Fat Pudding Founder Little Cotton - Guo Liang
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > when you first meet this middle-aged man who looks slightly vicissitudes and melancholy, it is hard to imagine that he will have such a cute name. But Guo Liang will try to explain with his young photos every time that his appearance at that time is worthy of this title. </h1>
Guo Liang, a high school graduate, went to a university in the northeast to study power design because of his good math scores, while his twin brother went to a university in Yunnan to study art design. Guo Liang, who has loved painting since he was a child, regretted deeply when he first entered college that he should study art like his brother and then become an artist a few years later. After graduation, Guo Liang naturally became an electric power engineer, but the artist's wish has never been erased by life. So in his spare time, Guo Liang has been using the computer to insist on painting some 3D, printmaking style art works.
In 2004, the 29-year-old Guo Liang realized that he was about to enter the year of establishment, and if he could not succeed, it would be difficult to match the word "young talent". Therefore, Guo Liang resolutely resigned from the position of a well-paid power engineer and concentrated on drawing picture books at home. In the same year, a serious illness brought a turning point to Guo Liang's life, and Guo Liang, who was lying on a hospital bed with a broken spine, began to think about the weight of dreams, the length of life, and the meaning of life. In 2011, Guo Liang made two games - "Kaka Adventure" and "Anti-Gravity Kaka", which sold for $1.99 on the IOS platform and sold 30 copies, taking the first step in his gaming career.
Anti-Gravity Kaka
Guo Liang, who was attracted by the list of cartoonists and writers, decided to climb the mountain of "comics".
After the "comic dream" had no choice but to fold, Guo Liang decided to turn around and climb the original mountain of "Game". In 2013, he made his own image "Mr. Pumpkin" into a game , Mr. Pumpkin Adventure. After the original team of six, Guo Liang gave his studio a very nice name: the fat pudding game , the English harmonic sound of pumpkin. Subsequently, there are the well-known "Lost Island" series, "Little Triangle Heroes", "Distant Stories", "Ancient Mirrors", "Monster House"...
This is the life and story of an independent gamer, and it is also the thinking and telling of an ordinary person. Guo Liang did not say the difficulties of the gamer, he just told how he wanted to live, how to move forward, and what kind of posture he should take to look at the meaning of life when he was getting older.
The following is Guo Liang's thoughts and life ——
1
Hometown is such a being
Before going to towhi to study, I didn't really like my hometown. When I was a child, I always felt that I was a little out of place with that place, because my father was from Shanghai and my mother was from Guiyang, but I may still have a little difference between my looks and Guizhou people: my nose is particularly high, and my skin is particularly white. So my parents' colleagues would always say: Your son looks like a foreigner or looks like a Shanghainese, and he looks good. At that time, Guiyang was in a period of social transformation, and it was still in a relatively poor and backward stage. The in the school are unqualified, uneducated, and curse and cause trouble everywhere on the street. So my impression of my hometown was not very good, and after graduating from high school, I ran to the northeast.
But when I really left my hometown, that attachment to my hometown brought my soul back. Although I have been in Shanghai for more than 20 years, I am not particularly receptive to Shanghai's culture, language, urban landscape and the whole temperament it presents. Only hometown is the best, everything is good.
I went back to Guiyang once ten years ago, and I suddenly felt that everything in my hometown was particularly good. I called my brother and told you you should come back and have a look, it would change you. At that time, we all worked and lived in different first-tier cities. Brother said, you are particularly exaggerated. This year I went back to my hometown again, with my brother, and his feelings were very similar to those of my year. It may be that we are getting older, and when we reach this age, we will think, I should go back, that place is the real home.
Guo Liang and twin brothers
In fact, everyone's lifelong creation, a lifetime of life is derived from when you were a child. From the moment your childhood comes to an end, the decades that follow you are nothing more than repeating the decades, twenty years that preceded you. Hometown is such a being, the source of all your dreams, and for me it is the best source of creation. I like its humanistic style, whether it is magical, classical, national, market, large bowl of wine, large mouthful of meat, the character will be engraved in the bones for a long time.
The imprint of hometown is not necessarily the work itself, but the cultural atmosphere displayed in the work. When I was painting Mr. Pumpkin 2: Kowloon Walled City, I never felt like I was painting Hong Kong, but I was painting the place where I lived as a child. When I was a child, I lived in a very traditional tube building, which was a dangerous building. Its staircase was built outside the house, and the tube building that went up around it was now rare. The messy telephone poles in "Kowloon Walled City" are very similar to those there. Including an overall style of "The Ancient Mirror" is also related to my life as a child. When I was a child, my grandfather's house was a very old courtyard house, which was already very dilapidated, but I liked it. There was a hall in the house with a coffin that my grandfather would use after he died, a custom in many parts of China – raising a coffin to make a fortune, so we slept with this coffin when we were young. When I was a little younger and in elementary school, I watched a documentary with my grandfather: about some things at the beginning of reform and opening up. I was a child, but I already knew that we were a fateful people. Since I was a child, I have been immersed in this traditional culture and traditional consciousness, and this kind of story will have some epic feeling in it, which will last for generations.
"Mr. Pumpkin 2: Kowloon City Walled"
But you might think Lost Island looks pretty Westernized, because we were exposed to some Western science fiction as children, such as Astro Boy and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. When I was in elementary school, Cui Jian began to sing, and the streets were plastered with posters of his concerts. When I was in junior high school, Taiwanese pop songs broke into the mainland, and this change from scratch will leave a particularly deep memory and then become a mark of life.
One day I read some of Chen Zhongzhong's creative feelings when he wrote "White Deer Plain". He said there were so many stories happening in that part of northern Shaanxi that they deserved to be recorded. And then whoever did it, he felt he had that responsibility. This shocked me very much, and I also felt that someone in every place should record the stories of these vicissitudes. It's a strong belief, a sense of fatalism. But this depends on people's judgment of their own personal ability, and as my age changes, I often have a feeling that I should do something, even if it is not remarkable to others, it is insignificant. But it may be something I think I should do for the rest of my life in my life. I don't go out of my way to radicalize or glorify something, but to make it very pure, which is a creative idea — to show my understanding of the world.
2
Games need to tell a good story
Half a year ago I pulled out a book from home, Calvino's The Complete Universe, but I had no idea when I bought it. At the time I thought it was strange because I wouldn't buy a book and not read it. But I read the first one and realized: Neurosis, haven't I read it? In fact, reading is like this, many times many things have been read, forgotten, and even thrown away, but it will become a part of me, become a part of my flesh and blood, become an unconscious substance left in my body.
Fat Pudding Studio
When I did the Lost Island series, there would be a lot of memes, such as some science fiction content. When I was working on Mr. Pumpkin, I wrote some poems in it, like I liked Szymborska. We were recently working on a puzzle game, Butterflies on the Windowsill, and when I had conceived the whole story, I said isn't this Love in the Time of Cholera? The two stories are very similar, but I didn't think about this book when I was writing it. I think that's what literary creation is, and sometimes you may remember something and think it's particularly good, but you don't realize it. But it's going to reflect in your work, your idea, and I think that's very important.
When I was young, I loved to read Jin Yong, and Jin Yong was always interspersed in the course of my life. But when I was young, I felt that Jin Yong was a martial arts novel, including when Wang Shuo had been scolding Jin Yong and felt that he was not in the flow. When I grow up, after more than ten or twenty years of intervening, I will read Jin Yong's novels, and I will be much more indifferent to the exciting fights and killings that I liked when I was a child, but I would like Jin Yong's emotional entanglement very much. Because the characters in it are particularly standing: when the little dragon girl arrived at the Valley of Absolute Love, the owner of the Valley of Absolute Love asked her what her name was? She replied that my surname was Liu, just call me Liu Mei. In the end, the Owner of the Absolute Love Valley understood why he was called Liu Mei, because he had met Yang Guo and understood that she liked Yang Guo. So, he's Yang, she's Willow, Willow. I especially like the feeling.
Another is that Yang Xiao and Ji Xiaofu got married, and they had a daughter. Many people say that Yang Xiao is an unforgivable criminal, an enemy of the world, and a crooked and evil way. Everyone may think that after Ji Xiaofu gave birth to that daughter, she woke up and wanted to leave Yang Xiao. But Ji Xiaofu named her daughter: Yang Unrepentant. I just thought it was really cool. There are two very deep feelings in this, one is called attachment, and the other is called determination.
Before I wrote a story about a producer, I mentioned the appearance of the producer, and I was intimidated by others. Some people in the company advised me not to delete the article. I refused.
I like three people the most in Jin Yong's novels: one is Guo Jing, because he has a kind of grand righteousness and a sense of nationality, which I think is particularly good. The other is Huang Rong, because she is very intelligent, especially eccentric, and is the existence of such a unique temperament. Another person was Huang Yaoshi, who said that he had killed the Seven Monsters of Jiangnan. Guo Jing said, You killed my master, and I will not share the heavens with you. But in fact, Huang Yaoshi did not kill those people, but the whole world said that I killed them, then I will admit today, I just killed him, it doesn't matter, it is I Huang Yaoshi who killed. So I especially like Huang Yaoshi, even if the whole day scolds me and says that I have a problem, but I think I don't, I don't care how you scold me, why should I care about this post? It's this emotion.
That day I told my wife that Guo Jing, Huang Rong, huang Yaoshi, the personalities of the three of them were synthesized into my personality, and I felt that I was a synthesis of the personalities of the three of them.
Earlier we talked about reading stories, so how to tell a good story, I think there are two points. First of all, what is a good story. I talked to a few of my friends about stall literature, and I felt that the story of stall literature would have been very valuable because it could meet a person's original needs, and everyone liked some magical, dog-blood stories. Some of the stories written by Haruki Murakami also have this flavor. So a good movie, a good work, the essence is to tell a wonderful story, which is true. The problem is how to tell this story, even in high-level literature, there are also dog blood things in the literature of the stall. I don't really care about distinguishing between Yangchun Baixue and Xia Riba people, as long as the characters can stand up and the dog blood thing can write a sense of drama and conflict. When Mo Yan won the Nobel Prize, there was a speech called "Storyteller". Mo Yan said that I am a storyteller, which shows that it is very important to tell a story well. Whether your story is dog-blooded or not, the essence is in the way you tell it.
This brings us to the second question: how the game should tell its story. If your story itself is very exciting, it is better if you finish it. But sometimes storytelling is not just about the text itself, and blank space is also a way to tell a story. Both of these aspects should be taken into account when making games. After leaving the blank, there will be more stories outside the story. A story to tell is very real, or very obscure, this is all need to be considered. I didn't really care about this before, but I feel like it's really important now. Taking "Lost Island" as an example, do you say that "Lost Island" tells a good story? I don't know. But it will give the player a sense of having a story, because it has a blank element in it, and the player will not feel that the plot is untenable. As for how much to write, how much to leave for the player to think about, that involves another question. Now a lot of players are writing all kinds of stories about The Lost Island, some are written very well, some are badly written. But I don't care, I feel like my game exists in another world as if there are many life forms.
3
We go wandering
I had an article about the lost island prequel, "Seaside Amusement Park", and a player asked me where the Seaside Amusement Park was, and he said I wanted to see it. At the time I was very touched because I thought there was something nice about a broken amusement park, but the player didn't think it was, he wanted to go and see it. It's a very romantic emotion, a very romantic feeling.
Lost Island Prequel To Seaside Amusement Park
I once said that I don't like to play games and don't have enough experience in making games, but my strongest ability is – romance. Everyone should be romantic, and romance is both an ability and an attitude. I especially like romantic people. I have a friend who was a colleague of mine more than a decade ago, when I was in my twenties. The colleague was a girl, not particularly good-looking, but she had a particularly vivid feeling that she was always feeling particularly energetic. One day I had a chat with her, and she told me that you call me "Peter Pan" and I was shocked. I said it was boring, it was boring. She said, "Well, then go wandering, let's go wandering together." To this day, I am particularly impressed by the word, and I remember it to this day, and this story took place 17 years ago. She told me we were going to wander, and I thought it was very good, and there was a feeling that my soul was suddenly pinched. Of course, I know that this word may just be her casual words, but it has a very romantic feeling in it: carrying a bag and going to the end of the world. Although this sentence is a bit like not understanding the hardships of life, she has infected me for many, many years.
I think romance is very important for a creator. Whether it is making games, engaging in music, drawing, filming, writing novels, romance is inevitable. I think you should have that emotion. Let's generalize this concept, doesn't life need to be romantic? Shouldn't people think about life a little romantically in this lifetime? A romantic person may relatively do something more romantic. So a creator, he will have a lot of things, but romance will appear to be more emotional, and I think that's what everyone needs.
Prints by Guo Liang
But romance after all has a "wave" word in it, then your "wave" needs to have a thing to go to the bottom, I think this thing is "tough", which is the most important quality of the game. Everyone has a time of inspiration, but your work can't dig a pit for a while, dig a pit all the time, but feel that filling the pit is very bitter. A good inspiration is important, it's wonderful, and it can make people clap their hands, but you need to do a lot of work to pay for your inspiration and make it complete, which requires you to be very tenacious to get things done.
There is also tenacity in the face of failure. When your hard-earned game is online, waiting for feedback with anticipation, only to find that the reward is not the kind of positive feedback, do you still have the courage and ability to go to the next game? This is another difficult point. A lot of people think they're doing very good things and are very enthusiastic, but after he receives some criticism from the outside, he feels that it's not okay. Sometimes a work is online, can't be sold, loses money, and some people will feel: I'm not suitable for games, not suitable for this industry, I can't do it, I'm going to go away, they scolded me like this. So toughness is a very important quality. I don't think any technical problems or financial problems are the most difficult points. If you fail, but the essential reason will not be your poor technology, will not be your artistic accomplishment is not enough, nor will it be your vision problems, it must be your lack of faith.
Some people say it's money, the problem of the market. Of course, there are these problems, but the same problems have been encountered by others, and there are many people in the same situation as you, or even worse than you, who can do it, and you need to think about whether it is your own problem. So the vast majority of failures are due to confidence, resilience, belief, and not other issues. We see a lot of great writers, artists, writers, directors, poets, many of them in a much worse condition than we do, but they succeeded. Both artistically and spiritually, I think it's remarkable.
Famous Italian printmaker Giorgio Morandi
I don't have the luxury of doing a No.1 work, I don't think it's necessary, just do what you can. As long as you are willing, in terms of everyone's ability, you can actually reach a certain height.
Romance sounds beautiful, but tenacity is realistic life, and the two complement each other. Wandering the world is also a kind of tenacity. Lu Xun also wrote: People must live, and love will be attached to beauty. That's probably what it means.
4
Like a stream stirring, fireworks bloom
"I do games, I paint, I don't want to prove anything, I just like this life, like water rushing, waking up every morning, like fireworks blooming over the city, this is the only reason for me to live." 」
I think people should dare to love and hate a little. I like people who have a very strong personality, because I think people with personality are very vital. As the old lady in the American drama "The BIG C" said, she has cancer: before death, people must live vigorously. Even if, like Duras, you have desire written on your face, so what? Man is driven by desire. If someone else's good work goes online, I will certainly not say envy and jealousy after I see it, and I only have one truest emotion - hate. I am such a person, everyone has seven passions and six desires.
So I'm less receptive to the bereavement culture that has prevailed in recent years: I can't do it, I really can't. I think that people have to have such a breath when they are alive, even if they are aggressive, to have this breath, to live fiercely, it is a fighting posture. But I am not the kind of person who likes to challenge fate, I think that fate and I are friends, the friendship of gentlemen is as light as water, the shadows are hanging, if they are separated, if they are really bitter and deep, in the end they will only meet each other with a smile and a vendetta. But I don't want to be like stagnant water, whether it is my personality or my work, I think it should be rushing, even if it is just a small ditch, a stinky ditch, I don't want it to be a pool of stagnant water, I want it to be alive, real, and vital.
A lot of folk songs can reflect some of my life conditions. For example, Xu Wei said: I only have two days, one day is hope, one day is despair. But he will also say that I want to fight the sword to the end of the world. It is this kind of half-life return, still full of love but also a peaceful feeling. Last year I listened to Xu Fei's "They Didn't Get Rich", I think this song is good, sing well or not, we will say another, but the lyrics are very good: they left home in their twenties and went to tianya with a broken heart. The ending is to say that they have grown up, they are old, but they have not made a fortune. I also experienced this when I was 20 years old, arguing with my girlfriend in the rental house, thinking I was going to get rich, and then crying and hugging each other again. A ballad is a record of a certain state of life of a person.
I don't expect life to go well, but I hope that when it comes to life difficulties, I can be his opponent, I really don't want to succumb to someone, this is where I am now. I don't care about the length of life, but I care if every day of life is really the kind I want. I can't stand the middle-aged and elderly life patterns, I can't stand walking, eating, brushing vibrato, watching the news, playing mahjong, and the short life of parents. I'm not going to be that kind of person anyway, and I have a lot to do.
Some people say that the reason why I am so dissatisfied is because of cynicism. But I would feel that living this kind of life, I would be more valuable, or more meaningful, than other people. I think it's normal, I never put an end to this kind of thinking, it's just one of my evaluation criteria. I know that all people are essentially equal, but the meaning of other people's lives is not my concern. Man came confused, lived helplessly, and walked away in confusion. If I really disagree, I am dissatisfied with fate.
If I can, I mean if, waking up every morning wishing to bloom like fireworks over the city is the only reason I can live.