作者：Mike Birkhead

在下文中，我将根据自己从80年代电影，尤其是动作电影中悟出的道理，分享自己经过深思熟虑后总结出的收获。

大胆尝试，敢冒风险

take-a-chance(from recreateyourlifetoday.blogspot.com)

在游戏开发中，我们总是在冒各种各样的风险。我们冒险使用新的功能、冒险采用新的谜题，但最关键之处在于，我们自己本身也是在冒险。

很少人知道，当我刚开始进入游戏设计行业时，我觉得自己很糟糕。我相当不自信，以致于在《战神：奥林匹斯之链》的开发过程中，我曾经跟团队主管说过自己想要放弃。我想整理下桌子，把自己所有的东西带回家，这对我来说意味着自己又变成了程序员。

看看，遇到英明睿智的人是多么得重要。你的想法会不断涌现，但是团队可能也会在你的想法出现的几秒时间内就将其否定。

不要因此而灰心丧气！

不要丢失那种感觉！

不要因此而失去自信！

真理就在眼前，你可以找到它！

没有人能够做到100%正确，我真心感谢主管能够给予我克服困难的勇气，并从问题中吸取经验。

最终，我意识到团队否定自己的想法并非出于恶意，他们很尊重我的想法，希望能够传授某些我需要知道的东西。我向你保证，一旦你尝到了行业中的甜头，就不会想要放弃。

日以继夜地努力工作

我日以继夜地努力工作，希望能够有所突破。

如果我想要成为最棒的设计师，那么我就会努力工作。我利用闲暇时间尽量让自己冷静，成为最棒的游戏设计师。我之所以要把自己冷静下来，是因为激情会对正确的决策产生消极影响。

世界上有许许多多睿智的人，而且多数人并没有沉溺于游戏主机中。但我见过许多人在谈到游戏设计时的观点是“生活中处处都是游戏设计，好好享受生活吧”，这种观点让我倍感困惑。

我曾经也给过这样的意见，虽然表面上看似乎是个很不错的建议，但是现在我觉得它毫无方向性可言。之所以说“毫无方向性”，是因为此类建议并没有真正为你指明学习的方向和做法。

假设你自己是个年轻的游戏设计师。你想要知道的是如何才能成为最棒的游戏设计师。但是，“享受生活”这样的建议对你来说确实有价值吗？它或许能够打破你的思维局限（游戏邦注：这可以算是个好处），但它并没有给你指明学习的方向。

对我来说，享受生活并不是通往知识的路径，更重要的是培养潜意识。随便拿起一本书，你都可以从中获得建议。这些书籍可能会给你提供诸多建议，比如出去散步、偶尔离开工作场所或者自由地释放思维。这些确实是不错的建议，但只能在具有胜利的潜意识后才能发挥作用。

首先，你要在脑海中填满各种各样的知识，这样当生活中的内容触发潜意识时，你就能够得到大量有价值的信息。

我担心设计师们在看到这些缺乏方向性的建议时会觉得自己无需继续做研究，所以我必须澄清这个问题。

你需要阅读各种各样的书籍，比如经济学、心理学、故事创作、电影术和建筑学。如果想从“享受生活”中获得大量游戏设计信息，你应当考虑阅读和深入发掘下列书籍：

《Design of Everyday Things》；

《Universal Principles of Design》；

《Elements of Style》；

《Paradox of Choice》；

《Predictably Irrational》；

《Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us》；

《Architecture: Form, Space and Order》；

《Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games》；

《Film Directing Shot by Shot》；

《Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting》。

当然，所需要阅读和研究的书籍并不局限于这些。这些只是我放在工作台旁边书架上的书籍而已，我的家中还有许多需要设计师们阅读的书籍。你需要训练自己的大脑，这样才有机会实现自己的梦想。

成为人上人，善于与他人协作

你可以努力工作，你可以付出艰辛，你可以训练自己，你可以构建梦想，但有可能永远无法超越最佳设计师。然而，当合适的人在合适的时刻聚集在一起时，他们就有可能超越最佳的设计师。

游戏都是由人制作完成的，有时候需要许多人合作。如果团队成员不互相协作，那么你们永远都无法进步。你必须为团队成员提供支持，他们也是。

当设计过程出现偏差时，不要总是推卸责任。最佳的设计师不会深究问题究竟是谁的责任，而是寻找解决方法。

最佳的设计师会像团队成员伸出援手，将游戏开发中的所有冲突以最礼貌的形式化解。

如果不互相协助，那么团队也不能称之为团队。你上次称赞别人所做出的工作是什么时候？你上次帮助概念美术师寻找额外的参考资料是什么时候？你上次将额外的精力投入到功能列表中是什么时候？

如果你想要成为最棒的游戏设计师，那么就要同他人相互协作。

永不言败，永不放弃

never give up (from fellowshiproom.org)

制作游戏是件苦差事，如果要说80年代的电影教会我什么的话，那就是如果你想要打败8英尺高的大汉，那么就不能轻言放弃。

尽管我想要靠制作游戏来维持生计，但日以继日地思考和探索同样的问题似乎并不是件令人愉快的事情。这个过程是枯燥的，也可能让人产生挫败感。而且，我依然难以适应的是需要投入大量精力来将游戏的完成度从90%提高到100%。这听起来似乎很简单，但实际上并非如此。

仅仅只是10%而已，这能有多难？其难度之高，确实令你难以置信。而且，这个阶段很容易让人产生放弃的念头。我知道这一切，因为我多次经历了这种情况。但幸运的是，我很幸运碰到了不轻言放弃的合作伙伴，他们不断鼓励我再努力一段时间。

你要在心中保持住自己的愿景，不是对产品的愿景，而是对自己的愿景。这是我教会自己的一个技巧。当形势变得艰巨时，我会询问自己为何我要做这件事情，我得出的答案是：“我是为了自己而做这件事情。”

你会保持住自己的愿景，因为你不想放弃，不想投降。

当有人问你“谁会注意到你做的这些事情？”以及“谁会关心你付出的努力？”，你可以直视他们的眼睛大声说道：“我。”

你相信自己，因为你才是最优秀的，没有什么东西能够让你屈服。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Opinion: Everything I know about game development I learned from the ’80s

Mike Birkhead

I’m here to tell you that if you ain’t down with ’80s films, particularly action films, then you ain’t down with me.

It’s as simple as that.

Behind the goofy dialogue, sweet-ass roundhouse kicks, mysterious teachers, cruel dojo masters, muscle-bound heroes, and beautiful dames beats the thunderous heart of pure awesome; a heart that will guide you, mold you, and train you – if only you would listen.

Thankfully, you have me, and I’m here to impart the great wisdom that I have learned – in between sessions of breaking bricks over my face and climbing trees to karate chop coconuts. Read on and, for maximum effect, do read each section with the accompanying video.

Taking a chance, risking it all

A lot of what we do is about taking a chance. We take chances on a feature, take chances on a puzzle, but most of all, we take chances on ourselves.

Little known fact: when I first started out as a designer, I thought I was pretty terrible. So terrible, in fact, that at one point during God of War: Chains of Olympus, I took my lead aside and told him that I was thinking of giving it all up. I was going to throw in the towel. I was taking my ball and going home, which for me meant going back to being a programmer – shock! awe!

Look: meetings with talented, smart people are incredibly intimidating. Ideas are popping, and when you finally work up the courage to contribute, your ideas can be ripped apart in mere seconds; it’s sorta like that scene in Jurassic Park, when they feed the velociraptors. Except, ya know, in a conference room.

Don’t get discouraged!

Don’t lose that feeling

Don’t ever stop believing

There’s one more moment of truth and you’re gonna face it

No one ever got where they are being 100 percent right all the time, and I am so thankful to my lead for giving me the courage to suck it up, stick it out, and learn from my mistakes.

In the end, I realized that they weren’t ripping my ideas apart through any kind of malice, but because they respected me enough to teach me the things I needed to know. And I can assure you, once you get that taste of the glory, you won’t ever be turning back. You need to have that thunder in your heart.

I’ve worked hard every night and day

I worked hard every night and day, so I can plan to make my way. Mind and body are the perfect team, now is my chance to live my dream.

If you wanna be the best, then you gotta work hard. What free time I have is spent on tempering myself into the best game designer I can be. I say temper, because that’s what it takes: the heat of passion pounded against the anvil of determination.

There is so much wisdom out there, and most of it is not trapped inside a game console. But you know what? I’ve seen a lot of talk about how game design is all about “like, game design is everything man – go and live your life.” This bothers me.

Here’s the thing: I too, at one time, gave advice like this, and while on the surface it seems like good advice, it now rings as fluffy and directionless to me. Directionless, because advice like this doesn’t actually point you to anything that really teaches.

Put yourself into the shoes of a young game designer. All you want to know is how to be the best that you can be. But is the phrase, “just, live your life man” going to honestly tell you anything of value? It might get you out from behind your controller (a good thing), but it also doesn’t point you anywhere.

Living life, to me, is less about being on a path to knowledge, and more about being a key to the subconscious. Pick up any book on writing, and you will see advice on how to crack through writers block. These books will almost always include advice about going for a walk; of stepping away from your work, and just letting your mind wander. This is good advice, but it only works when your subconscious is packed full of win.

First, before anything, you gotta stuff that mind to the brim with all sorts of great knowledge, so that when you do access the vault of your subconscious, you find it overflowing with a bounty of precious gems.

My great fear is that designers out there are reading directionless advice like this and feeling that it frees them from the responsibility of doing their research, so let’s fix that right now.

You need to be reading books on economics, and books on psychology, and books on story writing, and books on cinematography, and books on architecture – oh god, so many books! In order to get the most out of just “living life,” you would do well to seriously consider and digest the following books: Design of Everyday Things; Universal Principles of Design; Elements of Style; Paradox of Choice; Predictably Irrational; Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us; Architecture: Form, Space and Order; Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games; Film Directing Shot by Shot; Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting.

And hey, don’t stop there. I cataloged this list from looking to my left and picking the books that were literally on my desk at work. That doesn’t even count the ones I keep at home. You gotta train that brain, if you wanna step into the ring. Because nows your chance to live your dream.

The best of the best

You can work. You can sweat. You can train. You can dream, and never be better than good. But when the right people come together at the right moment they can become… the best of the best.

Guess what? Games are made by people. Sometimes a lot of people. In all probability, a shit-ton of people. Even if you have the heart of a lion, and even if you are pushing it to the limit, going the distance, or reaching your upper limit, if you don’t support those around you (and they you), then you are never going to be better than good. You must support your team.

When something goes wrong – it will – don’t let the first words out of your mouth be, “well, that’s not my problem.” Get lost. The best of the best don’t give a shit about whose problem it is, was, or should be.

The best of the best stick out that hand and help their buddy back up when his face hits the mat. Every conflict on a game should be resolved in the beefiest, manliest, helping handshake in the history of man kind. Sorta like this, but with more explosions.

A team is not a team if you don’t give a damn about one other. When was the last time you went and thanked someone for the work they did? When was the last time you went out of your way to find some extra reference material for that concept artist? When was the last time you put the extra effort into that feature list?

You’ll be surprised how imparting a modicum of respect to your fellow man will be returned in spades. If you want to be the best of the best, then you gotta work together.

Never surrender. Never say die.

Making games is hard stuff, but if ’80s films have taught me anything, it’s that if you want to beat up that 8-foot tall guy who kicks like a mule, then you can’t give up. And before you even say it, I’m not even talking about Crunch.

As much as I love making games for a living, the daily grind of looking and thinking about the same problems day in and day out is not as pleasant as it seems. It’s draining. It’s frustrating. And something that I continually struggle with is the amount of effort it takes to bring something from 90 percent complete to its ultimate conclusion. It sounds so easy…

Mike, it’s just a measly ten percent. How hard can it be? Incredibly, my friend. And man, it is so easy to give up. SO easy. I know this, because I’ve done it numerous times; but, thankfully, I had the good fortune to work with people who don’t give up. People that pushed me to take it further, to make it cleaner, to push it over the wire.

You have to hold onto that vision in your eye – not that vision of the product, but that vision of yourself. That’s the trick to I had to teach myself. When the going gets tough, I ask myself why I’m doing this, and I say, “I’m doing this for me.” For this kid that I used to be, who wanted nothing more than to get his grubby little hands on the next best game. To tear into it with that gleeful abandon that I no longer remember.

You hold onto that vision as hard as you can, because damnit you don’t retreat, and you don’t surrender.

And when someone asks the phrase, “Who’s going to notice something like that” – “Who cares about this” – “Why do you care.” Damnit, you look them straight in the eye and you say, “I care.”

You care, my friend, because you’re the best… and nothing’s ever gunna keep you down. (Source: Gamasutra)