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Runic Entertainment创始人谈《火炬之光》项目进展

发布时间:2011-02-13 09:39:03 Tags:,,,

独立开发商Runic Entertainment已经发展了很长一段时间了,其动作类的角色扮演游戏《火炬之光》(Torchlight)深受个人电脑用户的喜爱,至今销量已达60万份。即将诞生的《火炬之光2》将添加多人模式元素,《火炬之光》(Torchlight)的MMO版本也将在不久的将来问世。

torchlight-pc-game

torchlight-pc-game

最近其公司宣布《火炬之光》将进军Xbox Live Arcade 平台,实在有些令人出乎意料——毕竟一个颇受欢迎的游戏进军其他平台,实在不是一件小事,因为要实现这一操作确实很费功夫。

据游戏邦了解,Runic Games的创始人马克斯·谢尔菲(Max Schaefer)通过最近的媒体采访,介绍了《火炬之光2》以及Runic团队的发展情况。

谢尔菲表示,“从某些方面来说,Xbox版本是个直接的移植版本,但从另一些方面来看,它又是一个经过多种改良的转型版本,它的界面全部得重新设计,我们多数心思都花在了重新设计和重做整个界面上了。”

不管怎么说,《火炬之光》这种动作角色扮演类游戏能否在游戏机上运行,一直是人们关注的焦点,对PC硬核游戏粉丝来说更是如此——《火炬之光》的成功很大程度上得益于他们的支持。谢尔菲表示大家认为这款游戏的移植难度太大并非毫无根据,因为“再次改造游戏时,才发现它的界面居然如此之多,甚至出乎我们的意料……当我们深入挖掘时,才发现如果要全面完成任务,这种工作量真是太大了。”

Torchlight

Torchlight

他承认,“要将它移植到游戏机上的确有些棘手,”他们团队也借鉴了其他人的经验——从《博德之门:黑暗联盟》(Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance)获取灵感——但资源非常有限,对他们来说这才是最大的挑战,技术问题并非最大难题。

Runic团队一直就想推出《火炬之光》的游戏机版本,“我们一直都期盼能够坐在沙发上玩《火炬之光》(或者《暗黑破坏神》(Diablo)之类的游戏。”

谢菲尔表示,“所有人都以为他们对于该如何改造游戏已经了如指掌了,但深入挖掘时才发现自己其实一无所知。”但这也帮助了他们更加深入了解游戏,就像了解其他的挑战一样,不断重复尝试,“要敢于试验,如果行得通,就把这一理论用到其他事情中,不断改善直到游戏像模像样了。”

谢菲尔相信Runic团队都很了解游戏的状况,“我们迫不及待想知道人们觉得怎么样——但同时也有点忐忑不安。不过自己玩了,才发现其实还不赖。工作室中有些人已经在Xbox上玩这款游戏了,这一点让我们确信自己走对路了。”

如果不是因为即将问世的大制作游戏《暗黑破坏神3》(Diablo III ),很少人会首先谈及《火炬之光》,但谢尔菲还是表示这类游戏的玩家的数量越多越好,“很多人都说如果《暗黑破坏神3 》出现了,你们该怎么办啊,但我认为这倒是件好事。”

他称很期待《暗黑破坏神3》早点问世,虽然它的出炉将至少延缓Runic团队一个月的工作进度,但他们仍将持续推进项目进程。

Torchlight

Torchlight

关于Runic团队现在的工作状况,谢菲尔表示计划在今年夏季继续开发《火炬之光2》的PC版本,只有完成这一任务后他们才能更加清楚地预测《火炬之光》系列的发展前景。

虽然这款游戏已经大获成功,而且粉丝规模日益庞大,但Runic团队目前仍如此专注于这款游戏发展的原因在于,Runic目前仍然仅有30名左右的成员。迫于人员紧张的情况,他们只能先推出《火炬之光》的Xbox Live Arcade版本,其次才能开发《火炬之光2》,然后才能推进原来宣布的MMO项目。

谢菲尔表示,他们不希望因MMO项目而拖累《火炬之光2》的开发进度,他们原先决定推出这个继集游戏时,还没有明确《火炬之光》XBLA版本的开发计划,“我们已经有了一个整体的目标,但并没有制定具体的项目计划。”

与其他工作室不同的是,Runic团队并没有将所有产品集中绑定并打造大品牌的传统,MMORPG游戏发行商完美时空(Perfect World)掌握了Runic工作室的多数股份,并将负责发行与《火炬之光》相关的MMO游戏。

据谢菲尔所称,他们团队通过《火炬之光1》的PC版本取得了不俗的成绩,能够判断哪种发展策略更可行而不至于让自己陷入困境。今年将是他们首次同时推出两个游戏项目的时期,他们对今年的项目发展抱有很大的期望。

据游戏邦了解,Runic团队确实很擅长持续改良自己的游戏,不断满足用户的需求和喜好。比如说,虽然该团队在《火炬之光2》中添加了新等级、角色和外景,但该版本最大的变化却是引进了互动协作的多人模式,用户只需一次性付费购买,就能获得这些新功能。

谢菲尔表示《火炬之光》市场反应很不错,许多用户表示他们希望该游戏植入多人模式,但要让这种功能完美融入游戏中,Runic团队不能直接将多人模式简单地引进原版游戏,而需要根据这一新机制的情况,重新量体裁衣,彻底调整游戏设置,“多人模式对游戏设计的影响很大,所以你得从实际出发调整游戏。”(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,转载请注明来源:游戏邦)

Interview: Runic Games’ Schaefer On Taking Torchlight To XBLA

It’s been a period of growth for independent developer Runic Entertainment, whose action RPG Torchlight received an extremely warm reception among PC fans with over 600,000 units to date.

Upcoming Torchlight 2 will add a multiplayer component to the mix, and a Torchlight universe MMO is planned for the future.

The recently-announced decision to bring Torchlight to Xbox Live Arcade came as something of a surprise — after all, adapting a popular game in the notorious PC-centric genre is no small feat, and the work must have been time consuming.

We thought it would be an ideal time to catch up with Runic Games’ Max Schaefer, to learn about the work that went into the port, and to get an update on Torchlight 2 and the state of the Runic team as they continue to find success.

“In some respects, the Xbox version is a straight port — and in some respects it’s more of a conversion,” Schaefer tells us. “The interface had to be completely redesigned … the most work of the whole project was redesigning and redoing the whole interface.”

After all, whether or not action RPGs of the Torchlight vein can work well on consoles has been the subject of much discussion, especially among hardcore PC fans — many of whom helped lead Torchlight to success. And Schaefer says that the task isn’t reputed to be difficult for nothing.

“You don’t realize how much interface is in your game until you have to go and reinvent it,” he says. “It took us a little bit by surprise… once we started digging into it, we realized how completely we had to go through it.”

“It’s a challenge getting this kind of game… over to the consoles,” Schaefer admits. The team wasn’t entirely without examples — they took inspiration from Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance,

for one — but “[sources are] few and far-between. That was the biggest challenge for us; technically it wasn’t that hard to get it to run.”

But a console version of Torchlight was something the Runic team wanted to do for a long time, Schaefer says. “A lot of us have always wished we had the opportunity to put the time into making a good console version,” he says. “We’ve wanted forever… to be able to play Torchlight or Diablo kinds of games on the couch.”

“Everyone has pretty well thought-out theories of how you would do it, but until you dig in, you don’t really know,” says Schaefer. But it helps to look at it like any other challenge: “A lot of iteration,” he explains. “Try something out; if it works, use that theory for other things, and then keep redoing it until it feels right.”

Schaefer says he feels confident that the Runic team has got it right: “We can’t wait to see what people think — but at the same time, we’re a little nervous. But it feels right when we play it. There are guys in the office that prefer to play it on Xbox now, and that’s what makes me think we’re onto something.”

And although rarely does Torchlight come up in conversation without someone eventually mentioning the looming giant of upcoming Diablo III soon after, Schaefer says that a thriving audience for this style of game is healthful for all: “A lot of people say, ‘what are you going to do when D3 comes out,’ but I only see it as a good thing,” he says.

“We kind of can’t wait for D3 to come out. It’ll delay whatever we’re working on for at least a month when it does! But at the same time we’ve just got to be doing what we’re doing,” he adds.

So what is the Runic team up to now? According to Schaefer, forging ahead with upcoming Torchlight 2 on the PC planned for this summer, and then “beyond that, we’ll see where we can see the Torchlight franchise down the road.”

Part of the reason the studio wants to focus on one thing at a time is because despite the success and broadening audience for Torchlight, Runic stayed small at just about 30 employees. Thus the decision to work first on Torchlight for Xbox Live Arcade, then on Torchlight 2 — thereby making the previously-announced MMO project, the team’s most ambitious, third in line.

“We didn’t want [the MMO] to totally take our studio down while we’re trying to do Torchlight 2,” says Schafer — when they made the decision to move forward with the sequel, they hadn’t yet formed a clear plan for the XBLA edition of Torchlight — “we had a general goal to do it when we could but there was no specific schedule.”

But unlike other studios who string together products to fund a bigger one, Runic doesn’t have that concern. MMORPG publisher Perfect World bought a majority stake in the company and will publish the upcoming MMO set in the Torchlight universe.

“We did well enough with Torchlight 1 on the PC that I can say we’re moderately thriving,” says Schaefer. “We’re able to do what we think is the right strategic move and not make any moves out of desperation. This is going to be the first year in a long time that we have two games released. We have high hopes for an exciting year.”

Essentially, the team has the unique opportunity to iterate on its big property publicly and slowly, attentive to the needs and interests of their audience in a very granular way. For example, although the team added new classes, characters and outdoor areas “just in case”, Schaefer jokes — the biggest change in Torchlight 2 is the addition of cooperative multiplayer in a one-time purchase with no subscription fees or item sales.

“[Torchlight] did very well, and everyone said, ‘we just want multiplayer’,” says Schaefer. But for that to work, the team couldn’t have added a multiplayer component simply tacked on to the original game; it needed to be entirely retailored to suit the new dynamics: “Multiplayer affects the design a lot, and you have to adjust accordingly,” he adds.(source:gamesetwatch)


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