Being in a room with the 深度优先游戏 team is like being with a group of brothers. They joke around 和 are critical of each other, but they are undoubtedly a family; a family that is able to work hard 和 support each other to achieve their dreams.

深度优先游戏是一家独立的游戏工作室，成立于2010年，由游戏设计系主席和课程主任Ricardo Aguiló创建, 游戏设计 Course Director Juan Sánchez, 和 游戏开发 bachelor’s grad Jon Schreiber (who is no longer with the company). That initial team of three has grown into 13; the majority of whom are 满帆 grads, or faculty members in the 游戏设计 bachelor’s 程序.

After all having previously working in the traditional game industry, they decided it was time to make a change. The ability to self-publish a game opened the door for this new company; something that would’ve been unheard of just six years ago.

“深度优先游戏之所以成立，是因为我们觉得(在为第三方公司工作时)我们的手脚总是很紧。,里卡多说。. “We felt that we could make a game better, 但我们总是受到发行商的阻挠(因为截止日期和预算)。, which limited our creativity.”

这个团队最令人印象深刻的部分是他们在全职工作的同时发行了两款完整的游戏, Ricardo强烈鼓励任何有兴趣进入独立行业的人.

“如果你想创建一家独立工作室，不要将其作为唯一的收入来源. You’re not going to make games that compete with triple-A titles; that’s not what it’s about. 这是关于找到那些没有很多人瞄准的利基市场. 你的重点不应该是制作一款经济上可行的产品(如果你做到了那就太好了)，你的重点应该是制作优秀的游戏.”

Gelatennis (适用于Android和Windows手机)是他们在2012年发布的第一款游戏, 这是一款让人想起《og体育》的高分游戏，其目标是让最多的球在尽可能长的时间内存活. Rally Copters was released on PlayStation 4 in 2015 和 is an intense, physics-driven, helicopter racing experience. Both games were created using the Unity game engine.

True to indie form, 深度优先游戏 doesn’t have a traditional studio setup. Each member works on their part of the project individually, 当你需要专注于游戏整合或质量保证测试时, that’s simply done out of Juan’s house (aka the “production office”). In order to stay up to date on projects 和 communication, the team uses websites such as Trello, 谷歌驱动, 和Bitbucket都.

独立游戏行业是探索项目不同领域的绝佳场所，而这是你在传统工作室无法体验到的. “如果你是一个满足于为别人工作，并且一生中多年只做一份工作的人, 那很好. After working in the traditional studios as an artist, my job was just to work on artist-related projects. When I would go home after work I wanted to make my own games, 和 I wouldn’t accept ‘I don’t know how to do this’ as an answer.胡安说。. 胡安的团队亲切地称他为“独角兽”，因为他不仅是一位艺术家, but a 程序mer as well.

“If you’re working on something that is your own, you’re passionate about every facet of that project. If I’m working on something for a different intellectual property holder, 我必须找到一些让我充满激情的事情，这样我才能在早上醒来去上班时感到兴奋. 但做我自己的东西总是令人兴奋的，”课程主任费尔南多·德拉克鲁兹补充道.

The game industry doesn’t come without its struggles, 深度优先游戏团队一致认为完成一款游戏是他们面临的最大障碍. “The last 10 percent of a project requires 90 percent of the effort,” says Associate Course Director Fern和o Rivera. “It’s easiest to work on a game in the beginning because it’s new 和 things are changing all of the time; it’s exciting. 最终，这些更改变得更小，更不频繁，焦点转移到诸如修复错误和技术需求检查表之类的事情上.”

“It’s important to feel passionate about what it is you’re doing, 但与此同时，在你所做的事情中找到激情也是很重要的. 当你坐在那里做TPS报告和其他游戏开发周期的无聊方面时, 你必须在某个地方找到激情，这样你才能完成最后的10%,” adds Associate Course director Mark Brown.

Marketing is also another hurdle that indie games face, as word of mouth simply isn’t enough, says Course Director Justin Gallo. 深度优先游戏 utilizes their 脸谱网 和 推特 帐号发布新内容，并在gamepress上发布他们的宣传资料.com.

为了克服这些困难并取得成功，该工作室的基础是明确的. “你需要找到志同道合的人，你可以信任他们，喜欢他们一起工作. You’re going to get into difficult conversations, you’re going to be passionate about things; all types of weird things are going to happen during the indie development cycle, 和 you have to get along well with those people,贾斯汀说.

“There has to be respect as well as friendship,” adds Mark.

课程主管Keyvan Acosta表示，独立行业是一个让你在进门时审视自我的好地方. “There’s no secret sauce to making games. 在学校, 你将加速你的智慧和获得经验和咨询，除了技术技能. You will learn better practices via collaboration.“在课堂之外建立你的作品集并练习你的技能的一个简单方法是为现有游戏制作mod, 表明里卡多.

“If you find yourself playing League of Legends 和 you stop 和 say, ‘I need to go make something,’ then you’re in a good place,贾斯汀说.

Looking toward the future, 深度优先游戏 will be releasing Rally Copters on PlayStation 4 in Europe, 在Steam上也有. They also have a few prototypes in development with Sony, one of which is a virtual reality version of Rally Copters.

The full 深度优先游戏 team is listed below:

• Keyvan Acosta -游戏设计学士课程主任和游戏开发学士毕业生
• Ricardo Aguiló – 游戏设计 bachelor’s Department Chair 和 Course Director, 游戏开发 bachelor’s 和 游戏设计 master’s 研究生
• 马克布朗-游戏设计学士课程主任和游戏开发学士的毕业生
• Fern和o De La Cruz -游戏设计学士课程主任和游戏开发学士毕业生
• 马修·弗拉塞蒂 Creative Writing bachelor’s 和 游戏设计 master’s 研究生
• Justin Gallo – 游戏设计 bachelor’s Course Director, 游戏开发 bachelor’s 和 游戏设计 master’s 研究生
• Justin Murphy -游戏开发学士实验室专家和游戏开发学士毕业生
• Andrew O’Connor – 游戏设计 bachelor’s Associate Course Director 和 游戏艺术学士 研究生
• Andreas Phillips -游戏设计学士实验室专家和游戏开发学士毕业生
• Fern和o Rivera – 游戏设计 bachelor’s Associate Course Director
• Juan Sánchez -游戏设计学士课程主任和游戏艺术学士毕业生
• 赖安- 记录 艺术s bachelor’s 研究生
• 李·伍德-游戏设计学士项目主任和游戏开发学士毕业生