2019 Video Games Chronicle
VGC 专访 GAME FREAK 尾上将之：GEAR PROJECT 机制与第一制作组的原创野心——追求超越宝可梦的冲击力
尾上将之 · GAME FREAK 尾上将之谈 Gear Project 与两组分工
Contents 本篇 9 章
- 在这样一家具有影响力的开发商工作是怎样的体验？
- 考虑到计划发售的所有作品，您是否认同 2019 年可能会成为 GAME FREAK 历史上...
- GAME FREAK 当然以《宝可梦》最为闻名，但您是否希望有一天它能通过 Gear Pr...
- 1组在制作不同类型和平台的游戏时获得的经验，能否让2组受益？
- 所以看来通过 Gear Project 获得的经验能够使整个公司受益？
- 您个人在 GAME FREAK 既参与过《宝可梦》，也参与过新 IP 的工作。作为一名创作...
- GAME FREAK 推出的游戏似乎比以往任何时候都多，仅今年就有三款。你们是如何变得如此...
- 您能告诉我们您目前正在做什么吗？
- Nintendo Switch 表现得非常好，尤其是在日本。您认为是什么让它作为一个平台如...
Pokémon developer Game Freak is increasingly prioritising original game creation as part of its Gear Project initiative.
宝可梦开发商 GAME FREAK 正日益将原创游戏创作作为其 Gear Project 计划的一部分予以优先重视。
So far Gear Project has resulted in four original games from the Japanese studio; HarmoKnight, Pocket Card Jockey, Tembo the Badass Elephant and GIGA WRECKER, all of which released after 2012. The developer is also working on Town, a Nintendo Switch RPG due out in 2019.
迄今为止，通过 Gear Project，这家日本工作室已推出了四款原创游戏：《节奏骑兵》（HarmoKnight）、《口袋卡牌骑师》（Pocket Card Jockey）、《坏坏大象坦博》（Tembo the Badass Elephant）和《千兆破坏者》（GIGA WRECKER），均在2012年之后发售。此外，该开发商目前正在开发《Town》，这是一款预计于2019年发售的 Nintendo Switch RPG。
Programmer and director Masayuki Onoue told VGC earlier this year that by taking breaks from its flagship Pokémon series, Game Freak’s creators can return to the franchise “refreshed” and transfer their new experience to the famous series.
程序员兼总监尾上将之在今年早些时候向 VGC 表示，通过暂时离开旗舰系列《宝可梦》，GAME FREAK 的创作者们能以“焕然一新”的状态回归，并将他们的新经验运用到该系列中。
Onoue has worked as a programmer on mainline Pokémon games since Black and White, but recently directed his first game, GIGA WRECKER for PC. You can see the full transcript of our interview with Onoue below.
尾上自《宝可梦 黑·白》起一直担任主系列宝可梦的程序员，而近期他首次担任总监，制作了 PC 平台的《千兆破坏者》（GIGA WRECKER）。以下是我们对尾上采访的完整记录。
VGC
What is it like to work for such an influential developer?
在这样一家具有影响力的开发商工作是怎样的体验？
尾上将之
I joined Game Freak straight from college in 2010. One of my goals was to work on a game that would get played by as many users as possible, so in that sense I feel very lucky to be at the creator of Pokémon.
我在2010年大学毕业后直接加入了 GAME FREAK。我的目标之一是参与制作一款能让尽可能多的玩家游玩的游戏，从这个意义上说，能来到《宝可梦》的开发商这里，我感到非常幸运。
尾上将之
Before I joined Game Freak I was already aware of the company’s Gear Project and it was a hope of mine that I would someday be able to create something new through that. My goal was eventually achieved with Giga Wrecker. All of what’s happened up until this point, with me able to sit in this interview with you, is thanks to Game Freak and I’m very lucky.
在我加入 GAME FREAK 之前，我就已经知道公司的 Gear Project，当时我就希望有一天能通过它创造出新的东西。我的目标最终通过《千兆破坏者》实现了。走到今天这一步，包括能在这里接受您的采访，都要感谢 GAME FREAK，我非常幸运。
VGC
Do you agree that 2019 looks like it could be one of the biggest in Game Freak’s history with all the titles its planning to release?
考虑到计划发售的所有作品，您是否认同 2019 年可能会成为 GAME FREAK 历史上最重要的一年之一？
尾上将之
2019 will be very exciting, especially following the Pikachu Let’s Go titles which allowed us to start looking seriously at Nintendo Switch as a platform. That was a very important milestone for us before moving on to the next step.
2019年会非常激动人心，尤其是在《宝可梦 Let’s Go！皮卡丘·Let’s Go！伊布》发售之后，这两款游戏让我们开始真正认真地将 Nintendo Switch 视为一个平台。在迈向下一步之前，这对我们来说是一个非常重要的里程碑。
尾上将之
However, with the Gear Project we were always targeting PS4, Xbox One and PC as well, but our project relied on game engines such as Unity. Looking at that, I feel as a programmer that we need to really grow as a production team in order to target future platforms.
然而在 Gear Project 方面，我们一直也以 PS4、Xbox One 和 PC 为目标，而且我们的项目依赖于 Unity 等游戏引擎。考虑到这一点，作为一名程序员，我觉得我们的制作团队需要真正成长，以便瞄准未来的平台。
VGC
Game Freak is best known for Pokémon of course, but is your hope that it can one day be known for more than that with the Gear Project?
GAME FREAK 当然以《宝可梦》最为闻名，但您是否希望有一天它能通过 Gear Project 以其他作品而为人所知？
尾上将之
Exactly. There are two different production teams here, simply named Production Team 1 and Production Team 2. Team 1 is fully dedicated to Gear Project, while Team 2 is for the Pokémon operation. What that means is that Game Freak as a company is prioritising Gear Project, which is production team number one, more than Pokémon in general.
确实如此。我们这里有两个不同的制作团队，简单来说就是第一制作组和第二制作组。1组完全专注于 Gear Project，而2组则负责《宝可梦》业务。这意味着作为一家公司，GAME FREAK 将第一制作组的 Gear Project 置于比《宝可梦》总体上更高的优先地位。
尾上将之
We are always trying to create something that is equally exciting, or more exciting than Pokémon.
我们始终在努力创造与《宝可梦》同样令人兴奋，或者比《宝可梦》更令人兴奋的东西。
VGC
Can the experience Team 1 gains working on different genres and platforms benefit Team 2?
1组在制作不同类型和平台的游戏时获得的经验，能否让2组受益？
尾上将之
There is a lot of back-and-forth between Team 1 and Team 2. One of the interesting things is that Team 2, which is dedicated to Pokémon, only knows about specific platforms. So with Team 2, engineers can learn about other platforms that he might not have touched before. So by mixing up the teams we are able to create this interesting synergy.
1组和2组之间有很多交流。有趣的一点是，专注于《宝可梦》的2组只了解特定的平台。因此通过团队混合，工程师可以学习到他们以前可能未曾接触过的其他平台。所以，通过混合团队，我们能够创造出这种有趣的协同效应。
VGC
So it seems the experience gained via Gear Project is able to benefit the company as a whole?
所以看来通过 Gear Project 获得的经验能够使整个公司受益？
尾上将之
Yes, I totally agree. Gear Project is supporting the technical strength of Game Freak. Separately, we have an R&D group that directly supports the technical aspects of Game Freak, which also helps.
是的，我完全同意。Gear Project 正在支持 GAME FREAK 的技术实力。另外，我们还有一个研发（R&D）小组专门负责支持 GAME FREAK 的技术层面，这也很有帮助。
VGC
You’ve personally worked on both Pokémon and new IPs at Game Freak. As a creator, do you feel like it helps you to be able to take a break from Pokémon and perhaps return reinvigorated?
您个人在 GAME FREAK 既参与过《宝可梦》，也参与过新 IP 的工作。作为一名创作者，您是否觉得暂时离开《宝可梦》，然后再精神焕发地回归对您有帮助？
尾上将之
Yes, it was a totally refreshing experience when I moved from Pokémon to Giga Wrecker. It’s like a paradigm shift.
是的，当我从《宝可梦》转向《千兆破坏者》时，这是一种完全焕然一新的体验。就像是范式的转变。
尾上将之
On Pokémon, of course I contribute to the project, but it’s not like I’m looking at the whole picture of the project. However with Giga Wrecker, as a director I’m constantly supervising the whole picture and need to be aware of what’s going on. So yes, it was a very interesting and refreshing experience for me.
在《宝可梦》项目中，我当然为项目做出了贡献，但我并不是从项目全貌的角度来看待它的。而在《千兆破坏者》中，作为总监，我不断在监督整体情况，并且需要了解正在发生的事情。所以是的，这对我来说是一次非常有趣和耳目一新的体验。
尾上将之
When you’re a programmer working on Pokémon, you’re one of many programmers. However, as a director on Giga Wrecker the experience opened my eyes to the other aspects of game creation, all the way up to users playing the game. It’s really difficult to expect a programmer to have that kind of perspective, but as director I learned how to make a game more appealing and accessible to players, plus aspects of marketing as well.
当作为一名程序员开发《宝可梦》时，你只是众多程序员中的一员。然而，作为《千兆破坏者》的总监，这段经历让我看到了游戏创作的其他方面，一直延伸到玩家游玩游戏。指望程序员具备这样的视角确实很难，但作为总监，我学到了如何让游戏对玩家更有吸引力和更容易上手，以及市场营销方面的知识。
尾上将之
Gear Project has helped me become more creative. I’ve now seen the whole process of creation all the way to marketing and selling the game to players. I can now bring that knowhow back to the Pokémon team and try to create something different for Pokémon. So it’s a good synergy between Gear Project and Pokémon creation.
Gear Project 帮助我变得更具创造力。我现在已经看到了从游戏创作，一直到营销和将游戏出售给玩家的整个过程。现在我可以将这些经验带回宝可梦团队，并尝试为《宝可梦》创造一些不同的东西。所以这是 Gear Project 和宝可梦开发之间很好的协同效应。
VGC
Game Freak seems to be putting out more titles than ever before, with three this year alone. How have you managed to become so efficient?
GAME FREAK 推出的游戏似乎比以往任何时候都多，仅今年就有三款。你们是如何变得如此高效的？
尾上将之
In terms of the number of titles we are releasing this year, it’s happened coincidentally. It’s not like we’re trying to put everything together in 2019 – it just happened.
关于我们今年发布的游戏数量，这其实是巧合。我们并没有试图把所有东西都放在2019年——它只是恰好发生了。
尾上将之
R&D is a newly founded division which is creating the basic library, which used to be created every single time we made a project. That helps the efficiency of our production for sure. Also we are looking at what’s going on in the future, from a technical perspective, and that’s something else that we’ve never had before. I think that R&D division will certainly contribute to the future of Game Freak.
研发（R&D）是一个新成立的部门，负责创建基础库，而以前我们每次做项目都要创建它。这无疑提高了我们的生产效率。此外，我们从技术角度着眼于未来，这也是我们以前从未有过的。我认为研发部门一定会为 GAME FREAK 的未来做出贡献。
VGC
Can you tell us what you’re working on right now?
您能告诉我们您目前正在做什么吗？
尾上将之
I’m taking care of multiple projects. I’m working on Giga Wrecker now and working on another project as well. It’s stimulating, yet challenging as well.
我在负责多个项目。我现在在做《千兆破坏者》，同时也在做另一个项目。这很有刺激性，但也充满挑战。
VGC
Nintendo Switch is performing incredibly well, especially here in Japan. What do you think makes it so popular as a platform?
Nintendo Switch 表现得非常好，尤其是在日本。您认为是什么让它作为一个平台如此受欢迎？
尾上将之
I think the unique nature of the hardware has inspired creators to come up with something different. That’s why Switch has a very unique library of games that appeal to a wide range of users.
我认为该硬件的独特性激发了创作者想出不同的点子。这就是为什么 Switch 拥有非常独特的游戏库，能够吸引广泛的用户。
Index 本篇提到
- 宝可梦 1
- 皮卡丘