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《暗影格斗3》主创Grigory Ponomaryov谈原型来源和其他

发布时间:2019-01-02 09:16:49 Tags:,

《暗影格斗3》主创Grigory Ponomaryov谈原型来源和其他

原作者:gamedesignlovers.com 译者:Willow Wu
你当初为什么会进入游戏开发行业?你是如何成为一名游戏设计师的?

当我拿到艺术硕士学位时,我对之前所学习研究的这块领域感到有些失望。我休息了一段时间,花了些时间整理,意识到了我真正想做的事:我一直都很喜欢游戏,而且想要自己创作一个游戏。于是我开始自学相关知识,阅读游戏设计文献,并且寻找那些愿意让无工作经验的人实习的公司,甚至没有工资也行。我完成了测试,进入面试,我就是这样以实习生的身份进入游戏行业的。

你现在的日常工作是怎样的?

我早上十点来上班,看看Skype上有没有新消息,然后开始处理团队任务。10:30我们开始Skype视频会议,我会了解每个人在做什么,有没有人遇到瓶颈,或者需要帮助。我们有一个非常大的项目,所以我通常会选择在午饭前跟同事通话聊天,协调不同的团队,做好整体的管理工作。午饭后,如果没有会议,也没有人需要我处理什么紧急事件(很少见) ,我就会开始做一些技术性的任务:比如在Unity中置入游戏内容,配置维护等其它类似的事情。
你的工作环境、设备是怎样的?

我们是开放空间,有一张大桌子,墙上挂着很多白板,我们会在讨论时画上图表、记一些笔记。

桌子上有两台三星显示器、罗技的办公鼠标键盘,微软的头戴式耳机。PC配置很不赖:GeForce GTX950,i5-6400 2.7 GHz,16 GB RAM,电脑装的是Windows 7系统。

这样的设备能够让我同时运行2个Unity实例,还有一些辅助apps,非常流畅。

Shadow Fight 2(from insidemobileapps.com)

Shadow Fight 2(from insidemobileapps.com)

你用哪些apps或者服务来完成主要任务?

主要的就是Unity、Notepad++、Skype、Discord、Monosnap、Google Chrome、JetBrains WebStorm、Tortoise Git和Google Services——Google Docs and Google Sheets。

你的灵感是从何处得来的?

茶水间。认真想想的话,我希望我能从童年开始接触游戏制作,能够有更多机会去实践自己想做的事、参与游戏开发,这对我来说就是非常好的灵感来源了。

你是什么时候开始着手设计新内容的?过程是怎样的?

大多数情况下,我们开始设计一个新游戏亮点是因为要解决问题,从而优化玩法、盈利机制或者是玩家的游戏体验。一般我们会在游戏设计群组中讨论这个问题,或者是跟制作人讨论。然后我们再召集相关的团队成员开会——一般是游戏设计师、制作人,但是有时候我们也会要求艺术设计、动画设计、开发人员或者是剧本创作人员加入。在会议期间,我们会讨论当下的问题或者是新的游戏特色,进行头脑风暴,分析这些点子的优劣所在。在游戏特色上达成一致意见后,我们会把所有讨论的结果写下来,为不同团队分配任务。

你最近看到的游戏中有哪个是你觉得设计很惊艳的吗?

我想不止我一个人觉得《神界:原罪2》(Divinity: Original Sin 2)是一款十分出色的游戏吧?作为一名玩家,我喜欢游戏,我在自己的游戏中加入了各种复杂的难题、道具,但我也会给玩家机会去尝试不同的方法解决问题。但是《神界》完全不考虑这方面的问题,还加入了社交元素。(除了特定NPC的特殊武器,其它全是随机掉落的装备,但是玩家可以跟其它角色进行交易。)当你和朋友一起玩这个游戏时,你们会对问题的解决方案产生分歧,这真的很有趣。你们讨论计划,试图达成完全一致意见,将计划付诸实施。但是后来出现了突发状况,你们不得不应对后果。

职业生涯中最让你自豪的成就是什么?

就是我对近期发行的《暗影格斗3》所作的贡献,我们能做出这个备受玩家赞誉的游戏确实是一件值得骄傲的事。

如果你可以改变职业生涯中的一件事,你会选择什么?

目前来说,我想改变的只有一件事:我希望当初能够早点接触游戏开发工作,比如说大学最后一年或者是毕业后就开始。

最近有什么事情是比你当初预想的还困难的?

管理asset bundles(Unity推荐的资源管理方式)。表面看上去很简单——把内容和资源都安排妥当,这样玩家就能按需下载。但这让我们之中的不少人头痛了好几周,因为资源的量很大,而且彼此之间的关联也很复杂,所以我们很难创作出可以完全独立的内容。

对于游戏特色设计的分歧你们是如何解决的?

我们几乎每次都能达成一致意见。游戏开发是一个非常注重团队基础的工作,我们没有出现过什么争吵。总制片人可以进行协调,但他如果觉得某个决策行不通时也可以一票否决的。

你自己是通过什么方式进一步提升游戏设计技能的呢?

我在闲暇时间会阅读相关的英文资料,浏览不同的行业网站,收听博客、看演讲视频等等。如果你没有语言障碍,那么你的自学空间是无限的。我喜欢看GDC大会上的各种事后反思演讲,开发者们阐述他们创作了什么,为什么这么做,最后实现了什么,这个过程中他们犯了哪些错。对我来说,分析其他开发者的经验和错误似乎就是自我提升的最有效方式之一。

在设计的时候你会听什么样的音乐?

在工作的时候我会听音乐、博客或者演讲,这样才不会被同一空间的噪音所干扰。我的播放列表中有各种类型的音乐,最近我听了很多朋克摇滚,比如Dropkick Murphys和The Hatters。

如果一个游戏设计师想加入你的公司,你会给他什么建议?

首先,对别人的意见和想法要保持开放态度。对于游戏设计师来说,倾听每一个人的声音并整合出最好的方案是一项非常重要的技能。

第二,不要害怕表达自己的观点,给出你的支持理由。

你对游戏设计师群体有什么建议吗?

理想情况下,你应该努力创造一款你自己想玩的、有趣、酷炫的游戏。当然,收益对公司是很重要,但是如果你只想着怎样才能从玩家那里挣到更多钱,那你的游戏最后只会成为一个不断利用玩家心理弱点的一个无聊软件。

本文由游戏邦编译,转载请注明来源,或咨询微信zhengjintiao

What led you to the game dev industry and how did you become a game designer?

When I was finishing my Master of Arts degree, I got disappointed in the area I was receiving my education. I took a break and spent some time to sort myself out and realise what I want to do. As I always loved games and wanted to make them, I started to self-educate, read game design literature and was looking for companies, which were ready to take me as an intern with no work experience. Even for free. I’ve completed a test, got interviewed and that’s how I got into the industry as an intern.

What does a typical day look like?

I come to work at 10 in the morning, check Skype for new messages and manage the tasks on my team’s board. At 10:30 my team has a Skype call, we hold a daily meeting, I find out what everyone’s working on, does anyone has any bottlenecks, or needs help. We’ve got quite a large scale project, so usually before lunch I call and talk to colleagues, coordinate different teams and do the management in general. After lunch if there’s no meeting ahead and no one needs anything urgent from me (which is rare), I start doing some technical tasks: implementing content in Unity, config maintenance and similar tasks.

What’s your setup?

A large table in open-space and whiteboard wall covers, where we draw charts and make notes during discussions.

Two Samsung displays, regular office Logitech mouse and keyboard, Microsoft headset. The PC is quite not bad: GeForce GTX950, i5-6400 2.7 GHz, 16 GB RAM — all these under control of the Windows 7.

Such a configuration allows me to keep 2 Unity instances open and a few supplementary apps, and still work with that comfortably.

Which apps and services do you use most to complete your main tasks?

Main apps and services are Unity, Notepad++, Skype, Discord, Monosnap, Google Chrome, JetBrains WebStorm, Tortoise Git and Google Services — Google Docs and Google Sheets.

Where do you gain inspiration from?

From the coffee machine. If taken seriously, I wished to make games since childhood, so the opportunity to do what I wished for and participate in game development are already good enough sources of inspiration.

When and how do you start working on a new feature? Could you describe the process?
Most of the times we start to work on a new feature because of a problem we need to solve in order to improve user experience, gameplay or monetization. Usually we start to discuss the issue in the game design channel or with the producer. Then we hold a meeting with those, who we need to participate in the feature design. Often those are game designer and the producer, but sometimes we ask artists, animators, developers or a scenario write to join if necessary. During the meeting we discuss the current issue or the new feature, brainstorm some ideas and evaluate their advantages and disadvantages. When we all reach a consensus on what we want from the new feature, we note down the results of all the discussions and create tasks for different teams.

Which games have you recently seen that made you think this is great design?

I think I won’t be original here to name Divinity: Original Sin 2. As a player I love games, in which I’ve provided with a huge variety of instruments, complex problems and opportunities to solve those problems with different instruments. But Divinity goes past this and adds a social aspect to the game. There’s more fun when you play it with your friend and your opinions on how to solve this or that issue are different. You discuss a plan, can’t define your actions, try to agree on everything and bring your plan to life, but then something goes wrong and you have to deal with the consequences of your actions.

What achievements in your career are you most proud of?

My contribution to the recently released Shadow Fight 3 and what we managed to achieve with this great game, already highly appreciated by players.

If you could change one thing about your career, what would it be?

For now there’s only one thing I would have changed. If only I could start working in the game dev earlier, for example straight after finishing the university or during the last year.

Which recent task turned out to be much difficult than you expected?

Asset bundles management. It’s simple on the surface — arrange the content and resources so that the player could download only what he needed at the moment. It expanded into a several weeks headache for a lot of people because of the amount of resources and multiple interconnections between them. This kept us from easily creating isolated parts of the game, which would be convenient to download.

How are the disputes about variants of feature design solved in your company?

We agree on everything almost every time. Game development is a super teamwork-based activity, therefore we almost always manage to reach a common ground. Final word is after the general producer, who coordinates the decision and can put a veto on it, if it he thinks it wouldn’t work.

What do you do to self-improve in game design?

I try to read literature in English in my free time, read different industrial websites, listen to podcasts and watch lectures and videos. If you don’t have a language barrier, then the self-educational space is absolutely infinite. I like to read or listen to post-mortems of various games on GDC, when developers talk about what and why they’ve created, what they managed to achieve and where they made mistakes. Analysis of other developers’ experience and mistakes seems one of the most effective ways of self-improvement for me.

What music do you listen to whilst designing?

Usually during my workday I listen to music or podcasts, or lectures, not to be distracted by the open-space noise. Usually my playlist is a mix of different genres, but lately I have a lot of punk rock, for example Dropkick Murphys and The Hatters.

If a game designer would want to apply to your company, what would you advise him?

First, be open to other people’s opinion and ideas. Listening to everyone and synthesize the best out of is is a very important skill for a game designer.

Second, don’t be afraid to express your opinion, of course if you have it and you have decent point to support it.

Any advice for game designers in general?

Ideally, strive to creating an interesting and cool games, which you would want to play yourself. Of course, revenue is very important for any company, but if the only thing you think about is how to drag more money out of the players, your game will eventually become a boring mechanism for exploiting weaknesses of human psychology.

Traditionally we ask to take a picture of your working place. Could you please share a picture of yours?

How can people contact you?

I’ll answer all questions with pleasure, just send me a note on Facebook or via mail.(source:gamedesignlovers


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