading this right now, there’s a good chance that at least a dozen games were released the same day. If a game annoys me even just once, there’s always another game to play.

With refined games, we’ve seen this gameplay before. If I already played Farcry 4 (or Shadows of Mordor, Mad Max, etc) why should I give the next Farcry or Assassin’s Creed a shot? Like-wise, if you’re developing your own take on a popular genre, why should I play your game instead of an existing series?

While I’ve been talking about things from a reviewer standpoint, this question also extends to the game’s development as well.

Standing Out:

Game development is a very risky profession. For every game that makes a profit, there are dozens, if not hundreds that don’t. As we’ve talked about, being successful in today’s market requires the thinking of both the artist and the businessman. Both roles require a lot of different skills working on your game.

However, all that doesn’t mean a thing if you don’t have a worthwhile idea in the first place. Besides just being able to sell your game, our little question also has to do with playing it as well. We’ve seen many indie games that are great ideas, but never go anywhere with them.

Multiple times on Game-Wisdom, we’ve talked about the concept of harmonizing game design, and it once again matters here.

The indie market is full of games that either come off as half-baked, or are nothing more than a simple mechanic that get’s stretched out to hours of play.

On our cast, we talked about the difference between trying to copy another game and elevating a design. If your game idea is nothing more than: “It’s just like X,” then just stop right there, you’re done. Trying to directly compete with another game that’s popular is the same thing we saw with the mobile market and the MMO market before that.

A good idea would be, “It’s just like X, but this is different.” You can say Stardew Valley was similar to the Harvest Moon/Rune Factory games, but there were elevated elements in it. There are several posts waiting to be written about what it means to elevate design, but it’s too big to go into detail about here. If you can’t answer what’s the point of your game, don’t think that the consumer will be able to.

Getting the balance right between making something original and having familiar elements to make it accessible is a tough job. Once again we can see the extremes: An indie game that may have unique gameplay, but requires a lot of time spent to understand it, or an AAA title that is very accessible, but we’ve seen this all before.

Both sides of the scale require the designer to sell their game, and that takes us to our final point.

Making the Sale:

We’ve talked countless times about the importance of understanding PR and the market for game developers. If your game is truly amazing, then there’s a good chance it will rise to the top on its own.

With that said however, designers still have to understand how to pitch their game. Going back to the scale from the last part, both sides have their work cut out for them. Unique games require the designer to be able to explain just what the hell the game is about.

The problem is that the more unique your title is, the harder that becomes.

Let me ask you, could you explain the mechanics of a game like Stellaris or Renowned Explorers in 10 seconds to someone?

I know I could do it with a game like Stardew Valley or Super Meat Boy; even something like the Talos Principle or Braid.

For games based on existing designs, the challenge is this: How do you convince your game is worth playing? If I already played League of Legends, why should I try DOTA 2? Assassin’s Creed vs. Shadow of Mordor, Call of Duty vs. Titanfall and so on. If your game is inspired by a popular title, you have your work cut out for you to convince people that you’re not just copying someone.

The AAA market is built around franchises and major studios. Whenever someone releases a successful title, we know that other studios will look to it for inspiration. However, when everyone is taking from the same source, it makes it that much harder to stand out.

Following GTA 3, we saw everyone embrace open-world games; World of Warcraft: MMOs, Call of Duty: Shooters and so on.

Here’s the final point of trouble: Consumers are exposed to all this at the same time. We’re trying to make sense out of the dozens of Indie games being released at the same time we’re comparing different shooters, stealth games and so on.

Throw in our limited time to play, and I have to ask you this again: What’s the Point of Your Game?

The Bottom Dropping Out:

I do believe that we are heading for a shakeup at the lower end of the market. We’re not going to have an “Indiepocalypse,” but the market is heading towards a restructuring.

As developers, the bar has been raised thanks to the number of standout studios. For everyone else, your job to convince me to play your game has become a lot harder. Even doing my best not to stay on one game for long, I’m still not able to play all the high profile games, much less the ones that aren’t getting attention.

I know with that said, someone may be getting ready to write a snide comment along the lines of, “Maybe you’re not doing your job,” or, “Why are you complaining about having too many games?”

The point is that if someone who is trying to cover games professionally is having a hard time keeping up, what hope does the consumer have in finding your game?

I’m going to once again end my posts with this message. For any Indie developer with an interesting concept for a game that you’re having a hard time getting people to try, please get in touch with me. You can email me at josh*at*game-wisdom.com and I’ll do my best to at least give your game a video spotlight.（source：gamasutra）