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

非开发者在制作游戏时需注意的事项

发布时间:2013-07-31 17:57:37 Tags:,,,,

作者:Adriaan de Jongh

如果你正在阅读这篇文章,那可能是因为你想要创造一款游戏,但是却不能独立完成,或者是一位游戏开发者指引你到此。不管你是想要开发一款基于浏览器的小型游戏还是充满野心的在线多人主机游戏,你都需要为此投入大量的工作。尽管每一款游戏和每位开发者都是不同的,但是仍有一些方法是同样适用于每一个游戏开发过程。

本篇文章便是集合了我每周给予那些具有很棒的想法,但却缺少游戏开发洞察力的人们的回应。

游戏理念

如果你只带着一个理念就想接近游戏开发者,我想对你说,开发者每个月都将面对无数的理念,其中还不包括他们每天想出的理念。

尽管游戏都是始于理念,但是理念本身却不具有游戏性。你需要创造一个原型去测试你的理念。原型是理念的一种可游戏版本;这便是所谓的概念验证。设计师通过创造一个原型去测试人们与游戏的互动方式,从而决定该理念是否能够引导他们创造出一款有趣的游戏。常见的原型误区便是太过专注于游戏的情节或故事,如此我们便不可能看清楚玩家是如何与游戏进行互动的。原型应该专注于理念背后的“核心机制”。

我们可以基于各种不同的方式去创造原型,有时候也包括视觉效果和音频的草案。我们需要反复测试原型并不断迭代,直至它们足够有趣并且能够投入制作。即使你并不清楚如何创造游戏,你也可以创造出理念的工作版本,并让其他人帮你玩看看。你可以选择在数字媒体上完成,或者直接画在纸上,编写出一些简单的内容,或者创造出一个互动故事板假装是游戏代码或游戏管理员—-最重要的便是创造出让人们能够真正游戏的内容。仔细听取所有的反馈,并在面向游戏开发者之前调整好原型。

游戏制作

游戏创造所需要的主要技能包括:图像创造,代码编写,设计,音频编写等等。但是并不是所有游戏开发者都拥有所有的这些技能,所以开发者通常都会组建一个团队去完成一款游戏。这与原型创造不同,因为通常一个人便能够创造出游戏原型。

3D model(from secondpicture)

3D model(from secondpicture)

如果你正在接触游戏开发者,你必须先想好哪些开发者技能和专长能够派上用场。理解每款游戏所需要的特定技能。如果你所面对的是一款3D游戏,你便可能需要变身3D设计师。但是并不是所有3D设计师都能够移动角色。这时候动画师就会发挥作用。此外,你可能还需要赋予3D模型皮肤和颜色,所以你还需要一名2D设计师。

创造一款游戏需要多长时间

你可以想象自己的游戏是:

具有AAA级图像。

能够出现在多个平台上。

要求设备间的网络连接。

要求一个“网络空间”去储存有关玩家或游戏的信息。

拥有5个主角,3个世界以及3个可能的结局。

拥有一首管弦乐配乐。

你可能会惊讶于每个功能都需要投入大量的工作和几个月的时间去设计,开发,执行,测试与迭代。

尽管使用开发者现有游戏的内容能够加速开发进程,但是大多数游戏都包含了游戏特定的代码,图像,音乐和声音。游戏中的每个小细节都有其存在于特定游戏环境中的目的。如果你想要创造出一款不同的游戏,你就需要改变环境,每个元素的目的,并重新考虑,设计,和执行代码,图像,音乐或声音。就像当你考虑制作异步电影时,你并不能只是利用在之前的场景去创造出一部完全不同的电影;你可以在某些地方使用相同的场景,但是你也需要拍摄更多全新的画面。

不幸的是,关于创造一款游戏需要多长时间并不存在准确的答案。开发者的经验,特定游戏功能,项目参与者的数量,他们之间的交流,游戏所面向的平台,游戏的目标用户,财政等等都是影响着时间估算的重要元素。

甚至是资深游戏开发者也不清楚创造出一款游戏具体需要多长时间。这也再次强调了在联系开发者并正式投入游戏制作之前创造出一个可游戏原型的重要性,因为原型能够帮助你明确游戏所需要的范围和技能。

财务方面

任何非游戏开发者总是会低估创造一款游戏所需要的成本。想想我之前说的游戏创造所需要的技能以及有多少开发者并不能独自完成这份工作。如此,面向每个致力于游戏中的额外人员,你都需要支付给他们额外的费用。再加上每个人工作所花费的时间,你便能够得出创造一款游戏所需要的昂贵费用。

甚至是一款最简单的游戏也需要花费你数个月的时间。让我们假设你面对的是一款简单的文字游戏。也许设计师只需要很短的时间便能够想出有趣的游戏玩法,但是他们却需要花费数个月的时间去完善这些理念。

尽管你所创造的是一款文字游戏,你也需要使用大量的图像去支持游戏玩法,同时还要有菜单,界面和背景。任何环节都需要小心地完善着,而这就需要花费数个月的时间。

程序员除了需要编写代码外,他们还要投入大量时间去想出各种问题的解决方法,如在连接不稳定时该怎么办。有时候处理这样的问题也要数周时间。

这甚至还未考虑到音乐,声音,测试以及将这些负责人集合在一起所需要的时间。如果一个人的进度稍微落后,那么其他人就不得不耗着性子去等他。所以总共算起来的话,即使是这样的小型项目也需要3至6个月的开发时间—-我们所说的还只是一款不带动画或详细故事或世界的文字故事!

让我们来算算看。假设一名设计师,美术人员,程序员,作曲家在6个月时间里以最低工资(游戏邦注:假设是1个月1500美元)专职于一款游戏创造。那么创造一款最简单的游戏至少需要花费3万6千美元。

我的建议是,你可以按照我所说的自己算看看,并将计算结果告诉游戏开发者,毕竟他们是这方面的专家,知道一个项目需要多少人的参与并花多少时间。

创造成功的游戏

我之前提过销售游戏还需要许多其它技能。想想你所知道的游戏并着眼于任何分销平台(游戏邦注:如苹果的App Store或Steam)上的游戏列表。你将会发现自己所了解的游戏大多数都获得推荐而出现在首页上,但是还有许多游戏被忽视了。能够获得推荐的游戏毕竟是少数,但是它们却带走了未被推荐的游戏90%的关注度。这便说明了如果你想要创造出真正成功的游戏,那么业务和市场营销便非常重要。只是简单地推出游戏是远远不够的。

住在荷兰的我每天会收到许多来自“了解许多能够帮助我们创造出成功游戏的富有影响力的荷兰媒体”的人的邮件。如果你计划将自己的游戏带向国际分销渠道,那么只是了解本国的媒体将不能带给你的游戏足够的曝光率。如果你正在一个国际平台上推广自己的游戏,你就必须去接触更多的国际媒体。

常见的一种市场营销问题便是将游戏的成功完全依赖于“病毒营销”。病毒营销并不是一种可行的策略,这是我们所不能控制的。尽管社交媒体在你的市场营销策略中扮演着很重要的角色,但是你却不能局限于此。

基于平台,社交媒体和国际媒体关系的业务只是销售游戏的众多元素中的三个元素。销售游戏既需要投入时间和努力也需要消耗金钱。当你带着原型,计划,财务计算结果去会见游戏开发者时,请确保业务/市场营销负责人与你随行,或者你可以附加一份自己编写的可靠的市场营销计划。

现在该怎么办?

本篇文章并不是为了阻止你去追求自己的计划和理念。而是希望你能够现实地看待一切,不断寻找更多对自己的游戏创造有帮助的方法。

我所列出的一些建议可能会不适合你的游戏,而适合你的方法也可能不适合别人。游戏开发通常都具有很明显的个性,就像你的游戏可能会反应出你的价值观及你所投入的努力。

现在你需要做的便是开始创建游戏原型,开始决定游戏所需要的技术和功能,开始估算游戏需要花费多少时间和成本,并开始编写一份现实的市场营销计划。

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

Developing games, for non-developers

by Adriaan de Jongh

If you are reading this, it is probably because either you want to make a game and cannot do it yourself, or a game developer directed you here. Whether you want to develop a small browser-based game or an ambitious online multiplayer console game, actually making a game is a lot of work. And, although every game and every developer is different, there are a number of approaches that hold true to every game development process.

This article is a collection of answers I’ve been giving in response to weekly emails from people with great ideas but no insight into game development.

— on ideas for games —

If you are approaching a game developer with an idea, be aware that the devloper is most likely approached with dozens of ideas every month, in addition to coming up with their own ideas on a daily basis.

Although a game always starts with an idea, ideas are unplayable. You will need to create a prototype to test your idea. A prototype is a playable version of your idea; a proof-of-concept. A designer creates a prototype to test the way people interact with the game and to determine whether the idea will lead to a fun game. A common pototyping mistake is to focus too heavily on the game’s plot or story, which tells us nothing about how a player interacts with the game. A prototype should focus on the ‘core mechanics’ behind the idea.

A prototype can be built in a variety of different ways and will sometimes include a draft of the visuals and audio. Prototypes are heavily play-tested and iterated upon until they’re fun enough to go into production. Even if you have little knowledge of how to make a game, you can still create a working version of your idea and play it with other people. You can do this digitally or non-digitally, by drawing on paper, programming something simple, or making an interactive storyboard where you pretend to be the game code or game master – the important part is to have something that people can actually play. Listen carefully to ALL feedback and fine-tune your prototype before approaching a game developer.

— on producing a game —

The main skills required for creating a game are as follows (in no particular order): making art, writing code, coming up with the design, and composing the audio. (Please note that there are other skills required to sell a game, but more on that later.) There are not many game developers that can do all of these things themselves, so a developer generally requires a team of people to complete a game. This is in contrast to creating a prototype, as prototypes can often be created single-handedly.

If you are going to approach a game developer, you must deterimine where the developers skills and specialties come into play. Understand that every game requires specific skills within the general categories explained above. As an example, (and it works like this for every category), if your game is 3D, you’ll probably need a 3D artist. However, not every 3D artist can make your characters move. This is where an animator comes in. In addition, you might be surprised to find that to give 3D models a skin and color, so you’ll also need a 2D artist.

— on how long making a game generally takes —

It may be the case that you imagined your game to…

have AAA graphics.

be available on multiple platforms.

require a network connection between devices.

require an ‘internet place’ to store information about the players or the game.

have five main characters, three worlds, and three possible endings.

have an orchestral soundtrack.

You may be surprised to discover that each of these features (and MANY others) are A TON of work and take months to design, develop, implement, test, and iterate on.

Even though reusing big chucks of a developer’s existing games may speed up the process a bit, the truth is that the majority of any game will consist of game-specific code, art, music, and sounds. Each of these aspects of a game have to be designed, created, implemented, tested, and iterated on. Every small detail in a game has its own purpose in the context of that specific game. If you want to make a different game, thus changing the context, the purpose of each element may change and every piece of code, art, music, or sound has to be reconsidered, redesigned, remade, reimplemented, and tested. Consider making a film: you cannot simply reuse the final scenes to make a completely different movie; you might be able to reuse a scene here and there, but you’ll need to shoot more new footage.

Unfortunately, there are no guidelines when it comes to figuring out how much time it will take to make your game. Factors that alter this estimate involve the experience of the developer(s), game-specific features, how many people work on the project, how well they communicate, for what platform your game is made, what target audience your game tries to reach, the financial part, …etc.

Even experienced game developers don’t often know how long it will take to finish a game. A rough estimate can easily be (and often is) 50% off target. This once again highlights the importance of creating a playable prototype before reaching out to a developer and taking the game in production, as a prototype allows for insight into the scope and skills required for any game.

— on the financial aspects —

How much money it costs to make a game is vastly underestimated by almost every person that isn’t a game developer. Consider what I said earlier about the skills required to make a game, and how many developers simply cannot do it on their own. Now consider that every extra person working on the game is an extra person on the payroll. Multiply this by how many hours everyone will be needed, you will see just how expensive it will be to make your game.

Even the simplest game you can imagine requires months of work. Let’s assume a simple word game that two players play over the internet. A designer would take a while to come up with interesting gameplay, but would likely spend months refining and polishing those ideas.

Even though this is a word game, you’d still need a tremendous amount of art to support the gameplay, but also for the menus, the interface and the backgrounds. Everything needs careful polish and that can potentially cost months of work.

A programmer will not only have the program the game, but spend a long time trying to come up with solutions to absolutely miniscule problems, like what to do when the connection is unstable. Sometimes, problems like these cost weeks.

And this is not even considering the work that goes into music, sounds, testing and getting these people to work together. If one person falls behind, the others might have to wait for him or her. All together, even a small project like this can take three to six months – and we’re talking about a word game without animations or highly detailed stories or worlds.

Let’s do the calculations. A designer, artist, programmer and music composer work full time for a minimum wage (lets say $1500 a month) for 6 months. Making the simplest game you can think of already costs $36,000.-.

My advice is to make some calculations based on what I explained to you in this article and talk them through with the game developer, who is after all the expert on how many and for how long people would have to work on the project.

— on making your game successful —

I mentioned earlier that there are many other skills required to actually sell a game. Consider how many games you know and look through a list of games on any distribution platform like the Apple App Store or Steam. You will find that the games you know are probably featured on the front page, yet there are many more games available. The games that are featured are only a small portion, but they take away 90% of the attention from the non-featured games. This shows how immensely important business and marketing are when it comes to making your game a success. Simply having the game out there will never be enough.

Living in the Netherlands, I get many emails from people who ‘know many influential Dutch press which will help making the game successful.’ If you are planning to distribute your game on an international distribution channel, then simply knowing press in a country as small as the Netherlands isn’t going to give your game enough exposure on its own. If you are distributing your game on an international platform, being in touch with international press is not an addition; it is a necessity.

A common marketing mistake is to rely the success of your game on “viral marketing”. Viral marketing has never been a viable strategy, as it cannot be controlled. Social media plays an important role in your marketing strategy, but you will need a plan beyond this.

Business with the platform, social media, and international press relations are just three of many facets of selling your game. Selling your game takes time and effort and will cost you money. When approaching a game developer with your prototype, plan, and financial calculations, make sure to also include either a business/marketing person on the team or write a solid marketing plan yourself.

— what now? —

This article should not demotivate you to pursue your plans and ideas. Be realistic, consider what you’ve read, and continue to look for a way to make your game work.

Some of the advices outlined here will not apply to your own game, and some of what works for you won’t work for other people. Game development is often intensely personal and your game will be a reflection of your values and the amount of effort you put in.

Start building your prototype, start figuring out which technologies and features the game will need, start making a rough estimate of how much time and money it will cost, and start writing a realistic marketing plan.

A big thanks goes to Owen Goss, Adriel Calder, Rami Ismail, Davey Wreden, Derk de Geus, Mauro Palumbo, Gerard Meijer, and Marc de Vreede, for their huge contribution to this article.(source:gamasutra


上一篇:

下一篇: