发现一篇挺有意思的译文,挺适合论坛上一些人看看的.
译文链接:
http://tieba.baidu.com/p/2477477961?pn=1
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"I have a Great Idea for a video game...
how do I sell it and get rich and famous?"
电子游戏，我有个牛逼闪闪的创意，现在就求找人卖掉，保管名利双收，我该怎么搞？
The short answer is: "Great, you have an idea. Now start writing. (But, by the way, nobody will buy your idea, don't be silly!)" The long answer (why you need to write, what to write, and what to do with what you wrote) is below.
简单的回答你：有创意，好啊。行，那你动笔写吧。（顺便说，没人会买你的点子，没人，所以别傻了。）
如果你要更长一点的回答，如果你连为什么要写出来，写什么，写出来干什么用这些问题都不知道，那你就接着往下看。
So you want to get your idea made into a working electronic game. There are two ways for you to follow up on this dream.
既然你希望把你的好创意拿到电子游戏里面来用，那这里有两条路供你选择，都能实现你的梦想。
1. DIY -- Do It Yourself. Execute the idea into a game yourself, training yourself along the way as a game designer and/or programmer and/or artist, etc. First step: write a formal GDD (game design document).
1. DIY ---自制吧。把你的创意完整执行到你自己的游戏里去，自我培训自己成为一个策划，兼 程序，兼 美术，好吧没准你还要干点其他的。总之，第一件事，你要给你自己出个策划案。
2. DIFTI -- Do It From The Inside. (You're "outside" the game biz at the moment.) Write your idea down, training yourself along the way to write the way a game designer does. Write more designs, too. Then, having built a design portfolio, go to a game company (a developer or publisher) and take a job -- ANY job. The practice of writing your designs will help you get your foot in the door, but it's unlikely that anybody will want to make your ideas into games or hire you as an apprentice game designer. The designs may never get made, but now you're in the biz -- and you can learn & grow within it, and eventually make other original designs if you're good.
2. DIFTI --- 找“内部”人员做，假如你现在还是属于“外部”人员的话，那就把你的想法写下来，学着像个策划一样写出东西来。然后写下更多的设计思路。再然后，将你的设计思路逐渐组合，形成整体，拿着去游戏公司（开发公司运营公司都无所谓），然后随便找个工作---没错随便找个工作。你之前做的这一系列行为，会帮助你迈进这个行业的，但是，当然，你的设计，不会被采纳的，你也别指望以一个学徒的身份进入游戏策划圈。你这份策划案，没准永远，永远，都不会被实现，但是不管怎么样，你现在，至少能进入这个圈子了，你有了学习的机会，并且也许总有一天你能原创个游戏出来。
- Both of those paths (#1 and 2 above) require the same first step: writing. You have to write down your game idea. FAQ 2 and FAQ 13 explain how to write. There are three levels of documents, each one having a particular purpose. The Concept Paper is very short, describing just the basic idea in exciting terms, in order to get someone else excited about the game, so they'll ask you to tell them more. The Treatment tells them more, maybe ten to twenty pages, to answer the questions a lender or publisher might ask before risking money on your idea. The GDD, the Game Design Document, is a full description of every aspect of the game so that a creative technical team can create the game.
所以你也看见了，无论你走哪条路，你第一件事，都是动笔写，而不是靠嘴吹。你必须写出来。至于怎么写，后面会详细的解释。一个策划案分为三级，每一级都有其特定的意义在里面。“概念稿”会非常短，非常简单，就是描述下基本的思路，令人激动的桥段，然别人能对这个游戏产生兴趣的原因，好吧，如果你这里过关了，那别人才会开始问你更多东西。“项目规划”就会给他们讲更多东西，对于英语来说，这东西，没个10页20页是拿不下来的，主要是用于回答你的老大，你的出版商，也没准是你自己，总之给你掏钱的人，要给你掏多少钱，为你的创意承担多大风险的问题。至于第三级，才到了所谓的“游戏策划案”，这阶段，当然了，充满了对于每一个游戏结构，游戏细节的详细描述，以此来帮你的团队创造一款游戏。
- Both of those paths require passion, perseverance, & perspiration.
Do you want to be a game designer? Or are you just a person with one idea that'll never go anywhere because you can't be bothered to spend the effort? If the latter, you can just stop reading right now. If the former, keep on reading.
两条路都需要热情，毅力和汗水。所以我再问你一次，
你还想干游戏策划么？还是说，你其实不过就是个点子青年，下不了功夫也耐不住寂寞？如果你是后者，读到这里，正合适，就可以休息了。如果你是前者，那你可以继续读。
- Either way, when you've finished, guess what profession you're in -- the games biz.
The latter path (#2 above, getting a job in the industry, DIFTI) also requires a good attitude -- you'll need to be a team player, a professional who works on projects without letting his own ambitions get in the way of doing a game other than his dream idea.
不管哪条路，等你完成你的游戏的时候，想想看，你在从事什么行业？没错，游戏行业。至于选择第二条路，也就是寻求内部人员合作的方式的策划，那你同样需要一个好的态度。你是个团队成员，一个专业的策划，你应该成为一个以团队为重的人，一个不让自己的野心（此外还有不切实际的主意）影响项目顺利进行的专业人士。
DIFTI: A design portfolio is a great way to present yourself to potential employers in the game biz. They won't buy your idea (they already have great ideas up the wazoo, or they think they do anyway) but they might well give you a job (it might be an entry-level job, but hey, it's a job in the biz). That's how I got started, 20 years ago. I made a board game design, and I tried to get it published. Eventually (2 years later) I gave up on that, and used the board game as a part of my portfolio to get a job at a thinktank for electronic toys. I took an entry-level job as a toy modelmaker, and one day I had a chance to design an electronic game (see Lesson 18 for the complete story). Next thing you know, I designed two games for the Vectrex game system. Then I worked at Sega and Atari. In other words, I went the career route. My first board game idea has never been published. But I've designed and produced a number of electronic games, and have a great job.
DIFTI：设计案可以把你介绍给你潜在的游戏圈同事，这是一个很酷炫的办法。他们不会买你的创意（很正常，因为他们认为他们做的也是牛逼闪闪的创意，反正他们创意有的是），但是他们可能会因此给你一份工作（行吧，可能就是个打杂策划，但是喂喂，你一上来想要多少？）。
我20年前的时候（=。=1990年左右），曾经尝试做过一个平面游戏，我当时还想把它发布了呢，结果2年以后我还是放弃了，拿着这个没完成的游戏作为了我设计案的一部分去找了一份工作，一个电子玩具制造的智囊团组成成员。当然了，我当时就是个入门级菜鸟，只负责做小玩具模型，然后有一天我有了机会去设计我的第一款电子游戏（真实的故事，以后我会说）。然后你就知道了，我再Vectrex系统下作了两款游戏，然后我就开始给日本世嘉和美国雅达利工作了。换句话说，从此进入正轨。然后当然，我第一个弱爆了的游戏再也没能发布，不过之后我做了一大堆游戏，各种平台，还有了这个非常酷炫的工作。
So, now I need to tell you a little more about the topics raised above.
a. Why nobody will just buy your idea from you (or otherwise execute it into a playable game).
b. Writing a formal game design document.
c. Working in the games business.
所以我接着这个标题继续谈下去，主要谈三个问题。
1. 为什么没人买你的创意（或者其他人把你的创意给做成游戏）
2. 怎么写一个正式的游戏策划文档。
3. 怎么在游戏产业里工作。
Here goes:
a. Why nobody will just buy your idea from you. You didn't expect me to be talking about these things, did you? (^_^) You just wanted somebody to take your idea and run with it, while you sit back and wait for the end result so you can play it, right? And maybe make some easy money.
好，从第一个开始，咱们挨个说：
其实你并不是打算问我为什么没人买创意吧，嘿嘿，其实你就是希望什么人能把你的创意拿走，然后给他做出来，你就往后面一座，然后等结果，这样你就可以玩了，没准还能赚点小钱什么的。是这样吧？
Forget that right now, it's not going to happen.
Pretend for a moment that you have a great idea for a novel, not a game. How would you go about getting it written and published? Would you go to a bulletin board and advertise looking for an author to write it for you? No, you would have to get off your butt and write it yourself. I have heard that a friend of Frank Herbert (author of Dune) asked Herbert to author the friend's idea and split the profits 50/50. Herbert refused, even though the guy was a good friend -- Herbert's reply was basically that ideas are easy; the writing is the hard part. Think about it for a minute -- would YOU want to have a friend come up to you, tell you a few sentences, then have you spend months hunched over a keyboard turning his few sentences into the Great American Novel? I doubt it. If you did spend months writing that book, would you want to give half of the money to that guy? I don't think so.
Now pretend for a moment that you have a great idea for a movie, not a game. How would you go about getting it made into a movie? You would have to begin by becoming a movie industry professional, get several movies under your belt, become a producer or studio executive, and off you go! That's the DIFTI route ("Do It From The Inside"). There's also the DIY (Do It Yourself) route: spend a lot of money (tens of thousands at the cheapest), write and direct it yourself, with the help of actors and technicians you hire. The end result may never get into theaters everywhere but could well prove your worth to a real studio. Either way, (DIY or DIFTI) by the time you're done, you're in the movie biz. And you earned it by hard work, not
by waving your arms for a few minutes in front of a cigar smoker who then throws wads of cash at you -- it don't work that way.
所以忘了这事吧，就当没发生过。你自己假想一下，如果不是游戏，而是一部小说，你怎么写完它发布它？在公告板上面又或者建议板上面写一句“我需要一个作家！”，然后你的小说就完成了？不不不，不会的，你会被一脚踹出去，然后自己写。我听说一哥们是Frank Herbert（Dune的作者）的朋友，然后这哥们要让Herbert把他朋友的一个点子写进小说里，然后再跟这Herbert五五分成。当然结果是，没戏，想也别想，朋友也不行，Herbert的回答很简单，想主意容易的很，真正难的是写出来。你自己稍微想想也知道，你会希望一个哥们过来找你，然后给你聊上那么五分钟，然后你就为这点东西画上个把月在键盘上码字，把这么两句话给变成个伟大的美国小说么？我表示，没戏。然后再分那个五分钟男50%的利润？哥们别逗了。咱不说文学，咱说电视剧或者电影，你怎么做电影？你是不是必须得先进入影视圈，是不是得先进剧组？然后当上导演或者制片人，然后妥了，想怎么搞你随便！这就是所谓的内部人员解决问题。当然了，你也可以DIY，自己来，花上个万把的美金（恩这算便宜的），然后自己写剧本，自己导演，然后顾上个把个演员和技术人员。然后就你这个片子最后能不能上影院估计也是难说的但是至少你配得上一个真正的制片组的成员了。不管哪条路，你最后都能进入影视圈。
你挣得是辛苦钱，不是冲着钞票帝挥挥手，来来，给咱做了这个，保证名利双收，这招没用的。
Okay, enough pretending. Your idea is not for a novel or a movie -- it's for a game. How do you go about getting it made?
First step: write the game design yourself. Then you can either make the game yourself (DIY) or use the design to get a job as a game designer (DIFTI).
假设就到此为止，你的创意不是小说电影---是游戏。所以你打算怎么做？第一步，写出你的策划案，然后不管你是要自己做，还是去拿着找工作，都算是行得通。
b. Writing a formal game document. It doesn't necessarily have to be a full GDD. If you want to write a complete GDD, go ahead. But a GDD is really only needed when there is a team ready to work on the game. Writing a 10-20 page treatment is harder than you might think, because it has to get the reader excited and see why your idea is worthy. You have to research the competition and describe how your game is better than those others. There is no one standard format -- every game design looks different. Look upon it as an exercise in writing. Before ANYthing can be done with your idea, it needs to be described in writing. It needs to be well illustrated. It needs to be well written, with good spelling, grammar, punctuation, and with a coherent and well-organized outline. It needs to tell what is special about your game (why your game will stand out from the other games in the market), told in a clear and informative manner -- you need to understand the competition, and express that understanding in the document. It needs to be thorough and entertaining to read.
It needs to take the vision that's in your head and communicate it fully to the reader.
第二个，怎么写一个正式的游戏策划案。其实用不用写一个完备的版本不是非常重要。如果你像写一个完备策划案，也是可以的，但是其实完备的策划案只有一个真正准备做游戏的团队才会用的上。比如说，写一个10到20页的项目规划（这里我翻译的不对，treatment，不能作为project plan来理解，但是写对待方法也不对，我没有可对应的中文词汇。），可能比你想的还要难还要吃力，因为你不但要让读者对你的东西感兴趣，而且还要让他们明白，你的想法是有价值的。为此，你可能不得不调查你的竞争对手，然后描述为什么你的比别人的强。策划案没有固定的格式，任何游戏设计，看起来都可能不一样。你可以把视为对你写作的练习，在你的想法没开始之前，这种写作练习是很亟需的。良好的描述，清楚的书写，格式，语法，用词，连贯性，逻辑性，结构清晰，甚至是标点，都会是你策划案的评价标准。因为这涉及到你要告诉别人，你的游戏哪好，哪特殊，你的游戏怎么就能鹤立鸡群，不但要要告诉，还要翔实清楚的告诉别人。所以你就要了解竞争对手，阐述你的理解。另外，别写的干巴巴的，那样瞎狗眼。
总之，把你脑子中的一切，完整的展现给其他人吧。
It needs to get the reader interested in your idea, and especially in you as a designer. If you are not ready to take your idea and go to this next step (writing a formal design), then your idea is not going to go anywhere, and that's too bad. If you are not ready to take your idea and go to this next step, you are not a budding designer -- you're just a guy with an idea that will never go anywhere. Don't let that get you down, just come up with completely different ideas until you find one you are willing to put passion, perseverance, and perspiration into -- then you'll have found your calling.
策划案的任务是什么？首要任务就是让读者对你的想法产生兴趣，特别是对于一个策划来说。如果你自己都还没准备好，写不出来，那你的想法就是一坨一坨的。如果你自己都还没准备好，这点事情都搞不定，那你连个在成长和学习中的新人策划都不算，你就是个点子青年，点子青年们呦，不用琢磨怎么和HR见面了，在家研究下怎么泡面吧，你哪也去不了。不过倒也不用妄自菲薄，你为什么做不出来，写不出来，因为你不够爱，你还没法响应你内心的呼唤。所以去找吧，等你找到你真正心中呼唤的想法，你会用汗水，热情和毅力，回报你内心的期望的。
c. Working in the game business. The principles discussed in this article apply equally to omputer games or any other kind of game (if we're talking board games, substitute "artist" or "modelmaker" for the word "programmer" and you won't suffer too much of a paradigm shift! (^_^)).
第三个，怎么在游戏产业里工作。这里的游戏，可不单纯指“电脑游戏”，桌游，棋牌也是游戏，只不过程序猿变成了美工或者建模师傅，那都无所谓，这样你可能不会觉得太难理解。
The cold hard reality is that it's extremely difficult to get a game made. If your idea is for a board game, there are tremendous manufacturing and marketing costs involved that you need to learn about (it's those costs that are behind companies' reluctance to just make your game). If your idea is for a video or computer game, the costs are even higher. It costs millions (at least hundreds of thousands) of US dollar$, and anywhere from half a year to 3 years to create a hit computer or video game (one-man-band games cost considerably less, but such an endeavor has an extremely low probability of becoming a hit -- just look at the competition). It also takes a lot of people and a lot of know-how to get a competitive commercial-quality game made.
说实话挺操蛋的，一个游戏做出来其实非常非常难，我得说，极难。比如说，如果你的想法是一个桌游，那这个制造成本和营销成本可却是够你受的。（这就是为什么桌游的点子一般公司都不要，做一个你想的桌游他们不一定能扛住）如果你的点子是一个电脑游戏，或者主机游戏，那我只能说呵呵，成本还要再高点。对美国而言，基本上生出一个成气候的游戏来，百万刀就扔出去了，历时一般半年到3年不等，百万刀，妥妥的，千万刀也是可能的。当然了，你说老夫自己单干，做独立游戏，没错那样话费会少很多很多，但是兄台你睁开眼看看，你有成吨的竞争对手，你能做成多大气候的游戏。。。同样的，做个有点市场竞争力的游戏，都肯定要花掉大把的人力和财力。
The making of games is a business. And business is all about making a profit.
It seems to me that the typical bright-eyed wannabee imagines that game producers sit back in their plush leather chairs, yakking on their cellphones. An imaginary conversation (as envisioned by the wishful would-be game designer) might go: "I need to find a game idea for the next project. Everybody here has just more me-too ideas -- I wish a good original idea would just fall into my lap."
牢记一点，游戏是产业，是商品，商品的全部就是“赚钱”。是的，“赚钱”。（后面这段我翻译不好，尽力把意思说出来，有心的自己看。）对我来说，那些眼睛里放光的小童鞋们，可能脑子里面想象的游戏制作人，都是坐在真皮凳子上，拿着手机各种酷炫的人，没准还戴个墨镜。然后跟那说：“喂喂，我跟你说，我希望下个项目有点给力的游戏啊，我们这好多人，包括我在内，都有了牛逼闪闪的想法知道不。咱们下一个游戏就把这些想法放到我电脑里，就这么说定了啊。”
Far from it. Everyone in the industry (the programmers, artists, designers, producers, marketing managers, sales managers, and corporate executives) has more ideas than they have time to work on. Ideas are a dime a dozen (and that's probably an inflated value!). There is an involved process for deciding which ones to work on. Each person in the process has ideas about what other projects the company's resources should be used on. This process is not standard from one company to another, and this process is not standard in one company from one project to the next. This process is often, in fact, mysterious to its participants!
别梦了。其实吧，在这个圈子里面的每一个人，咱掰着手指头数，程序猿，美工，策划，制作人，市场经理，销售经理，还有合作伙伴，那想法多的是，比他们自己能干的工作量都多，多得多。一毛钱我能给你买一打，而且我都嫌出价太高了，真的。但是具体做哪个，则是要走一个固定的流程的。流程内每个人都有点子，都有新项目，公司资源该怎么用都有主意。这个流程没有标准，没有定式，但有一点，他们都对其他参与者保密！
Usually, the purpose of the first company meeting is to discuss a direction that has already been in the company's plan for a while. They do NOT sit down and start, "Okay, now we have a slot we need to fill. Anybody got any project ideas? How about that design that Quincy wrote up?" Usually they sit down and start, "Okay, Project Q was a spectacular success -- let's do a follow-on," or: "Company Q is killing us in the marketplace with their Game Q -- we gotta do something similar, with our better engine, and with a cooler universe." Or: "Okay, Legal got us that great license Q. Now let's plan what the game will be, and present it to the licensor for concept approval so we can get started on it." Or the initial impetus for a project might come from a variety of other directions.
通常来讲，公司的第一个会议，会讨论一下公司现有规划的执行方向。公司开会不会坐那说：“同志们，咱们现在有个坑没填，下个项目咱们说说做点啥呗，谁有好主意？”不会的不会的。他们上来会说：“行，Q项目咱们做的非常出色，我们继续进行下去。”，或者是“T公司拿着他们的Q游戏把咱们打了满地找牙，咱们必须抄他们的，用我们更好的引擎和更牛逼的世界观”再或者是“好消息，QQ跟我们签合作协议了，我们下一个产品上面都可以带企鹅，只要拿到批准咱们就开干！”或者其他可能，总之这个项目的动力可能来自很多很多的方向的外力。
At the end of the first stage of this process, some producer is usually given a direction. S/he's supposed to work on Project
Q. S/he's not sent out to "go forth and find us a great idea." S/he already has an assignment.
在最后，制作人可能会得到一个方向，他应该做项目Q，他根本没条件说“跟劳资去寻找想法的宝藏吧！”他就已经被一个固定的分配好的项目拍平了。
Producer goes to designer and asks for creativity upon demand. Usual real world conversation (NOT in these exact words): "No, don't give me your ideas -- here is the project I need designed. Go design it for me. . .. Oh okay, then, give me your ideas -- I'll read them and get back to you. Go design this new Project Q -- oh, and here's your paycheck."
然后制作人就开始来虐策划，给我想点差不多的创意出来，基于咱这个项目的。所以通常你看到的对话，应该是这个样：“别给我你的想法，我真不需要你的想法，你做这个项目，帮我设计这个项目，对对，基于这个项目。”“行了，我看了，行你这设计思路我会看看的，你去设计下一个项目吧，噢对了，下楼拿薪水。”
Designer works like that on several projects, proving his abilities, and perhaps (if s/he's really good) eventually gets his/her own ideas greenlighted. S/he may never make that /original/ dream game though. My first board game idea still hasn't been published. But you know what? It doesn't bother me! I have other games out there -- and I have a great job. I went the
DIFTI route -- I work in the industry. Some people prefer to do it themselves.
策划的工作其实是在一些特定的项目上，证明他们的能力，并且最终让他们的设计通过的工作。他们可能，从来都不会去做梦，哎呀我又原创了个啥。那不是策划的事。我的第一个桌游到现在还没被发行，那又怎么了？咱不怕~~咱有的是出品的游戏，咱的工作就是这么酷炫。我进了游戏圈，我为游戏圈工作，所以我这样，我并不担心。
Remember what I said about the guy with the Great American Novel in his head -- the only way anybody else will see that novel is if s/he writes it himself -- s/he can't get somebody else to write it for him. It's darned hard work to write a novel -- or to design a game! But it's worthwhile -- if nobody thought it was worthwhile, we wouldn't have any novels to read. Or new games to play.
当然有些人愿意自己动手来，记得我之前提的那个最伟大的美国小说幻想症同学么。他的小说要想面世，那只有一条路，自己写。他不可能找到任何人帮他写。无论写小说，还是做游戏，都是一条漆黑艰难的路。但它，是值得的，若如此也不值得，我们就没有小说可读，也没有新游戏可玩了。
原文链接
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/idea.htm
是国外老牌游戏人Tom Sloper 写的GAME DESIGN教程的第一章,后面还有几十章
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