An interview with the development team of paper Nyamyam: Don't listen to anyone.

"Paper Landscape" (Tengami) is a three-dimensional book form cleverly constructed by the adventure of the game, the player through the page and slide and other simple action, to solve all kinds of puzzles and find hidden secrets. This also won the SXSW, IndieCade, sown and develop Showcase and other international well-known competitions nominated paper.

"Paper" Behind the Nyamyam team composed of 3 people, located in the United Kingdom, was founded in the second half of 2010. Before the establishment of Nyamyam, 3 people in the well-known game manufacturers rare work. The object of this article, Phil, was Rare's game design director before creating Nyamyam. (One of the behind-the-scenes heroes of the Kinect QSL Oh, parents ' favorite Kinect game)

The following is an interview conversation, p referring to the interviewee, Phil.

36Kr: Can you give me a brief introduction to the current situation of paper landscape?

P: "Paper" was landed in the app Store this February 20. It has become the editor of the App Store in several countries, and we have become the first to pay apps in many countries ' app store. Since then, we have shifted our attention to the development of the Wii version of paper. After completing the Wii version, the PC and MAC platform will be developed. We have passed the Steam platform's Greenlight program, which will make the release of the computer version easier. Once we have completed the computer version, we will complete all the platforms we have promised. Up to now we have downloaded about 130,000 on the iOS platform, and we are very grateful to everyone who downloads and enjoys the game, especially all Chinese players.

36Kr: See the Nyamyam team on the official website of the introduction, said the funds are completely independent, did not accept external investment. As you mentioned in a previous interview, income is now almost worth the expense. What's the difference between the two? Has it been profitable?

P: Yes, we are financially independent. All the money we spend comes from the savings we have accumulated over the years. Strictly speaking, we have not yet begun to profit, although it is very close. The economics of the App Store make it hard for paid apps to make money, especially if it took 3 of years to develop it like paper. If "paper" only took 1 years to develop, the situation would be completely different. At the beginning, we expected only to be released on the iOS platform will not be able to get such a high download, but the result is surprisingly good, we are very happy. The release of other versions of paper will allow us to make some profit. For today's independent development teams, it is essential that your game support as many platforms as possible.

36Kr: As an independent development team, how to continue to profit after the first success has been a difficult problem, Nyamyam is to publish "paper" New content package? Or to develop a new game?

P: We're not sure what's going to happen. We have considered a number of possibilities, including the issue of a new content package for the paper landscape. I think we are willing to add new content. The question is how we make it profitable, and as an independent developer, you are constantly facing how to balance how to make players happy and how to feed themselves. I want to develop a game for 3 years, we will also feel a certain "fatigue."

36Kr: The team used nearly a year to design the game mechanism and visual effects, what is the process? What happened?

P: This process is very difficult. We want to give up a lot of times. We know we have a great idea of origami, but we're very obsessed with how to turn this idea into a real game. Time flies in that state, and we keep burning the money. We don't want to make this game a book, even if it seems the most obvious choice. As the creator of the game, we feel that this idea can be done more. We did try a lot of mistakes and we met a lot of dead roads. Especially for some reason, we wanted to make "paper" a game of action in the early days. After nine months of work, we finally realized we were going in the wrong direction. More attention should be devoted to the suspense and "magic" of origami books than to focus more on game-playing mechanisms. This breakthrough has led us to the current direction.

36Kr: "Paper Landscape" eventually became a game based on real-world creation, not divorced from reality. "Why not create some game experience that is out of the real world?"

P: I believe that fundamentally people can distinguish between quality and authenticity. The biggest advantage of being an independent development team is the ability to deliver a unique and compelling visual effect from within. I also believe that if you really want to excel, you really want to be the top, you have to do something that no one else can think of. You have to pursue perfection in everything you do. But at the same time, we also hope that "paper" can be a celebration of all the art and craftsmanship involved in the origami we love. It will disappoint us when things are not done well, and we will disappoint the great origami craftsmen for hundreds of years.

36Kr: The rhythm of the game is deliberately set to a slow, almost meditative experience. At the beginning of game design, the original concept was completely different. What is the thinking behind this?

P: At the beginning, we were too focused on the game mechanism of the origami book. We keep thinking: what kind of origami books related to the game mechanism is suitable? This leads us into a more mature game style setting. At the time we were trying to break the rules and we couldn't reconcile the game mechanism with the effect of actually being able to achieve in an origami book.

This idea brought us to the toughest time of the whole project. During this time, we even thought the idea was not good enough and we should give up. So we jumped out of the bondage of the project through a one-month vacation, and we traveled a lot of places, and we thought about it during the journey. We really want to let players experience what is most important compared to the game mechanism. Through the player experience-led design process, we reconstructed the game, which reminds us of the joy we experienced as a child when we got our first origami book. In order to be able to catch this kind of fun, this feeling of suspense, which makes the game slow and more meditative, is an obvious choice. This experience-driven design process helps us make a lot of decisions in the process of playing games.

36Kr: You once said, "Give up everything I have in rare, and go back to being a ' student ', I have to save money and sell my car." And this does not persist for three years. Sometimes it's scary. "Independent teams and startups in China are facing the same dilemma, can they provide some practical tips?"

P: First, you must believe in yourself without wavering. Don't listen to people saying that you can't do this thing. This is not to tell you not to listen to what other people give you, but to create a careful filtering mechanism to choose what you need to listen to and block out distractions. In the first year, someone told us why we want to do something that doesn't work and can't sell it. However, there are some people I respect who can understand what we are doing and give us a lot of help. A year later, when we showed some demos, people's attitudes changed rapidly and many people began to be interested in what we were doing. The most important thing is to always keep in mind that no matter how difficult it becomes, you can solve it.

I think that depending on your current stage of life, entrepreneurship will face a variety of challenges. If you are a new student who has just graduated from college, you are young, energetic and rarely tied. However, lack of experience and financial support is indeed a challenge. If you're going to start a business after graduation, it's important to look for people who are experienced in your field to guide you. But for us, that is, to get out of a successful career, things are just the opposite. Getting older means you have more concerns, such as mortgages, cars and even children, and of course the quality of life. It is very difficult to sacrifice all this. But money is not a problem for me. From my experience, one of the best teams is a mix of experienced people and newcomers. Remember to consider these issues when you want to start a business.

36Kr: Our goal has never been to become a popular independent game. People are always watching Fez and braid, those who make a pot full of independent games. But that was never our goal. We simply do our own favorite game. Chinese developers and startups are always struggling with money or ideals?

P: I've always believed that setting my own goal is to make money and not take you farther. Or in other words, at least not take you to a more meaningful level of creating value for society. Making money should be simple through the product, will be great ideas, to be able to achieve the reality of people's imagination. So you can't plan the next change. What you can do is to have a strong dream, and then try your best to chase it. If you are lucky, you may succeed. Because luck and timing control play a very important role in success.