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帮助独立开发者提高生产力的5种方式

发布时间:2016-12-13 14:07:08 Tags:,,,,

作者:Damian Wolf

生产力是任何开发者生命中一个非常重要的元素。不管你是网页开发者,系统程序员还是游戏开发者,如果因为生产力而获得赞赏对你们的职业生涯来说真的会很有帮助。

image(from gamasutra)

image(from gamasutra)

游戏开发是一种多元化工作,需要开发者拥有各种不同的技能以及毅力才有可能获得成功。但是在与传统游戏开发者相比时,我们会发现独立开发者面对着完全不同的工作要求。

独立开发者的目标是在一定时期内独立创造一件可持续产品。也就是说独立游戏开发者是独立工作的并且需要在特定时间内完成自己的作品。有时候他们所面对的工作量甚至会让最优秀的开发者也喘不过气。

对他们来说处理这种问题的最佳方式便是生产力,即最有效地利用自己的时间。在本文中我们将为独立游戏开发者分享一些提高生产力的有效方式。不管你是新手还是有经验的独立游戏开发者,这些方法都能帮助你更有效地进行游戏开发并有条理地完成工作。

尝试不同工作时间

因为每个人都是不同的所以我们不能去遵循唯一的生产力模式。作为独立游戏开发者,你应该最大限度地发挥自己的个性。这也是你需要去尝试适合自己的时间表的原因。你可以从标准的每周40至50个工作时间开始,并标记你能够完成的任务数量。

尽管一周80个小时的工作时间对于游戏开发者来说很常见,但我还是不建议你们这么做。根据调查,对于游戏开发者来说平均每周的工作时间是60个小时。加班工作也不一定能为他们创造更多利益。你可以先从每周工作40个小时开始,然后逐渐转向更严厉的时间安排。认真观察什么才是最适合自己的工作时间。

灵活是作为独立游戏开发者的你的最大优势,你不需要在任何人手下工作。这能让你完全控制自己的工作时间和生产力。从早晨到深夜,你可以自己决定生产力最旺盛的时间段。

避免耗尽体力

当你在尝试不同工作时间时,你还应该避免耗尽全部体力并以此保留生产力。耗尽体力与厌倦某物并不同,不要将其搞混。通常当你决定大力加班且工作量超过自己力所能及范围时你便可能遭遇体力耗尽的情况。

虽然你应该去挑战自己的极限,但同时你也必须清楚何时该抽身并停止工作。当你开始觉得缺少动力和激情并且精神耗竭时,你便会有耗尽体力的感觉,所以你应该避免出现这些情况。耗尽体力不仅浪费成本同时也可能导致你的后退。所以你需要尝试去找出可能耗尽体力的任何症状并经历去避开它们。而如何你发现了这种症状,最好去寻求医生或专家的帮助。

提前计划你要做的所有事

现在你已经明确适合自己的工作时间以及何时自己的生产效率最高。同时你也清楚如何避免体力耗尽。但是你还需要仔细去规划你将面对的种种任务。如果确实少当计划,你的生产力便会大大降低。独立游戏开发其实便是关于在不同领域间的穿梭。即你不仅需要设计游戏,你还需要担负起编程,测试与营销工作。

而适当的计划能够带给你超越别人的一些优势。就像对于新手来说,提前做出计划能让你从心理上对之后的工作做好准备。

你需要明确的是你在隔天想要完成的工作,并在出现其它紧急情况前始终坚持这一计划。同时你还需要确保自己所做的计划足够现实,不要去尝试那些自己不可能办到的事。

使用工具去保证生产销量

编程工具能够帮助你最大效率地进行游戏开发。如果你不能有效利用这些工具,你便会白费力气进行一些重复劳作。如果你是独立游戏开发新手,你可能需要尝试最有效的免费游戏引擎并选择最适合自己的一种。同时你不应该频繁改变编程语言或游戏引擎,这可能只能让你白白浪费时间。

宣传你的作品

当一切都准备就绪,即你明确了工作时间以及选择了合适的工具,你可能会开始产生厌倦情绪。即出现缺少动力和拖延症的情况。对此的最佳解决方法便是参加在线社区并去宣传自己的游戏开发。

例如来自瑞典的IndieDeveloper便经常在Livecoding.tv上宣传自己的游戏开发。他们正在创造一款名为《CloudWatch》的僵尸游戏(游戏邦注:这是受到《使命召唤》的僵尸模式的启发)。还有来自美国的Phanxgames也经常在Livecoding.tv上宣传自己的《RPGLegend》。还有许多热衷于宣传自己的作品的开发者,他们也从中获得了更多动力并在游戏发行前吸引了更多粉丝去关注自己的项目。

结论

虽然上述列表还不够详尽,但却能够帮助你成为更具生产力的开发者。而提高生产力的一种最新方式便是让你的用户能够关注你所进行的项目。所以宣传便是最佳方式,你必须最大限度去利用当前的网络机遇。

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

5 Productivity Hacks for Indie Game Developers

by Damian Wolf

Productivity is an important aspect of any developer’s life. It doesn’t matter if you are a web developer, system programmer or a game developer, a reputation for productivity can really help your career.

Even though productivity for programmers from different sub-fields can be seen through a single lens, a game developer’s productivity is a different ballgame altogether.

Game development is a multi-disciplinary trade that requires a variety of skills, rigor, and persistence to succeed. However, indie game developers are like snowflakes and have completely different work requirements when compared to traditional game developers.

Indie game developers are self-contained developers with the goal to create a sustainable product over a period of time. Clearly, indie game developers are on their own and need to finish their product in a specific timeframe. The massive workload can seem at times overwhelming for even the best developers out there.

The best way to tackle difficulties is to be productive – to make the most of your time. In this article, we help you do just that and share some intriguing productivity hacks for indie game developers. It doesn’t matter if you are a beginner or experienced indie game developer, these hacks will help you get a better grasp on your game development and be in charge of what you are doing.

Experiment with worktimes

Not everyone is the same. We all are different and that makes it hard for everyone to follow one particular pattern for productivity. As an indie game developer, it is important to make the most out of your own personality. That’s why you need to experiment with what schedule works for you and what does not. Start with a standard 40-50 hrs per week workload and keep a tab on the number of tasks you are able to complete.

Even though an 80 hour week workload seems to be pretty common for game developers, it is not advisable to walk that path. Surveys have hinted that it is common for game developers to work 60 hours per week on average. Also, working overtime doesn’t yield them any monetary value. Summing all these up, it would seem to warrant you to work at least 60 hours per week. However, don’t go forward with this plan. Start slowly with 40 hours per week, and then move on to a more rigorous routine if needed. See what works and what doesn’t, and adjust accordingly.

Being flexible is the biggest advantage you have as an independent game developer and not working under anyone. This gives you the ability to be in full control of your work hours and be productive whenever you can. From early morning through late-night, build your schedule around the time of day you feel the most productive.

The Productivity Strategy Guide addresses how being in “The Zone” is important to make the most out of your time. Even though it is not possible to stay in the “zone” all the time, experimenting with your schedule can yield better results. Check out the guide to learn more.

Avoid burnout

While you are experimenting with your work time, you should also be mindful of burnout and understand the need to avoid it to stay productive. Burnout is not the same thing as boredom, so don’t confuse them. Burnout generally takes place when you decide to work an excessive amount of overtime and go beyond your capacity.

While you should challenge your limits, you should also know when to pull the trigger and stop working. Feelings of burnout generally start with less motivation, emotional, physical and mental exhaustion, and avoiding responsibilities. Burnout is costly and can easily set you back a lot. That’s why you should always try to look out for symptoms of burnout and avoid it altogether. If you feel this condition applies to you, see your doctor and seek professional help.

Read this article if you want to know more about burnout and how to avoid it.

Plan everything you do and plan ahead

Great, you now know your work times and when you are most productive. You also know how to avoid burnout and stay at the peak of your performance. However, you need to to carefully plan the tasks you are working on. Without proper planning, you will be less effective. Indie game development is all about shuffling between different trades. You not only have to design the game, you also need to code, test and market your game when it is ready.

Proper planning can give you a real edge over others. For starters, try to carefully plan the day ahead, perhaps the night before. This will enable you to be mentally ready for the next day.

All you need to do is note the things that you want to accomplish the next day and stick to it until and unless something urgent comes along. And make sure the plan is realistic, don’t try to do more in one day than you can actually achieve.

Use tools to stay productive

Programming tools are required to make the most out of your game development. Without proper usage of these tools, you are just reinventing the wheel most of the time. If you are a beginner indie game developer, you might want to check out the best free game engines and choose the one that best suits your needs. Also, do not try to change the programming language or the game engine frequently, this will lead you nowhere.

Broadcast your work

With everything in position, from work schedule to which tools to use, one thing that always haunts an indie game developer is boredom. It leads to low motivation and procrastination. One excellent solution is to join an online community and broadcast your game development.

For example, IndieDeveloper, from Sweden, regularly broadcasts his game development on Livecoding.tv. He is currently building a zombie game known as CloudWatch and is inspired by the zombie mode in the Call of Duty games. Another developer, Phanxgames from the US, broadcasts his game RPGLegend on Livecoding.tv. There are others who enjoy broadcasting their work and enjoy benefits including better motivation and creating a fan following and attention to their projects before they are released.

Conclusion

The above list is in no way exhaustive. These hacks will help you to become more productive in your pursuit. One of the latest ways of boosting your productivity is to have an audience that follows your project. Broadcasting is one of the best ways to garner an audience and make the most out of the current opportunities available online.(source:gamasutra

 


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