and we end up turning the vast majority of them down.

但我們幾乎都拒絕了

But every once in a while,

但有時候 也會有人提供一些很有意思的合作主題

somebody approaches us and suggests something really interesting,

比如我們曾做過的布匿戰爭系列

like those Punic Wars episodes we did.

經常是他們拋出這個想法

It's usually something that, as soon as they pitch the idea,

我們全都想「天啊，我們怎麼沒想到呢？」

we all go, "Wow, why didn't we think of that?"

最近，Unity 的朋友提出讓我們做一個系列

Well, recently, the folks at Unity asked us to do a series on

「製作你的第一款遊戲」

creating your first game.

老實說，我很驚訝我們居然沒做過這個系列。

Frankly, I'm actually shocked we haven't addressed that before now, so

所以，是時候補完啦！

time to fix that!

事實是，我見過太多的人

The truth is, I have run into too many people

在某一個時刻決定要做遊戲

who at some point decided that they wanted to make games.

然後他們找了一款引擎，然後開始鑽研

And they picked up an engine, and they started diving in

然後在第一款遊戲面世之前就放棄了

and they quit before they ever finished their first game

因為這個過程實在是讓人抓狂

because the experience was just frustrating.

令人感到束手無策

It seemed like it was going nowhere.

我不確定我們是否能夠幫上忙，但是

And I don't know if we can help, but

我們團隊還是有許多製作經驗的

this team has quite a lot of collective game-making experience,

希望我們的建議 能讓你們避開常犯的錯誤

so hopefully some of our advice here will help you avoid the common pitfalls.

第一個需要注意的事情

The first thing you're gonna wanna be careful about

是「規模」

is scope.

很多、很多人，選了引擎就想做出他們玩過的大作

Many, many people pick up a game engine dreaming of making the types of games they play.

不幸的是，這基本上是不可能的

Unfortunately, this often just is not possible.

像是戰神、最終幻想這樣的遊戲

Games like God of War or Final Fantasy

是至少40人的團隊的作品

are made by teams of at least 40 people,

有時候遠遠超過40人

sometimes way more than 40 people

至少還要製作好幾年

over the course of several years.

即使你非常厲害並且畢生投入開發

Even if you're just amazing and you throw your whole life into creating your game,

你也做不出像戰神或最終幻想的遊戲

you're not gonna make a God of War or a Final Fantasy.

而且差得遠，特別是在處女作的情況下

Not even close, and especially not on your first attempt.

實際上，它甚至無法達到超級瑪利歐兄弟的水準

Truth is, you're not even gonna create something like Super Mario Bros. as your first game.

你 「可能」 做出超級瑪利歐兄弟的其中一關

You *may* create like, 1 level's worth of Super Mari Bros.

但這就算很高的目標了

but even that's kinda pushing it.

你的第一款遊戲的目標，應該是做出一些可玩的東西

Your goal with your first game should be to get something built that you could actually play,

即使風格很粗糙，越快越好

even in the most rudimentary fashion, as soon as possible.

把第一款遊戲當成你的練習，而不是傑作

Think of your first game as a learning exercise, not your master work.

如果以一個很大的工程起步，你甚至會無從下手

If you start with a huge project, you'll find that you don't even know where to begin

你會被困在枝微末節的細節上

and you'll get bogged down doing little bits and pieces that have no tangible result,

還會讓你覺得自已在原地踏步

and it will seem like you're not making any progress at all,

也有可能遇見超出能力的障礙

and you'll hit roadblocks that you don't know how to overcome,

就連自己接下來該做什麼都不知道

simply to be left flailing for what to even work on next

相信我，簡單就好

Trust me, Keep It Simple.

如果你的處女作最後看起來

If your first attempt at making a game turns out to be

就是一個有著粗糙碰撞的平臺跳躍遊戲，還花了你三周

a one room platformer with bad collision that you took three weeks to build,

為自己感到自豪吧！因為你做了，還把它完成了

be proud of that, because you built it. You actually got it done.

你製作了一款遊戲！

You made a game.

這已經是大多數人都做不到的了

That's more than most people ever manage.

玩起來吧，並且介紹給你的朋友

So play it, and show it to your friends

別擔心他們會無法理解或者挑刺因為他們還在想著哪些

and don't worry when they don't understand it or are critical because they're still thinking in terms of

他們習慣玩的3A大作

the big budget games they're used to playing.

「你」知道你花了多少工夫在這款遊戲上

*You* know how much work went into making that game,

更重要的是，你知道你下次會做的更快更好

and more importantly, you know that next time you'll be able to do it even better and faster.

很快，其他人就會想玩你的遊戲了

Soon, you'll be building games that people are asking you to let them play.

第二點，必須記住的是

Second thing to keep in mind,

我知道這聽起來很怪

(and, I know that this is gonna sound weird but) don't go into your first game with a specific idea.

不要抱著某個明確的想法去做第一款遊戲

Learn what you can do, and design around that.

瞭解你能做些什麼，然後基於那些來設計

Don't lock yourself into an idea and beat your head against it for weeks or months.

不要把自己局限在某個想法裡然後日復一日地和它糾結

Instead, learn a few tricks

取而代之的是去學習一些小技巧

watch a few tutorials, then start working towards something you're pretty sure you can build.

看幾個教程，然後開始做一些你確定你能實現的

It's okay if there are still a few parts of it you have no idea how to even start to do

即使有部分你想不出怎麼做也沒關係

but make sure it's only a few parts when you're breaking your projects down and planning things out.

只要確保在分析專案後這些只是一些邊邊角角

Which, of course, brings us to tutorials.

自然而然地，說到教程

Any major engine has tons of people who happily make tutorials about pretty much everything.

任何一款主流引擎都有無數人願為幾乎任何內容做教程

Go find them. Watch them. Study them.

去找，去看，去學

Then, if you're stuck or if you can't find an answer to your question, just ask.

然後，如果你遇到困難或找不到問題的答案，提問就行

You'd be shocked at how many people are happy to help you through things

如果你在論壇中問你的問題或在留言板上提出你的想法

if you just post on a forum or throw your thoughts onto the message boards.

你會為有多少人熱心相助而吃驚的

And don't be afraid of coding.

以及，不要害怕程式設計

Lots of people say that they can't code, but if you design your game right,

很多人說他們不會程式設計，但是如果你的設計合理

you would be shocked at how little coding you actually have to do to get something done.

你會驚奇地發現解決問題需要的代碼居然如此之少

It's a small enough amount that any of you out there watching this right now *can* handle it.

小到對在場任何一位觀眾來說都是小菜一碟

Again, just start small, keep it simple.

在次強調，保持遊戲的小和簡單

You'll learn as you go, and here especially there are plenty of sites out there that'll help get you started.

你會在過程中學習，而且現在有許多網站都能幫你入門

StackExchange is a fantastic place to look if you have questions.

StackExchange 是一個解決問題的絕佳去處

Which leads us nicely into one of the big ones:

很自然地我們接下來聊聊一條準則：

Design your game around *your* skills.

量 “力” 而行

Part of understanding your scope is understanding your resources and, in this case, *you* are your resources.

瞭解你的局限就是了解你的資源

Are you a great artist but you've never coded in your life?

在這個情景下，你的資源就是你自己

In that case, have your game lean on your art skills

你是一個從來沒碼過一行代碼的藝術大師？

while pushing you just enough on the code side that you learn some new things.

那就把你的遊戲重心放在藝術表現上

Are you somebody who can't draw or model or animate?

同時也要給自己一些程式設計的壓力來促使自己學習

That's alright. There are plenty of games out there that get away with what you'd call minimum graphics.

你對畫畫、建模、動畫一竅不通？

Accept that, and embrace it as part of your design.

沒有關係，很多遊戲以極簡畫風而面世

Constraints force us to be creative.

接受、吸納它成為你的一部分吧

And if there's something you really just *have* to have,

限制使我們充滿創造力

if there's some coding task or some piece of art that you game just can't live without

如果真的有什麼是你覺得 “不可或缺“ 的

but you just don't have the chops to do it yourself, go to the asset store.

比如一些程式片段或者藝術效果

There is an amazing amount of stuff that you can get there for next to nothing.

也沒有必要全部親力親為，去素材商店看一看

James just talked to a professional studio that picked up their entire voice chat code from the asset store

那裡有多到嚇人的素材而且近乎免費

for less that it would've cost them all to go to the movies.

James 剛和一個專業工作室有過交流

James really wishes he had this sort of thing when he started out working in games. So take advantage of it.

他們從素材商店裡獲取了它們整套的聲效代碼

Finally, don't give up.

這省下的錢都能夠他們全員去看一次電影了

There is a lot of life that's gonna get in the way.

James 想要是他開始做遊戲的時候就有這些就好了

Most people start out doing this between juggling a job or a full school schedule

所以物盡其用吧！

and it's very, very easy to let days and then weeks pass before you get back to working on your game.

最後，不要放棄

It's gonna be a struggle at first, no question.

有很多活動可能造成干擾

I wish I had more comforting words for you, but all I can say is that most things worth doing are a struggle.

大多數人在創作的同時也忙於工作或者全日制學校課程

and if you stick with it,

這非常，非常有可能讓你的遊戲計畫被擱置數天到數周

maybe one day you'll have the option to make games *instead* of having to do all that other stuff.

毫無疑問，剛開始的時候這會是一種折磨

But that's it for the basics.

我希望我有更溫和的方法來描述

I know that was all broad, basic stuff that most of you probably already knew

但是我可以說所有值得做的事都是折磨的

but I think it is important to start there, because when you're deep in the process of making a game,

如果你堅持住了

it's often that real high level basic stuff that people forget.

或許有一天你會有選擇能以遊戲製作 ”代替“ 其它瑣事

But, join us next episode for more of the practical nuts-and-bolts of making your first game.

但是這些都是基礎

See you next week!

我知道這些都是寬泛、基礎的東西