Christopher Kline關于《生化奇兵》開發的記憶

作者：Bryant Francis

今天我收集了來自2K Marin的《生化奇兵2》前開發者的一些記憶。這是關于創造出像《到家》，《小說家》等世界知名游戲的開發過程的深刻洞悉，但是當我們去尋找《生化奇兵》的相關記憶時，我們并不只是想摸索有關其續集的信息。

讓我們看看前首席程序員Christopher Kline所意識到的《生化奇兵》能夠獲得成功的一些時刻以及一些仍然影響著他今天的創作的編程方面的經驗教訓。

1.關于《生化奇兵》系列的創造最讓你印象深刻的記憶是什么？

在《生化奇兵》非常早期階段，我曾與設計師Dorian Hart關于他提議添加到游戲設計中的特殊功能展開討論。因為意識到這一功能存在一些技術問題，我便告訴他我認為不該去執行該功能。而到現在我還是忘不了接下來發生的事，因為那真的讓我大吃一驚。因為比起反駁我，Dorian是這么對我說的：“我之所以希望將其添加到設計中是因為我們希望玩家能夠在X和Y之間做出艱難的決定，因為他們能夠因此感受到Z。這能夠幫助我找到一些足以幫助我們實現目標的可行技術方式。”這一簡單的對話讓我意識到游戲設計其實就像一門“學科，如果想要成為一名優秀的設計師你就必須成為一名學者，并能夠深入且嚴肅考慮自己的創作。

我的另一個深刻記憶便是第一次真正“玩”《生化奇兵》關卡的那個晚上。那種感覺很奇怪，但作為一名程序員我真的很少在開發期間愉快地玩游戲。通常情況下我都非常忙碌，所以為了修改漏洞我會嘗試著進入游戲中并使用作弊碼盡快到達我需要修改的地方。而另一個原因是我不希望破壞自己作為玩家的體驗—-我希望在游戲發行時自己能夠擁有和其他玩家一樣的“新鮮感”。實際上對于《生化奇兵：無限》，我在游戲發行前甚至不清楚游戲最終的結局是怎樣的！

在最初的《生化奇兵》的開發過程中，我記得有天晚上我在辦公室待到非常晚，并且我認為其他人應該都回家了。大概在午夜時分我們的設計師Jordan Thomas突然進入我的辦公室并問我是否想試試他正在創造的內容，也就是Fort Frolic關卡。他并不跟我多做解釋只是讓我去玩看看。而在那之前我只嘗試過自己所開發或調試的一些獨立系統（游戲邦注：它們并沒有任何故事背景或連續性）。

而在嘗試游戲的過程中我發現我們的編程團隊始終致力于將所有內容有效整合在一起，并且我們優秀的設計師使用了一系列技術系統創造出了讓人驚艷且真正吸引人的情感體驗。我是一個速度較慢的玩家，所以大概在凌晨2,3點的時候才完成游戲，而這期間Jordan一直在旁邊做記錄并鼓勵我。

我對這款游戲的出色程度感到驚訝，這是我永遠都不會忘記的時刻。這也是作為游戲開發者的我們的努力得到回報的時刻。

2.你認為哪些經驗教訓繼續影響著你的職業生涯？

在過去我所學到的一個最重要的經驗教訓便是理念是廉價的，進程是復雜的。如果你不能使用一個真正具有說服力的論據去支持自己的理念，你便只是在浪費大家的時間。我很幸運能夠待在一支所有人都各有所長（不管是在美術，設計或編程領域），同時他們也愿意通過努力去驗證自己想法的團隊中。他們都非常歡迎人們去客觀評價自己的工作，并且也能坦然接受所有批評。

3.你是否認為開發者可以從《生化奇兵》游戲中學到什么？

從我的角度來說，我只是一個運氣不錯能夠和一群比我有才的人共事的程序員，所以我認為自己沒有權利去闡述其他人可以從我們的游戲中學到什么。但我希望所有《生化奇兵》的全新游戲流程能夠為那些想要創造或重塑自己游戲的開發者提供全新細節，理念與幫助。

（ 本文為游戲邦/gamerboom.com編譯，拒絕任何不保留版權的轉發，如需轉載請聯系：游戲邦 ）

Quick memories of BioShock development from lead programmer Christopher Kline

by Bryant Francis

Today we collected some memories of the development of BioShock 2 from former developers at 2K Marin. It’s an insightful look into a development process that would eventually give the world games like Gone Home, The Novelist, and more, but when we went out looking for BioShock memories we weren’t just looking for thoughts from the sequel.

As it happened, we were able to have Bill Gardner join us for an excellent look at BioShock’s first hour last week, and former lead programmer Christopher Kline wasn’t able to join us due to a scheduling conflict. But Kline was able to take a moment to share his memories working on the original game, and was kind enough to share them with us via e-mail.

Read on for some of Kline’s thoughts about the moment he realized BioShock would work, and some of the programming lessons that still influence his career today.

1. What are some of your strongest memories working on the BioShock series?

Very early on in the history of BioShock I was talking with designer Dorian Hart on a particular feature that he had proposed adding to the game design. Realizing that it would be quite problematic for a number of technical reasons, I told him that I didn’t think we would be able to implement it. I distinctly remember what happened next, because it caught me by surprise. Instead of fighting me on it, Dorian said to me something to the effect of “Ok, well the reason I added it to the design is because we want the player to be forced to make difficult decisions between X and Y, so that she *feels* Z. Help me figure out some other technically feasible way we can achieve that goal.” This simple conversation made me realize that game design is a *discipline*, and that to be a great designer you must be a scholar, capable of thinking deeply and critically about your craft.

Another of my strongest memories was the night I first actually *played* a BioShock level. It may seem strange, but as a programmer I very rarely played the game for enjoyment during development. Often I was just too busy, so to fix bugs I’d try to jump in and use cheat codes to get as quickly as possible to the situation I needed to fix. But another motivation was a desire not to spoil the experience for myself as a gamer — I wanted to play it “fresh” when it was released, just like everyone else. In fact, on BioShock Infinite I didn’t even know the ending of the game until I played it after release!

Anyhow, during the development of the original BioShock I remember being in the office very late one night when I thought everyone had already gone home. Around midnight the designer Jordan Thomas came popped his head into the room and asked if I wanted to try out something he was working on, which happened to be the Fort Frolic level. Refusing to tell me anything, he just asked me to play the game. Now, up until that point I had only experienced our game as a series of disconnected systems I was either developing or debugging, devoid of any narrative context or continuity.

In that eye-opening play-through I finally saw how everything the programming team had been working on fit together, how our brilliant designers could take a bag of technical systems and use them to create an amazing, engaging and emotional experience. I’m a slow player, so I didn’t finish until around 2 or 3 AM, but Jordan stayed there the entire time taking notes and encouraging me on.

The camaraderie we shared, and my excitement at realizing how good this game could turn out to be, is something I’ll never forget. Those are the kind of payoff moments you live for as a game developer.

2. What do you think are some of the biggest lessons you learned that affected your professional career?

The single more important lesson I’ve learned over time is that ideas are cheap and progress is hard. If you can’t you back up your idea with a convincing argument that you’re personally willing to develop into a working demonstration, you’re just wasting everyone’s time. I was very fortunate to be on a team of people who were not only immensely talented in their particular field — be it art, design, or programming — but willing to champion their ideas through relentless personal effort. The most successful of these people also welcomed and even solicited harsh criticism of their work, and were able to accept that criticism with grace.

3. What do you feel developers can learn from revisiting the BioShock games?

From my perspective, I was just a programmer who had the good fortune to work in service of people far more talented than me, so I’m uncomfortable stating with any authority what others should learn from our games. But my hope is that every new play-through of BioShock reveals new details, ideas, and flourishes that developers can take, re-shape and re-use to great success in their own games. ( source:gamasutra )