Modern life is like a live performance without a script.
Before communicating with 2N Studio, it is hard to imagine that the creators of "Listen to Me" are all composed of college students. 3354 Why do people who have never even participated in work want to jump into the trap for independent games?
If you want to try "Listen to Me", please take a look at this production list. 2N Studio itself feels cute.
In fact, although this is just a temporary team composed of all students, the lineup is unexpectedly "luxury":
Producer/Chief Designer Pupu graduated from the University of Southern California computer games major and will go to Carnegie Mellon University to further study entertainment technology;
Another planner Peter, the two programs of the program team, are Pupu's prospective classmates and are also freshmen in the entertainment technology major of Carnegie Mellon University.
Nemo, who is responsible for scene art and Cici, who is responsible for store pages such as large portraits and cover pictures, just graduated from the School of Visual Arts this year.
Sakiya, who is responsible for character art and animation, is about to enter the game major at the University of California, Santa Cruz;
Vicky, who is responsible for game UI, graduated from Carnegie Mellon University's human-computer interaction major;
Two music and sound effects classmates, naoyuki and paranell, graduated from Zhejiang University ;
Copywriting Zaidou is the oldest and studied at the first major in interactive design games at the University of Southern California.
The time difference is 15 hours, and the members of the discord conference are distributed in Hangzhou, Hefei, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh , and New York.
To a certain extent, this is the most fiercely contested group of "proud sons of heaven" by domestic Internet companies. When they graduate, they are likely to receive offers from many front-line companies—but they choose to join the independent gaming industry, but when they are about to graduate.
"Listen to Me" is not the first game created by producer Pupu, but it is the first work she presented. Previously, during college, she participated in the production of various game such as simulation management, strategy, RPG, ACT, etc. Compared to most gamers, she considers herself very lucky.
In Pupu's childhood, although her parents also put a lot of restrictions on her due to her studies, after she expressed her feelings and love to her parents again and again, her parents gradually accepted her ideas and were even willing to send her to learn games. But in their minds, the so-called "playing games" is still equivalent to "working in an Internet company, living a decent life, and having a high salary", rather than "playing independent games by yourself and facing countless risks."
In fact, Pupu in reality has never had the courage to admit to his parents that she wanted to play independent games. She thought she should wait. Maybe there will always be a chance, right? They should understand when they made a good work. [Liu Xiaoyu] This is not a real story. He is more like a microcosm, more or less a portrayal and voice of everyone in the team.
After seeing the promotion of GWB’s official WeChat account about the 2022 Independent Game Grand Prix, Pupu found a group of like-minded friends who wanted to do something before graduation and during the summer vacation. At the initial seminar of the project, everyone came with their own game ideas. However, perhaps every player has encountered similar confusion and dilemma in reality. Finally, everyone unanimously adopted Pupu’s idea and decided to vote for the “Listen to Me” project.
There is an art classmate in the team, and there is a very interesting game idea before graduation. She also considered really making the game, but what her family told her was: "It's better to go to a big company for an internship first", "How can you succeed in doing it yourself", "Girls shouldn't be so tired".........
Of course, every bit of the game is not limited to the game industry. Everyone has to choose between reality and ideal. Although he has not really entered the game industry, Pupu has deeply experienced the pressure and difficulties faced by independent gamers through the stories of various independent gamers.
Maybe the work has not won the audience, maybe the work is not interested, maybe the labor cost is high, maybe the difficulties and doubts before investment. But she really agrees that independent games are a brave road, and she admires the seniors who entered this industry before, hoping to bravely walk the path they yearn for after graduation.
She said: "Through Listen to Me, although the sound is meager, we want to do our best to speak out the difficulties faced by independent gamers. We want to use this game to pay tribute to game makers who follow their inner efforts and all young people who bravely pursue their dreams."
At the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, people were accustomed to referring to those young people who used music to fight the world and refused to follow the crowd as " rock youth." From this perspective, this group of people in Studio 2N is really rock.
4. The so-called way forward: "The mountains are there"
"So, why do you want to participate in the GWB Independent Game Grand Prix? "Listen to Me" is also sold for free and not commercial. What are you pursuing?" We are used to asking this question to every team interviewed.
"Because (the mountain is there)." Pupu replied on behalf of Studio 2N, "Through GWB, we hope to let the sound go further."
"Listen to enter the finals and go to the wegame Pioneer Test. We are already grateful. If we can get more attention from it, we will be particularly happy. The "Listen to Me" project was launched in mid-April, and as of the preliminary competition, it has been submitted for development for about two months. I have to say that we are a little uneasy; we have passed the Pioneer Test. Try, we have obtained many valuable opinions from players. Solving these problems and not letting those who trust us down is the next primary goal. "In addition, we have an idea of simulation operations that everyone is interested in. "Listen to me" may be polished slowly after completion. Looking forward to meeting the seniors again in next year's competition!"
Creator: Studio 2N, that is, "Niu Niu Studio", because of mutual recognition of each other's abilities, every time the project handover, you can get a "Niu Niu Niu" from praising friends.
In the view of 2N Studio, domestic large companies still have preferences for the game incubation category. Some games, such as horror or 2D action games, may not be well supported if they want to do it. "If it is considered for commercial purposes, many works have to make changes that cater to the public in order to achieve sales and revenue." On the contrary, some projects are destined to be open only in the form of independent games. They believe that as long as they do well enough, they can still get investment and support from game companies.
It should be noted that although the spiritual pursuit conveyed by "Listen to Me" is desirable, it may not have too much practical significance in the real world. It is valuable to have a desire to enter the independent gaming industry and pursue what you want to do, but in the end most people still need to focus on realistic factors.
The studio itself also admitted that Liu Xiaoyu's situation in the game is a concentrated reflection of the pursuit of drama, and they may not necessarily follow Liu Xiaoyu's choice after graduation. Our interview is in graduation season, and many of their classmates have entered their favorite studios as they wish. The reason why they can play independent games without hesitation is that most of them are just students.
They think that independent games are pure and a path of self-expression and inspiration. Although it is destined to be difficult, they are eager to try. ——It’s like someone who has never been beaten by society. What an enviable state of mind.
However, we still think this innocence is worth applauding.
Human pain comes from the entangled feelings that are unattainable when seeing the beauty. It is precisely because of this that we are moved by these sincere visions and impulses. It is impossible for ordinary people to have that kind of courage in their entire lives.
But to this day, the 70/80 generation still remembers the taste of "rock youth" when they were young.
In the game, the protagonist dreams of becoming a game producer, but since he was a child, he has faced too many doubts, denials, and even disdain.What he heard might be "Can you dream of being a meal?" or "What's the use of doing this?" But he felt a prison, a sharp blade, a sharp sword. These words become barrage shots at him that may fail him, but may also make him stronger.
