独立游戏工作室求职者的10点建议编辑本段回目录
我最近几个月常收到一些游戏粉丝的求职邮件，他们都表达了想加入我们团队的愿望。但在我看来，多数邮件都存在不少错误想法。虽然我们现在并不需要人手，但我还是觉得有必要为他们提供一些向独立开发商求职的建议：
1.声称自己可以无偿工作，这是一种很糟糕的自我推销手法。我们制作游戏就是为了卖游戏，如果你很靠谱，技术过硬，很给力，那你就不应该拿“零薪水”。而如果你并不具备这些优势，那我们也没有理由收留你。另外，开发电子游戏是一项辛苦活，如果有人白白付出而一无所得，那么等到游戏开发的有趣环节结束之后，常规工作内容登场之时，他们也就很可能因热情不再而中途放弃。
虽然我并不反对在一两个月试用期内，看看某人表现如何，然后再决定是否让其升格为正式员工，但还是认为我们还是想尽量避免这种情况，最好是找到一个立即可以上手的成员。
2.规模越小的公司，在招聘方面就会越谨慎。这一点对那些拥有不少家庭工作成员的公司来说尤其如何。我们的Zeboyd Games公司目前就只有两个人负责运营事务（游戏邦注：该公司还有一些外包人员）。也就是说，假如我们想扩大团队规模，那么我们在招聘过程中当然就会严格把关，精挑细选。一封草草完成并且还有不少错别字的邮件绝不会在我们的考虑范围之内。最好是准备一封内容完整，措辞得体的邮件，以及简历、参考资料和过去的一些案例。
3.“我有一堆很棒的游戏创意”这种说法也是一种大忌。独立游戏公司从来不需要首席设计师。为什么？因为一般的独立游戏公司都是因设计师想落实自己的游戏创意而诞生。既然如此，我们还有什么必要再花钱请一个人，让他夺走自己最感兴趣的工作内容？更何况我们在开发一款游戏的过程中，实际上还会想出更多关于其他游戏的创意，我们最不缺的就是创意——我们甚至都没有时间把自己原来就有的创意一一落实。
顺便一提，这也正是我在Twitter和公司网站不吝分享自己一些游戏创意的原因——假如有人借鉴了我的一些想法和构思，然后制作出了一款好游戏，那么我就不需要自己动手制作，就能立即开始体验这款现成的游戏。
如果你真的有很无敌的创意，也想把这些想法变成真正的游戏，那就只有两条路可走：一是成立自己的独立工作室，二是进入已成气候的游戏公司等待出头之日。总之，除非你撞上好运，否则不会有人一开始就聘请你担任设计师。
4.独立工作室并不需要游戏文案。许多拥有成百上千名员工的大型公司甚至都没有一名文案写手，那么成员廖廖无几的独立工作室还会专门聘请一名只会写作的文案吗？除非你会制作视觉小说，不然就得清楚编写对话和故事情节只是游戏开发过程中一个小环节。这并不是说写作并不重要（对多数RPG来说，故事情节的写作很重要），而是指我们并不需要只会写作这项技能的成员（有些程序员或美工自己就很擅长写作）。
5.图像和代码是所有电子游戏最核心的元素。所以富有经验的美工和程序员都是一般游戏公司（游戏邦注：包括独立开发商和其他游戏公司）最抢手的人才。而作曲人员和关卡设计师的地位则因项目特点而有所不同，但优秀的程序员和美工永远不会无人问津。独立游戏工作室需要的是真正可以制作游戏的成员，而不是光说不练之人。
6.独立开发商的预算一般都很有限。大型公司因为不差钱，所以他们也许可以在并不缺人的情况下继续招聘，但独立开发商却无法如此奢侈。假如独立工作室此时并不需要增加人手，向他们发送再多的求职申请也只是一种徒劳。
how to get hired(from storymatters)
那么假如我现在要招募新成员（虽然可能到明年才会有这种人员需求），我会选择哪种人才？
1.经验丰富。虽然你不需要开发过AAA级游戏，但最好还是提供一些可以反映你的能力的案例或资料，以便我们进行判断和做出决定。
2.值得信赖。最好总是能跟上我们的工作进度，不要在我们最需要你时却不见人影。
3.良好的沟通技巧。多数独立开发者都不是一人埋头做事，所以强大的交流和沟通能力非常重要。
4.对团队有出色贡献。例如，我们团队已经有一名程序员或美工，但要再招一名成员时，我们希望新成员具备他人所缺乏的专业知识。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，作者：Robert Boyd）
How to get hired by an indie game developer
by Robert Boyd
I’ve received many emails over the months from people who are fans of our games and would like to join up with our team. Most of these emails have been ill conceived. Even though we’re not hiring anyone at the moment, I would like to give some advice about applying to work with us or any other indie developer.
1 – You’ll work for free is a terrible sales pitch. We make games and then we sell them. If you’re reliable, skilled, and do good work for us, then you should get paid for it. And if you aren’t, then we don’t want to babysit you. Besides, making video games is hard work. Someone who isn’t getting paid for their work is much more likely to flake out when the fun part of game development is done and the work part has begun.
Now that is not to say that I would be opposed to trying someone promising out on a probational period as an unpaid intern for a month or two with the expectation that we’ll hire them full-time after the time is up if everything works out, but ideally, I would prefer to avoid even that and just hire someone qualified right off the bat.
2 – The smaller the company, the more important each hire is. This is even more important for companies where everyone works from home. My company, Zeboyd Games, is currently a two-man operation (plus a couple other individuals that have worked with us on a game by game basis as contractors). That means that if and when we do decide that we want to increase our company size, we’re going to be as strict as possible with the hiring process. A hastily typed email with half a dozen typos isn’t going to cut it. A well written cover letter, resume, references, and portfolio of previous projects are all absolutely required.
3 – Saying “I have a bunch of great game ideas” is the worst possible thing you could say if you want to get hired. Indie game companies are never looking for lead designers. Why? Because generally the reason an indie game company was formed in the first place was because a designer wanted to make their own games! Why on earth would I want to hire someone so that they could take away the most enjoyable part of my own job? Not to mention the fact that during the course of making just one game, we inevitably come up with dozens of great ideas for other games. The last thing we need is more ideas – we don’t have enough time to take advantage of the ideas we already have!
Incidentally, this is why I have no qualms with sharing some of the game ideas I have publicly on twitter and our website – if someone steals one of my ideas and makes a good game out of it, then I get to play it without having to go to the trouble of making it myself!
If you have great ideas and want to turn those ideas into actual games, you have two options – create your own indie company or rise up through the ranks of an existing company. Unless you’ve got insane luck, nobody is going to hire you as a designer right off the bat.
4 – Indie companies aren’t looking for writers. A lot of the big companies with hundreds of employees don’t even bother to hire a writer. Do you think an indie game company with only a handful of people can afford to devote an entire person just to writing? The simple truth of the matter is that unless you’re making a visual novel, writing dialogue and plot is a relatively small amount of the workload in making a game. That’s not to say writing isn’t important (it’s crucial to most RPGs), just to say that it doesn’t require a dedicated person in most cases (hopefully, one of your programmers or artists is also good at writing).
5 – Graphics and code are the core elements needed in just about every video game. As a result, skilled artists and programmers are generally what companies (both indie and otherwise) are most looking for. Other jobs like composer and level designer can be important depending on the project, but good programmers and artists are always in demand. Indie game companies need people who will actually get down to work and MAKE games – not people who just want to talk about them.
6 – Indie game developers tend to have small budgets. Bigger companies can afford to hire someone just because they’re awesome even if they don’t actually need them at the moment. Indie game companies rarely have that luxury. If an indie game company isn’t actually saying that they’re looking for someone at the moment, chances are applying for a job with them is an exercise in frustration.
So if I was hiring at the moment (we’re not, though there’s a good chance we will next year), what would I be looking for?
1 – A strong portfolio. Doesn’t need to be filled with impressive credits from AAA productions, but we need to have some way of judging your talent and to see that you can finish projects.
2 – Reliable. We need to be able to count on you to keep us up-to-date on your progress and not drag everyone else down by disappearing when we need you most.
3 – Good communication. Most indie developers don’t work together in person so strong communication skills are even more important than usual.
4 – A meaningful contribution to the team. For example, if we already had one programmer or artist on our team and we wanted to hire another, ideally, the new hire would be strong in an area that our existing member wasn’t. （source:gamasutra）
