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帮助你从独立游戏开发存活下来的5大步骤

发布时间:2016-07-05 15:07:12 Tags:,,,,

作者:Vince Weller

在过去,游戏产业就像是一片绿油油的牧场,一派祥和。创办你的商店,创造你的作品,尽情地享受生活。所有的一切都是那么的简单。

green pasture(from gamasutra)

green pasture(from gamasutra)

而遗憾的是,几十年过去后,这里的情况发生了很大的变化。

crowded(from gamasutra )

crowded(from gamasutra )

这片牧场变得越来越拥挤。虽然我们都在等待着能够作为压轴作品出现,我还是希望在此分享我对此的一些看法并希望能够带给你们帮助。

步骤1:设计

你的游戏必须足够突出。它至少需要有非常出色的一面,即拥有别人之前从未尝试过的内容。如果不去尝试一些新内容的话你为什么还要成为一名独立游戏开发者呢?

创造一款带有“经过验证是好的”的机制是远远不够的,因为大多数情况下在你尝试“经过验证是好的”的内容前已经有很多人做过这件事了。如果你所添加的只是全新视觉效果,你就必须重新想一想了。当然了有可能Kim Kardashian会发条tweet去宣传你们游戏并将其变成下一场网络轰动,但毕竟Kim那么忙碌,你也别只是想着依赖于这种“狗屎运”。

当然了,每个规则都有例外。如果你复制的是像《铁血联盟2》,《巫术8》和《Shadow of the Horned Rat》等值得尊敬的游戏的游戏玩法,那你大可一试。而如果不是的话就别这么做了。

对于我们的第一款游戏,我们选择了“选择和结果(C&C)”,即一个包含了99%被认定为有意义选择但却因为需要话费太长时间而未被实践的游戏内容的“简单”类别。这也是创造了11年游戏后的我们历经艰难才学到的东西。《颓废年代》带给了我们:

比拼命去争取更有意义的选择

基于不同角度和视野去呈现事件的平行线

完全不同的“创造你自己的故事”的教程

对于我们的下一款完整的RPG,我们将把C&C带到一个全新高度并添加一些动态元素,即这将与你所习惯的内容有所不同并且将与一些已建立起的设计主题背道而驰,也许在这一过程中会让一些人感到失落。但这将会是一种极具野心的设计,并且就像我所说的,做些之前别人所做过的事(即使是你自己做过的事)是远远不够的。你必须不断向前发展,否则你便难在在此存活下去。

步骤2:社区

既然你正致力于创造自己的游戏,你便需要围绕着游戏去创造一个社区并宣传该社区。不管你的游戏设计得多好,如果没人知道它得话这一切便都是扯谈。没错,这也是你需要承担的工作。

许多独立开发者会着眼于AAA级游戏开发者所做的事并将其记录下来。他们认为如果自己能够像那些AAA级游戏开发者那么专业,别人就会把他们当成真正的开发者并足够重视他们。

不要发布任何半官方的新闻稿去宣传自己。即使你拥有时间,金钱或意愿的话也不要强迫志愿的测试者签订保密协议。不要在Steam上写下你自己的EULA(最终用户许可协议),因为Steam的EULA并不适合你。最糟糕的事,不要始终提防着别人怕他们窃取你的故事和设计理念。

你必须想办法去出售你的观点,但如果你只能提供给对方一份简介,你便不可能做到这点。

我们从开发的第一天起便将一切事宜发到了网上。如果我们未呈现某些内容的话便是因为我们未曾拥有这样的内容。我们会尽可能在每个论坛上回复所有有关游戏的问题并提供给人们去关注这款游戏的理由。

走出去并融入游戏社区。不要将自己隐藏在论坛后面或者“社区管理者”的身份后。人们并不喜欢被控制,他们想要的是与创造游戏的人进行交谈。

我在多个论坛发布了超过1万篇文章并与那些对我们的游戏感兴趣且带有疑问的人进行交谈。Oscar发布了超过6千篇文章。这甚至不包括在Steam上的文字,因为我们发布了Early Access版本的游戏,并且在游戏发布后我们还发表了更多文章。而如果你没有精力与那些对你们游戏感兴趣的人进行交谈,你就不要期待着他们在未来会给予你大大的支持。

在进入下一个要点之前我们必须先明确一个要点:当你在和别人交流时会发现,并不是所有人都和你一样认为自己的游戏理念非常出色。有些人可能认为你的游戏很糟糕并且渴望与自己遇到的所有人分享自己的这一想法。你必须习惯这种情况,因为你可能会频繁地遭遇它。“这便是网络的力量。”

步骤3:创造一款游戏

让人惊讶的是,这一步骤并不是真的关于游戏创造。如果你不能创造一款游戏,那么这一指南便帮不到你。这其实是关于游戏的“经济方面”。你会发现除非你创造出像《暗黑地牢》那样大型的游戏,否则作为独立开发者的你不可能赚到许多钱。因此你必须努力做预算并避免以下这两种情况的出现:

你创造了一款优秀的游戏,作为一款独立游戏来说它卖得很好,但是因为未能有效控制成本你现在已经负债10万了。从根本上来看就是你创造了一款优秀的游戏但是你却投入了比想象中更多的成本,所以现在的你陷入了绝境中。

你创造了一款优秀的游戏,作为一款独立游戏来说它买得很好,然而虽然你赚回了本但却没有多余的钱继续去创造游戏,所以现在的你只能在Kickstarter上拼把运气,但在这里你往往很难得到你创造游戏所需要的东西。

你应该将你从第一款游戏种赚到的钱作为第二款游戏的运行预算。也就是说如果你在第一款游戏中花更多钱,你的第二款游戏的预算便越少。你会发现你创造第一款游戏往往都是凭借着满腔热情。而热情虽然很好,但确是一种你终会耗尽的廉价资源。

在这里你的目标是努力从独立危机中生存下来并创建一家真正的工作室,对吧?所以你可以凭借着热情去创造游戏,使用第一款游戏所赚到的钱去创造第二款游戏,并继续使用第二款游戏所赚到的钱去创造第三款游戏,依此类推。

到目前为止,平均售价22美元的《颓废年代》共卖出了5万多分。而这一收益并不是对我们11年辛苦付出的奖励,而是作为我们的第二个项目《Colony Ship RPG》的预算。

步骤5(没错,我们将从步骤3直接跳到步骤5,因为数学是一个社会架构):创造另一款游戏

你创造了第一款游戏并卖出了足量游戏能让自己继续创造游戏。恭喜你!现在你需要再次重复这些过程,并且你需要比之前做得更好且更快。在我们的例子中,这便意味着我们需要保持同样的质量并只花4至5年时间去创造第二款游戏。我们的目标是4年,5年也是可接受的,6年的话就太长了。而《颓废年代》花了这么长的时间是因为:

我们没有经验,也就是在游戏设计方面采取了太过消耗时间的方法。

我们没有工具,没有系统(游戏邦注:如战斗,对话等等),没有引擎,即所有的一切都要从头做起。

我们花了10年的时间兼职制作游戏(毕竟热情不能总是为我们买单),并在快看到终点线的时候转向全职开发。

所以我们有可能在4至5年时间里创造出一款更优秀的游戏,虽然这并不是一件绝对确定的事。

不管怎样你的第一款游戏让你知道自己具有创造一款能够突显于众多竞争者之间并赚到足够收益去维持你的发展的元素。在你再次开始前,你的第一款游戏的成功都只是侥幸。你必须继续去解决各种漏洞,因为第一次的错误也有可能将你至于死地。

而第二款成功的游戏将有可能保障你未来的成功,并将你们的开发团队变成真正的游戏开发工作室。这是你需要客服的最后一道障碍,而不管怎样这也都不会是一件轻松的任务。

步骤4:循环

即使我们努力在4至5年内创造出《Colony Ship RPG》,我们现有的用户都愿意接受它,它赚到了足够的钱能让我们开发第三款完整的RPG,但是每隔4至5年发行一款游戏并不能帮助我们存活于此。

我希望我们现在能够扩展团队并招募更多成员,但我们并不能这么做,否则我们便会用光所有钱而不能再发行第二款游戏。我们需要一个有效的收益促进器,所以我们便走入了循环过程,即使用第一款游戏的引擎,系统和资产去创造一款并不昂贵的战术团体RPG。创造这样的游戏较为简单,因为我们可以使用现有的建筑模块,所以我们的计划便是在一年内将其组合在一起并希望获得玩家的喜欢。

如果这么做可行的话,这款游戏的收益将推动我们第二款游戏进入制作阶段(现在的我们正致力于《Colony Ship RPG》的预生产阶段),从而让我们能够找到更多人并使用更多钱去创造游戏图像。
如果这么做可行的话,我们便能够在每款完整的RPG之后发行一款战术战斗游戏并以此去弥补下一款游戏的预算。

那么市场营销呢?

这是关于什么?如果你拥有足够预算的话,市场营销便是能够保障一款游戏获得成功的机会。关于市场营销Jon Wanamaker说过:“花一半的钱在广告上是浪费的;问题是我不知道到底是哪一半。”

这是关于有效频率,即意味着你必须坚定信念并不断往广告里投钱,即使未能从中获得任何回报。Harvard认为魔法数字是9。即大多数人在做出回应前必须看到你的广告9次。Thomas Smith认为魔法数字应该是20。Krugman则相信主要有3个阶段:好奇,认知,决定,但显然每个阶段都需要一些广告的支持。

所以这意味着除非你在游戏开始盈利前拥有足够的资金去运行广告,否则千万不要这么做。因为你将需要为此投入你辛苦赚到的5千块,虽然这在广告世界可能只等于1分钱,但是你却最终什么都捞不到而智能放弃广告,从而白白浪费了这5千。

如果没有市场营销预算,你的选择将会非常有限:你需要从游戏媒体那获得良好的声誉,这也将我们再次带回步骤1—设计。除非你的游戏值得人们去讨论,否则媒体们很容易忽视它。他们想要写的是那些人们想要阅读的内容。如果没人听过你们的游戏,对的,这也将把我带到步骤3—社区:你营销游戏并吸引人们兴趣的最有效方式便是让媒体注意到你的作品并能为它写篇让人印象深刻的文章。

总之,我认为没有什么时候比现在更适合成为一名游戏开发者。当然了,这个领域非常拥挤(游戏邦注:现在Steam上共有12818款游戏在做促销),但市场还是非常巨大,这里仍存在许多空间等待所有人去开拓。Steam有超过1.25亿用户—这些付费用户只需要一次点击便能够购买一款游戏,而你需要做的只是去吸引这个不断发展的市场中0.05%(如果你想要更多钱的话可以是0.3%至0.5%)的用户。当然了,说起来总比做起来简单,但不管怎样这里都是存在可能性的!

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

How to Survive Indiepocalypse in 5 Easy Steps

by Vince Weller

In the olden days the gaming industry was like a picturesque green pasture, inviting and peaceful. Set up your shop, make your masterpiece, enjoy life. Easy as pie or so the story goes.

Sadly, over the decades the landscape has changed a bit…

It’s gotten so crowded that some people started thinking that the End has to be nigh for surely God, who sent His only begotten Son to die on the cross to redeem mankind, won’t tolerate this hipster plague much longer and will wipe the slate clean sooner or later. So while we’re waiting for the Grand Finale, I might as well share my thoughts in hope that some people would find it useful.

Step 1 – Design

Your game has to stand out. It has to do at least one thing extremely well, preferably something that hasn’t been done before. Why be an indie game developer if not to try new things, right?

It’s not enough to do a game with tried and true mechanics, because in most cases “tried and true” has been done to death long before you decided to throw your hat into the ring. If all you’re adding to the recipe is new visuals, think twice. Sure, it’s possible that Kim Kardashian might tweet about your game and it becomes the next internet sensation, but Kim’s busy taking selfies, so let’s not rely on dumb luck alone.

Of course, every rule has exceptions. If you’re replicating the tried and true gameplay of something as venerable as Jagged Alliance 2, Wizardry 8, or Shadow of the Horned Rat, go right ahead. If not, don’t bother.

For our first game, we went with Choices & Consequences (C&C) – an “easy” category considering that 99% of games promise meaningful choices but never deliver because it takes a very long time, which is something we’ve learned the hard way after making the game for 11 years. AoD gives you:

More meaningful choices than you can shake a stick at

Parallel questlines showing events from different angles and points of view

Radically different “Craft Your Own Story” playthroughs

For our next ‘full scale’ RPG, we’ll raise C&C up a notch and add party “dynamics”, which will be very different from what you’re used to and go against the established design staples, possibly upsetting some folks in the process (again). It’s a very ambitious design, but as I said, doing what’s been done before – even if it was done by you – is not enough. You have to push forward or you will not survive.

Step 2 – Community

Now that you’re working on your game, you have to build a community around it and spread the word. No matter how well-designed your game is it will fail all the same if nobody knows about it. Yes, that too is your job.

Many indie developers look at what the AAA developers do and take notes. They think that if they act like the AAA boys, you know, professional and shit, everyone will assume they are real developers too and take them seriously.

Don’t do semi-official press-releases where you quote yourself. Don’t ask volunteer testers to sign NDAs as if you have the time, money, or desire to enforce them. Don’t write you own EULA on Steam as if Steam’s EULA isn’t good enough for you. Worst of all, don’t guard your stories and design ideas because someone might steal them. Yeah, Bethesda will decide to postpone The Elder Scrolls 6 and steal your shitty totally awesome ideas instead.

You have to sell people on your vision and you can’t do it if all you give them is a brief summary and Todd Howard’s famous “Trust us, it will be cool” line.

We’ve posted everything we had from day one. If we didn’t show something, it’s because we didn’t have it. We’ve “spoiled” every aspect of the game and answered every question about the game on as many forums as we could, giving people reasons to follow the game.

Go out into the world and engage gaming communities. Don’t hide behind moderators or “community managers”. People who give a fuck about your game don’t want to be “managed”, they want to talk to the guys making the game.

I made over 10,000 posts on multiple forums talking to people who showed interest and had questions. Oscar made over 6,000 posts. That’s not counting posts on Steam since we launched on Early Access and even more posts later after the game was released. If you can’t be arsed to talk to people who’re interested in your game, don’t expect them to support you in the future. Find time or you won’t stay in this business for long.

A word of warning before we get to the next chapter: when mingling with people you might discover that not everyone thinks your game ideas are as great as you think they are. Some people might actually harbor suspicions that your game sucks and be willing and even eager to share these thoughts with everyone they run into. You’d better get used to it because it’s going to happen a lot. ‘tis the magic of the internet.

Step 3 – Making a Game

Surprisingly, this step isn’t really about making a game. If you can’t make one, this handy guide won’t help you. It’s about the “economics” of it. You see, unless you hit it really big for an indie, like Darkest Dungeon-big, you won’t make a lot of money (for a real studio). Thus you must budget and ration like a lost-at-sea sailor to avoid these two fairly typical scenarios, which happen more often than you might think:

You made a good game, it sold well for an indie but now you’re 100k in debt because the costs spiraled out of control. Basically, you made a good game but you spent more than you should have and now you’re dead in the water.

You made a good game, it sold well for an indie, you recovered your initial investment and bought yourself an ice-cream but you have no money to continue and now you must try your luck on Kickstarter where you get not what you need to make a game but what you can get, which is anywhere from 10 to 30% if you’re lucky.

Treat what you earn from the first game as your operational budget for the second game. So the more you spend making your first game, the less you’ll have to make your second game. You see, the first game is always done on pure enthusiasm. You’re making a game, living the dream, working part-time, evenings and nights for years, because sleep is overrated. Enthusiasm is a great and cheap resource but you can’t run on it forever.

The goal here is to survive the indiepocalypse and build a real studio, right? So you make a game on enthusiasm, use what it earned to make a second game, use what it earned to make a third game, etc.

The Age of Decadence sold over 50,000 copies to-date at $22 average. The revenues aren’t our reward for 11 years of hard work (that’s done and gone) but our budget for the “Colony Ship RPG”, our second project.

Step 5 (yes, we’ve just jumped from 3 to 5 because math is a social construct) – Make Another Game

You made your first game and it sold well enough to continue. Congrats! Now you have to do it all over again, but you need to do it better (see Step 1) and faster. In our case it means making the second game in 4-5 years without lowering quality. We’re aiming for 4 years; 5 is acceptable, 6 isn’t. Granted, the main reason AoD took so long is because:

We had no experience, aka time-consuming trial-and-error approach to game design.

We had no tools, no systems (things like combat, dialogues, etc), no engine; literally everything had to be done from scratch.

We worked part-time for 10 years (enthusiasm doesn’t pay the bills) and switched to full-time only when the finish line was already in sight

… so there’s a good chance that we can make a better game in 4-5 years but it’s far from certain.

Anyway, the point is that your first game shows that you have what it takes to make an indie RPG that stands out in a crowd and sells enough to keep you in business. Until you do it again, the first game’s success is nothing but a fluke. You have to perform consistently without any margin for errors because the first mistake might kill you.

A second successful game will secure your future and turn that fellowship of geeks that is your team into a real game development studio. That’s the last hurdle to overcome, which is by no means an easy task.

But wait, there’s more…

Step 4 – Recycle

Even if we manage to make the Colony Ship RPG in 4-5 years AND it will be well received by our existing audience AND it will sell enough to make a third ‘full scale’ RPG, releasing games once every 4-5 years might not be enough to survive.

I wish we could expand our team right now and hire more people but we can’t, otherwise we risk running out of money and releasing the second game deep in debt (see Step 3). We need a reliable revenue booster, so we’re going to recycle and make an inexpensive tactical, party-based RPG using the first game’s engine, systems, and assets. Such a game is relatively easy to make, since we’re using the already existing building blocks, so the plan is to put it together in under a year and hope that it’s well received.

If it works, the revenues will boost the second game’s budget just as it enters production (we’re working on it now while the Colony Ship RPG is in pre-production), allowing us to get a couple of extra people and spend more money on art.

If it works, we can release a tactical combat game after each ‘full scale’ RPG and boost the next game’s budget.

Bonus Chapter – What About Marketing?

What about it? Marketing is a game of chance that all but guarantees winning IF you have enough money to stay in the game. There’s a famous saying attributed to John Wanamaker who knew a thing or two about marketing: “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”

It’s all about effective frequency, which means that you have to have faith and keep throwing money at ads even when they give you no return whatsoever. Harvard thinks that the magic number is nine. Most people have to see your ad nine times before they start responding to it. Thomas Smith thought the magic number is twenty. Krugman was convinced there are three phases: curiosity, recognition, decision, but obviously each phase takes a number of ads.

So what it means is that unless you have enough money to run ads until they start turning profit, don’t do it. You will spend 5k of your hard-earned money, which is the equivalent of a penny in the exciting world of advertising, get nothing and stop advertising, thus wasting the 5k you’ve just spent.

Without a marketing budget, your options are limited: you need the goodwill of the gaming media, which brings us back to Step 1 – design. Unless your game is worth talking about, the media will ignore it. They want to write what people want to read. If nobody wants to hear about your game, well, this brings us to Step 3 – Community: your most effective way of marketing your game and creating that interest that might result in the media gods looking at your creation favorably and blessing your efforts with a preview or a quick impressions article.

Overall, I don’t think there was EVER a better time to be a game developer. Sure, the landscape is crowded (12,818 games on sale on Steam right now, which is insane), but the market is HUGE and there’s plenty of room for everyone. There are over 125 million Steam users – that’s paying customers able to buy a game with a single click, and all you need to do well is make a game that would appeal to 0.05% (or 0.3-0.5% if you like money a lot) of that ever-growing market. It’s easier said than done, of course, but far from impossible.(source:gamasutra

 


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