作者：Rami Ismail

在过去几年里，我发现自己一直专注于世界上一些新兴领域的社区开发。在这里领域可以定义为：城市，省份，州或者整个国家。游戏开发社区与这些领域具有非常相似的地方，在某种程度上我已经在心中将这些社区发展门槛组成了一个模型。需要注意的是这个模型并不是系统化的模型，主要是我自己在访问的时候给予特定领域帮助时所使用的工具。大多数听过我的这一模型的人都让我将其写下来，并且来自新兴领域的许多开发者也发现谈论自己的经历非常有趣。所以以下便是我关于社区开发的6个阶段。

我将模型分成社区需要经历的6大阶段。特定社区可以因为政府，文化支持或个人等原因略过部分阶段。其中也存在一些历史时刻，即特定领域的发展有所后退或快速前进的时候。

阶段1

阶段1是较不常见的阶段之一。在这一阶段中，开发者是存在于领域中，但其分布却非常稀疏，往往不知道彼此的存在。这时候并未出现任何活动，或者活动都是非常局部化。这一阶段领域的目标具有强烈的功利主义：其梦想便是赚钱。开发者通常都是一些没有专业知识的业余开发者，广泛分布于产业的各个部分，他们所创造的游戏也局限于执行和文化价值中。如此游戏便像是一些普遍存在于已建立起的领域中的理念。

阶段2

阶段2是最常见的阶段。领域中的开发者找到了彼此，并为完整的领域创建了通讯方式同时也会组织各种内部活动。在大多数领域中，思想领袖是源自这种聚会中，即非正式的社区领导者将由此诞生。彼此交换知识快速盛行于领域中。因为知识共享是基于未明确的开发者所作出的假设，所以这些领域的发展往往非常有限。在这一阶段中，开发者总是缺少关于“优化”，“游戏感”和“环境”的基本概念，因为这些概念是已建立起来的领域中的一些专门术语。

阶段3

在阶段3我们的注意力将转向国际上的知识分享。不管是社区活动还是社区领导者都将邀请外部的思维领袖，专家或开发者访问已建立起的领域中的活动，从而诞生了非正式大使。社区中的现有知识将经过已建立起的领域间的碰撞得到认证或否定。为了创造更广泛的影响，领域将加入像IGDA或已建立起的当地组织或群组等国际组织。公司将快速发展去适应国际化游戏产业的结构，并学习如何与媒体接触。在这一阶段，领域将定义一种同一性，但这却不是指一种文化气息。通常情况下开发者的目标仍然是在“西方“赚大钱”，所以这一阶段诞生的游戏仍然与那些现有的大受欢迎的游戏一样。

阶段4

这是到目前为止最重要的阶段。这一阶段始于英雄出现以及国际知识分享已经建立起来的时候。英雄是指任何在已建立起的领域中达到经济上的成功与多数人的认可的个人或公司。这些英雄将带来有价值的金钱，交流与知识，并且他们通常是作为国际产业与地方产业间的桥梁。更重要的是，英雄将验证游戏开发理念是否有利可图，并为其他开发者呈现出成功的衡量标准。让人感到讽刺的是，这一阶段通常包含许多基于与英雄游戏一样的理念去创造游戏的开发者们，尽管英雄游戏也总是与那些已建立起的领域中的游戏一样。这一领域中的开发者在被问及自己的作品时便经常会提到英雄们。

阶段5

阶段5是欧洲以及美国大部分区域中最常见的一个阶段。通常情况下英雄的出现吸引了许多全新工作室和开发者，同时还有许多新理念的涌入。所以地区开发者将不再尊敬英雄并开始反抗他们。在这一阶段许多开发者的目标是成为像英雄般的开发者，但事实却不是这样。在阶段5会快速涌现出许多英雄，从而削减了英雄的价值。在这一阶段中，领域中将出现关于游戏的更多文化视角，这便是从尝试着证实游戏开发是可行的时间花费到创造真正有趣的内容间的目标转变。随着社区变得越来越舒适，游戏也变得越来越个人化且非功利性。

阶段5+

在阶段5+中，领域将被当成是国际游戏产业中的思维领袖。很少有领域能够到达这一阶段，我认为在阶段5+时不可能共存许多领域。需要注意的是一个地方的大型国际活动的存在并不能自动创造出一个阶段5+领域，但这却是作为思维领袖的一种短暂的状态。许多阶段5+领域会持续在阶段5与阶段5+之间穿梭着。

帮助一个领域的方法

我想要再次强调这只是我自己对于如何帮助特定阶段的社区的想法。所有的这些内容都不具有科学根据，许多内容也是源自我自己的个人喜好以及在过去几年里的经验。我并不认为这是一些正式的注意事项，当我在明确自己在一个领域中的表现后我经常会思考今后该做什么。通常情况下它们将符合以下的一些特征。

在阶段1中，我认为社区中的互动会破坏当地游戏开发文化的发展。如此，每当与个体开发者进行交谈时我都会建议他们进行当地聚会。

在阶段2中，最有用的事是分享关于基本设计概念和结构的知识，如何提供并接收反馈以及关于市场营销的理念。如果game jams（游戏邦注：指人们在一段时间内聚集在一起共同创造游戏的活动）在某个领域中并不盛行，我便会建议你们组织game jams这样的活动。

game jams(from szsky)

在阶段3中，最有帮助的是直接关注特定的开发者。在这种情况下你将遇到带有潜力的一款游戏或一个开发者，你可以使用自己现有的网络将其介绍给一些同行以帮助他们—-不管是通过平台，媒体还是发行商。

在阶段4中，回头专注于社区问题是最有效的方法。事后检查，业务洽谈等都是专注于处理并不盛行但是在一个领域中却是可行的平台问题，在这里深入探索文化概念非常有帮助。

在阶段5或5+中，我们可以假设一个领域了解产业中的大多数趋势，文体和理念。自从阶段5开始时，领域间便会出现更明显的差别，所以我们很难明确在这些领域中什么才是真正有效的。

Gamedev.world

对于新兴领域的好奇是关于历史，文化，艺术或游戏的不同角度对于我们媒体的影响。我在2014年最喜欢的一些对话是发生在像乌拉圭，阿根廷，印度或台湾等地方—-即当你在思考游戏时不会立刻想到的区域，但它们却快速发展着并将成为未来我们产业文化输出的一大组成部分。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转发，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Six stages of game dev community development

by Rami Ismail

During the last few years, I’ve found myself focused on community development in emergent territories around the world. Territory is loosely defined here: it can be a city, a province, a state or an entire country. Game development communities tend to develop along very similar lines, and at some point I’ve started to mentally organize these community growth thresholds into a model. Note that this model is not scientific in any way, and is mostly used by me personally to figure out how I can help a certain territory when I visit. Many people I mention the model to asked me to write things down, and many developers in emerging territories found it interesting to talk about where they fall on the scale. As such, here’s my six stages of community development.

The model is separated into six major stages that communities go through. Certain communities can skip steps through governmental or cultural support, or in some cases even thanks to one or several well-intended individuals throughout the community. There are historical moments in which certain territories have fallen back one, or even multiple stages.

Stage 1

Stage 1 is one of the less common stages around the world. In this stage, developers do exist in a territory, but are spread thin and often unaware of each other’s existence. No events exist, or the events that exist are extremely local. The goals of a territory in this stage are very utilitarian: the dream is to make money. Developers are commonly amateur developers without access to knowledge that is prevalent throughout the industry, and the games they make will very often be limited both in execution and cultural value. As such, games very often (closely) resemble ideas already prevalent in established territories.

Stage 2

Stage 2 is the most common stage around the world. Developers in the territory have found each other, established communication hubs and organized internal events for the full territory. In most territories, thought leaders emerge from these meetups, creating informal community leaders. Exchange of knowledge rapidly becomes prevalent in the territory, and with that a voice emerges for a territory. Since knowledge shared is mostly based on assumptions made by unestablished developers, the growth of such a territory is usually limited. In this stage there commonly is a noticeable lack of understanding of basic concepts as ‘polish’, ‘game feel’ and ‘context’, because such concepts evolved as jargon in established territories.

Stage 3

In Stage 3 the focus moves to international knowledge exchange. Either the territories events or community leaders invite external thought leaders or experts, or developers from the territory visit events in established territories, creating informal ambassadors. Existing knowledge in the community is validated or invalidated through this collision with the established territories. To create more reach, a territory joins international organizations such as the IGDA, or establishes local organizations or groups that speak on its behalf. Companies rapidly grow to adapt to the structure of the international games industry, learning to reach out to press and media. In this stage, a territory defines an identity, but not a cultural flavor. Commonly, the goal for developers is still ‘to make it big’ in ‘the West’, and as such games still overwhelmingly resemble existing popular games, often with a minor twist.

Stage 4

This is by far the most important stage. This stage begins when a hero emerges, and international knowledge exchange has been established. A hero is defined as any individual or company that has reached economical and critical acclaim in the established territories. These heroes bring in valuable money, contacts and knowledge, and often act as a bridge between the international industry and the local industry. More importantly, the hero validates the idea that game development can be lucrative, and presents a measurable point of success for other developers to look up to. Ironically, this stage often includes a lot of developers making games based on similar ideas as the hero game, even though the hero game is frequently highly similar to a game from an established territory. Developers in this territory frequently refer to the hero when asked about their work.

Stage 5

Stage 5 is the most common stage for Western Europe and large parts of the United States. Commonly, the visibility of the hero has created a huge influx of new studios and developers, and with that a huge new influx of ideas. Local developers stop looking up to the hero, and start rebelling against the hero. In this stage, the goal for many developers is to be like the hero developer, but “not that”. In stage 5, multiple heroes emerge rapidly, diminishing the value of a single hero. During this phase, a territory evolves a more cultural perspective on games as the goal shifts from trying to prove game development is a feasible expense of time to making interesting content. As the community grows more comfortable, games become more personal and less utilitarian.

Stage 5+

In stage 5+, a territory is seen as a thought leader in the international games industry. Very few territories ever reach this stage, and it is my belief that there is no possibility for very many Stage 5+ territories to exist at once. Note that the existence of large international events in a location does not automatically create a Stage 5+ territory, but that it should be seen as a fleeting and temporary status as a thought leader. Many Stage 5+ territories float between Stage 5 and Stage 5+ continuously.

Ways of assisting a territory

I want to emphasize once again that these are simply my thoughts on how to best help a community in a given stage. None of this is scientific, and a lot of this has developed through personal preference and experience over the past few years. I don’t take these considerations as ‘formal’ myself, and will usually figure out what I’ll do after getting my bearings in a territory. In general, they fall within or near the parameters I discuss below.

In stage 1, it is my belief that interacting on a community level is potentially damaging to evolving a local culture of game development. As such, I talk to individual developers, usually with the recommendation to start local meetups.

In stage 2, the most useful thing is to share knowledge about basic design concepts and frameworks, how to give and receive feedback, and introduction-level ideas about marketing. If game jams aren’t prevalent in a territory, I recommend organizing game jams.

In stage 3, the most useful thing is to focus squarely on specific developers. In the case you come across a game or a developer with potential, using your existing network to introduce them to parties that can help them out – whether those are platforms, media or publishers – can be critical.

In stage 4, focusing back on community-wide issues is generally the best way of helping. Postmortems, business talks, talks that are specifically focused on dealing with platforms that aren’t prevalent but available in a territory and in-depth exploration of cultural concepts are useful here.

In stage 5 or 5+, one can assume that a territory is aware of most trends, issues and ideas in the industry. Since at the start of stage 5, territories become more distinct from other territories, it’s impossible to say what will be useful in these territories.

Gamedev.world

The wonder of emergent territories is how much a slightly different perspective on history, culture, art or play can bring to our medium. Some of my favorite conversations of 2014 took place in countries like Uruguay, Argentina, India or Taiwan – places that you wouldn’t immediately think of when you think about games, but are rapidly growing to be a big part of our industries cultural output in the future. At the Games for Change conference in New York City last week, I presented a curation of games from around the world that I feel express their territories culture in an interesting way.

Let me know if you recognize your own territory in the model, and what stage you think your territory is in currently and why.(source:gamasutra)