开发者谈小团队如何与3A游戏公司竞争

原作者：Brendan Sinclair 译者：Vivian Xue

Alex Hutchison在3A游戏开发领域可谓资历深厚，他担任过《模拟人生 2》（The Sims 2）和《孢子》（Spore）的首席设计师以及《刺客信条 3》（Assassin’s Creed III）和《孤岛惊魂 4》（Far Cry 4）的创意总监。

人们或许会认为，游戏开发对于这位行业老手来说肯定游刃有余，但是事实并非如此，上个月在蒙特利尔国际游戏峰会上，GamesIndustry.biz采访了Hutchinson，他表示自己并不觉得开发3A游戏有多轻松，反而更感到畏惧。

“如果你考虑一下预算，这十年来游戏成本迅猛增长，但是价格却没什么太大的变化，这真的挺吓人的，”Hutchinson说，“面对1亿美金的开发成本，人们根本不知道该怎么把游戏卖出去。因此你要么把价格提到150美元，要么寻找别的方法获得资金，要么削减预算。这三个决定都令人不太愉快。”

这也是Hutchinson去年离开育碧成立自己的工作室Typhoon Studios的原因之一。

Army of Two: The 40th Day（from gamesindustry.biz）

“当你在一个项目上投入大量资金时，你必须证明你的项目能吸引足够多的玩家，这意味着这个项目基本不会有什么特色，”Hutchinson说，“你必须尽量迎合主流趋势。虽然可以做一点夸张的东西，但鉴于投入的资金，你不得不保持中规中矩。”

“因此在Typhoon，我们的预算大大减少了，我们也就不需要那么高的销量。这事实上挺有趣的，因为我们可以做出些（不同的）东西。也许你无法制作一部成本一亿美金的恐怖电影，但是你可以做一部一千万的恐怖电影，并且同样出色。我想对于电子游戏行业来说也是一样。”

尽管如今Typhoon还没有做出什么作品，Hutchinson说他们已经招募到了大约20个成员，签署了一份发行合同，并且制定了一项团队战略。

“我认为市场上仍然存在着很大的机会，”Hutchinson说，“我相信你的小团队有能力制作出一款能与3A游戏的部分体验匹敌的游戏。我并不认为你能够像他们一样面面俱到。但是我创立Typhoon最初的设想是我们并不需要面面俱到。我们不需要多人模式、单人模式、合作模式、第二屏幕功能、VR支持和3D电视等功能……事实上你可以选择并专注于其中的某一块。”

Hutchinson举了《收获日 2》（Payday2）、《方舟：生存进化》（Ark: Survival Evolved）和《传送门》（Portal）作为例子，它们都是“在游戏体验上可以与3A游戏竞争的优质游戏并且不需要400个开发人员。”
这一理念部分来源于他以往的开发经历。Hutchinson曾在EA担任《战地双雄：第四十天》（Army of Two: The 40th Day）的创意总监，一款有点人格分裂的游戏。《第四十天》是上一部合作射击游戏的续作，最大的亮点也许是它的“兄弟美学”，游戏鼓励玩家们改装枪支：比如为枪支镀金或白金或者用钻石镶嵌它们。

除此之外，《第四十天》还为玩家提供了难以预知的道德选择，有时玩家在某个剧情点做出的选择本来出于好意，结果却糟糕透顶。这种系统背离了标准的游戏道德选择，尽管是有趣的，但对于这类射击游戏来说可能不是特别合适。

“回想起来，我当时可能犯了一个错误，因为一般我会尝试在游戏中，即使是大项目，加入一些幽默的或者吸引我的东西，带给人们一点新的感知，”Hutchinson补充说，“只有让团队享受制作过程时这才是值得的，但是当游戏的销售信息与你对游戏的目标产生冲突时，这将变得很困难。这也是为什么人们需要转变观念。因此我要么得通过营销说服玩家，（但鉴于它是一部续作，玩家们不可能接受），要么我只能延续这部作品的兄弟主题。最好的做法应该是专注于那些喜欢你的制作的玩家。

关键在于接触到那部分玩家，可如今Hutchinson没有了3A营销团队的支持。

“这的确是最可怕的地方，” Hutchinson说，“如今大家不是在App Store就是在Steam上售卖游戏，并且我感觉它们基本无人问津，就像是把你的游戏堆到CompUSA（一家美国消费电子产品,技术产品和计算机服务经销商，游戏邦注）前面的那个big bin（专门放折扣商品，游戏邦注）里。我一般会看看能否在里面找到些什么，但是大多数人只是路过它。我认为我们还没有解决这个问题，并且我认为这两个平台也没有兴趣解决这个问题，因为在他们眼中每个人只是一个百分比，只要你买了东西，他们就能赚很多钱。我们得想办法克服这一点，这就是为什么我们决定与发行商合作发行第一款游戏。我们是一个新IP和新工作室，所以需要帮助来获得一点名气。”

自从2000年初在澳大利亚开发商Torus Games开始工作以来，Hutchinson并不需要与外部发行商合作，当时他表示游戏行业宛如“西大荒”（Wild West，美国初期的西部荒原，游戏邦注）。他回忆起一个和Torus产生过经济纠葛的发行商。他们当时在不同的工作室有三到四个项目，但是资金只够支持其中的两个。但是，这个发行商并没有选择减少项目数量，而是每月对各个项目进行评估，并根据评估结果决定哪些团队可以获得资金。

“谢天谢地，这种情况似乎再也不会发生了，”Hutchinson说，“游戏的预算已经超越了它所能控制的程度，发行商们为了生存必须要定期发行一些作品……这个行业仍然是“西大荒”，别误会，最棒的地方在于你可以谈论一些疯狂的话题并且某个人会为你的离奇的想法买单。人们可以在五分钟内破产，也可以在毫无经验的基础下进入这个行业并做出令人惊叹的成绩……这个行业充满着各种变数，但更稳定了一些，人们更成熟。这感觉更人性化了。”

Hutchinson对于这个行业未来的发展保持乐观的态度，但是与人们所设想的理由不太一样。当被问到推动行业前进的驱动力可能会是什么时，他回答道：“所有无聊的内容。”

“人们被一些新事物所吸引，比如VR，”他说，“我认为VR的发展一直举步维艰，相比之下，人们并不是特别感兴趣的数字分销、开发者自行定价以及后来的F2P模式、XBLA和PSN模式，这些对于独立工作室来说帮助更大，能够推动我们前进。至于体感操作、3D电视、VR——它们像嗅觉电影一样不过是些华而不实的东西。”

本文由游戏邦编译，转载请注明来源，或咨询微信zhengjintiao

Alex Hutchinson has a lengthy resume in AAA game development, from lead designer on The Sims 2 and Spore to creative director on Assassin’s Creed III and Far Cry 4.

One might think such familiarity would make him comfortable working in that part of the industry, but speaking to GamesIndustry.biz at the Montreal International Games Summit last month, Hutchinson spoke more of fear in AAA than comfort.

“If you look at budgets, the cost of games has been increasing astronomically over the last decade, but the cost to consumers hasn’t really moved, so that’s the really scary part,” Hutchinson said. “People are looking at the fact it’s $100 million to make the game and saying we just can’t sell it like that. So then you have to turn around and sell it for $150, or find another way to get some money, or cut the budget. So there’s three uncomfortable decisions in there someone has to make.”

That’s part of the reason why Hutchinson left Ubisoft last year to start his own development house, Montreal-based Typhoon Studios.

“When you’re spending a lot of money, you have to justify your project by saying it’s going to appeal to a lot of people, which essentially means it cannot be a strong flavour,” Hutchinson said. “I think by definition you just have to be more mainstream. You can have a few elements that are a bit more extreme, but you have to play to the middle because of the amount of money you’re spending.

“So it was interesting with Typhoon to say if we trim the budget by a lot, then we don’t need to sell as many copies. Which is actually kind of fun, because then we can make something [different]. You’re never going to get a $100 million horror movie made, but you can get a $10 million horror movie made, which could be equally brilliant. I think the same is equally true of video games.”

While it’s still too early to talk about what Typhoon is making, Hutchinson said the team has staffed up to about 20 people, landed a publishing deal, and settled on a strategy.

“I think there’s still a big opportunity in the middle of the market,” Hutchinson said. “I think you can make a game with a small team that competes with parts of AAA games. I don’t think you can compete obviously with the full smorgasbord. But one of the reasons I wanted to start Typhoon was the idea that we don’t need to make the buffet anymore. We don’t need multiplayer and single player and co-op and second screen activity and VR support and 3D TV… You can actually just pick one of these things and focus.”

As examples of games that have done just that, Hutchinson points to Payday 2, Ark: Survival Evolved, and the original Portal as “nice, focused experiences that can compete with AAA on quality level but don’t require 400 people.”
Army of Two: The 40th Day didn’t always reward the player for doing the ‘right’ thing.

One can see how that approach was formed partly from Hutchinson’s own experiences. While at Electronic Arts, Hutchinson was creative director on Army of Two: The 40th Day, a game that had a bit of a split personality. The 40th Day was the sequel to a co-op shooter perhaps best remembered for its “bro” aesthetic, where players were encouraged to bling out their guns in gold or platinum finishes, perhaps encrusting them with diamonds in the process.

That aspect was present in The 40th Day, but so was a jarringly unpredictable morality system, where players presented with specific scenarios could act with the best intentions but produce the worst results. It was an interesting twist on standard video game ethics, but perhaps not the best fit with a game expected to be a turn-your-mind-off celebration of blowing stuff up.

“In retrospect, I probably made a mistake because my general rule was to try and push in a few things, even on big projects, that just made me laugh, or I found fascinating, to try and change someone’s perception a little bit,” Hutchinson said, adding, “It was worth it just for the team to enjoy the process of making it, but it’s very difficult when the sales message of the game is in conflict with your goals for the game. That’s why one has to move. So either I had to win the marketing message argument, which based on the fact it was a sequel was impossible, or I probably should have just doubled down on the bro-tastic nature of it. Ideally it should be completely focused on one audience that likes what you’re building.”

The trick is actually reaching that audience, now that Hutchinson no longer has the benefit of a AAA marketing department behind his work.

“It’s absolutely the most terrifying part,” Hutchinson said. “Everyone’s all App Store or Steam, and I feel sometimes they’re uncurated to an extent that it feels like piling your game into that big bin that used to be at the front of CompUSA. I would trawl through that thing and find something, but I would watch everyone else just walk past it. I don’t think we’ve solved the problem, and I don’t think those two platform holders have any interest in solving the problem because they make a percentage on everybody. As long as you buy something, they make a lot of money. We need to figure out a way to get through that noise, which is why we’ve decided to go with a publisher for this first game. We’re a new IP and a new studio, so we need help making some noise.”

Hutchinson hasn’t needed to work with an external publisher since a stint at Australian developer Torus Games in the early 2000s, back when Hutchinson said the games industry had a very “Wild West” feel to it. He recalled one publisher Torus going through some financial struggles. They had three or four projects going at different studios, but only enough money to bankroll two of them. But rather than trim their slate to a manageable size, the publisher would assess monthly milestones for each project, and determine which teams got paid based on those.

“Thankfully that doesn’t seem to be possible anymore,” Hutchinson said. “The budgets have gone beyond the ability for that to even happen; you need to be a stable publisher to even exist… It’s still the Wild West, don’t get me wrong. The best part is that you can have crazy conversations and someone can stump up a lot of money for a ridiculous idea, people go out of business in five minutes, people can get into the business with no experience and be amazing… There’s all kinds of great parts to the Wild West nature of it, but I think it has stabilized somewhat and people are more adult. It feels more human.”

As for where the industry’s headed in the future, Hutchinson is optimistic, but perhaps not for the reasons one might expect. When asked what he thinks will drive the industry going forward, Hutchinson said it would be “all the boring stuff.”

“People get caught up in the new thing, like VR,” he said. “And I think VR has continued to struggle and show that it maybe isn’t anything at all, whereas digital distribution and being able to set a price point… It doesn’t sound very interesting to people, but it used to be a boxed product or nothing. Then there was free-to-play with a different model, then XBLA or PSN with a different model, and you can set your own price point where you like. It’s a huge deal for independent studios. I think these really practical, dull issues are the big ones driving us forward, and the flashy stuff–motion controls, 3D TV, VR–it’s all smell-o-vision, really.”（source：Gameindustry.biz  ）