作者：Carla Engelbrecht Fisher

以下是关于成为游戏设计师的九大事实。

1.人人都认为你获得一份最酷的工作

这在聚会上十分普遍。“哦，你是财务分析师？这是令人愉快的工作。我吗？我是游戏设计师。”这太棒了！

同样，这也降低了同忧郁青少年的交流难度。“哦，天啊，你在制作游戏，那真是太酷了！”

甚至，即使他们发现你研究的是教育游戏后，情况同样如此。

game design(from nyfa.edu)

2.无人理解你的工作性质

然而，也注意同任何人解释游戏设计师工作性质也会耗费你不少时间。因为他们过后马上会抛出如下问题，比如，“你负责编程吗？”不是。“你负责美术设计？”不是。“你负责设计关卡？”差不多。“你负责编写故事？”偶尔。无论如何，解释游戏设计师的工作性质如同一个无底洞，最后只会令双方陷入困惑漩涡。但又有谁真正打算了解什么是游戏机制呢？

3.你妈妈认为这并非正当工作

但她会对你感到骄傲。她只是希望你出去走走，同“真实”朋友多加交流。

4.人人都知道如何从事你的工作

或者，至少所有人均认为他们了解如何从事你的工作。无论你研究什么项目，有人或者可能任何人均会告知他们对游戏整体的设想。我怀疑水管工也遇到同样问题。嘿，我只是拆下厨房水槽来安装垃圾处理机，不用担心。我的意思是真的不用担心，我可以查看YouTube上的视频了解处理方法，对吧？

我并不表示新手无法拥有出色的游戏创意。那些拥有知名度的设计师通常都有一鸣惊人的创意。但我以水管装置打比方是为了表明，有时你可以自己解决基本任务，有时需要求于助专业人士。游戏设计师掌握着设计原则、实用性、生产方法这些知识体系，从长远上看与普通人士存在巨大差异。而你应掌握的诀窍是知道何时求助（游戏邦注：如果你不确定何时为正确时候，只要求助即可！）。

5.单兵作战存在难度

也就是说，游戏的制作过程中鲜少涉及个人。你的设计仅仅是大量碎片的开端——其中包括美术、画外音、编程、游戏机制、关卡设计、营销、盈利……大多数时候，这些神奇的游戏均出自出色团队之手。而合作是开发过程中的重要部分。

6.制作游戏无法让你致富

但安慰地说，可能你的收入会高于儿童绘本作家。事实是，你很难通过制作游戏赚钱。由于游戏市场充斥大量热作，无论它们多么精致，设计师也无法收回开发成本，更别提在游戏中倾入的汗水。不要为了暴富而制作游戏。你应基于喜爱游戏所提供的元素，以及它对自己的公司具有意义而制作游戏。

7.迭代是必不可少的工作

小说家无法第一次就写出杰作。游戏设计师也是如此。我们需要时间与不断的迭代来制作精致的游戏。

8.游戏设计要兼顾多个层面

比如设计封闭系统时需要考虑玩家可能的所有行动，同时展露出你的完美主义倾向。你曾经发现自己会怀疑是否锁了车门或关了卷发棒吗？这就是我在游戏设计过程中的感受。即需要考虑所有细节。

9.设计游戏可了解多学科的知识

作为游戏设计师，你的生活基本围绕整个内容设计。事实上，作为设计师可以学到更多知识。你需要研究创意，对它进行迭代，然后测试所有可能的互动方式。所以，很自然，你拥有遗传学、历史事实或其它《Jeopardy》中曾出现或从未出现的杜撰内容这些高超知识。（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）

Nine Truths About Being a Game Designer

by Carla Engelbrecht Fisher

Here are my nine truths about being a game designer:

1. Everyone thinks you have the coolest job

It’s very handy at reunions. “Oh you’re a financial analyst? That’s lovely. Oh, me? I’m a game designer.” #understatedAwesome

And makes conversing with sullen teenagers far easier. “omgYOUMAKEGAMESthatISsoCOOOOOOL!” #rockstar

This is true even **after** they find out you specialize in educational games.

2. No one understands what you do

But beware how long to talk to anyone about being a game designer. Before long, they’ll start asking questions like “Do you program?” No. “Do you make the art?” No. “Do you design levels?” Sorta. “Do you write the story?” Sometimes. (If this sounds familiar, we talked about this issue in our first blog, too.) Regardless, explaining what game designers do is a rabbit hole that just ends in confusion on all sides. Who really wants to know what a game mechanic is anyway?

3. Your mom thinks it’s not a real job

But she’s totally proud of you. She just wants you to go outside and play with your “real” friends for a little while. And there’s always time to go back to law school, you know…

4. Everyone knows how to do your job

Or at least everything *thinks* they know how to do your job. No matter what project you’re working on, someone, or maybe everyone, will tell you what they want the game to be. I suspect plumbers have this problem too. Hey, no worries if I just disassemble my kitchen sink and install this garbage disposal. I mean, really, I can just watch a video on YouTube, right?

I’m not saying that novices can’t have good game ideas. The people who own the brand often have amazing ideas. But to bring my plumbing metaphor home, what I’m saying is this — there are times when it’s ok to tackle basic tasks yourself and there are times to call in the professionals. Game designers bring a knowledge of design principles, usability, and production methodologies that make a big difference in the long run. The trick is knowing when to call. (If you’re not sure when the right time is, just ask!)

5. It’s tough to make games alone

In other words, there’s rarely an “I” in game (or team). What you design is only the beginning of a lot of pieces – art, voiceover, programming, game mechanics, level design, marketing, monetization… 99 times out of 100, the amazing games are made by very cool teams of people. Collaboration is an important part of the process.

6. You will probably never ever buy a big-ass boat with your game design earnings

But, if it’s any consolation, you’ll likely do better than a children’s picture book author. (Bah dum dum…) The reality is that it’s hard to make money making games. For every game that hits it big, there are a zillion games – no matter how good they were – that never even recouped their development costs, never mind the sweat equity put into the game. Don’t make games to get rich. Do it because you love what games can offer and because it makes sense for your brand.

7. Iteration is required. Iteration is beneficial. Iteration is awesome.

Novelists don’t get the story right the first time. Game designers don’t either. It takes time and lots of iterations to make something good.

8. Game design brings out the best of your obsessive-compulsive side

There is nothing like designing a closed system, where all possible actions need to be accounted for, to bring out the perfectionist in you. Did you ever find yourself wondering if you remembered to lock the car or turn off the curling iron? That’s how I feel throughout the game design process. Every detail must be accounted for.

9. Your audience will never learn as much as you did while designing the game

As a game designer, you live and breathe the content for the entire design process. It’s only a matter of fact that you, as the designer, learn more than anyone. You did research the idea, iterate on it, and then test every possible way of interacting with it. So it’s only natural that you have crackerjack knowledge of dog-breeding genetics, historical facts, or other completely made-up content that will never, ever show up on Jeopardy.(source:kidscreen)