[访谈翻译] GI GF如何设计宝可梦

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Here’s How Game Freak Designs Pokémon Creatures

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GAME FREAK如何设计宝可梦生物

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by Kyle Hilliard on Aug 10, 2017 at 11:00 AM

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作者：Kyle Hilliard，2017年8月10日上午11:00

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Between all the different Pokémon games that have released over the last 20 years, taking into account Mega Evolutions and new wrinkles like the Alola forms in Sun and Moon, there are 802 Pokémon. The creatures vary in design to an incredible degree, covering strange influences like keys and piles of garbage to less surprising designs based on cute animals like cats and koalas. While visiting Japan to explore Game Freak’s development studio, we spoke with Pokémon director, producer, and composer Junichi Masuda about what the process of designing a Pokémon looks like, whether they have ever encountered an internal pitch that was immediately turned down, and what has happened to their eyes over the years.

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在过去20年发布的所有不同宝可梦游戏中，考虑到超级进化以及《太阳／月亮》中阿罗拉形态等新变化，共有802只宝可梦。这些生物的设计变化程度惊人，涵盖了诸如钥匙和垃圾堆等奇特灵感，也有基于猫和考拉等可爱动物的不那么令人意外的设计。在访问日本探索GAME FREAK开发工作室期间，我们与宝可梦总监、制作人兼作曲家武德（Junichi Masuda）进行了交谈，讨论了设计一只宝可梦的过程是怎样的，他们是否曾遇到过内部提案被立即否决的情况，以及多年来他们的眼睛发生了什么变化。

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Pitches for new creatures come from every corner of the studio. “The graphic designers are obviously going to be the ones finalizing the look, but it’s not just the graphic designers who come up with ideas or draw the Pokémon,” Masuda says. Sometimes a battle designer might want to feature a specific move in the game, which requires a specific creature. A story writer might want to execute a narrative beat that requires a new monster. Alternatively, it might be as simple as a graphic designer wanting to explore an animal that it has not yet inspired a Pokémon yet. “These ideas come from a lot of different places, the gameplay, the visuals, the story, and in the end those ideas just get centralized and designed,” Masuda says.

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新生物的提案来自工作室的各个角落。“显然，图形设计师会是最终确定外观的人，但提出想法或绘制宝可梦的不仅仅是图形设计师，”武德说。有时，对战设计师可能想在游戏中加入某个特定招式，这需要特定的生物。故事编剧可能想要实现一个需要新怪物的叙事节拍。或者，也可能只是图形设计师想探索一种尚未启发宝可梦的动物。“这些想法来自很多不同的地方，比如玩法、视觉、故事，最终这些想法会被集中起来进行设计，”武德说。

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A glass case in one of Game Freak’s meeting spaces features a figurine of every Pokémon. Or at least, they’re pretty sure it has every one. There are over 800 after all.

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在GAME FREAK的一个会议空间里，有一个玻璃柜，里面陈列着每一只宝可梦的手办。或者至少，他们相当确定它包含了所有宝可梦。毕竟有超过800只。

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There are few, if any, hard and fast rules about what a Pokémon can and cannot be. “One thing we always really pay attention to is treating them like living creatures so you have to try and imagine where it would live in the environment and why it looks the way it does, what would it eat? For example,” Masuda says. “When designing Pokémon, and not just from a graphic design perspective, there must be a reason for why it looks the way it does and you have to think about why it might live in the Pokémon world.”

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关于宝可梦可以是什么或不可以是什么，几乎没有硬性且快速的规则。“我们始终非常关注的一件事是把它们当作活生生的生物来对待，所以你必须试着想象它在环境中会住在哪里，为什么它看起来是这样，它会吃什么？例如，”武德说。“在设计宝可梦时，不仅仅从图形设计的角度来看，它为什么看起来这样必须有原因，你必须思考它为什么可能生活在宝可梦世界中。”

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Pokémon designs rarely get cancelled, so to speak. If a new Pokémon weren’t going to fit in the game or world, Game Freak doesn’t let them get far past the conceptual stages. “Once you’re in the middle of creating it and someone were to say, ‘No!, that’s not a Pokémon,’ and the design process gets killed? That doesn’t really happen that much,” Masuda says. “Usually, instead, maybe the person who is directing the game might say it won’t work in its current form, but maybe if you did this and adding ideas onto it might make it work better.” For this reason, ideas for new Pokémon rarely get thrown away.

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可以说，宝可梦的设计很少被取消。如果一只新宝可梦不适合游戏或世界，GAME FREAK不会让它们超越概念阶段太远。“一旦你处于创作过程中，有人说‘不！那不是宝可梦’，然后设计过程就被扼杀了？这种情况真的不太发生，”武德说。“通常，相反，也许游戏总监会说它目前的形式行不通，但也许如果你这样做，并添加一些想法，可能会让它更好。”因此，新宝可梦的想法很少被丢弃。

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Game Freak has been working on Pokémon for just over 20 years, so it knows what makes a good Pokémon at this point, but evolution tracks can still be tricky. “One thing that happens a lot – well, not a lot – but happens sometimes, is that you start out with a cat, and when it evolves one easy idea is to say, ‘Okay, now there’s more heads’,” Masuda says, going to the whiteboard behind him to illustrate his point. “We always want to make sure we think, ‘Why does that happen?’ And when it evolves why does it have three heads? So that’s just something we’re always trying to think of – what’s the reason for what changes and how it looks?” After hastily drawing the three-headed cat used to illustrate his point, Masuda laughs saying, “Even if I said I really wanted to make this, I would probably get shot down.”

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GAME FREAK 开发宝可梦系列已超过20年，因此它深知什么样的宝可梦才算优秀，但进化路线仍然可能棘手。增田顺一走到身后的白板前，边画边解释：“有一件事经常发生——好吧，不是经常，但偶尔会发生——就是你从一个猫开始，进化时一个简单的想法就是‘好吧，现在多几个头’。”他说，“我们总是想确保自己思考‘为什么会这样？’以及进化后为什么会有三个头？所以我们一直在思考的是——变化的原因和外观的理由是什么？”他匆忙画完那只用来举例的三头猫后，笑着说：“即使我说我真的想做这个，我大概也会被否决。”

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Compare the eyes of a first generation Pokémon to the eyes of Popplio, a generation seven Pokémon.

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将第一代宝可梦的眼睛与第七世代的球球海狮的眼睛进行比较。

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The design process over the years has not remained totally consistent, however, and the community does notice when it shifts. Recently, Reddit user IanMazgelis created a post that gained popularity specifically pointing out the way Pokémon’s eyes have changed over the years. Early Pokémon designs feature sharp eyes that were more angular, while later designs round the eyes for a generally softer look. We showed Masuda IanMazgelis’ post in order to find out why the eyes have changed. “It’s definitely conscious of the evolving design, but some of the reason behind that, for example, is in the beginning, the Game Boy had a really limited palette and a very small amount of pixels to express the designs,” Masuda says. “It was hard to make circles so that was one reason a lot of them had a similar look. As the technology evolved we had more options for expression with different shapes and more variety, so I think we’ve focused on trying to have a lot of variety in the eyes, for example.”

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然而，多年来的设计过程并非完全一致，社区确实会注意到变化。最近，Reddit用户IanMazgelis发布了一个广受欢迎的帖子，专门指出宝可梦眼睛多年来的变化。早期宝可梦设计具有锐利、棱角分明的眼睛，而后期设计则使眼睛更圆润，整体观感更柔和。我们向增田展示了IanMazgelis的帖子，以了解眼睛变化的原因。增田说：“这绝对是有意识地顺应设计的演变，但背后的一些原因，例如，最初Game Boy的调色板非常有限，表达设计所用的像素数量也很少。画圆形很困难，所以很多宝可梦看起来相似的原因之一就在于此。随着技术的发展，我们有了更多表达方式，可以运用不同的形状和更多变化，所以我认为我们一直专注于在眼睛等方面尝试实现多样性。”

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The design and process of creating new Pokémon will likely shift and change as the series moves forward, adapting to who is working in the studio and what ideas the studio wants to convey. It’s reassuring to know, however, that nearly no idea is out of bounds.

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随着系列的发展，创造新宝可梦的设计和过程可能会不断变化，以适应工作室的成员构成以及工作室想要传达的理念。然而，令人欣慰的是，几乎没有什么想法是禁区。

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For more on the history of Pokémon, you can check out the latest issue for a 12-page feature covering the franchise’s history, as well as online features and interviews linked below.

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欲了解更多宝可梦的历史，请查看最新一期杂志中长达12页的专题报道，涵盖该系列的历史，以及下方链接的在线专题和访谈。

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Pokémon’s Developers Talk About Their Console RPG Debut On Switch

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宝可梦开发者谈Switch上的主机RPG首秀

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Game Freak’s Origins And Its Pre-Pokémon Games

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GAME FREAK的起源及其宝可梦之前的游戏

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Here’s How Game Freak Designs Pokemon Creatures

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GAME FREAK如何设计宝可梦生物

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Game Freak On Player Freedom Vs. Story In Pokémon

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GAME FREAK谈宝可梦中玩家自由与故事性的平衡

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Discussing Our In-Depth Tour Of Game Freak

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深入探讨我们对GAME FREAK的深度参观

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Everything We Know About Pokémon On The Nintendo Switch

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关于Nintendo Switch上宝可梦的一切已知信息

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Why Ruby And Sapphire Were The Most Challenging Pokémon To Make

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为什么红宝石和蓝宝石是制作最具挑战性的宝可梦

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Game Freak’s Director Share Their Favorite Pokémon Spin-Offs

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GAME FREAK的董事分享他们最喜欢的宝可梦衍生作品

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An Exclusive Look At Pokémon’s Early Design Documents

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独家揭秘宝可梦早期设计文档

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Pokémon’s Creators On The Anime: ‘We Weren’t Really Sure About It’

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宝可梦创作者谈动画：’我们当时并不确定’

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Our Reddit AMA On Our Trip To Visit Game Freak

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我们拜访GAME FREAK的Reddit AMA

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Exclusive Reveal Of A New Mode In Pokémon Ultra Sun And Moon

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《宝可梦究极之日／究极之月》新模式的独家揭秘

Kyle Hilliard 受访

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Kyle Hilliard

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凯尔·希利亚德

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Kyle plays entirely too much Picross. He once wrote a whole book about The Legend of Zelda.

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凯尔玩《绘图方块》玩得太多了。他曾写过一整本关于《塞尔达传说》的书。

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Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Just Got A Switch 2 Update, Adding Local 8-Player And More

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《马力欧卡丁车8 豪华版》刚获得Switch 2更新，增加本地8人游玩等新功能

[访谈翻译] GI GF如何设计宝可梦

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