Mike Bithell谈游戏项目的切入和操作方式

原作者：Marie Dealessandri 译者：Willow Wu

当人们刚进入游戏行业的时候，很容易会被无限的可能性冲昏头脑。会写代码、会做动画或者会画画，这只是通往成功道路的第一步。你到底要从哪里开始呢？

你是要准备单干吗？你是要找一家公司就职吗？你是要作为一个自由职业者向其他人提供服务吗？你是要自己创建工作室吗？你脑中的那么多点子，到底应该先实现哪一个？

在GamesIndustry.biz Live: Academy的演讲上，Bithell Games的创始人Mike Bithell谈到了一些他希望在入行时就能知道的事。

“之前有不少人让我做类似主题的演讲，”他说。“我经常会遇到的问题是，你会发现你从某场演讲中，或者从同职位的人那里获得的建议很多都是过时的，因为他们所讲的事情都是发生在过去的。而游戏行业是一直在发展变化的，或者说它与个人的处境是息息相关的。

“我可以跟你说‘《苏立泰尔的阴谋》这个游戏成功的关键在于让尽可能多的玩家把它加入愿望单’或者‘你只需要多上播客或者拥有很多推特粉丝就行了。’但这并不是真正有用的建议，这就是做演讲时经常会令我犯难的问题之一。”

与其针对死板的策略给出无关痛痒的建议，Bithell决定将在演讲中重点分享一些对刚入行的人真正有用的经验教训和思维方式。

“我想谈一谈我的思维方式，以及我们公司还有周围人的思维方式，说一说这其中的问题。我们的公司是怎么成立的，我们做什么样的游戏，又是怎样做的，”他说道。“通过这种较为‘亲民’的方式来分享经验，我想是比让大家按照某个2013年的商业技巧去做事更有效。”

1.寻找尚未饱和的市场

Bithell给新手开发者的第一条建议就是寻找尚未饱和的市场。你或许一直都有个梦想中的游戏想要去实现，但在这之前你还是谨慎地考虑下市场状况比较好。在早期取得成功可以确保你之后有更多自由去做激情项目。

“去寻找尚未发掘的市场，或者一个游戏供不应求的市场，或者你发现某个地方的玩家总是找不到完全对他们胃口的游戏——赶紧抓住这种机会，”Bithell解释道。“但问题是，回顾以前，这些机会就如泡沫一般——好机会存在的时间是非常短暂的，一些人抓住了机会，做出了一番成就，然后大家都跟着跳进来，突然之间这一类型的市场就变得饱和了。”

任天堂Switch平台就是一个很典型的例子，他继续说道。这个主机一开始并没多少软件方面的支持，对于那些已经为这个平台付出努力的人来说，这就是一个很好的机会。

“那些从一开始就瞄准Switch的少数独立游戏真正将它转变成了一个机会，并且获得了可观的销量，因为那里的游戏并不多，”Bithell说。“这些游戏获得了报道，成为人们谈论的话题之一。剩下的独立开发者——包括我自己，也带着自己的游戏涌入Switch平台，但是当然，到了这时候……那里还有不少机会存在，但是很多开放空间已经被占领了。现在，Switch商店的情况已经稳定了一些，人们更关注的是数据方面的增长。”

“这是一个很好的历史机遇，也很好地说明了我上面的观点：关注思考过程而不是结果。所以我的意思并不是在Switch发行你的游戏，而是在任何有空间的地方发行你的游戏。”

Bithell补充说，曾经他们的游戏《孤独的托马斯》也受益于这一点，因为它发行的时候，大多数3A公司的焦点已经不在PC市场了。

“《孤独的托马斯》在Steam首页呆了好几个星期，因为当时并没有多少游戏发行。这产生了非常好的效果，让我们有了粉丝基础。所以找到这些尚未被发掘的机会，好好利用起来，这是非常令人兴奋的。”

2.不要疯狂加班

Bithell指出，来到就业市场的新一代开发者似乎已经认识到了高强度加班所带来的伤害，但他还是强调了不加班政策是他们成功起步的重要基石。

“不要疯狂加班，”他直截了当地说。“各种研究调查的数据都非常明确地表示加班最多只能持续一到两周，再多的话就会崩溃，然后一切效率都会被拉低。休个长假，休个周末，你的效率明显就会提高，事实可以证明。

“如果你打算组建一支团队，或者成立一家公司，一定要在开始的时候就明确不加班政策。遵循这个政策，想出应对的办法。从项目范围的灵活性、安排缓冲时间等方面入手，为你的团队留出喘息的空间。”

Bithell还指出了疯狂加班也没有任何商业意义。

“你不仅会把员工榨干、让他们生病、让他们无法和家人见面，而且这样做也不能带来更好/更多的工作成果，所以你并没有在创造更多收入。即使你是个丧心病狂的人，想要看到为你工作的人受折磨，这种疯狂加班也是没有意义的。”

Bithell表示，尽管他非常严格地要求员工不加班，但他本人过去也曾因工作时间过长而苦恼，当你的工作同时也是你热衷的事物时，就会经常遇到这种问题。

“在做《音量》这个游戏时，我最终因心绞痛而住院，因为我工作太长时间了，”他说。“这真的是一次响亮的警钟，提醒我要规划好自己的时间，确保自己遵守了不加班的原则。合理规划你的时间表，出现问题时不要找借口。当加班出现时，通常就是因为规划做得不好。”

3.发挥优势&创造独特

如果你有特别擅长某样东西，那你应该把精力都放在这个领域。这并不意味着你不应该离开自己的舒适区，但是呆在自己熟知的领域、确保自己能实现脑中的点子也是完全没有问题的。

“我们一直都受益于此，所以要努力创造能够体现你和你团队长处的游戏，”Bithell说道。“你擅长什么？坐下来好好列一张清单，这并没有什么坏处。你的游戏应该就是围绕着这些东西来设计。在自己的能力范围内做游戏、不去挑战自己，这并不是什么羞耻的事。

“你能交出什么样的东西？你可以让人们看到怎样优秀、酷炫的东西？你无法实现的东西，或许就应该避开。我们的原则是自己了解、确保能够做好的内容占80%，剩下20%我们会尝试一些新的东西，尤其是考虑到我们想要不断推动自己前进，但对我们来说，把重心放在我们能力范围内事情是非常关键的。”

他举了一些例子来说明Bithell Games擅长的东西，比如叙事和画面效果。但是团队会时不时地挑战非舒适区，就比如《苏立泰尔的阴谋》这个游戏。

“《苏立泰尔的阴谋》中，我们确实大力发挥了自己的特长——科幻故事和很酷的美术风格，但我之前从未做过纸牌游戏，所以这就是挑战自我、探索新领域。就像《疾速追杀Hex》一样，我们知道我们可以把电影相关的部分做得很好，我们知道我们可以把风格做得很鲜明，我们知道我们可以把互动设计得非常有趣，但我们想做一些更深层次的东西，一些更具策略意义的东西，这也是我们以前没有做过的。”

从另一个角度来谈发挥优势，就是做出独一无二的东西，Bithell继续说道。这侧重的是探索你的独特兴趣，专注于那些可能不会一下子就跟游戏联想到一起的点子。

Bithell说他是个戏剧迷，非常喜欢音乐剧也非常喜欢各式各样的主题公园——他希望有一天这两个爱好都能应用到游戏中去。

“你团队上的人们有什么兴趣爱好？人们通常会以为这种绝佳的点子是在冥思苦想后迸发出来的，但事实并非如此。

“源头通常就是那些拥有奇特兴趣的人。他们所热爱的东西是大多数游戏开发者或玩家所不感兴趣，或者是他们将之前从未结合过的两种内容结合在一起，从中发现一些耀眼的火花。这就是革新，这就是原创，这就是你能用的东西。”

4.把友善待人放在优先地位

Bithell从他的职业生涯中学到的另一个重要教训就是把友善待人放在优先地位，展示你的情商。

“这并不意味着你要变成‘卑鄙的天才’，”他说。“那么做很累人，不值得。我非常高兴，也非常自豪能和这么一群优秀的人一起工作，他们互相帮助，为问题找到创造性的解决方案。我不太喜欢《瑞克和莫蒂》中老爷子的性格，无论你是多罕见的天才，也不能肆意冒犯他人，我对此几乎无法容忍。”

Bithell在他的职业生涯中经常会遇到这种情况，他承认自己在刚入行的那段时间也犯过类似的错误。但是随着他逐渐成熟，他意识到这种对待他人方式是大错特错的。

“作为一家公司，我们鼓励大家互相支持、保持友善。我知道这听起来有点傻，但这很重要。我希望早年的我能重视这一点。我们很容易就以为拥有聪明的头脑就好了，但我认为即使情商和‘软技能’的地位没有智商高，那至少也是同样重要的。”

但Bithell指出，负面评价是性质不同的事，作为一个游戏开发者，你必须保持非常开放的态度。

“要互相审视彼此的工作，指出不足之处。但是我见过有些人失了分寸，甚至可能变得自鸣得意，这就是我们需要纠正的。

“这对你的公司发展也是有好处的，比如能够更长久地留住员工。正是因为这种和谐的氛围，我们塑造出了良好的工作室文化，人们往往会留下来，所以督促人们友善相待是有商业意义的。”

5.挑战现状&寻找同龄人

Bithell将他的下一条建议描述为“自爆程序”——他建议年轻人不要听他的，也不要听任何被邀请到大会上做演讲的人的话。

“你不一定要听从这些人的话，”他说。“我的意思是，显然你经常能从前辈或者崇拜对象或者你的社交媒体关注者那里获得启示，但我也认为其中也有不少是废话。有些5年前、10年前、15年前、20年前有用的建议，现在起不了什么作用了。

“我认为，最终，每一代有创造力的人都应该成为‘朋克族’——与众不同，挑战现状，最终促成改变。我们做到了。我们的上一代也做到了。我们的下一代也应如此。我认为这一点非常重要，也很实用。”

他继续说道，这并不意味着你不听取任何人的意见，但相比于前辈，你更应该向同龄人取经。

“这就是我经常会跟学生们说的：通常他们会从同龄人那里获得更多中肯的建议。他们的同龄人会更了解当下的文化。同龄人也在为自己的职业生涯而奋斗，你们可以一起成长。

他强调，游戏产业中存在不同时代的群体，这些人聚集在一起是因为他们在同一时间段获得了成功。

“你看到这些陌生的、因时间而走到一起的同龄群体，”他补充说。“这是件好事。特别是当你刚起步的时候，环顾四周，寻找有才能的人，被他们吸引，向他们学习，跟他们一起工作，互相支持。然后你就会看到新的市场空间。”

6.学会外向

对许多人来说，在社交媒体或在大型活动上向世界展示作品并非是自然而然就能做到的。也许他们有点内向，也许冒充者综合症困扰着他们，也许在他们的本土文化中公开展示并不是一种正面的行为。但是Bithell说你得跟这种感觉做对抗，大胆向前。

“我一直对公开展示有点忧虑，我知道如果你在推特上关注我，或者看过我的很多演讲，你可能会觉得难以置信，”他说。“我真的不喜欢谈论我们的东西，但是我必须得这样做，而且一而再再而三。多到我数不清了大概。我认为这是一件好事。

我想这种事情不少英国开发者应该深有体会，或许美国或其它地方的开发者就比较少这种感受。但显然，确实有些人会羞于炫耀、羞于宣布你已经完成了一个作品，并鼓励人们支持它/加入愿望单/购买它/分享给他们的朋友。你可能会因为公开展示而紧张，但我告诉你，这是值得的。有这种感觉是正常的，但与此同时，鼓起勇气展示自己的作品并与人分享，这才是关键。”

推广你的作品跟创造它一样重要。但是推广也是讲究方法的，所以你得注意把握平衡。还需要记住的是，当你的事业稍有起色的时候，你可以寻求支持来做这些事。

“如果你遇到发行商或平台负责人希望你去做这些事并走上舞台，你可以去寻求帮助。”Bithell说道，“让他们帮你克服难关并不是什么羞耻的事。他们是专业人士，可以让我们中的任何一个人成为出色的公众演说家，而且他们通常很有耐心。”

本文由游戏邦编译，转载请注明来源，或咨询微信zhengjintiao

When entering the games industry, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the infinite possibilities you have as a game developer. Knowing how to code, animate or draw is only the first part of the equation. Where do you even start from there?

Do you go it alone? Do you try to find a position at a company? Do you offer your services as a freelancer? Do you create your own studio? And among the myriad of ideas that have been twisting and twirling in your head, which one is the project that you should work towards releasing?

During a GamesIndustry.biz Live: Academy talk, Bithell Games founder Mike Bithell discussed what he wished he knew when he started in games.

“I get asked to do this kind of talk quite a bit,” he said. “The problem I always run into is that most advice you’re going to get at a conference or from someone in my position is going to be out of date, because it’s happened in the past. And this industry is changing so much all the time or it’s tied very specifically to what that person’s situation was.

“It’s all very well me saying to you: ‘Well, the key to Solitaire Conspiracy was getting so many wishlists’ or ‘All you simply have to do is be on a podcast a lot or have Twitter followers’. [But] that’s not super helpful and it’s always something that I’ve always struggled with in those talks — to give meaningful [advice].”

Instead of offering advice on rigid strategies, Bithell decided to focus his talk on lessons and ways of thinking that are helpful when you get started in the industry.

“[I want to talk about] the way in which I think, and the way in which our company and the people around me think and talk about problems, how our company is set up, what games we make, how we make them,” he said. “A bunch of lessons learned in a more generalised way seems more useful rather than just saying: do this specific business technique that worked in 2013.”

1. Find an underserved audience

Bithell’s first piece of advice to aspiring game makers is to find an underserved audience. While you probably have a dream game that you want to work on, carefully considering the market before getting started may be a better approach. Having an early succes can give you more freedom to work on a passion project.

“Finding a space where no one else is, or where a lot of people are in terms of players, but maybe there aren’t many games or they aren’t the kind of games they want — and taking that opportunity quickly,” Bithell explained. “The problem is, historically, every example of this has been a bubble. It’s been a moment where there’s been this great opportunity, and then a few people took advantage of that opportunity, have done very well and then everyone else jumps in and suddenly it’s overpopulated.”

A good example of this type of situation would be the launch on the Nintendo Switch, he continued. The console didn’t initially have a lot of support in terms of software, which represented a great opportunity for the few developers who actually invested in the platform.

“Those few indie games that were there from the start actually turned that into an opportunity and [sold] lots of copies because there weren’t many games there,” Bithell said. “What happened was those games got written about, talked about. Indies, the rest of us — myself included — flocked the platform with our games, but of course by that point… There was still lots of opportunity there, but that massive open space was gone. And now things have steadied out a bit on the Switch store and it’s a bit more the numbers you’d expect.

“That’s a really good historical opportunity and a good illustration of what I’m talking about in terms of thinking about the thought process rather than the outcome. So not going: bring your game out on Switch, but bring your game out wherever there’s space.”

Bithell added that his studio also benefited directly from this in the past with Thomas Was Alone, because it came out at a point in time where most AAA companies had moved away from PC.

“Thomas Was Alone was on the Steam front page for a couple of weeks because there was nothing else coming out. That worked really well for us and found us an audience. So finding those moments and those opportunities that no one else has spotted yet and jumping into those is a really cool thing to do.”

2. Don’t crunch

The generation of developers arriving on the job market in this day and age seem to already be aware of the harm crunch can do, Bithell pointed out, but he highlighted his no crunch policy as a cornerstone for a successful start in the industry.

“Don’t crunch,” he simply said. “The numbers in terms of productivity during crunch are appalling. It’s a really inefficient way to make anything. All the data we’ve got from every study very clearly points out that crunch works usually for one to two weeks tops, and then it crashes, and then everything slows down. Taking long breaks, taking weekends, demonstrably and provably gets you to make more work.

“Definitely if you’re starting a team or starting a company, make it very much a goal from the start to not do crunch. And stick to it, and figure out ways around that. Figure out flexibility in your schedules in other ways, in terms of flexibility of scope, arranging for buffer time, arranging space to breathe for your team.”

In addition to simply being the right thing to do, Bithell pointed out that it also doesn’t make business sense.

“Not only have you burned people out, got them sick, kept them away from their families, but you’re also not making better or more product, so therefore you’re not making more money either. Even if you are an awful human being who wants to make people who work for you suffer, even then it’s a bad idea.”

Bithell said that while he’s very strict about his employees not crunching, he personally has struggled with working too many hours in the past, which is a common caveat when your work is also your passion.

“I’ve ended up in a hospital with heart palpitations while making Volume, because I was working too many hours,” he said. “And it was a real wake-up call for me in terms of managing my time and making sure that I was living up to the principles I talk about. Manage your schedules and don’t accept excuses in terms of when that goes wrong. It’s always a failure of management when crunch happens.”

3. Play to your strengths and be unique

If there is something you are particularly good at, you should focus your efforts on that one thing. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t push yourself out of your comfort zone, but it’s perfectly fine to also stay in known territory to make sure you can actually deliver on your idea.

“The big one that we definitely have always benefited from is playing to your strengths, so specifically trying to make games that play to what you and your team can do,” Bithell said. “What can you do well? And literally, there’s no harm in sitting down and writing down a bullet point list of the things that you can do really well. And your game should probably be mostly about those things. There’s no shame in making games that you can make.

“What can you produce? What’s excellent and cool that you can get done? Things that you can’t do, maybe avoid those. Our general rule is we do 80% stuff we know we can do well, and then we’ll squeeze in a 20% something new. Specifically because we want to obviously always be pushing ourselves forward, but also it’s really crucial to us that we lean into what we can do.”

He provided a few examples of things Bithell Games is particularly good at, such as story and presentation. But every now and then the team would push into areas where they’re not as comfortable, which was the case for The Solitaire Conspiracy.

“[With] Solitaire, we did lean heavily on our comfort [zones] with doing sci-fi stories and cool art direction, but I never coded a card game before, so that was the area where I was pushing my skills and exploring. Likewise with John Wick, we knew we could do the movie side of that well, we knew we could do the style of it, we knew we could make the interaction really interesting, but we wanted to make something deeper, something more strategic, which again was something we’d not done before, so we pushed in that area.”

Another aspect of playing to your strengths is to make things that are unique to you, Bithell continued. While it explores the same core idea, this is more about exploring interests that are unique to you, focusing on things that you would not necessarily think were obvious ideas for games.

Bithell said he’s a theatre nerd who loves musicals and is also really into theme parks for example — both passions that he hopes to be able to use in a game one day.

“What are the things that people on [your] team are interested in? Often we think of these things as big moments where you’re walking through the mountains and an idea appears in your head, and it’s the greatest idea ever found. Most of the time that’s not where the stuff that’s particularly exciting comes from.

“Usually it’s someone who has a weird interest. They’re into something that most people who make or play games aren’t into, or something where they combined two things that never been combined before and found something cool as a result of that. That’s valid. That’s innovation. That’s originality.”

4. Prioritise kindness

Another important lesson Bithell has learned throughout his career is to prioritise kindness, and show emotional intelligence.

“[Prioritise] not leaning into the whole ‘mean genius’ trope,” he said. “It’s tiring and not worth it. I’m incredibly happy and proud to work with a bunch of just really good people who are there to build other people up and find creative solutions to problems together. [I'm] not a big fan of the whole Rick and Morty’s Rick Sanchez personality type. There’s no amount of intelligence that allows you to be nasty to people and I’ve got very little patience for it.”

Bithell has often encountered this during his career, and he admitted he might have been guilty of it in his early days in the industry. But as he “grew up,” he realised it was absolutely the wrong approach.

“As a company we try and encourage everyone to be supportive and good-hearted. And I know it sounds a bit gooey, but it’s important. It’s something that definitely I wish I had prioritised earlier. It’s very easy to fall into the assumption that we all have to just be really smart, [but] I think emotional intelligence and ‘soft skills’ are, if not more important, then definitely as important.”

Bithell pointed out that criticism is a very different thing, though, and as a game developer you have to be very open to it.

“Be comfortable criticising each other’s work. But I’ve encountered people who go beyond criticism and into perhaps smug cruelty, which is something that I think as an industry we just need to get over.

“It goes a long way in terms of boring business reasons like retention, keeping people around, people not wanting to leave the first chance they get. We have a nice studio culture as a result of that and people tend to stick around, so it makes business sense as well to not allow people to be awful to each other.”

5. Challenge the status quo and seek your peers

Bithell described his next piece of advice as a “self-destruct sequence,” as he recommended young people to not listen to him or to anyone who would be asked to talk at conferences.

“Don’t listen necessarily to those people,” he said. “I mean, there’s obviously good wisdom always to be found from your elders, or your heroes, or people you follow on social media. But also I think there’s a lot of nonsense. There’s a lot of stuff that worked five, ten, 15, 20 years ago, but that doesn’t work so well now.

“And I think ultimately it’s the job of every creative generation to come along and be punks, and be a bit different and challenge those status quos — and ultimately change things. We did. The generation before us did. And the next generation should. I think that’s important and it’s useful.”

That doesn’t mean you don’t have to listen to anyone, he continued, but it’s your peers you should be seeking rather than your elders.

“This is something that I often say to students who I’m working with or talking to: usually their peers are gonna be able to give them more insights. Their peers are gonna be more in touch with the culture of the day. Their peers are building up their own careers — you can grow together.”

He highlighted that the games industry has generational groups, people who came together because they found success at the same time.

“So you get these strange, time-locked peer groups,” he added. “That’s a good thing. I think especially when you’re starting out, look around you and find the talented people and gravitate towards them, and learn from them and work with them and build each other up. You see new spaces opening up because of that.”

6. Learn to be extroverted

For many people, presenting work to the world on social media or on the show floor of a massive event will not come naturally. Maybe they’re a bit more introverted, maybe impostor syndrome has struck them, maybe they come from a culture where showing off is frowned upon. But Bithell said that you need to fight that feeling and just go for it.

“I’m always really worried about showing off, which I know is hard to believe if you follow me on Twitter or you’ve seen me talk a lot,” he said. “I don’t really like to talk about our stuff, but I do because I have to. And I do. A lot. Too much possibly. And I think that’s a good thing.

“I think this is weirdly something that comes up with British devs a lot, and maybe less so with Americans and other countries. But definitely there’s a shyness about showing off, about declaring that you’ve made a thing, and encouraging the audience to support it, or wishlist it, or buy it, or tell their friends. I think there can be a nervousness about showing off. and I’m here to tell you it’s worth it. It’s okay to feel that way and it’s normal to feel that way, but at the same time having the nerve to show off your stuff and share it ultimately is the point.”

Promoting your work is as important as doing it in the first place. There are ways of doing it correctly though, so you need to find the right balance. And keep in mind that, when your career is a bit more established, you’ll have support to do these things.

“It’s okay to ask for help with it, if you’re ever a point where a publisher or a platform holder is wanting you to do that stuff and go on stage,” Bithell said. “It’s okay to ask them to help you out with that. They are professionals who can turn any of us into a competent public speaker and they’re usually quite patient.”

(source:games industry)