Where games grow from. Interview with David Helgason - CEO Unity
The text is intended primarily for those who, like the author, are practically not familiar with Unity. But I heard - and I would like to meet you.
And also for those whom the creator of Unity is interested in as an individual.
Unity is one of the most popular game engines. It made, for example, Hitman GO, Rust, Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty, Monument Valley, Lumo, Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf and thousands of other games. These are mainly mobile projects and games from indie studios. Why? Because Unity is a very simple thing to learn that can be mastered by singles and small studios. At the DevGamm conference on game development, the author met with the creator of this engine and CEO of Unity Technologies, David Helgason, and decided that the chance should not be missed. Before us is a man who knows about the game industry almost more than any of their developers!
David himself was once a game developer - Unity came into being as a tool for creating projects that the young and inexperienced Icelander, together with friends, wanted to release. They believed they could make a great game. But when they finally completed it, they realized that the game came out good, but not great. But the tool for its development turned out to be very attractive - so Unity from the engine for personal purposes has become a tool for game developers around the world. Unity differs from other engines primarily in its simplicity and cross-platform - using this software package, you can make games for PC, Mac or consoles, at least for iOS or Android. Yes, almost anything. In general, we decided to ask David some questions about how games are made and where the game industry is heading.
')
Meet David Helgason
3dsystem: Hello David. Most of the questions will be off topic Unity, and so - about the gaming industry as a whole. For example, which studios inspire you more - small ones, without budgets, but with original ideas, or large ones, which AAA-projects can do with super-high-quality graphics and a world polished to a shine?
D.H .: So, the choice of two options? How many of the two can I choose?
3dsystem: Okay, you got it. Apparently, two.
JH: You actually know the answer. We started out as an indie studio, and you yourself understand that this very much inspires us. But we do not want to be only a supplier of programs for indie studios. And we never planned to be this. We just wanted to take the best - not only in terms of the capabilities and support of the platforms, but also in terms of the convenience of the workflow, wrapping it all in small neat packaging and giving it to everyone who needs it. And we always believed that we should be able to support everyone - from a 10-year-old boy to EA, Nival and other publishers or studios of this level. And we, in general, did it - not exactly perfect, but, I think, very good.
And I think it is very important that we support everyone. Unity is becoming a kind of standard language spoken by game developers. And as a result, there is a huge amount of materials that simplify the work - you can find books, lessons, video courses, and in the Unity Asset Store (people), who know how to do something well, share with other people - so that they do not need to develop a module from scratch.
I will give an example. There is a good man who wrote good code to control cameras. He used to work on the Battlefield series and did it there - it turned out, by the way, very cool, and then left - and wrote this code under Unity for his game, which he himself does. This is not the highest mathematics and nuclear physics, but it requires some knowledge, skills and time. Suppose it took him three days - according to my estimates. And then he spent about another month trying to polish this code, make it more flexible, write detailed documentation for it, and so on. And now he sells it at the Asset Store for $ 20 or something.
People bought this code about 6,000 times - for now. This means, firstly, that he, in general, can live on this money - at least pay the bills and continue to work calmly on his game. What is already good. Secondly, that 6,000 people saved at least 3 days each, without spending them on developing a similar code. This, by the way, is 50 man-years! 50 years, people saved by writing this code for the camera. In particular, therefore, we do not want to focus on one of the edges of the industry - we are all interested, and most importantly, people from different sides can help each other.
The Unity Asset Store is full of free things that anyone can use.
3dsystem: It seems that you have almost answered our second question - how to make a good tool for game development?
D.H .: I still answer in more detail. First, to make a good tool, you need a lot of work. In fact, writing a game engine is not so difficult. That is, I, of course, would never have done it alone, but almost any gaming company that has been in existence for at least several years most likely has written its own engine anyway. Is it true that you are so surprised? This is really not such a roscket science: you focus on a specific platform, write everything for a specific task, a specific genre - everything is quite simple, even if you are doing a very technologically complex engine.
But to write a universal tool, flexible enough to develop on it games of different genres for many different platforms - this is what the hell really is difficult. And it should be done so that it was convenient to use not only beginners, but also experienced developers. In general, the work is full of mouth ...
For example, last year we wanted to do a two-dimensional mode for Unity. That is, that we had a three-dimensional dvzhik, but with a two-dimensional mode. It seems to be easy: just turn the camera at the right angle - and let's go. Difficulties begin when you want, say, to use physics in 2D mode. Or, say, you want to use three-dimensional objects located between the layers. And this is all - a big problem: a lot of people in Unity spent a lot of time on it. But we did it. And now it works - on all platforms. Come and take it.
3dsystem: But, let's say, there is a certain, very beginning game designer. Rather, even someone who wants to become one and is currently not able to do anything. And so he came up with the idea of ​​his first project, a mechanic. What are his next steps? What does he need to do to create his first game?
D.H .: Actually, it is not easy to make games, let's say. I seem to be repeating myself, but, first, he needs to work very hard. However, no initial special knowledge is needed for this - we often meet just smart people who make games. From scratch. Secondly, he should come to terms with the idea that his idea will not work. Not because this is a bad idea, but because game design is a very complicated thing. But it is necessary to begin with something therefore I would suggest to download Unity. And if I were on the site of a novice game designer single, I would have done so. Let me remind you that the basic version is free for indie developers. So, download - and begin to study it. You can study as you like - there is a book that can be read, there are video lessons. You can simply download examples from the Asset Store and watch how they work - a kind of reverse engineering. There are ready-made modules, scripts - anything.
Such an approach does not guarantee that you will make a good game, and that there, most likely you will not make it, but at least you will be able to make games in general. How long will it take? I do not know - it depends on you. Weeks, maybe - months, maybe - years. But if you have a really good idea and a serious desire to implement it - most likely you will have a good game. At the same time, Unity allows you, let's say, a little to fake. If you do not want to program - there are ready-made scripts that you can use. Create objects, apply scripts to them - no code. And this, by the way, is quite a working approach. But there are many other approaches. However, be prepared for the fact that if you want to make games, you need to learn the damn cloud of everything - design, perhaps 3D modeling, perhaps programming, graphic effects, and so on. Perhaps you will be more successful than me and still make a good game.
By the way, Unity is a great tutorial on programming. Here you have a little man, you copied a line of code, applied it to the little man - and he went! That is, it was not something abstract, but a quite visual action. And you remember - so, this code makes people walk. And learn. Such a clear way to learn programming.
3dsystem: Thank you, David. Distract from the sad theme of the games of its own design. And how do you, for example, treat Oculus VR, Project Morpheus and other virtual reality advances that have become so popular lately?
JH: I'm a fan of virtual reality! The first time I tried Oculus Rift was about two years ago, just before they went on Kickstarter. And when I finally took off the helmet, I could only say: “Wow, this is so cool!”. Just could not believe it! How much have they sold their “developer kits” now? Something like 30 thousand, or even 50, yes? In general, Oculus has already been tried by many developers - and they are doing interesting things for it. And it is used not only for games - for research, for something else. And then Sony announced Project Morheus - it is completely different, but also completely different. But whether all this will become a really big story - I do not know. That is, I hope that it will find its application - at least in the gaming industry.
3dsystem: And what then will be the very next big story in the game world? Where is the industry going?
D.H .: It may be the aforementioned virtual reality - but I am not sure. Let's mentally go back 10 years ago - and see what happened then. Then everything revolved around consoles. All the money was invested in the console. Yes, I know that in Russia, the console never reached such heights - you have a ball ruled by a PC, but in the rest of the world everything was just that. And the PC was all bad. Not that computer games completely ceased to exist, but the market did not grow, and if someone was going to develop a really big project - he did it for consoles. It was believed that if you are a big studio and you are not doing a project for consoles, then, most likely, you will soon be bent. On the PC, in addition to ports from consoles, there were only strategies. That is, then the console was a big story.
And then Facebook happened - and everyone started making games for him. And it turned out exactly the same thing - if you do not make a game for Facebook, you probably are going to go broke. But we know that it all ended badly - the bubble burst. Social games turned out to be painfully the same - in terms of gameplay. That is, they were really interesting - but for the most part stamped clones came out.
And then came the era of mobile games. That is, they were before - but mobile devices in general and games for them in particular were so scary that it was better not to even think about them. At first, everyone did simple games - three in a row, arkanoid and so on, then they found out that you can do something more serious for mobile devices. And in 2010-2011, the standard situation has again developed: if you do not make a mobile game, you will not survive. And in general, mobile games continue to gain momentum - the market is growing, there are really interesting or just big projects. How much did the creators of Candy Crush Saga earn? There are really cool ideas. Played in Monument Valley? Be sure to try - this is a kind of art project, but it is a really great game. It is a pity, there is only about 10 levels.
Monument Valley. By the way, done on Unity
Nevertheless, there were always those who survived, even when he did, so to speak, not that. Recently, developers have suddenly again paid attention to the PC, on Steam. With this now, perhaps, the golden age for the gaming industry - everything is growing. Great projects come out on PCs and on consoles, people experiment with VR and continue to do unusual things for mobile devices. Now all platforms are important - and therefore it is especially difficult to say that it will “shoot” as follows. And there are games for every taste - both simple, casual, and really hardcore, there are even serious strategies for the iPad or, in general, amazing things like Minecraft, Rust or the Kerbal Space Program. Did you play? You must admit that they are crazy at all! And at the same time they bring money. The creator of Minecraft has earned so much money that he simply drowns in them. So I can not say what will be the next “big story”. There are already a lot of “big stories” around - and they are happening right now. So many opportunities!
3dsystem: The next question seems to be divided into two: which games of the past do you like the most - and which games of the present?
JH: If we talk about the past, I would even say about childhood, I always liked games like Civilization, SimCity. If about modern games, then ... perhaps I still like games like Warcraft. In general, those that are more like a board game than a Hollywood movie.
There are those who remember what it is?
There are also mobile games - I play a lot of them too. So what am I playing now? There are so many games on my iPhone - you can't figure it out. For example, Plague Inc. - she is beautiful. And Pottery is not even so much a game, but more room for creativity. Here you just make pottery. In fact, there is even a kind of gameplay here and you theoretically need to accomplish some kind of mission - but you can just make your own pottery. I like it! Not that it worked, but I still send it to my wife and friends - this is my design, I did! Himself! I also have Subway Surf installed - it's like Dungeon Runner, but without microtransactions. By the way, almost the only game that I passed more than once.
3dsystem: Well, the last question. Many people believe that modern games, as they say, “is no longer a cake”. Here in the 90s there were wonderful and wonderful projects, and now, in the opinion of these very many, secondary nonsense comes out.
D.H .: Are they serious? This is some kind of madness. Even if you like extremely old-fashioned, let's say, games - there are plenty of them now! Let's take some example. Let's say Smash Hit is such a beautiful game! The idea is old, but the upgraded version of this idea has only become better. Even if you think that the games were good only in the 90s, I do not see a single reason why this particular project might not appeal to you.
Smash hit
Well, by the way, I do not agree that the games were really cool exclusively in the 90s. Here is another example - Limbo. Yes, it's an ordinary arcade! But what a flow of history, what a cool design, what strong emotions! And if these strange people mean that now the games have become insufficiently hardcore, then they have a direct path to Steam - there is a huge amount of really hardcore, serious things.
Limbo
Perhaps in general, now the games have really become easier than in those times. Yes, this is probably the problem. But on the PC, for example, there are a lot of complex games - really complex ones. And even if they are not entirely complex, there will be some very hardcore mode in them - Nightmare or something like that. In general, just as difficult as in the nineties. In addition, it seems to me, now the simplification of games is gradually fading away - yes, more recently this may have been a serious problem, but now everything is getting better. Until now, there are games in the style of “click this button to kill the boss”, but their share becomes smaller.
In addition, it is possible that those who are now complaining about simplicity were children in the 90s - it is a little more difficult for children to understand the mechanics and generally go through the game. Have you always been played up by your older brother? On the other hand, sometimes it is more difficult for adults to understand something, because they are differently brought up and think differently than the game requires ... In general, this is nonsense. Now comes a lot of good and challenging games.
3dsystem: Thank you, David. We will wait for good and complex games - and more. Thank you for the conversation.
And also for those whom the creator of Unity is interested in as an individual.
Unity is one of the most popular game engines. It made, for example, Hitman GO, Rust, Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty, Monument Valley, Lumo, Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf and thousands of other games. These are mainly mobile projects and games from indie studios. Why? Because Unity is a very simple thing to learn that can be mastered by singles and small studios. At the DevGamm conference on game development, the author met with the creator of this engine and CEO of Unity Technologies, David Helgason, and decided that the chance should not be missed. Before us is a man who knows about the game industry almost more than any of their developers!
David himself was once a game developer - Unity came into being as a tool for creating projects that the young and inexperienced Icelander, together with friends, wanted to release. They believed they could make a great game. But when they finally completed it, they realized that the game came out good, but not great. But the tool for its development turned out to be very attractive - so Unity from the engine for personal purposes has become a tool for game developers around the world. Unity differs from other engines primarily in its simplicity and cross-platform - using this software package, you can make games for PC, Mac or consoles, at least for iOS or Android. Yes, almost anything. In general, we decided to ask David some questions about how games are made and where the game industry is heading.
')
Meet David Helgason
3dsystem: Hello David. Most of the questions will be off topic Unity, and so - about the gaming industry as a whole. For example, which studios inspire you more - small ones, without budgets, but with original ideas, or large ones, which AAA-projects can do with super-high-quality graphics and a world polished to a shine?
D.H .: So, the choice of two options? How many of the two can I choose?
3dsystem: Okay, you got it. Apparently, two.
JH: You actually know the answer. We started out as an indie studio, and you yourself understand that this very much inspires us. But we do not want to be only a supplier of programs for indie studios. And we never planned to be this. We just wanted to take the best - not only in terms of the capabilities and support of the platforms, but also in terms of the convenience of the workflow, wrapping it all in small neat packaging and giving it to everyone who needs it. And we always believed that we should be able to support everyone - from a 10-year-old boy to EA, Nival and other publishers or studios of this level. And we, in general, did it - not exactly perfect, but, I think, very good.
And I think it is very important that we support everyone. Unity is becoming a kind of standard language spoken by game developers. And as a result, there is a huge amount of materials that simplify the work - you can find books, lessons, video courses, and in the Unity Asset Store (people), who know how to do something well, share with other people - so that they do not need to develop a module from scratch.
I will give an example. There is a good man who wrote good code to control cameras. He used to work on the Battlefield series and did it there - it turned out, by the way, very cool, and then left - and wrote this code under Unity for his game, which he himself does. This is not the highest mathematics and nuclear physics, but it requires some knowledge, skills and time. Suppose it took him three days - according to my estimates. And then he spent about another month trying to polish this code, make it more flexible, write detailed documentation for it, and so on. And now he sells it at the Asset Store for $ 20 or something.
People bought this code about 6,000 times - for now. This means, firstly, that he, in general, can live on this money - at least pay the bills and continue to work calmly on his game. What is already good. Secondly, that 6,000 people saved at least 3 days each, without spending them on developing a similar code. This, by the way, is 50 man-years! 50 years, people saved by writing this code for the camera. In particular, therefore, we do not want to focus on one of the edges of the industry - we are all interested, and most importantly, people from different sides can help each other.
The Unity Asset Store is full of free things that anyone can use.
3dsystem: It seems that you have almost answered our second question - how to make a good tool for game development?
D.H .: I still answer in more detail. First, to make a good tool, you need a lot of work. In fact, writing a game engine is not so difficult. That is, I, of course, would never have done it alone, but almost any gaming company that has been in existence for at least several years most likely has written its own engine anyway. Is it true that you are so surprised? This is really not such a roscket science: you focus on a specific platform, write everything for a specific task, a specific genre - everything is quite simple, even if you are doing a very technologically complex engine.
But to write a universal tool, flexible enough to develop on it games of different genres for many different platforms - this is what the hell really is difficult. And it should be done so that it was convenient to use not only beginners, but also experienced developers. In general, the work is full of mouth ...
For example, last year we wanted to do a two-dimensional mode for Unity. That is, that we had a three-dimensional dvzhik, but with a two-dimensional mode. It seems to be easy: just turn the camera at the right angle - and let's go. Difficulties begin when you want, say, to use physics in 2D mode. Or, say, you want to use three-dimensional objects located between the layers. And this is all - a big problem: a lot of people in Unity spent a lot of time on it. But we did it. And now it works - on all platforms. Come and take it.
3dsystem: But, let's say, there is a certain, very beginning game designer. Rather, even someone who wants to become one and is currently not able to do anything. And so he came up with the idea of ​​his first project, a mechanic. What are his next steps? What does he need to do to create his first game?
D.H .: Actually, it is not easy to make games, let's say. I seem to be repeating myself, but, first, he needs to work very hard. However, no initial special knowledge is needed for this - we often meet just smart people who make games. From scratch. Secondly, he should come to terms with the idea that his idea will not work. Not because this is a bad idea, but because game design is a very complicated thing. But it is necessary to begin with something therefore I would suggest to download Unity. And if I were on the site of a novice game designer single, I would have done so. Let me remind you that the basic version is free for indie developers. So, download - and begin to study it. You can study as you like - there is a book that can be read, there are video lessons. You can simply download examples from the Asset Store and watch how they work - a kind of reverse engineering. There are ready-made modules, scripts - anything.
Such an approach does not guarantee that you will make a good game, and that there, most likely you will not make it, but at least you will be able to make games in general. How long will it take? I do not know - it depends on you. Weeks, maybe - months, maybe - years. But if you have a really good idea and a serious desire to implement it - most likely you will have a good game. At the same time, Unity allows you, let's say, a little to fake. If you do not want to program - there are ready-made scripts that you can use. Create objects, apply scripts to them - no code. And this, by the way, is quite a working approach. But there are many other approaches. However, be prepared for the fact that if you want to make games, you need to learn the damn cloud of everything - design, perhaps 3D modeling, perhaps programming, graphic effects, and so on. Perhaps you will be more successful than me and still make a good game.
By the way, Unity is a great tutorial on programming. Here you have a little man, you copied a line of code, applied it to the little man - and he went! That is, it was not something abstract, but a quite visual action. And you remember - so, this code makes people walk. And learn. Such a clear way to learn programming.
3dsystem: Thank you, David. Distract from the sad theme of the games of its own design. And how do you, for example, treat Oculus VR, Project Morpheus and other virtual reality advances that have become so popular lately?
JH: I'm a fan of virtual reality! The first time I tried Oculus Rift was about two years ago, just before they went on Kickstarter. And when I finally took off the helmet, I could only say: “Wow, this is so cool!”. Just could not believe it! How much have they sold their “developer kits” now? Something like 30 thousand, or even 50, yes? In general, Oculus has already been tried by many developers - and they are doing interesting things for it. And it is used not only for games - for research, for something else. And then Sony announced Project Morheus - it is completely different, but also completely different. But whether all this will become a really big story - I do not know. That is, I hope that it will find its application - at least in the gaming industry.
3dsystem: And what then will be the very next big story in the game world? Where is the industry going?
D.H .: It may be the aforementioned virtual reality - but I am not sure. Let's mentally go back 10 years ago - and see what happened then. Then everything revolved around consoles. All the money was invested in the console. Yes, I know that in Russia, the console never reached such heights - you have a ball ruled by a PC, but in the rest of the world everything was just that. And the PC was all bad. Not that computer games completely ceased to exist, but the market did not grow, and if someone was going to develop a really big project - he did it for consoles. It was believed that if you are a big studio and you are not doing a project for consoles, then, most likely, you will soon be bent. On the PC, in addition to ports from consoles, there were only strategies. That is, then the console was a big story.
And then Facebook happened - and everyone started making games for him. And it turned out exactly the same thing - if you do not make a game for Facebook, you probably are going to go broke. But we know that it all ended badly - the bubble burst. Social games turned out to be painfully the same - in terms of gameplay. That is, they were really interesting - but for the most part stamped clones came out.
And then came the era of mobile games. That is, they were before - but mobile devices in general and games for them in particular were so scary that it was better not to even think about them. At first, everyone did simple games - three in a row, arkanoid and so on, then they found out that you can do something more serious for mobile devices. And in 2010-2011, the standard situation has again developed: if you do not make a mobile game, you will not survive. And in general, mobile games continue to gain momentum - the market is growing, there are really interesting or just big projects. How much did the creators of Candy Crush Saga earn? There are really cool ideas. Played in Monument Valley? Be sure to try - this is a kind of art project, but it is a really great game. It is a pity, there is only about 10 levels.
Monument Valley. By the way, done on Unity
Nevertheless, there were always those who survived, even when he did, so to speak, not that. Recently, developers have suddenly again paid attention to the PC, on Steam. With this now, perhaps, the golden age for the gaming industry - everything is growing. Great projects come out on PCs and on consoles, people experiment with VR and continue to do unusual things for mobile devices. Now all platforms are important - and therefore it is especially difficult to say that it will “shoot” as follows. And there are games for every taste - both simple, casual, and really hardcore, there are even serious strategies for the iPad or, in general, amazing things like Minecraft, Rust or the Kerbal Space Program. Did you play? You must admit that they are crazy at all! And at the same time they bring money. The creator of Minecraft has earned so much money that he simply drowns in them. So I can not say what will be the next “big story”. There are already a lot of “big stories” around - and they are happening right now. So many opportunities!
3dsystem: The next question seems to be divided into two: which games of the past do you like the most - and which games of the present?
JH: If we talk about the past, I would even say about childhood, I always liked games like Civilization, SimCity. If about modern games, then ... perhaps I still like games like Warcraft. In general, those that are more like a board game than a Hollywood movie.
There are those who remember what it is?
There are also mobile games - I play a lot of them too. So what am I playing now? There are so many games on my iPhone - you can't figure it out. For example, Plague Inc. - she is beautiful. And Pottery is not even so much a game, but more room for creativity. Here you just make pottery. In fact, there is even a kind of gameplay here and you theoretically need to accomplish some kind of mission - but you can just make your own pottery. I like it! Not that it worked, but I still send it to my wife and friends - this is my design, I did! Himself! I also have Subway Surf installed - it's like Dungeon Runner, but without microtransactions. By the way, almost the only game that I passed more than once.
3dsystem: Well, the last question. Many people believe that modern games, as they say, “is no longer a cake”. Here in the 90s there were wonderful and wonderful projects, and now, in the opinion of these very many, secondary nonsense comes out.
D.H .: Are they serious? This is some kind of madness. Even if you like extremely old-fashioned, let's say, games - there are plenty of them now! Let's take some example. Let's say Smash Hit is such a beautiful game! The idea is old, but the upgraded version of this idea has only become better. Even if you think that the games were good only in the 90s, I do not see a single reason why this particular project might not appeal to you.
Smash hit
Well, by the way, I do not agree that the games were really cool exclusively in the 90s. Here is another example - Limbo. Yes, it's an ordinary arcade! But what a flow of history, what a cool design, what strong emotions! And if these strange people mean that now the games have become insufficiently hardcore, then they have a direct path to Steam - there is a huge amount of really hardcore, serious things.
Limbo
Perhaps in general, now the games have really become easier than in those times. Yes, this is probably the problem. But on the PC, for example, there are a lot of complex games - really complex ones. And even if they are not entirely complex, there will be some very hardcore mode in them - Nightmare or something like that. In general, just as difficult as in the nineties. In addition, it seems to me, now the simplification of games is gradually fading away - yes, more recently this may have been a serious problem, but now everything is getting better. Until now, there are games in the style of “click this button to kill the boss”, but their share becomes smaller.
In addition, it is possible that those who are now complaining about simplicity were children in the 90s - it is a little more difficult for children to understand the mechanics and generally go through the game. Have you always been played up by your older brother? On the other hand, sometimes it is more difficult for adults to understand something, because they are differently brought up and think differently than the game requires ... In general, this is nonsense. Now comes a lot of good and challenging games.
3dsystem: Thank you, David. We will wait for good and complex games - and more. Thank you for the conversation.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/228877/
All Articles