一、定价策略与客户反应 · Pricing Strategy & Client Responses

[主持人 / Moderator]:

Oh no, I'm being overcharged — or you're thinking you're being undercharged. We need to get to that point where both people are happy with the price that gets paid. What are the three different types of client response that you usually get when you do those pricing conversations?

哦不，我被收贵了——或者你觉得自己定价太低了。我们需要到达那个双方都对价格满意的节点。当你进行定价谈判时，通常会遇到哪三种客户反应？

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[演讲者 / Speaker]:

Yes, so when I do these conversations, usually what happens is: there's either people saying "yep" to your price right away — which seems like a great thing, but I'll talk about that in a second. Another one is that you say your price and they never respond to you ever again. Raise your hand if that's happened to you... and a vast majority of the audience has their hands up. Absolutely. And then the third is that they say something like "hmm" when you say your price — but don't go away. I think that is the ideal zone that we want to be in. Because if you say "here's my price" and they go "yep" right away, you just undercharged. They're happy and you're like "oh no," because as that project unfolds, you realize you're being asked for more and more and nothing is working out anymore. But that last point — where they're like "oh, we can't necessarily do that, but what about this?" — that's where you want to be, where you can start making concessions with one another, whether it be royalty sharing, timeline considerations, whatever we need.

好的，当我进行这些谈判时，通常会出现以下情况：要么对方立刻接受你的报价——这看起来很棒，但我稍后会讲到为什么不一定是好事。另一种是你报完价后对方就再也不回复了。举手示意这种情况发生过的……现场绝大多数人都举手了。确实如此。第三种是对方在听到你的报价后沉吟一声，但没有离开。我认为这才是我们最理想的区间。因为如果你报价后对方立即说"好"，说明你定价太低了。随着项目推进，你会发现对方不断提出更多要求，而你的处境越来越糟。但第三种情况——对方说"我们未必能接受这个价格，但能不能这样……"——这才是你想要的起点，双方开始互相让步，无论是收益分成、时间线调整，还是其他条件。

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[主持人 / Moderator]:

Alright, and I'm curious Ryan — when do you decide that you want to raise your rate?

好，我很好奇Ryan——你什么时候决定要涨价？

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Ryan:

Yeah, this is actually something I've contemplated a lot throughout my career. For the vast majority of my time — from my early game career and even a lot of my anime work — I honestly never really raised my rates, although I can't quite explain why it felt so terrifying.

The story that got me to a better understanding of it goes like this: I was working with a client I had a really good relationship with, and we set up a big contract for the first game we were going to do together. It was very fair and kind to me — it paid well, it had great terms, everybody was happy. I did that contract, we all had a great relationship producing that game, and then it came time to do another game with the same studio. We sort of just all agreed to keep the same structure. The new game concept seemed to be in roughly the same ballpark, so I was excited — great, I didn't have to do all the scary negotiation stuff.

It got about halfway through development of the second game — roughly the same timeline as the first — and I realized: oh no, this is a lot more. It wasn't anybody's specific fault necessarily, but the scope was way beyond what I had been anticipating. The music I was writing was more complex, more interactive, working with more performers, and the game itself just had a lot more content in it. I spent about half that time really freaking out, because first, I thought it was entirely my fault that I was underwater — some of it may have been, I'm not saying I had zero blame for not reading the scope better — and second, I didn't want to damage my relationship with them. At that point it felt like the ultimate transgression to come to them and say: "I know we agreed on something and we're all good, but you need to give me more money."

But I got to the point where it was just unmanageable. I finally broke down, terrified, and asked if we could renegotiate my rate. I explained what I was dealing with and what the audio scope was looking like — and not only were they pretty happy to negotiate things up, they were genuinely surprised at the severe workload that was on my plate and were not having it at all.

So the moral of that story is: as the game's needs expand — if you haven't already started in a good place — it's very important to know that games are living things. You want to shoot for a certain space, get them to wince a little when they hear your rate as a starting point, but then the team lives and breathes creative work. As it changes, if it changes to a point where the rates you came to are no longer covering things, it is okay — and encouraged — to bring it up. I'm not saying it'll always be successful, but you should always be monitoring: am I continuing to get an amount of value that allows me to do my best work and be supported while I'm part of this team?

是的，这是我在整个职业生涯中思考了很多的事情。在我的大部分时间里——从早期的游戏工作，甚至包括很多动漫配乐项目——我其实从来没有真正涨过价，虽然我也说不清楚为什么它感觉那么可怕。

让我对此有更深理解的是这样一个故事：我与一个关系很好的客户合作，为我们要共同完成的第一款游戏签订了一份大合同。合同对我非常公平——报酬不错、条款很好、双方都满意。我完成了那份合同，整个团队在制作那款游戏的过程中关系都很融洽，然后到了与同一家工作室合作第二款游戏的时候。我们不约而同地同意沿用相同的合同结构。新游戏的概念看起来大体在同一量级，所以我很兴奋——太好了，不用再经历那些可怕的谈判了。

到第二款游戏开发进行到一半时——和第一款游戏大概花了相同的时间——我意识到：糟了，这工作量大太多了。这不是任何人特定的过错，但项目规模远超我的预期。我写的音乐更复杂、更具互动性，要与更多演奏者合作，游戏本身的内容量也多得多。我大概花了一半的时间在极度焦虑中度过，原因有二：第一，我认为完全是我自己的错——我没有更好地评估项目范围，对此我有一定责任；第二，我不想损害与他们的关系。那时感觉，去找他们说"我知道我们已经达成协议了，但你需要给我更多钱"简直是最大的罪过。

但我到了无法继续下去的地步。我最终鼓起勇气、战战兢兢地提出重新谈判我的报酬。我解释了我所面对的情况和音频项目的实际规模——结果不仅他们非常愿意提高报酬，而且他们真的对我肩上如此沉重的工作量感到惊讶，完全不是我预想的反应。

所以这个故事的寓意是：随着游戏需求的扩展——如果一开始没有定一个好价格——就必须认识到游戏是有生命的东西。你要瞄准某个区间，让对方在听到你的报价时微微皱眉，这是一个好的起点。但随后团队会带着创意工作持续呼吸成长，内容会变化。如果变化到了你当初谈定的报酬已无法覆盖实际工作量的程度，提出来是完全没问题的——也是应该的。我不是说每次都会成功，但你应该始终监控：我目前获得的价值，是否足以支撑我做出最好的工作并在这个团队中维持自己？

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[演讲者 / Speaker]:

And is it ever worth taking below-rate work? I think it really depends. Like Brian touched on — it's always an equation you're doing. What can I get out of this project? Whether it's money, connections, knowing they're going to do more projects in the future — any of these things. You compare all of that and see if the total compensation package is really getting you to where you need to go in terms of your goals.

Like Kosh said something that I love: you can work for free, but don't work for nothing. I think that applies to working for a little below rate too — it's really about how is this opportunity going to move you in terms of your career as a whole, but also financially. It's really important to agree on something that — even if it doesn't meet every single need in your life — still makes you feel like you're being respected.

I've also never been in a situation where I got a flat "no" to my price and felt that what I was being offered was anywhere near something that would work. Looking back on really all the various projects I've been able to examine, I've always ended up in a good place on price.

那低于市场价的工作是否值得接？我认为这真的要看情况。就像Brian提到的——这始终是一道方程题。我能从这个项目中得到什么？无论是钱、人脉，还是知道他们未来会有更多项目——诸如此类。你把这些都加在一起，看看这个综合报酬包是否真的能把你带到你的目标。

Kosh说过一句我很喜欢的话：你可以免费工作，但不要白白工作。我认为这对略低于市场价的工作同样适用——真正的问题是：这个机会如何推动你整体职业发展，以及在财务上是否可持续？真正重要的是，达成一个即使不能满足你生活中每一个需求，但依然让你感到被尊重的协议。

我从来没有遇到过对方对我的报价一口回绝，而他们给出的价格又完全没有接受空间的情况。回顾我参与过的各种项目，我基本上总能找到一个好的落脚点。

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[演讲者 / Speaker]:

Besides the idea of not working for nothing — there's one thing I want to put out there, because I know we're not saying "here's exactly what number to charge." We all want an answer, and the answer is always "it depends." But the real thing is: when people are asking you "what's your rate," we have to realize what they're actually buying from us. We think they're buying audio. They're not — they have no idea what audio is. They can hear a placeholder and think that's fine. What they're actually buying is their game coming out. That's what they're purchasing from us. They're buying the feeling of "I don't need to think about this part of my game anymore — thank goodness." That's what they're purchasing. So we need to approach the pricing conversation from that angle. We're not saying "this is how much the sound costs." We're saying "this is how much safety will cost." And when you come at it from that point of view, people will pay a lot more for that, because they're realizing you're solving their real problem — which is the game shipping — not the abstract problem of "the game not having sound," which they probably didn't even think much about beforehand.

除了"不要白白工作"这个概念之外——我还有一件事想说，因为我们并不是要给你一个具体的数字。我们都想要一个答案，而答案永远是"视情况而定"。但真正关键的是：当人们问你"你的报价是多少"的时候，我们必须意识到他们实际上在从我们这里买什么。我们以为他们在买音频。不对——他们根本不知道音频是什么。他们听到一段占位音效可能觉得挺好。他们真正购买的是他们的游戏能够顺利上线。这才是他们花钱买的。他们买的是"我再也不需要操心游戏这一块了——谢天谢地"的感觉。这才是他们购买的东西。所以我们需要从这个角度来进行定价谈判。我们不是在说"音效值多少钱"，我们是在说"安心感值多少钱"。当你从这个角度出发时，人们愿意为此支付更多，因为他们意识到你在解决他们真正的问题——游戏能顺利发布——而不是"游戏没有声音"这个抽象问题，这个问题他们可能之前根本没怎么想过。

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二、朋友抢到你想要的项目 · When a Friend Gets the Gig You Wanted

[主持人 / Moderator]:

So as we get more senior, we're talking about the intermediate to advanced stages here — friends become colleagues, and then colleagues become competition. How do you handle it when a friend gets the gig that you wanted?

随着我们变得更资深，进入中级到高级阶段——朋友变成同事，然后同事变成竞争对手。当朋友得到了你想要的项目时，你如何应对？

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Ryan:

So I learn a lot about life through the media I consume, and I'm a lifelong Spider-Man fan. So I know that the number one way to tackle a close friend taking an opportunity that you wanted is to dress up like a Spirit Halloween costume, set booby traps, and challenge them to a fight in Times Square on New Year's Eve. But if that's not tenable — please don't do that.

I need to be kind of vulnerable for a moment. This is a difficult thing for me to talk about sometimes, but I have struggled throughout much of my career with professional jealousy. It is not a part of my brain that I like. It's not a part of me that I want driving the bus. It's not something I'm proud of. And when someone I know is the one to succeed at something that I hoped I would succeed at, it stings a little more than when a stranger does it.

I'll be very clear — I am majority happy for them right away, instantly. Like "this rules, I'm so happy this happened for you." But there are sometimes a couple of neurons in the back going "what if we turned into a Disney villain right now though?" And I don't like that. But it is there, and it's something I have to work on.

So what do we do about that kind of thing? A couple of thoughts: this one really only works if you know the person pretty well. Give them time to settle in, give them time to celebrate, give yourself time to see if this feeling of envy or jealousy comes down on its own. And if it doesn't after some time, I highly recommend — if you're in a place to do this with this person — consensually asking: "Can we talk about some feelings I'm having? I am so happy for you, I'm so grateful this happened for you, you're going to kill this opportunity. But I'm also dealing with a lot of feelings where I'm frantically asking myself: am I not good enough? Am I not capable of anything like this?" If you're close to the person, they might be willing to talk with you about it.

The fact is that envy and jealousy — these feelings of not being good enough — all come from shame. And shame dies when we shine a light on it and talk about it with people who might be tied up in what our shame is targeting. This is not always advisable — I'm not saying do this with just anybody. But if you know the person very well, this might be an option.

Another thing to consider: in a weird way, this is still kind of a win. The game industry is one where, if you stick around long enough, people are going to get gigs that you wanted and didn't land. They might have been a better fit, it might just be right place right time. But if that person is a friend or someone you know and like, that is the time when your network is longer — people in this industry like you and it impacts your relationships with them. It means there's a higher likelihood that that person who gets the gig you wanted is someone who stays your friend. But it also means: I'm doing a great job, because I know people who are landing cool things. This industry is relationship-driven — people want to work with people that they like. So on top of being happy for them, you can walk away thinking: this is a sign that I'm networking well, this is a win for me, and I have friends in positions on cool projects. They may be on projects that I wanted, but I can still be happy for them, and people in those positions may recommend you for things or be aware of other openings. This is still a way that you actually benefit, if we want to be a little bit selfish about it.

One final tip on dealing with the emotions of interpersonal interactions in this industry: a quick plug for meditation. I'm not an expert. But if you're somebody like me who thought, a couple years ago, that meditation was about completely clearing your mind and not thinking anything — I'm not capable of doing that, I wish I was — it's actually just about knowing what you're thinking, noticing what you're feeling, and being able to ask: do I want these thoughts driving the bus? I'm going to feel these things, but I want to make conscious choices about them. I recommend an app called Happier — there are many others that can get you into it and teach you how to do it.

There's also a concept in psychology of first thoughts and second thoughts. First thoughts are very lizard-brain — the thing you maybe sometimes hate that you thought. Second thoughts are what's more important, because that's what you actually say and act on. The second thought is: "That's so cool they got that project. I'm so happy for them. They're gonna do a really great job, and I'll get to root for them along the way."

我从我消费的媒体中学到了很多关于生活的事情，我是漫威蜘蛛侠的终身粉丝。所以我知道，面对朋友拿走你想要的机会，最好的方式就是穿上幽灵万圣节的服装，布置陷阱，然后在除夕夜的时代广场挑战他们决斗。但如果这不现实——请不要这么做。

我需要在这里稍微脆弱一下。这有时是一件让我难以启齿的事情，但我在职业生涯的大部分时间里都与职业嫉妒作斗争。这不是我大脑里我喜欢的部分，不是我想让它来主导的部分，也不是我引以为豪的东西。当我认识的人在我希望自己能成功的事情上取得了成功，这比陌生人成功更刺痛一些。

我要非常清楚地说明——我对他们立刻、发自内心地感到高兴，就像"这太棒了，我太为你高兴了"。但有时脑子后面有几个神经元在嘀咕"如果我们现在变成迪士尼反派怎么样呢？"我不喜欢这样，但它确实存在，是我在整个职业生涯中需要不断努力的地方。

那么我们怎么处理这种情绪呢？几点想法：首先，这个方法只有在你非常了解对方的情况下才适用。给他们时间安顿下来，给他们时间庆祝，也给自己时间看看这种嫉妒或羡慕的感觉会不会自行消退。如果过一段时间还没有消退，我强烈建议——如果你和这个人的关系允许——主动提出："我们能谈谈我有的一些感受吗？我真的非常为你高兴，你会把握这个机会的。但我同时也在处理很多情绪，我在问自己：我是不是不够好？我是不是没有能力做这样的事情？"如果你和对方很亲近，他们可能愿意和你谈论这件事。

事实是，嫉妒和羡慕——这些"我不够好"的感觉——都来源于羞耻感。而羞耻感在我们将它暴露在阳光下、与相关的人谈论它时就会消亡。这并不是对所有情况都适用的建议——我不是说对任何人都这么做。但如果你非常了解那个人，这可能是一个选择。

另一件值得考虑的事：从某种奇怪的角度来看，这其实仍然是一种胜利。在游戏行业，如果你坚持得足够久，总会有人拿到你想要却没有拿到的项目。也许他们更适合，也许只是时机对。但如果那个人是你的朋友或者你了解且喜欢的人，这正是说明你的人脉足够深——行业里有人喜欢你，这影响着你与他们的关系。这意味着，拿到你想要那个项目的人，更有可能依然是你的朋友。这也意味着：我做得很好，因为我认识那些在拿到好项目的人。这个行业是关系驱动的——人们喜欢与自己喜欢的人合作。所以除了为他们高兴之外，你可以带着这样的想法离开：这是一个信号，说明我的人脉经营得很好，这对我来说是一种胜利；而且在那些好项目上有我的朋友，他们可能会向我推荐机会，或者告知其他空缺。这仍然是一种你实际上能受益的方式，如果我们想稍微自私一点的话。

最后一个关于处理行业内人际关系情绪的建议：推荐冥想。我不是专家，但如果你和几年前的我一样，以为冥想就是要完全清空大脑、什么都不想——我做不到，我希望我能——其实它只是关于了解你在想什么，注意你在感受什么，然后能够问自己：我想让这些想法来主导吗？我会感受到这些，但我想有意识地做出选择。我推荐一个叫Happier的App，还有很多其他的可以帮助你入门。

心理学中还有一个"第一念"和"第二念"的概念。第一念非常原始——有时是你后悔自己有过的那个念头。第二念才更重要，因为那才是你实际上说出口和付诸行动的。第二念是："他们拿到那个项目真的太酷了，我为他们感到非常高兴，他们会做得很好的，我会一路为他们加油的。"

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三、处理客户对交付物的异议 · Handling Client Objections on Delivery

[演讲者 / Speaker]:

So a client hates your delivery. A junior person, somebody just starting out, might panic and say "okay I'll just redo the entire thing for free." But what does an advanced pro do?

So anytime someone messages you or tells you in some way "this isn't what we were looking for" or "I think I had a different idea in mind" — however politely or non-politely they say it — as we get more advanced, what's really important is: instead of freaking out with first thought, second thought, third thought, we get curious. We start to ask questions. That is the real key. Whenever there's any sort of objection — whether it's pricing, whether it's delivery — get curious. So start asking questions: "What isn't quite right to you?"

And often you'll hear clients say something like "I don't know, it's just not good." Here's a question that works quite a lot of the time in response to someone saying "I don't know": you say, "Well, let's pretend you have the answer. What would the pretend answer be?" And I know that sounds like it's not going to work — but it does, more often than not. Because people have this sense of pressure where they think "I have to give this person the right answer, so I'll just say I don't know, it feels safer." What we can do instead is say "let's just pretend, let's just play" — and figure out what the actual objections are. Then you can start doing things like "let me send you some references — is this more the vibe or is this not?" You start asking more questions, you're being on the same team, instead of falling into a dynamic where it's me-against-you. Work toward the same goal together. Get curious when that happens.

客户不喜欢你的交付物。初级从业者、刚刚起步的人可能会慌乱，然后说"好吧我免费重做整个项目"。但经验丰富的老手会怎么做？

每当有人以某种方式传达"这不是我们想要的"或"我脑海中有不同的想法"——不管他们说得有多礼貌或不礼貌——随着我们越来越成熟，真正重要的是：不要陷入第一念的恐慌，而是要变得好奇。开始提问。这才是真正的关键。每当遇到任何形式的异议——无论是定价还是交付物——都要变得好奇。开始问问题："哪里感觉不太对？"

然后你经常会听到客户说"我也不知道，就是感觉不好"。对于这种"我不知道"的回答，有一个很多时候很管用的问题：你说："好吧，假设你有答案，那个假设的答案会是什么？"我知道听起来像是行不通的——但大多数时候是有效的。因为人们有一种压力感，觉得"我必须给对方一个正确答案，所以我干脆说不知道，这样感觉更安全"。我们能做的是换一种说法："让我们假装一下，玩一玩"——然后找出真正的异议是什么。接下来你可以开始做一些事情，比如"让我给你发一些参考，这个更接近你想要的感觉，还是这个不对？"你开始提更多问题，你在与对方站在同一个阵营，而不是陷入一种对立关系。一起朝着同一个目标努力。遇到这种情况时，保持好奇心。

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四、随职业阶段演变的机会评估 · How Opportunity Evaluation Evolves With Career Stage

[演讲者 / Speaker]:

When we're earlier in our career, we tend to focus mostly on what opportunities can give us — "I want the money, I want the connections, I want the prestige." But as we move into higher stages of our career, how do you think about things differently?

Yeah, absolutely. This relates a lot to what we're talking about with pricing: it's really about equations. We're asking ourselves how is this going to help me move forward in my career, and what is it going to cost me in order to make that move.

When you're in very early parts of your career, it's often tempting — and oftentimes genuinely a good idea — to just say yes to things, either because you need to build connections, or you need to make money, or you need credits, or even if you're just trying things out. But as you get further in your career, you have more responsibilities — to people in your life, to other clients you have to be responsible to, and to your career trajectory. Maybe I've only done horror games and I want to do cozy games — so do I really want to take this horror project?

And specifically around the money question: it can be very tempting to say yes when money is involved. But again, it's about what this is going to cost me. Am I being paid enough to work with this team that seems a bit disorganized? What is that going to cost in terms of my own mental health and sanity? I like to think of it as a goose versus golden egg problem. There's a golden egg on this project, and the things it can provide to me — but what will it cost? It's not uncommon for people to work on prestigious projects that paid them well, but after they got done with it, the experience was so frustrating that they don't want to make another game for a while. Maybe they want to take a year off, two years off, or maybe they don't even want to work in games at all because they're so completely burnt out. And you don't want to be in a situation where "I have all this money, but now all of it needs to go towards taking care of myself" — or worse, you don't even get that much money anyway, because when you average the earnings across the number of years, it works out to a very low hourly rate. So always, always think about protecting the goose versus just chasing the golden egg.

当我们职业生涯早期时，往往主要关注机会能给我们带来什么——"我想要钱、我想要人脉、我想要名声"。但随着我们进入职业的更高阶段，你会怎么以不同的方式思考这些问题呢？

是的，绝对如此。这与我们谈到的定价有很大的关联：它本质上是一道方程题。我们在问自己：这将如何帮助我推进职业发展，以及为了这个推进，它会让我付出什么代价？

在职业生涯的早期，接受各种机会往往是诱人的选择，而且在很多时候确实是明智的——因为你需要积累人脉，或者需要收入，或者需要履历，甚至只是想尝试新事物。但随着职业发展，你承担了更多责任——对生活中的人、对你负有责任的其他客户、以及对你的职业方向。也许我只做过恐怖游戏，但我想做休闲游戏——那我真的要接这个恐怖项目吗？

特别是关于报酬的问题：当涉及金钱时，说"是"的诱惑非常大。但同样，问题在于这会让我付出什么代价。我得到的报酬是否足以让我在这个看起来有些混乱的团队中工作？这对我的精神健康和理智会造成什么代价？我喜欢把它想成一个"鹅"与"金蛋"的问题。这个项目上有金蛋，也有它能给我提供的东西——但代价是什么？并不少见的情况是：人们参与了有声望、报酬也不错的项目，但完成之后，整个体验是如此令人沮丧，以至于他们不想再做游戏一段时间了——也许想休息一年、两年，甚至彻底不想做游戏了，因为他们完全精疲力竭。而你不想处于"我有了这些钱，但全都要用来照顾自己"的境地——更糟的是，你甚至没有得到那么多钱，因为把收入平摊到那些年，算出来的时薪其实非常低。所以，永远要思考如何保护那只鹅，而不是只顾追金蛋。

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五、合同的现实作用 · The Real-World Role of Contracts

[演讲者 / Speaker]:

When it comes to contracts, a big part of it is: we don't want to be in the situation where we're writing a contract with the intention of "we are going to sue these people." That's obviously not the point you want to be at. What I think about when it comes to enforcement is: I go through the contract with the client before either of us sign, just so we both know what the terms are. Most of the time it's extremely simple — maybe this much of a royalty share for this long — super easy. But the enforcement of it comes through us talking about it, so there aren't any surprises. Because a lot of the time you'll send over a contract that looks good, and then two years later what will happen is someone is surprised even though they signed it. The enforcement comes from talking about it, going over the terms, making sure everyone is on the same page and moving in the same direction.

当任何类型的争议出现时，你可以指向你们之前的对话说："还记得我们讨论过这个吗？"——这比仅仅说"你看，你签了字"要有效得多。

When any sort of disputes come up, you can point to your conversations and say "remember we talked about this" — and that goes a really long way compared to just saying "you signed it."

I want to jump in here because: it's a rookie mistake to think that you will never hear "no, I'm not paying." It will happen. It'll be frustrating, it'll be difficult, and it'll be something that you work through. If you have a contract, you refer back to it. You negotiate if you need to, revise the contract, change the contract, or even cancel the contract. But that's why you have the contract. You don't have the contract to sue, and you also don't have the contract to force people to do things — because you can't make anyone do anything, and financially speaking, you definitely don't want to be in a position where you're the one with less money in a legal dispute. That is why you have the contract: to advocate for yourself. Don't panic.

And I think the thing to add is: it's easy to go into contract negotiation thinking "I have to catch them out and make sure I'm protected," because that's what society kind of teaches us contracts are about. But in my experience, it's very rare for disputes to come from genuinely bad actors. Most of the time when this sort of conflict comes into play, it's going to be a misunderstanding, or the client being immature. So go in with the mindset of: how do we get back to a shared understanding from which we can both move forward?

Also — get a lawyer. Get a lawyer before you need one. If you wait until you have a giant contract in front of you and then decide "oh shoot, I need someone to look over this," you're delaying negotiations with your client. Find an entertainment lawyer, or a music attorney who also works with video games, or an IP attorney — find one in your state who understands local law. And simply say: "I'm looking for XYZ, do you provide this?" 99% of the time the answer is yes and there's a conversation to be had — it's not a $20,000 commitment just to have a conversation.

关于合同，最重要的一点是：我们不想处于"我们写合同是为了起诉这些人"的境地。这显然不是你想达到的状态。关于合同执行，我的做法是：在我们任何一方签字之前，与客户一起过一遍合同，这样双方都清楚条款内容。大多数情况下条款非常简单——比如某种比例的版权分成持续多长时间——超级简单。但合同的执行力来自于谈论它，这样就不会有意外。因为很多时候你发出一份看起来很好的合同，两年后有人会对条款感到惊讶，即使他们已经签了字。执行力来自于讨论、过一遍条款、确保每个人都在同一个认知页面上，朝着同一个方向前进。

当任何类型的争议出现时，你可以指向你们的对话说"还记得我们讨论过这个吗？"——这比单纯说"你签过字"要有效得多。

我想补充一点：认为你永远不会听到"不，我不付钱"是一个新手错误。这种事会发生。它会让人沮丧、很困难，但这是你能处理的事情。如果你有合同，就回头参照它。如果需要就谈判，修改合同、更改合同，甚至取消合同。这就是你拥有合同的原因。你拥有合同不是为了起诉，也不是为了强迫人们做事——因为你无法让任何人做任何事，而且从财务角度来说，你绝对不想在法律纠纷中处于资金劣势的一方。这就是为什么要有合同：为了为自己争取权益。不要恐慌。

我认为需要补充的是：很容易进入合同谈判时心想"我必须挑出对方的漏洞，确保自己受到保护"，因为社会告诉我们这就是合同的意义。但在我的经历中，争议来自真正的恶意行为者是非常罕见的。大多数时候这类冲突出现时，都是误解，或者是客户不够成熟。所以要带着这样的心态进入谈判：我们怎样才能回到一个共同的理解基础上，让双方都能继续前进？

还有——找个律师。在你需要之前就找好律师。如果你等到一份巨大的合同摆在你面前才决定"哦不，我需要有人帮我过目"，你就是在拖延与客户的谈判进程。找一个娱乐律师，或者同时处理视频游戏的音乐律师，或者IP律师——在你所在州找一位了解当地法律的律师。然后只需说："我在寻找XYZ，你是否提供这方面的服务？"99%的情况下答案是肯定的，有得谈——仅仅是咨询一次并不需要花费两万美元。

​

[关于合同中的红旗 / Red Flags in Contracts]:

What is maybe a red flag you see in a contract nowadays that you would avoid?

Yeah, a big one is "oh, we don't have to sign a contract." I can see a lot of people blushing right now. No contract is a problem — it's useful because it determines who owns what, and that's really important even if the project is unpaid. You need to know who owns what when that project goes belly up.

Another one that I've added since I became more intermediate and advanced is a kill fee. So if and when that project gets canceled, you're still getting paid a chunk. Because I can't have my income just go to zero because you decided to stop making this game. There has to be something to tide me over for a few months. It's a very common clause — I'm sure some of you already use it. Having something that protects you if that project gets cancelled — which we all know happens all the time in games — is crucial. It doesn't have to be a crazy amount, but having something there matters. If people are genuinely like "absolutely not, we won't pay you anything if we cancel this," I don't work on that thing. That is a hard line for me. But the amount itself is flexible — based on the client, the project, and how much work has been done up to that point.

现在合同中有什么红旗是你会避开的？

一个很大的红旗是"哦，我们不需要签合同"。我看到很多人现在脸红了。没有合同是个问题——合同的意义在于确定谁拥有什么，这非常重要，即使项目是无偿的。你需要知道当项目失败时谁拥有什么。

另一个是我在职业中级到高级阶段之后加进来的条款：终止费（kill fee）。如果项目被取消，你仍然能拿到一笔钱。因为我不能因为你决定停止做这款游戏，我的收入就直接归零。需要有什么东西能让我撑过几个月。这是一个非常常见的条款——我相信你们中有些人已经在用了。如果项目被取消——这在游戏行业发生得太频繁了——有东西保护你是至关重要的。金额不必很大，但有这个保障很重要。如果对方直接说"绝对不行，如果我们取消，我们一分钱都不给你"，那我就不做这个项目。这是我的底线。但具体金额本身是灵活的——取决于客户、项目，以及到那时已完成的工作量。

​

六、进阶阶段的人脉经营 · Networking at an Advanced Career Stage

[演讲者 / Speaker]:

So when we start out, like someone said, we come to events like this and our business card might as well say "please be my friend, I am great, hire me." And I remember feeling terrified — I'm the most extreme introvert in the world, so all of this felt insane. But as we get more advanced, it becomes more about quality over quantity. Having one good conversation today with someone you really vibe with here at GDC goes so much further than going to a loud party and saying "so what do you do" over and over to people you'll never see again.

And this isn't necessarily event-related, but something I really want to hammer into people's brains: follow up. Follow up, follow up, follow up, follow up, follow up, follow up. Follow up forever. Because how many of you have seen an email in your inbox and thought "I'll get back to that later" — and that was in 2012? If that person had followed up, you'd probably be more likely to respond. You're not bothering anyone as long as you're not messaging them every hour. People are getting thousands of emails and messages in between yours, so please check in. Please keep doing that. For people like me with holes in their brain, getting a follow-up is actually really helpful. Please email me again, please message me again — you're helping me, you don't understand. I really wanted to answer that 3 months ago.

当我们刚开始时，就像有人说的，我们来参加这类活动时，名片上不如直接写"请做我的朋友，我很棒，雇用我"。我记得感到非常恐惧——我是这个世界上最内向的人，所以这一切感觉都很疯狂。但随着我们越来越成熟，更多地变成质量而非数量的问题。今天在GDC与一个真正投缘的人进行一次好的对话，远比去一个音乐响到根本无法交流的派对、一遍遍重复"那你是做什么的"要有价值得多。

这不一定只与活动相关，但有一件事我真的想刻进大家的脑子里：跟进。跟进、跟进、跟进、跟进、永远跟进。因为有多少人在收件箱里看到一封邮件，心想"等会儿再回"——然后那是2012年的邮件？如果那个人曾经跟进过，你可能更有可能回复他。只要你不是每小时都在发消息，你不会打扰任何人。人们在你的消息之间收到了数千封邮件和消息，所以请联系我。请继续这样做。对于像我这样大脑有"漏洞"的人来说，收到跟进消息是真的很有帮助。请再发邮件给我，请再给我发消息——你在帮助我，你不明白。我三个月前真的很想回复那封邮件。

​

[关于维护关系 / On Maintaining Relationships]:

How do you maintain relationships beyond just periodic "hey, still alive" check-ins?

Honestly, I like to orient around things happening — events, congratulations. Like after you see someone's project come out, or if you see something on Bluesky or Instagram Stories that they posted — "hey, I saw this, congratulations!" That feels really nice. It feels like someone is legitimately personally invested in what you have going on in your life. And you can be invested in what they have going on in their lives. That's actually using social media to be social.

And I understand the fear of "what do I even say" when you need to follow up with someone. What do you mean you can't just send them something real? Even something that seems one step too far — like you only met this person twice, and you're going to ask them what they think of a game you're playing? Every time something like that has happened to me, I lose my mind — in a good way. All I want is to talk about games. People respond to that, and you both end up more relaxed, because when you're just doing the thing, it's not performative. Having something you're actually engaging with together — even if it has nothing to do with the industry — is really, really powerful.

I met someone at a GDC party two years ago and our entire relationship is basically: he sends me really obscure games that he loves, I respond every once in a while with games I love, and that's it. We've had a couple of conversations beyond that but pretty much it's just "hey, still thinking about it periodically" — and it's just kind of fun and keeps a connection alive.

如何把关系维系在"嘿，我还活着"的定期签到之外？

说实话，我喜欢围绕一些发生的事情来联系——活动、祝贺。比如在看到某人的项目发布之后，或者看到他们在Bluesky或Instagram Stories上发的什么——"嘿，我看到了，恭喜！"这感觉真的很好，让人觉得有人真正关心你生活中发生的事情。而你也可以关心他们生活中发生的事情。这才是真正用社交媒体来社交。

我理解"我到底该说什么"的恐惧。你为什么不能给他们发点真实的东西？即使是那种感觉超出一步的——你只见过这个人两次，却要问他们对你正在玩的游戏有什么看法？每次有人这样对我，我都会很开心。我唯一想做的就是谈游戏。人们会回应这种方式，你们双方最终都更轻松，因为当你只是在做那件事时，它不是表演性的。有什么真正互相参与的东西——即使与行业毫无关系——是非常、非常有力量的。

我两年前在一个GDC派对上认识了一个人，我们整段关系基本上就是：他给我发他喜欢的非常小众的游戏，我偶尔回一些我喜欢的游戏，仅此而已。我们之外的对话只有几次，但基本上就是"嘿，我还在想这个呢"——这很有趣，并且保持了联系的生命力。

​

七、处理工作过载 · Managing Overwhelm

[演讲者 / Speaker]:

So when we're past the initial point — intermediate or advanced — trying to maintain what we've built or trying to grow, there's this overwhelm that can happen when you start saying yes to everything and have too much work. What is the first step? Do you raise rates, or do you hire help and start building a business?

So, overwhelm is common. We've all felt it, we're all going to feel it, and it's very easy to make it our fault. I think the question "raise rates or get help" comes when you're ready to actually do something about the overwhelm, rather than just staying in "I can suck it up and live like this" mode.

My view is that you should always at least examine your rates first. Because money is a problem-solving tool. If you have more of it, you may be able to solve the other problems that are causing your overwhelm. So: if you are overwhelmed and underpaid, fix the money first. You can do that by renegotiating existing rates, or in the longer term by raising rates on upcoming projects. The more you charge, the easier it is to do less work for fewer people, and everybody's happy — they get better stuff from you, you work less, you get paid more, you have more rest, you have more creative energy. Start with money always.

If you are overwhelmed and decently — or even highly — paid, then that's the time to look into getting help. I have worked with subcontractors and virtual assistants in the last couple years, and I have never pulled the trigger on hiring help without it being completely worth it. The part of my brain that holds out says "this is your fault, what if you were just better at this" — and I don't have a robot body, so I deal with this by getting help.

You don't need to hire a full staff member. As a solo contractor, bringing on another full person might feel like doubling your overhead. You can hire a subcontractor for a few hours a week — I typically hire someone to do the parts of music composition work like mixing, mastering, editing, sending out drafts — every part except the fun part where I'm walking around thinking about musical ideas. You can hire somebody to do just that. Virtual assistants are less expensive than you think — just two, three, four hours a week of someone doing emails, admin, scheduling, general back-and-forth that pulls your time away without needing you directly. And if you go this route, tell your clients: "I have an assistant I'm working with. They might answer some logistical questions for you. I'm not trying to ice you out — I'm doing this so I can make a better product for all of us, because I'll have the time to work on what actually matters." And they almost always say "oh, you're doing this to make our game better and not be overwhelmed? That sounds great."

当我们过了初级阶段——处于中级或高级——试图维系我们已建立的成果或继续成长时，会有一种过载感，在你开始对所有事情说"是"、工作太多时就会发生。第一步该怎么做？涨价，还是雇人、开始建立团队？

过载是常见的。我们都经历过，也都会再次经历，而且很容易把它归咎于自己的错。我认为"涨价还是雇人"这个问题，是在你准备真正对过载做些什么的时候才会出现，而不是停留在"我能挺过去，就这么活着吧"的模式里。

我的观点是，你应该至少先检查一下你的报价。因为钱是一种解决问题的工具。如果你有更多的钱，你可能就能解决那些造成你过载的其他问题。所以：如果你过载了而且报酬不够，先把钱的问题解决。你可以通过重新谈判现有报酬来做到这一点，或者从长远来看，在即将到来的项目上提高报价。你收的越多，就越容易用更少的工作为更少的客户服务，每个人都会更满意——他们从你这里得到更好的东西，你工作更少，得到更多报酬，有更多休息时间，有更多创意能量。永远先从钱开始。

如果你过载但报酬还不错——甚至很高——那就是时候考虑寻求帮助了。在过去几年里，我与分包商和虚拟助理合作过，从来没有一次雇人之后是不值得的。我大脑里那个抵触的部分会说"这是你的错，如果你更厉害一点就好了"——但我没有机器人身体，所以我通过寻求帮助来应对这一点。

你不需要雇一个全职员工。作为一个独立承包商，引进另一个全职的人感觉像是把开销翻倍。你可以雇一个分包商每周工作几个小时——我通常会雇人来做音乐制作工作中的混音、母带处理、编辑、发送草稿的部分——除了我走来走去思考音乐创意这个有趣的部分之外的所有工作。你可以雇人来做这些。虚拟助理比你想象的便宜——每周只需两三四个小时，让人帮你处理邮件、行政事务、日程安排、不需要你直接参与的一般往来。如果你走这条路，告诉你的客户："我有一个助理在协助我工作。他们可能会回答你的一些后勤问题。我这样做不是要把你隔离在外——我这样做是为了能给我们所有人做出更好的产品，因为我会有时间专注于真正重要的事情。"他们几乎总会说"哦，你这样做是为了把我们的游戏做得更好、不让自己过载？听起来太好了。"

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[关于分包 / On Subcontracting]:

Who do you subcontract to — strangers or people you know?

Almost exclusively people I know. Most of the people I've subcontracted with have literally come up to me at GDC or PAX and said "hey, do you ever need a subcontractor?" and I was like "not right now" — but I wrote the name down on my phone. And if everything lines up, I'll remember them next time. The reason is that I desperately don't want to go looking for people — I just want kids to write things and for work to get done. So people come up to me and say "hey, can I get on that list?" — it's a literal list. Feel free to ask me afterwards. That's the primary pool I'm drawing from. It's definitely a great thing to do in your networking: offer to subcontract for people, even if they don't need it right then.

你的分包对象是陌生人还是认识的人？

几乎都是认识的人。我分包给的大多数人都曾在GDC或PAX找到我说"嘿，你有没有需要分包商的时候？"然后我说"现在还不需要"——但我把名字记在了手机里。如果时机合适，下次我会想起他们。原因是我非常不想四处找人——我只想让工作顺利完成。所以有人过来说"嘿，我能加入那个名单吗？"——这真的是一个名单，欢迎活动后来找我。这是我主要的人才来源。在人脉经营中主动提出可以担任分包商是一件很好的事，即使对方当时不需要也无妨。

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八、作为自己的老板意味着什么 · What Being Your Own Boss Really Means

[演讲者 / Speaker]:

Being your own boss means that you are in charge of making sure that you are healthy and rested. The other 50 bosses — it's not that they don't care about you, they do. But they have their own lives, their own projects, and the relationship they have with you is tied to the product being worked on. They honestly do not know if you are in trouble unless you tell them. I'm not saying you need to read your diary entries to your clients. What I'm saying is: the department of getting the sounds out will be managed by your clients; the department of you sleeping enough — that is all you. You have to do that. It is imperative. Get enough sleep, eat relatively well, do exercise, talk to a therapist if you need it, consider medication if you need it.

When I first met my psychiatrist many years ago, I mentioned that I was a full-time freelance voice actor who worked from home, and she diagnosed me with ADHD. She said "oh that job must be really fun!" — I was like, oh that's actually really valid. Me being my own boss, as someone who is neurodivergent — I'm always happy to talk about that stuff because I'm very passionate about it.

I also want to add: very recently I started telling clients when I'm struggling with how the world is going. I'm from Minnesota, and a lot of what's been going on there this year — I don't live there anymore — has been really impacting me and my wife. Some days it feels completely absurd to try to make music for video games during a time like this. I finally started telling clients: "Hey, I'm still here, I'm still doing my best, but I need you to know that this is impacting me really severely right now." And across the board everybody was like "hey, thank you for telling us, we're feeling it too." Just knowing that you have that consideration — that you can be honest — is powerful. You have to suss out the situation and know that you can be that open with a given client. But if you can do the same — you don't have to give any specifics — you can tell clients "there's a lot going on in life right now and I'm doing my best," and I've found that to be really received well.

作为自己的老板意味着你负责确保自己健康并得到充分休息。你的五十个"老板"——并不是他们不关心你，他们确实关心。但他们有自己的生活、自己的项目，他们与你的关系是与正在制作的产品挂钩的。除非你告诉他们，否则他们真的不知道你是否有麻烦。我不是说你要向客户朗读你的日记。我的意思是：把声音做出来这个部门会由你的客户管理；而你睡得够不够这个部门——那完全是你自己的事。你必须做到。这是必须的。睡眠充足、饮食相对规律、做运动、如果需要就找治疗师、如果需要就考虑药物治疗。

多年前我第一次见我的精神科医生时，我提到我是一个在家工作的全职自由配音演员，她诊断我有ADHD。她说"哦，那份工作一定很有趣！"——我想，哦，这其实真的很有道理。作为一个神经多样性的人来做自己的老板——我总是很乐意谈论这些事情，因为我对此非常有热情。

我还想补充：最近我开始在世界让我感到挣扎时告诉我的客户。我来自明尼苏达州，今年那里发生的很多事情——我虽然不住在那里了——但对我和我妻子的影响非常大。有些日子感觉在这样的时刻为电子游戏制作音乐完全是荒诞的。我终于开始告诉客户："嘿，我还在这里，我还在尽力，但我需要你知道这件事目前对我的影响非常大。"结果所有人的反应都是"谢谢你告诉我们，我们也感同身受。"仅仅知道你有这种可以诚实的空间就很有力量。你需要判断情况，知道你能否与某个特定客户保持这种开放。但如果你能做到——不必给出任何细节——告诉客户"生活中最近有很多事情在发生，我在尽力"，我发现这通常都会得到很好的理解和回应。

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九、问答摘要 · Q&A Highlights

关于社交媒体与心理健康的平衡 / On Social Media and Mental Health:

I have multiple cell phones. The reason — this is my ADHD brain — I have multiple accounts. I abandoned Facebook as a personal platform a long time ago. My Facebook is a work account, my Instagram is a work account. I have a separate Discord account with very few people on it that I barely use, because I'd honestly rather just call my friends and hang out with them. For my own mental health I don't really engage with social media that much. But in terms of my career, two people today said "I've seen you on social media, you're doing so great" — which means I'll keep doing it.

I want to add: customize social media to what it needs to be for you. Your process of many separate accounts works great for you — it sounds like a living nightmare to me. My approach is to pick one platform. It doesn't mean you can't be on the others, but pick one that's your main work thing. Mine is Instagram. I don't go on Instagram to scroll — it poisons my brain, I find it draining. I send things out and connect with people on there, and otherwise don't use it. And you do not need social media to have a career — there are famous composers whose accounts look like they're from a random point in time, just popping up occasionally, and they're doing great. But it does elevate things and keeps you connected. One platform, used intentionally.

我有多部手机。原因——这是我的ADHD大脑——我有多个账号。我很久以前就放弃了Facebook作为个人平台。我的Facebook是工作账号，我的Instagram是工作账号。我有一个独立的Discord账号，上面只有很少的人，我几乎不用，因为我其实更愿意直接打电话给朋友或者去见他们。为了我自己的心理健康，我其实不太参与社交媒体。但在职业层面，今天有两个人说"我在社交媒体上看过你，你做得太好了"——这意味着我会继续做下去。

我想补充：把社交媒体定制成你所需要的样子。你那套多账号的方式对你很有效——对我来说听起来是噩梦。我的方式是选一个平台。这不意味着你不能在其他平台上，但选一个作为你的主要工作平台。我的是Instagram。我不去Instagram刷内容——那会毒害我的大脑，我觉得很消耗精力。我在上面发内容、与人联系，除此之外不使用它。而且你不需要社交媒体才能有职业生涯——有些著名作曲家的账号看起来像是停留在某个随机的时间点，偶尔冒出来，他们仍然做得很好。但社交媒体确实能提升曝光、保持联系。选一个平台，有意图地使用它。

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关于淡季/旺季如何应对 / On Seasonal Ups and Downs:

We have different seasons — winter, spring, summer, and fall. Winter is when nothing's coming in. Spring is when we're planting seeds — which is probably where a lot of people are now at GDC. Summer is when we're doing the work and in absolute hell. And fall is when we harvest and get to enjoy the good results. When you're in winter, I recommend doing what I'm doing right now: putting out things, talking to people, using that time to up your skills and make outreach. Share your work as much as possible — and I don't mean just good work, I mean garbage, share trash constantly. When you are in those downturns, share things and talk to people regardless of how busy you are, because that outreach doesn't really go away.

And I'll add: when you're in a period of not working, it can be very tempting to just panic the entire time. But those stretches of "a lot of work" can very quickly turn into "a little too much work with no time to relax." So to the extent that your circumstances allow — try to take a little time off. I took some finally, incidentally, and it ended up being extremely valuable directly for my career. Taking a break is so good for your wellbeing. Try to do that.

我们有不同的季节——冬、春、夏、秋。冬天是什么都没来的时候。春天是我们播种的时候——这可能就是GDC期间很多人所处的阶段。夏天是我们在做工作、处于绝对煎熬中的时候。秋天是我们收获、享受好结果的时候。当你在冬天的时候，我建议做我现在正在做的事情：输出内容、与人交谈、利用这段时间提升技能、积极外展联系。尽可能多地分享你的作品——我不是说只分享好作品，我的意思是也分享垃圾，不断地分享。当你处于低谷时，无论你多忙，都要分享东西、与人交谈，因为这种外展联系的效果不会消失。

我还要补充：当你不在工作状态时，很容易整个时间都在恐慌。但那些"很多工作"的时期很快就能变成"工作太多、没时间放松"。所以在你的情况允许的范围内——尝试休息一下。我终于休了一次，结果对我的职业发展直接产生了极大的价值。休息对你的整体状态太有好处了。尽量去做。