游戏邦在:
杂志专栏:
gamerboom.com订阅到鲜果订阅到抓虾google reader订阅到有道订阅到QQ邮箱订阅到帮看

《梦幻家园Homescapes》首席设计师Sergey Playaka专访

发布时间:2019-01-11 09:00:56 Tags:,

《梦幻家园Homescapes》首席设计师Sergey Playaka专访

来源:Game Design Lovers 译者:Vivian Xue

谢尔盖·帕萨克(Sergey Playaka):Playrix员工,《梦幻家园》首席游戏设计师,负责《梦幻家园》功能、metagame和剧情的设计。

-是什么使你进入了游戏开发行业而你又是如何成为了一名游戏设计师?

-我一生都在制作游戏。最开始我用乐高做游戏,后来开始制作桌游和真人角色扮演游戏并最终做起了电子游戏。这是我长久以来的“爱好”。当时我很确信游戏开发行业只存在于莫斯科或圣彼得堡的某个地方,而在我的家乡,罗斯托夫(Rostov-on-Don),找一份游戏设计师的工作不太容易。我读大学的时候甚至尝试过找专业对口的工作——我读的是无线电物理学。但在2011年我的妻子偶然发现了一份罗斯托夫当地的社交游戏设计师的工作。那时我清楚地意识到我必须得到这份工作。我的第一个项目是一个叫iSpy的剧情游戏,我是游戏唯一的设计师。尽管整个团队之前没有经验,这款游戏还是相当成功。后来我又做了几个项目,到2015年我在Playrix找到了一份工作,当时我制作的是《梦幻花园》。

-你的典型工作日是什么样的呢?

-我半周在家工作而另一半时间在办公室。尽管如此工作日之间没什么区别。早晨是完成复杂的创意性工作的最佳时间——想一些点子。我尽量不去白白浪费这段时间。上午11点后我开始整理邮件,通常会接到同事的电话沟通一些事宜。下午3点到5点我的工作效率有点下降,因此我会检查游戏的开发状况并做一些评价。快到傍晚时我开始积极地处理任务和不同的创意性挑战。

Gardens capes(from pocketgamer.biz)

Gardens capes(from pocketgamer.biz)

-你最常使用哪些应用和服务来完成主要的工作任务?

-我只用Google Chrome。至于服务——Asana,Google Docs和Slack。我还用Lucidchart绘制剧情流程图,以及结合使用Swrve和AppAnnie获取数据。所有的东西基本上都是在线的。我的意思是基本上5分钟内我可以用任何设备创造一个工作环境。

-你的灵感从何而来?

-大多数情况下来自有趣的人和地方。我喜欢更换工作场所——即使在家里我也有好几个工作区。在办公室和家之间来回切换也为我带来了很多灵感。我偶尔会拜访Playrix的其它工作室或者去别的城市工作。能将工作和旅行结合在一起感觉太棒了。

-你何时、又是如何开始开发一个新功能?你能描述一下整个过程吗?

-开发新功能从预计发布前的3至6个月开始,取决于功能的复杂度。在开始前,我们会先建立战略愿景,但属于比较高层次的。大多数时候,有人已经创造出了一些类似你想做的功能。因此一开始我会收集或更新专业知识,寻找其它游戏、包括我们自己的游戏中存在的类似问题的解决方案。然后我会列出一些“有效的”想法,和其他的游戏设计师一起讨论它们并收集意见。关键在于不能盲目复制别人的想法,而是重新思考它们。基于它们创造适合你的游戏的变体——这始终是最困难的部分。然后我会创建一个几页的简短的概念文档。我在其中描述愿景和关键功能,通常包括模型。然后我们进行讨论,对概念进行迭代并且如果我们决定不放弃它,我便开始研究技术规格。

-你最近看到过哪些你觉得设计很棒的游戏?

-就三消游戏而言——Peak Games的Toon Blast。他们非常酷。如果范围扩大一些,我很喜欢《伊迪芬奇的秘密》(What Remains of Edith Finch),它的剧情非常不错。

-你的职业生涯中最令你骄傲的成就是什么?

-我想是《梦幻家园》的发行。

-如果你可以改变职业生涯中的一件事,它会是什么?

-这听起来可能有点奇怪,但我不会改变任何东西。

-最近你遇到过什么比预期困难得多的任务?

-在《梦幻家园》的创作过程中,我们想过创造一部手机,而不是如今游戏中的平板。这似乎是个非常简单的想法,但却会引发游戏界面的多个细节、游戏和剧情的效果的变化,因此我们不得不放弃它。

还有一个最近新出的和猫咪有关的活动,它必须经过5次概念重审和4次建模。在这个过程中,猫咪本身从这个活动中被剔除,然后又被恢复,直到我们找到了一个最佳的方案。

-你们公司是如何解决就功能设计的变化引发的争端?

-我们试着达成一致。这听起来可能不大寻常,但在我们公司没有人能决定一切——即便是制作人或经理也不行。我们确信任何问题都能以令所有人满意的方式被解决。并且这种解决方案往往是最好的。有时我们会遇到两个人无法达成一致的情况。那么我们会让第三个人加入讨论来帮助人们寻找共识。一切都进展顺利,因为我们理所当然地认为每个人都是专业的。每个人的意见都是重要的并且每个人都希望任务取得进展。

-你如何提高自己的游戏设计水平?

-我的方法很简单——我会接受新的并且困难的任务,并和一个更有经验的同事一起攻克它。他在某个领域的经验更丰富而我在另一个领域经验更丰富,因此当我们一起研究一个功能时,我们可以从彼此身上学习到有用的东西。我们公司有很多优秀的员工,我们总能从他们身上学到东西。除此之外,当然,我还通过玩游戏。我还会阅读一些关于游戏设计的书籍和文章,但是,恕我直言,它们并不是自我提高的主要手段。

-你在设计的时候会听什么音乐?

-我喜欢摇滚和民谣。通常是像Vasily K或者The Dartz这样的俄罗斯小乐队。我试着为不同的工作任务寻找特定类型的音乐,这样能帮助我提高工作效果。

-如果一名游戏设计师想要应聘你们公司,你会给他什么建议?

-不要沉迷于你的想法,而是把精力放在你所做的事上。热爱你的项目非常重要,但要明白,没有任何一个功能是100%属于你的,即便你一开始设计了它。它是团队合作的结果。

-你对游戏设计师有什么建议吗?

-多想想你的玩家在玩游戏的过程中、或者从某一个功能中获得满足感,而不是想着他们将在游戏里花多少钱。一个热门游戏首先得是个好游戏。在这之后它才能获得好的收益。

-按照传统,我们需要拍一张你的工作场所的照片。你能分享一张吗?

本文由游戏邦编译,转载请注明来源,或咨询微信zhengjintiao

Sergey Plyaka — Playrix

Lead Game Designer of Homescapes, who is responsible for features, metagame and the narrative in the project.

What led you to the game dev industry and how did you become a game designer?

I’ve been making games throughout my whole life. At first I made them with Lego, then moved to creating board and live roleplay games and eventually came to videogames. It was a “hobby” for a long time. I was pretty sure that game dev industry exists somewhere only in Moscow or St.Petersburg and in my native city, Rostov-on-Don, one can’t simply find a game designer job. When I was at the university I even tried to work by profession — I’ve studied radio physics. But in 2011 my wife accidentally found a game designer position for social games here in Rostov. That’s when I clearly realized that I have to get it. My first project was a story-based game called iSpy. I was the only game designer on it and even though the whole team didn’t have previous experience, the game was quite successful. Later I had a few more projects and in 2015 I’ve got a job in Playrix and worked on Gardenscapes at that time.

What does a typical day look like?

For half a week I work at home and the other half — at the office. The working day is not that different though. Morning is the best time for complex creative tasks — to come up with something. I try not waste this time in vain. Since 11 in the morning I try to sort out the inbox and we usually have calls with colleagues. From 3 to 5 in the afternoon my efficiency is a bit lower so I try to check the game build and share some comments. Closer to the evening I start to actively work on tasks and different creative challenges.

Which apps and services do you use most to complete your main tasks?

I use only on “app” — Google Chrome. As for the services — Asana, Google Docs and Slack. I also use Lucidchart for scenario charts and Swrve with AppAnnie for statistics. Everything is pretty much online. I means that in general I can make myself a working space from any machine within 5 minutes.

Where do you gain inspiration from?

Mostly I’m inspired by interesting people and places. I like to change places I’m working at — even at home I have several workplaces. And switching between home and office helps a lot. Occasionally I visit other Playrix offices or simply work from other cities. It’s simply amazing when you are able to combine work and trips.

When and how do you start working on a new feature? Could you describe the process?

Working on a feature starts from 3 to 6 months prior to the planned release depending on its complexity. Before the start, the strategic vision is already established, but on a high level. And most of the time someone has already created something similar to what you’d want to make. So first I collect or update the expertise looking for solutions to similar problems among other games, including our own projects. Then I formulate a list of “working” ideas, discuss them with other game designers and collect opinions. It’s very important not to blindly copy someone’s ideas but to reimagine them. To create your own variant based on them, which will fit your game — this is always the toughest part. Then I create a short concept document consisting of several pages. I describe the vision and key features, usually with mockups. Then we discuss, iterate on the concept and if we don’t decide to scrap it, we start the work on the technical descriptions.

Which games have you recently seen that made you think this is great design?

If talking about match-3 — Toon Blast from Peak Games. They are very cool. If looking wider I liked What Remains of Edith Finch, which has a very good narrative.

What achievements in your career are you most proud of?

I think that is Homescapes release.

If you could change one thing about your career, what would it be?

It may sound strange, but I wouldn’t change anything.

Which recent task turned out to be much difficult than you expected?

During the work on Homescapes we had an idea of creating a phone instead of the in-game tablet. I seemed to be a very simple idea, which lead to changes in multiple details of the interface, impression from the game and the narrative, so we had to abandon it. And a new event with the Cat, which recently started in the game, had to live through 5 concepts and 4 prototypes. During the development the Cat itself disappeared from the feature and then appeared again before we have found an optimal solution.

How are the disputes about variants of feature design solved in your company?

We used to try coming to an agreement. It may sound unusual, but we don’t have one person who decides everything — neither the producer or the manager. We are sure that any task can be solved in a way that will satisfy everyone. And that solution often is the best. Sometimes there are situations when two people can’t come to an agreement. Then we add the third person to the conversation, who usually helps to find the consensus. Everything works, because we take for granted that everyone is a professional. Everyone’s opinion is important and everyone is interested in bringing the task closer to its completion.

What do you do to self-improve in game design?

My way is simple — I take new and difficult tasks and work on them in with a more experienced colleague. He has more experience in one area and I’m in a different one, so while working on a feature we can learn something useful from each other. We have a lot of great people in the company and there’s always something one can learn from them. Apart from that I play games, of course. I also read books and articles about game design, but, IMHO, they are not the the main source of self-improvement.

What music do you listen to whilst designing?

I like rock and folk. In general small russian bands like Vasily K or The Dartz. I try to find certain type of music for different tasks as this works better that way.

If a game designer would want to apply to your company, what would you advise him?

Don’t fall in love with your ideas, but live and breathe what you do. It’s very important to love your project, but understand that there will never be a feature that is 100% yours as you planned it in the beginning. It’s the result of the teamwork.

Any advice for game designers in general?

Think about players getting satisfaction from playing your game in general or a specific feature, but not about them paying a lot of money. A hit project is in the first place a good game. And only after that — a nicely tuned monetisation.

Traditionally we ask to take a picture of your working place. Could you please share a picture of yours? (source:Gamedesignlovers.com

 


上一篇:

下一篇: