Beyond the pitch: getting your team engaged and excited about a game
development project
[翻譯] 超越極限：讓遊戲團隊啟動並對專案有熱情
短連結：http://wp.me/pBAPd-we
原文連結：
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/EricByron/20160610/274746/Beyond_the_pitch_getting_your_team_engaged_and_excited_about_a_game_development_project.php
by Eric Byron on 06/10/16 06:50:00 pm
The Game Outcomes Project is an independent industry/academic partnership.
It is driven entirely by intellectual curiosity. Our mission is to survey a
large number of game developers and statistically analyze the connections
between game development team culture and project outcomes. We ran our
initial study in late 2014 and published the results in Gamasutra and on Paul
Tozour’s blog in early 2015.
“遊戲專案為何成功"是一個獨立的業界學界合作團隊。完全是因為對知識的興趣而驅動
。我們的任務是透過問卷訪問夠多的開發者，以統計的方式分析遊戲開發團隊文化及產出
的關係。在 2014 年底我們做了第一次的研究，並在 2015 年初於 Gamasutra 及 Paul
Tozour 的部落格發表結果。
The articles in 2015 took a very scientific approach to analyzing survey data
and attempted to draw correlations between cultural and non-cultural factors
that affect team performance. Our recent research is based on interviews
(qualitative data) and, while we lose the ability to run traditional
statistics, the data has depth and is loaded with lots of real-world examples
from experienced leaders. We will attempt within these articles to present
practical ideas that you can use when leading game development teams.
2015年的文章以一個非常科學化的切入點分析調查的結果，並試著找出影響團隊效能的文
化／非文化要素。我們最近的研究是透過訪談（定性資料），當然我們無法用傳統的統計
來分析，但獲得的資料卻是基於從資深領導人闡述的真實案例。我們在這些文章中會展示
實務的方法，可用來領導遊戲開發團隊。
A primary objective of the Game Outcomes Project is to engage the broader
industry community in a dialog about how to lead successful teams and
projects. Over the past several months we have spoken one-on-one with 9
successful leaders in the Games Industry about the validity of our previous
findings and asked for input on areas they feel we should explore further.
“遊戲專案為何成功"的主要目標是接觸廣大的業界社群關於如何帶領成功團隊及專案的
討論。在最近的幾個月，我們已經一對一地對業界九位優秀的領導者進行訪談，內容關於
我們先前的發現，及徵求他們的回應，讓我們知道未來我們應該朝哪個方向前進。
Every leader we spoke with agreed that establishing the vision early and then
protecting and nurturing the level of enthusiasm and engagement on the team
are critical to success. We heard many stories and examples of how some
leaders have done this successfully across a broad variety of game projects
and constraints. Three primary themes emerged in the data around
establishing and maintaining the vision, along with several secondary themes.
Each will be explored below.
我們談過的每一位領導者都同意早點建立視野，保護培養一定程度的熱情，啟發團隊，對
於團隊的成功非常重要。我們聆聽了各種領導者成功地在不同的專案及規範做到這些的案
例。三個主題分別圍繞在建立即維持視野，以及若干子項目，如後述。
Establishing the vision means finding a way to communicate to members of the
team what the game is going to be. There’s a lot of literature and
resources about writing a vision statement for a business but not a lot of
guidance available for writing a vision statement for a Game project. We
offer these suggestions about formulating a vision statement to share with
the development team.
建立願景的意思是找到一個方法對團隊成員來溝通，溝通遊戲會變成如何。已經有很多文
獻及資源描述建立企業的願景宣言，卻很少特別別描述遊戲專案的願景宣言。我們在此分
享及提供給開發團隊一些關於如何建立願景宣言的建議。
A vision statement is for internal use. It is written to inspire your team.
It is not the same as a marketing statement that will be used to sell the
game. Use language that will be well understood by the members of the team.
A game vision statement should almost always describe the genre and express
the reason people will want to play the game. You want to infuse passion and
emotion into the vision statement. You may use words like: scary, exciting,
addictive, social, surprising, immersive, light-hearted, fast-paced,
strategic, entertaining, educational…
願景宣言是對內的，是用來激勵團隊。跟銷售的口號是用來販賣遊戲不一樣。你必須使用
團隊成員能了解的語言。遊戲的願景宣言應該能夠形容遊戲的類型，給玩家動機來玩這個
遊戲。你會想要鼓舞熱情及情感到這個宣言中。因此可能會用可怕的，刺激的，會上癮的
，社交的，令人驚奇的，融入的，輕量的，快節奏的，策略的，娛樂的，富教育性的等字
眼。
A vision statement creates a graphic mental picture by including descriptive
words like: dark, whimsical, futuristic, floating in air, rocketing through
space, medieval, photo realistic, angular, irregular, bright and colorful,
cold and dark alien world… A vision statement may also state what the game
is not by way of comparison or contrasting it to another well-known game
within the same genre or within the franchise, if you are making a sequel.
願景宣言可以透過一些描述字眼在心中創造出一個畫面，如黑暗的，古怪的，未來的，空
中的，飛過太空的，中古世紀的，寫實的，生硬的，不規則的，明亮多彩的，陰暗外太空
世界等字眼。願景宣言用來描述遊戲，但不是透過比較或參考其他知名同類型遊戲的的方
法。
THE VISION STATEMENT SHOULD BE CLEAR AND CONCISE.
願景宣言必須清楚簡潔。
A prominent theme with the leaders we spoke with was that the vision
statement needs to be concise and easily understood. Seppo Helava,
Co-Founder and Creative Director at Wonderspark, talked about using a
one-line expression of the creative vision, an “X” statement, that the team
can easily grasp and remember. He compared this to giving the team a
hundred-page design document and asking them to read it and then use it to
guide their decisions. They might read it once but would never look at it
again and would soon forget what is says. This isn’t to say that design
documents are useless. They may serve a purpose but they do not replace the
need for a vision statement. Seppo went on to say that by posting the “X”
statement visibly around the work area and using it regularly, it becomes
ingrained and easy for the team to consider an idea and quickly and
collectively agree if it is compatible with the vision.
我們跟這些領導者談過之後發現一個特點：願景宣言必須簡單，容易了解。Wonderspark
的共同創辦人及創意總監 Seppo Helava 以一句宣言的描述，來讓團隊容易記住。跟其他
團隊用遊戲設計文件傳遞願景及指示作比較，使用文件的團隊看過一次就不會再翻閱，很
快就會忘記內容。這邊並非說明設計文件並不重要，設計文件並無法達到願景宣言的需求
。Seppo 說：把這句宣言貼在團隊周遭，常常使用它，就會種下深根。團隊就能快速回想
，並針對這個願景創造與之一致有共識的內容。
We spoke with Kate Edward, the Executive Director of the IGDA. Kate
highlighted “Rise of Nations” as a good example of affectively sharing the
vision. “In the day-one meeting, Brian Reynolds, fresh out of Maxis, shared
a vision for what he thought the game was going be. This meeting was
attended by all departments and disciplines. He did a great job of
articulating the vision and you could tell that everyone was onboard from the
first day. Specifically, he did a great job of articulating what
distinguished this game from Age of Empires and Civilization, while
acknowledging that it would be similar, in the same genre. “
我們也與 IGDA 的執行總監 Kate Edward 談過。Kate 特別用"王國的興起"這款遊戲的開
發作為心理層面上分享願景的例子。在開發的第一天剛從 Maxis 離開的 Brian
Reynolds 分享了他對於這款遊戲會變成怎樣的願景，所有開發部門都參加。他有條理的
說明願景，你幾乎可以看到每個人從第一天開始進入狀況。具體地說，他闡述且區分了這
款遊戲與世紀帝國，文明帝國的不同，當然他也承認它們有些雷同之處，因為畢竟是同一
類型遊戲。
DEFINE CONSTRAINTS EARLY
盡早定義限制
The concept of constraints came up in multiple conversations about
establishing the vision for a game. We spoke with Clinton “Clint” Keith,
who described himself as an “organizational therapist” and is the author of
“Agile Game Development with Scrum”. Clint commented that the team must
understand both the vision and the constraints from the very beginning of a
project. If members of the team understand the constraints, they can much
more effectively contribute to the creative process. Examples of constraints
include: ship date, genre, platform, game engine, etc. Providing the team
boundaries early helps keep them from wasting time exploring ideas that don’
t align with the vision or fit within the constraints.
限制的概念在不同的訪談中不斷地由建立願景的主題談到。在與Clinton “Clint”
Keith的訪談中，他描述自己是組織的臨床醫學家，他同時撰寫了 Scrum 敏捷遊戲開發
（Agile Game Development with Scrum）這本書。Clint 說團隊必須在專案的開始就了
解願景及限制。假如團隊了解限制，他們能夠有效地創造創意內容。限制包含：時程，類
型，平台，引擎等。從早期就規範這些會幫助團隊不要過分浪費時間在發想超出規範及願
景以外的點子上。
A similar theme was also echoed by Keith Fuller. Keith provides leadership
training and is the author of “Beyond Critical: Improving Leadership in Game
Development”. He talked about constraints as external motivators and
stressed how important it is to communicate the constraints and be
transparent about why the constraints are in place.
類似的想法也出現在 Keith Fuller 的訪談中。Keith 提供了領袖訓練的方法，同時撰寫
了超越極限：強化遊戲開發的領導能力（Beyond Critical: Improving Leadership in
Game Development）這本書。他談到限制就有如外部的驅動器，與團隊溝通這些限制，讓
它們保持透明很重要。尤其是要解釋為何這些規範會存在。
When we asked Andre Thomas, CEO of Triseum, an educational games company in
Texas, about communicating constraints he had this to say.
當我們訪問德州的教育遊戲公司 Triseum 的執行長 Andre Thomas時，關於限制，他談到
了以下的看法。
“Honesty! Total and utter honesty and transparency about the constraints.
Here’s the constraint (here’s the engine we’re using) and here is why.”
He went on for several minutes about the importance of explaining why the
constraints exist. If a constraint is a specific ship date, don’t just tell
them the date, tell them why it is that specific date and not some other date.
老實說，你必須完全地誠實及透明說明限制。打比方說：這就是我們用的引擎。以及說明
為甚麼。他接著花了幾分鐘說明解釋為甚麼限制存在的重要性。假如限制是特定的時程日
期，不要光說明日期，必須說明為什麼這一天特別重要。
DISCUSSIONS ABOUT VISION AND CONSTRAINT SHOULD BE CONVERSATIONS
對願景及限制的討論必須真的是討論。
Of course, making games is a very creative endeavor and all agreed that
someone, an individual, needs to ultimately be responsible for the big
decisions about the creative direction for the game. Yet we also heard a
common theme that establishing the vision requires participation. Dave
Swanson, Director of Engineering for EA Sports, talked about the importance
of one-on-one dialog with members of the team. It is good to have a big
meeting where the Lead Designer pitches the game concept but Dave recommended
also taking the time to talk with each member of the team individually to
make sure they understood the vision, and, most importantly, understand their
role in the project.
當然，作遊戲是非常需要盡全力在創意上的，我們都同意有個人，必須對遊戲的創意抉擇
有承擔。也就是說我們知道建立願景需要先有參與感。EA Sports 的工程主任 Dave
Swanson 談到對團隊成員一對一談話的重要性。主企畫針對遊戲概念在會議中說明是好事
，但 Dave 建議同時也花些時間跟團隊成員分別談談，確保他們都了解願景，更重要的是
了解他們自己在專案中的角色。
We heard a similar theme from Andre Thomas. Andre stressed the importance of
including the members of the team in the design discussions from the
beginning. These should be conversations, not presentations. Andre also
described how these conversations need to continue during development as
things change and decisions need to be made. Andre described his best
project as one that had many iterations, along with various approaches and
dev waste along the way. You can only do this and maintain the team’s buy in
if you are talking and including the team in the decision processes.
Andre Thomas 也有相同的看法，Andre 強調從專案開始就在設計的討論中把團隊成員納
入。而且應該是討論，而非單方面的宣達。Andre 同時描述開發規格修改或是要下決定時
，這些討論就應該繼續。Andre 說明他做過最優秀的專案，在不同的專案時期中，都必須
嘗試不同的切入方法，丟棄不能用的部分。只有你持續與團隊溝通，把團隊納入決定圈中
，才能讓團隊保持對專案有承諾。
As we talked about communications we also talked a bit about organizational
structure and how important it is to try to keep the organization as flat as
possible. Clint Keith commented that communication is more challenging on
big teams. He referred to Dunbar’s number which suggests a cognitive limit
to the number of people we can maintain a stable social relationship with.
Scrum best practices prescribes smaller teams (9 or less). Clint further
explained by talking about how larger teams and organizations will tend to
have hierarchical structures that cause communication channels to be more
complex. Smaller, flatter organizations facilitate communications.
當我們談到溝通時，我們也談了組織架構及如何盡量扁平化。Clint Keith 說溝通在大團
隊是很有挑戰性的。他提到 150定律（鄧巴數，https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar
’s_number），其中描述了我們只能與一定數量的人維持社交關係，Scrum 的最好做法是
小團隊（九人以下）。Clint 還進一步解釋，大型團隊及組織會頃向多層架構，反而導致
溝通複雜化。越小，越扁平的組織才能幫助溝通。
Clint shared this with me from the Valve Handbook:
Clint 從 Valve 的手冊中與我們分享這些東西：
Welcome to Flatland
歡迎來到扁平世界
Hierarchy is great for maintaining predictability and repeatability. It
simplifies planning and makes it easier to control a large group of people
from the top down, which is why military organizations rely on it so heavily.
But when you’re an entertainment company that’s spent the last decade going
out of its way to recruit the most intelligent, innovative, talented people
on Earth, telling them to sit at a desk and do what they’re told obliterates
99 percent of their value. We want innovators, and that means maintaining an
environment where they’ll flourish. That’s why Valve is flat. It’s our
shorthand way of saying that we don’t have any management, and nobody “
reports to” anybody else. We do have a founder/president, but even he isn’t
your manager. This company is yours to steer—toward opportunities and away
from risks.
階層對維持預測性及重複性工作是很有幫助的。它有助於簡化計畫，讓由上而下控制
一群人變得容易，軍隊仰賴這種架構。但是當我們在娛樂公司打算徵募地球上最聰明，最
有創意，才能的人到我們公司，卻告訴他只能乖乖坐在位置上是抹煞了他們百分之九十九
的才能。我們要的是創造者，希望他們維護一個有豐富內容的世界。因此 Valve 擁抱扁
平化。請記下，我們不用任何管理，每個人都不用對誰報告。我們有創始者跟總經理，但
他不是你的主管。公司是你的，請帶領它朝向機會並避開危機。
In summary, here are the three main points:
結論，這裡提煉出三個重點：
The Vision statement should be clear and concise. It needs to be
something the team can grasp easily, remember and refer to all the time.（願景
的宣言必須清楚準確。讓團隊可以迅速掌握，記憶，隨時引用。）
Define the constraints early and discuss them openly and honestly to
ensure that all understand why the constraints exist.（早點定義規範，公開誠實
地討論，確保大家都能了解規範存在的原因。）
Discussions about the vision and constraints should be conversations. You
can present to a whole group but don’t neglect to talk with each individual
on the team about the vision and the constraints.（針對願景跟規範的溝通必須使
用討論。可以對團隊宣達，但必須另外針對個別成員說明願景與規範。）
Whether you are leading a small team, a large team, a team that has worked
together for years, or a brand new startup with lots of uncertainty, you need
to make sure everyone on the team is on the same page. This is a
well-documented principle in the science of leadership and managing teams, as
we discussed in our articles in 2015, and the stories shared by those who we
talked to recently reinforce the importance of sharing the vision and then
maintaining an infectious enthusiasm for that vision throughout the duration
of the project.
不管你帶的團隊是小或大，不管是已經共事很久或臨時成軍，你都必須確保團隊中的每個
人與專案現在的進度一致。這件事已經在管理領導學中強調，如同我們在2015年的文章中
所討論，以及我們最近所進行的訪談，都透露出分享願景，在專案開發的過程中為了這個
願景營造有感染力的熱情。
There is no magic formula or plan you can follow every time that will
guarantee success on your game development projects. You have to be a learn
to be a strong leader and visionary. Keith Fuller described the importance of
leadership like this:
“I’m very much of the opinion that, if you have crummy leadership for your
project, for your company, all the best processes and tools are still going
to put you in a serious problem. If you have great leaders and don’t
necessarily have all the other answers you’re in better shape than the
inverse.”
那種照著做就能保證遊戲開發專案成功的魔法配方並不存在。我們必須學習當一個堅強又
前瞻的領導者。Keith Fuller 描述領導的重要性："我非常注重一點，假如你的存在對你
的專案，你的公司，流程及工具而言都很重要，那麼反而該警惕了。相反地，假如團隊內
擁有很多個優秀的領導者，那麼不用在很多問題親自決定完美答案，這樣的狀況反而對你
的團隊比較好。"
We want to thank all of those who have participated in the discussions that
were shared in this article. Their willingness to share their experiences
and lessons learned is vital to continuing the broader discussions about
important topics that help us all grow in our ability to be effective leaders
and increase our odds of success in running game development projects.
我們感謝文章中參與訪談分享論點的業界先進。他們願意分享他們學到的經驗對繼續我們
的討論至極重要，幫助我們成為更有效率的領導者，增進我們遊戲開發專案成功的機率。
Leaders who contributors to this article included: Seppo Helava, Joe Hoff,
Clinton Keith, Keith Fuller, Dave Swanson, Andre Thomas and Kate Edwards.
此篇文章訪談的領導者：Seppo Helava，Joe Hoff，Clinton Keith，Keith Fuller，
Dave Swanson，Andre Thomas，及 Kate Edwards。
Our next Game Outcomes Project article will focus on crunch and take a deeper
look at why crunch may not be as helpful as some leaders or studios want to
believe. We will discuss some of the studies done regarding effects of
working long hours on productivity and offer some advice on how to measure
for yourself if you really are getting more done and better results when
teams work more hours per week. We will hear more stories from the leaders
listed above and we will hear from some additional leaders who spoke
passionately with us about the culture of crunch within the games industry.
下一篇"遊戲專案為何成功"的文章會專注在加班及深度觀察為何對領導者或工作室所深信
的加班並沒有幫助。我們會討論長時間工作的效能，提供一些對於如何測量自己在長時工
作下是否有做得更好的建議。除了上述的領導者之外我們還會聽到更多關於遊戲業界加班
文化的故事。