作者：Derek Yu

常常会有人问我如何才能成为一名专业的独立游戏开发者。首先，我认为被问到这个问题是个巨大的荣誉。所以我想说“谢谢！”其次，虽然我真的很想帮助他们，但这真的需要付出巨大的努力。当然，我总是会说“尽你最大的努力！忠实于自己！”虽然这样的回答会让人好受些，但这却不是有帮助的答案。

所以在此，我将认真地回答这一问题。我想这些建议将给那些开始以独立游戏开发者身份做事的人带去帮助！

独立

“indie（独立）”究竟意味着什么？它是否是“independent”的缩写？游戏是“独立”的吗？“独立”是一种类型吗？让人疑惑的是为什么我们需要“独立”作品。

为了回答最后一个问题，我将提供如下场景。场景1：一个人着眼于创造游戏，并打算创建自己的工作室。他们在搜索引擎中输入“游戏开发”。结果是，说轻点是未能留下深刻印象。都是一些枯燥乏味，基于学术性且以编程为中心的内容。

场景2：这个人将“独立游戏”输入搜索引擎中。比起基于繁琐的会议，学识学会和编程工具，他看到的是各种游戏以及充满正在做自己想做的事的人们的社区。有些人会到学校去，但是许多人却不会这么做。他们会使用许多不同的理念和工具。这里还有许多有关游戏制作的文件！这不只是关于你在这里获得学位并等待一份工作。你能够马上便开始制作游戏。

“独立”这一词不只是描述一种开发过程的类型，与任何标签一样，它也会提供给人们一种方法去探索过程并在过程中不断发展。它带有真正的目的。它能吸取游戏创造和业务的真正教训。它还会提供真正的动机！

当然了，看到术语被误用或者成为自大的代名词会很郁闷。与任何标签一样，“独立”也会引出教条主义，任人唯亲或其它思想。但最终结果还是具有价值的。当有人因为朝九晚五的上班时间而放弃专业游戏制作时，我便可以告诉你这是真的有价值的。

对于怎样的游戏“真的”属于独立游戏，我们永远都做不出彻底的归纳。不过我可以与你们分享自己在The Independent Gaming Source所设定的标准，即为了判断游戏是否符合这一范围：

1.“独立的”，在没有发行商的情况下。

2.小型工作室（大约有20名以下的成员）。

我选择这一定义是因为这是最有效的。有些人想要成为“独立”游戏开发者是因为对这些限制下的内容以及这类型工作室如何运行感兴趣。这包含像Valve和Double Fine等公司，它们是独立的，但却因为过大而很难说的“独立”。这还包括非自己发行但却“看上去独立的”游戏类型。

在这一定义下你将陷入灰色区域，但这并不意味着这些术语是没用的。让我们想想那些想要基于小团队创造游戏并独立发行游戏的人，他们将在谷歌中搜索什么去寻找灵感，建议或社区？在我看来“独立”仍然是一个很恰当的术语。

所以我是否应该到学校中学习如何创造游戏？

关于游戏开发和学校教育我们必须清楚的最重要的一件事便是，不管对方是独立工作室还是大型公司，没有人真正在乎你的学位。甚至有一些非常出色的成员还是中途辍学或从未上过大学。就像John Carmack，Cliff Bleszinski，Jonathan Blow和Team Meat便都属于这类型的人才。

学位只是一张述说着你在理论上会做些什么的纸——游戏开发者真正想要知道的是你拥有足够的热情去胜任一份工作。如果你想要成为独立开发者，那么别人怎么想别不再重要—-你需要的是追求成功的热情。在这种情况下你是唯一扶着门的人。

这并不是不让你去上大学（就像我自己也在大学中学习了计算机科学，尽管这不是一次很好的体验，但是我也从课程和朋友身上学到了许多）。这里的要点在于创造一些内容，如游戏，组块，图像和音乐。如果学校能够帮助你做到这点便再好不过了。如果它不能这么做，你便需要重新思考如何花费自己最有价值的资源：时间和金钱。

如果我到学校去，那我该学些什么？

在普通大学，如果你“只是想要成为一名设计师”，我会建议你们主修计算机科学。游戏设计与这一学科紧密联系着。

在艺术学校，插画，概念艺术和3d建模课程应该是对游戏创造最有帮的。

在游戏学校，他们将尝试着教授你所有有关游戏创造的元素，从编程到设计。我会远离纯粹关于设计的学校或课程——因为它们要么带有欺骗性要么更偏向于学术内容而不是真正的游戏创造。同时在你还是学生时明确游戏是否拥有你所创造的内容也很重要。

我们该如何开始创造一些内容？

对于那些刚刚起步的人，我的最佳建议便是不要超越自己。我们很容易在创造一个能够在屏幕上四处移动的精灵前担忧工具，团队，平台，交易，市场营销，奖励等等问题。你眼睛里闪烁的光芒可能会欺骗了自己。你真正需要做的便是始终积极地创造游戏。

如果我们说的是绘画，我会建议你尽快在当地的艺术商店挑选适合的绘画工具和画板，并开始进行尝试。也许你会逐渐感到受挫，但这也会成为一种乐趣，所以你需要坚持下去。在这一过程中你将看到一些理论并从别人的作品中获得学习。带着好的品味并顶着鉴定的眼光，你将不断画下去，直到创造出一副真正优秀的作品。

而因为我们现在所谈论的是游戏，所以我会建议你使用Game Maker和Unity这两个通用的游戏制作工具。它们都能有效平衡作用与易用性；并且你也可以轻松获得它们或获得免费演示版本，此外它们还都带有许多教程与在线插件。许多专业开发者都在使用这两种工具（游戏邦注：特别是Unity）。选择其中的一种工具并基于教程开始运行。当你遇到问题时，主动寻求帮助。在你弄清楚怎么做的时候也主动去帮助别人。活跃地穿梭于游戏创造社区中。

但最重要的还是你要坚持制作游戏。这是回答你现在脑子里所有问题的真正答案。

最后是我的10大贴士：

1.完成你的游戏。

2.不要克扣图像。我们总是很容易低估图像对于游戏的重要性。即使你未这么做，你也很容易低估拥有独特图像类型的重要性。结果便导致许多带有丑陋或普通图像的游戏的诞生，即难以有效吸引人们的注意。

如果你没有艺术天分，那么像那些成功的独立开发者那样去寻找适合自己的风格。有时候丑甚至胜过普通。要记住：这是人们对于你的游戏的第一印象。

3.不要将责任归咎于市场营销。在独立社区，越来越多人在编写“失败原因”的文章中，截图和评论在传达着丑陋，无聊游戏的故事，而文章本身却是在诉说着糟糕市场营销的故事。让我们正视事实，每人想要承认他们缺少足够的创造性，视角或才能。我们总是很容易将各种错怪罪在日期，预告片，网站等等身上。

我们所面对的是互联网。如果你创造的是一款真正优秀的游戏，它便能够自己出现在玩家面前。市场营销的确能够给你一些帮助，宣传也能帮助你在短时间内走得更远，但这却不是造就你的成功或失败的唯一元素——指责其它元素只会破坏你的自我批评能力，并且不能够完善你的技能。

4.独立游戏并不是一种类型或美学。你应该创造自己想要创造的游戏，而不是“应该是”独立游戏的游戏。最近《魔岩山传说》幕后的小型独立团队宣称他们的传统第一人称地牢爬行游戏售出了60多万份。勇敢地正视自己想要做的事，毕竟如果你不能避免这种压力，你就谈不上独立。

5.为自己创造一个健康的工作环境。在面对其他人时你是否会变得内向并不知所措，或者相反地你会变得很活泼并充满能量？还是介于两者之间？你希望自己每天的工作时间是怎样的？

你会想要专注于所有能够对自己的创作有帮助的能量，并且你也会惊讶地发现许多能量会被一些世俗的事物所消耗掉。明确你的体力工作空间以及个人支持系统是解决这一问题的关键，并且对于作为独立创者的你来说也非常重要。

6.保持独立！的确，听到独立很多人会畏缩。将自己会理念卖给别人会更有安全感。但说实话，当你走上了这条路，你便很难回头了—-你所守护的每一时刻也许并不是你所发展的时刻。我并不建议你们鲁莽行事，但专注于自己手边的任务是非常重要的。要知道我们的生命可是很短暂的。

同样地，不要放弃你的IP或以任何方式限制自己的长期发展机遇。保留独占权。当《Aquaria》发行时，我们还不知道Steam。 Humble Bundle（游戏邦注：是一系列在网络上售卖和分发的关于电子游戏、音乐专辑或者电子书的收藏包）和iPad也还未出现。来到这些平台对于我们来说很有帮助。你应该放手去利用未来可能带给自己的一切。

7.创造自己的运气。作为一名美术人员，我很感激身边的所有人—-包括家人，朋友，同事和偶像。我认为自己的许多成功都是有幸能够在生命中遇到这些人所得来的。

此外你也必须意识到自己所创造的许多机遇。例如，我之所以会认识Alec（游戏邦注：我的朋友也是《Aquaria》的联合创始人）是因为他在《I’m O.K.》创作中提供了帮助。《I’m O.K.》是一款起于Pix Fu论坛的游戏。Pix Fu论坛是我的个人网站的一部分，其成员主要是我之前在Blackeye Software与Klik n’ Play上认识的。

你可以从《Spelunky》的XBLA版本，到最初的PC版本与TIGSource论坛上追踪到相同的轨迹。

这里的要点在于，你应该将自己置于那样的环境中。不断创造内容（我已经强调了很多遍了！）。你只有在运气真正出现时才能意识到它的存在，但它们的出现可能也是与你在过去选择与某人共事或接受某人的想法的情境相关联。

8.避免“业务战。”如果将独立游戏创作当成一项职业，你也不可避免需要执行业务并做出与业务相关的决定，而作为创造性人员，你可能会对这些内容不感冒。甚至你有可能会害怕这些内容。

在此我想说的是，你并不需要成为Gordon Gekko（金融家）那样的存在。应该说，你千万不要成为那样的人。实际上，你应该避开那些会迷惑自己的人。避开那些吹毛求疵的人。并避开那些匆忙做出任何决定的人。

如果你真的拥有一款优秀的游戏，你便不需要与任何发行商合作，你也无需登录哪个平台，或与任何人共事。你应该始终远离糟糕的交易，特别是当你想要保持独立创造者的身份时。反过来，你应该努力成为一个直接且慷慨的人。

当人们在感到害怕时总是会想着自卫。尽量不要与这样的人合作，要知道做业务应该是件有趣的事！这里可不是华尔街！

9.不要玩噱头。简单来说你应该专注于创造一款优秀的游戏——一款深层次，有趣且独特的游戏，而不是想出一些廉价的招数去吸引人们的注意。不管我们所说的是那些听起来不错但却很肤浅的游戏系统还是异乎寻常的市场营销理念，噱头就是噱头。你应该远离它们，因为它们是短期且高风险的解决方法，最终将会降低你作为美术人员的身价。

当然，不管是在游戏设计中还是生活里，我们都应该敢于冒险。但是我想说的是，这些风险应该是有价值的，并且从长远角度看来是不算风险的。

10.你便是自己的游戏——理解并发展自己。作为独立游戏开发者，你的游戏将比那些上百或上千人创造的游戏更加“个人化”。所以为了创造一款真正成功的游戏，你就需要真正理解自己。幸运的是，不断了解自己，包括口味，所关心的内容以及能力等等便是我们生活中的最大乐趣，并始终伴随着我们作为独立创造者的目标存在着。

（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）

Making it in Indie Games: Starter Guide

By Derek Yu

Every now and then someone will ask me for advice on making it as a professional indie game developer. First, it’s a huge honor to be asked that. So I want to say “Thank you!” Second… damn, if I really want to help out it’s a serious endeavor. Of course, I could always say “Give it your best! Work hard! Be true to yourself!” and it wouldn’t be a terrible reply… just not a terribly useful one, either.

So here it is. Here is what I’m going to link when that rare situation arises again, because it’s too much work to write it up more than once! This is advice that I feel may actually be practical to someone who is just starting out as an indie game developer. Hope it helps!

INDIEPENDENT

So yeah, what does being “indie” even mean? Is “indie” short for independent? Is this game “indie”? Is “indie” a genre? IT’S CONFUSING – WHY DO WE NEED THE WORD “INDIE” AT ALL.

To answer the last question, I offer the following scenarios. Scenario 1: a person is looking to make games, and perhaps start their own studio. They type “game development” into a search engine. The results, to say the least, are underwhelming. Dry. Academic. Programming-centric. (Try it yourself and see.)

Scenario 2: the person instead types “indie games” into a search engine. Instead of pages upon pages of conferences, bachelor’s degrees, and programming tools, that person is met instead with pages upon pages of games to play and vibrant communities filled with people who are doing exactly what he or she wants to be doing. Some of them went to school, but many did not. A wealth of different ideas and tools are used. There are even documentaries about making games! It’s not just something where you get a degree and wait in line for a job. You can start making games RIGHT NOW.

The word “indie” is more than just a way to describe a type of developmental process… like any label, it actually provides an avenue for people to explore that process and then flourish within it. It has a real purpose. It serves real lessons on game creation and entrepreneurialism. It offers real motivation!

Of course, it can be irritating to see the term misused, or become a vehicle for pretentiousness and arrogance. Like any label, “indie” also breeds a certain amount dogmatism, croneyism, and other -isms. But the net result is really worth something. As someone who once gave up on professional game-making because I thought it meant a 9-to-5, I can tell you that it’s genuinely valuable.

As for what games are “truly” indie, we’ll never fully agree, and that’s probably for the best. But I can tell you the criteria I’ve devised for The Independent Gaming Source to determine whether a game is fit for coverage:

1. “Independent”, as in no publisher.

2. Small studio (roughly 20 members or less).

I choose that definition because it’s the most useful one. Someone who is looking to become an “indie” game developer is interested in what is possible under those constraints and how those types of studios operate. It excludes companies like Valve and Double Fine, which are certainly independent but too large to be “indie”. It also excludes “feels indie”-type games that are not self-published.

Under that definition you still run into gray areas, but hey, just because we don’t know when “red” turns into “purple” doesn’t mean the words aren’t useful. Just think about someone who wants to make a game with a small team and self-publish it… what should they type into Google for inspiration, advice, community, etc.? “Indie” is still as good a word as any, in my opinion.

So, should I go to school to learn how to make games?

The most important thing to know about video game development and schooling is that no one, whether it’s an indie studio or big company, cares about degrees. How could it, when some of its most prominent members are drop-outs or never-beens? John Carmack, Cliff Bleszinski, Jonathan Blow, and Team Meat are all prominent members of this club.

A degree is a piece of paper that says you can do something in theory – game developers want to know that you have enough passion to do real work, regardless of whether you’re being graded on it. And if you’re thinking of going indie, it won’t matter what other people think – you’ll simply need that passion to succeed or else you won’t. You’re the only one holding the door open in that case.

This isn’t to dissuade you from going to college, per se (I studied computer science in college, and while it was far from a perfect experience, I also gained a lot from both the curriculum and the friends I made there). The point is make something – games, mods, art, and music. If school helps you with that, great. If it doesn’t, then you need to rethink how you’re spending your most valuable resources: time and money (both of which can be exorbitant costs for schooling).

If I go to school, what should I study?

At a regular university, I would suggest majoring in computer science, even if you “just want to be a designer”. The design of games is very much tied to how they are made.

At an art school, illustration, concept art, and 3d modeling courses are probably the most useful for games.

At a game school, they will hopefully try to involve you in all aspects of game creation, from programming to design. I would stay far away from design-only schools or curricula – those are either scams or are better suited to academia than actual game-making. Also, it’s worth finding out whether or not the school owns what you make while you’re a student there.

See also: Jonathan Blow – How to Program Independent Games (read the comments as well as watch the video)

Okay, you say make something. How do I start?

My best advice for those starting out is not to get ahead of themselves. It’s easy to start worrying about tools, teams, platforms, deals, marketing, awards, and whatever else before you’ve even gotten a sprite moving around the screen. Those stars in your eyes will blind you. They’ll freeze you up. You need to be actively making games all the time.

If we were talking about painting, I’d tell you to pick up a painting kit and a sketchpad at your local art store ASAP and just have at it. You’d proceed to put absolute crap down on the pad and get frustrated. But it’d also be kind of fun – so you’d keep doing it. Along the way you’d read some theory and study other people’s work. With good taste and under a critical eye, you would keep doing that until the day you painted something good.

We’re talking about games, though. I recommend Game Maker and Unity as two all-purpose game-making suites. They both have a good balance of power versus ease-of-use; they’re both affordable or have free demos, and they both have a wealth of tutorials and plug-ins online. Both are used by professional developers (Unity in particular). Grab one of those and start running through the tutorials. When you run into trouble, ask for help. Give help back when you begin figuring things out. Get active in a game-making community.

But above all else, keep making games. It’s the only way to truly answer all of those questions in your head right now.

Also, watch this:

LASTLY, MY TOP 10 TIPS

1. Finish your games.

2. Don’t skimp on artwork. It’s easy to underestimate the importance of artwork to a game. And even if you don’t, it’s easy to underestimate the importance of having a unique style of artwork. The result is that there are many ugly or generic-looking (i.e. “clip-arty”) games failing to capture people’s attention.

If you have no artistic talent, go for style and coherency as many successful indie developers do. And even ugly is probably better than generic, all told. Remember: this is most people’s first impression of your game.

3. Don’t blame marketing (too much). In the indie community it’s become popular to write “how I failed” articles where the screenshots and comments tell the story of an ugly, boring game and yet the article itself tells the story of bad marketing decisions. Let’s face it, no one wants to admit that they lacked any amount of creativity, vision, or talent. It’s much easier to put the blame on release dates, trailers, websites, and whatever else.

This is the internet, though. A good game will make its way out there. Marketing will certainly help, and hype may get you quite far in the short term, but it’s not going to make or break you – it’s only a multiplier of however good your game is. Saying otherwise is only hurting your ability to self-criticize and therefore improve your craft. It’s also encouraging others to do the same.

4. Indie is not a genre or aesthetic. Make the game you want to make, not what you think an indie game “should be”. Recently, the very small and very independent team behind The Legend of Grimrock announced that their very traditional first-person dungeon crawler sold over 600,000 copies. Don’t feel pressured to be dishonest about what you’d like to do – after all, what is independence if not freedom from such pressures?

5. Build yourself a working environment that’s healthy for you. Are you introverted and lose energy around other people or are you extroverted and gain energy that way? Or something in-between? What do you want your average working day to be like?

You’ll want to focus all of the energy available to you toward creating, and it’s amazing how much of it can be lost to seemingly mundane things. Figuring out your physical working space as well as your personal support system is a key part of the solution to this problem, and its vitally important to you as an independent creator.

6. Stay independent! To be sure, going indie can be daunting. There is always going to be the temptation of selling yourself or your ideas to someone else for a bit of a feeling of security. But honestly, once you go down that road it’s hard to come back – every moment you’re simply securing may not be a moment you’re progressing. I’m not recommending recklessness, but it’s important to stay committed and focused on the task at hand. Life is short.

Also, don’t give up your IP or in any way limit your opportunities long term. Keep exclusivity timed. When Aquaria released we weren’t aware of Steam. Thedid not yet exist. iPad did not exist. Being on all of those platforms has been great for us. You need to keep your hands untied to take advantage of what future will bring.

7. Create your own luck. As an artist, I owe a lot to the people around me – my family, friends, peers, and idols. I accept that a lot of my success was simply the luck of being born with these people in my life.

But it’s important to realize that you create many of your own opportunities, too. For example, I met Alec (my friend and Aquaria co-creator) because he offered to help work on I’m O.K. I’m O.K. was a game started on the Pix Fu forums. The Pix Fu forums were part of my personal website and its members were friends of mine I’d made much earlier during my Blackeye Software/Klik n’ Play days.

You could trace a similar path from the XBLA version of Spelunky to the original PC version and the TIGSource forums.

The point is – put yourself out there. Make things (I can’t stress that enough!). You never know when serendipity will strike, but when it does it will likely be related to situations in your past when you chose to actively engage someone or some idea.

8. Avoid “business as war”. As a professional you’ll need to do business and make business-related decisions at least occasionally, and as a creative type you might not be that interested in that stuff. Hell, you might even be downright scared of it.

Well, I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to be Gordon Gekko to make it as an indie. And please, don’t try to be. In fact, avoid the Gordon Gekkos. Avoid the people who try to confuse you. Avoid the ones who try and nitpick. Avoid the ones who try and rush you.

If you have a great game, there is no distributor you will absolutely have to work with, platform you have to be on, or person you will have to team up with. Always be willing to walk away from a bad deal, especially if it’s to maintain your independence as a creator. In turn, be a direct and generous person yourself.

People get defensive when they’re scared. Don’t sit at the table with someone like that or as someone like that and doing business should be fairly pleasant! This isn’t Wall Street!

9. No gimmicks. Simply put, focus on making a good game – a deep, interesting, unique game – rather than devising cheap tricks to grab people’s attention. Whether we’re talking about clever-sounding-but-ultimately-shallow game systems or off-the-wall marketing ideas, a gimmick is a gimmick. And you should stay away from them because they’re short-term, high-risk solutions that ultimately cheapen you as an artist, perhaps literally as well as metaphorically.

Certainly, one should take risks in game design as well as in life. My point is that they should be honest, worthwhile ones – those tend to be less risky in the long run.

10. You are your game – understand and develop yourself. As an indie game developer your game will likely be more “you” than a game made by hundreds or thousands of people. You have to understand yourself quite well in order to make a truly successful game. Fortunately, the unraveling of what makes you “you” – your taste, what you care about, your abilities – is one of the great pleasures in life and goes hand in hand with your goal of being an independent creator. Treasure it!（source：gamedev）