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《文明》设计师Sid Meier称游戏将风靡全世界

发布时间:2011-05-11 12:06:16 Tags:,,

游戏邦注:本文作者为Larry Frum,他通过引用设计师Sid Meier原话,阐述了这位设计师对于游戏领域的看法。

Sid Meier是Firaxis Games创意开发总监,但对很多人而言,他们最熟知的还是他的“电脑游戏之父”称号。

Sid Meier

Sid Meier

《文明》堪称有史以来最受欢迎的电脑策略游戏之一,这款游戏在过去20年,不断推出更新版本和更新内容。游戏中玩家可以穿越时空创建和开发自己的城市、国家和文明。

游戏现已售出数百万份,吸引了全球各地的粉丝,这些忠实的粉丝对于游戏十分痴迷,时常发表自己的对于游戏的看法。综观1991年游戏刚推出时,到最新的游戏版本(游戏邦注:即去年的《文明 V》),Meier 表示游戏是紧密联系的强大社区才得以发展壮大的。

Meier表示,“尽管游戏技术越发先进,游戏玩家的人口统计数据不断变更,但玩家对于游戏的热情丝毫没有减弱。每版游戏均为玩家创造全新世界,新版游戏的发展方向和上款游戏截然不同。游戏的发展存在无限的可能。”

虽然《文明》过去几年主要以PC游戏形式能玩家见面,但Meier随后于2008年打造了游戏的掌机版本《Civilization Revolution》。这款游戏保留了很多PC版本的特色,但它促使游戏面向新的用户群(游戏邦注:即那些热爱掌机游戏和手机游戏的玩家们)。

Meier表示,“掌机游戏如今越来越具策略性,越来越有深度。不论是从技术角度,还是用户分布情况来看,掌机平台的策略类型游戏都能取得不错反响。”

喜欢紧凑游戏体验、讨厌受控的粉丝及批评家将会十分喜欢这款游戏。虽然游戏的元老级粉丝认为掌机版本过于简单,对此深表遗憾,但游戏还是获得British Academy Video Games Awards颁发的“2008年度最佳策略游戏”奖。

如今Meier准备凭借新版游戏《Civilization World》进军Facebook游戏领域。公司希望游戏今年夏天能够同玩家见面。

Civilization World

Civilization World

他表示,“这是对《文明》游戏的戏剧化延伸。”

他表示,“我们并表示想要开发什么‘Facebook游戏’。我们只是希望通过有效利用Facebook平台的独特之处,让《文明》类的游戏体验得到充分展示。”

Meier表示,Facebook游戏能够为《文明》粉丝提供某些传统PC游戏所不及的体验。通过与同行好友交流沟通,以及和数百万潜在玩家接触,游戏开发团队得以重新塑造这款经典的策略游戏。

他表示,“对我们而言,这版游戏的有趣之处在于它强调了合作式的游戏体验,而这一元素之前在《文明》系列中并未扮演什么重要角色。《Civ World》的很多设计都是充分利用玩家之间的合作机会——团队合作、交流和规划。这些在《Civ World》中占据重要的地位。”

Meier表示,经典多人游戏《文明》的体验时间可以长达12小时甚至以上,而Facebook版游戏的体验周期仅持续几天或者一周。

他表示,同其他玩家协调合作是PC版《文明》玩家最需要调整的地方。

Meier表示,《Civilization World》玩家可以在每天不同时间体验游戏,“这从根本上改变了原有的游戏机制,因为如果玩家不和其他玩家同时在线,那么游戏就要为玩家提供留言的渠道,为玩家提供相互交流的平台。所以这从根本上改变了游戏原有的节奏和机制。”

Meier表示,传统的游戏元素——科学、经济、军事和文化——将在《Civilization World》得到体现。

“你自己可以完成这些事情,但如果有其他人共同研究这项技术,技术的推出进程将会大大加快,我们的开发过程也将更有效率。”

这款Facebook游戏将可容纳200多名玩家,支持他们夺取霸权。该游戏目标和之前的《文明》系列相同,那就是创造禁得起时间考验的游戏帝国。

Meier表示,“游戏玩家将自己管理城市,独立完成各式各样的任务。但只有那些具有合作精神的玩家才是最成功的玩家。”

和其他Facebook游戏(游戏邦注:如《Farmville》)不同,《Civilization World》既有开始也有结束。成功玩家将获得奖励,然后开始另一断游戏。

这款游戏也PC版本截然不同。

Meier表示,“游戏涉及Flash,涉及浏览器,以及和PC版本截然不同的技术。这绝非纯粹的翻版PC《文明》。

他表示,开发Facebook游戏使得他们能够快速更新游戏内容,因为玩家每次体验的时候,基本上都会下载整个游戏。他们会关注用户反馈,做出适当调整,不时提供新的游戏内容。

Meier表示,他对社交游戏的未来充满信心,但他觉得这个领域的潜力尚未得到充分挖掘。

他表示,“未来就在不远处,但我觉得我们依旧处在社交游戏领域的初级探索阶段。我无法预见社交游戏的终点落脚点。”

他表示,社交游戏能否像掌机和PC游戏一样,最终禁受住时间的考验,完全取决于游戏玩家。”

他表示,“这不过是为游戏玩家提供了另一个体验平台。游戏真的开始主宰世界了。”(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,转载请注明来源:游戏邦)

Sid Meier: Games are taking over the world

By Larry Frum

(CNN) — Sid Meier is the director of creative development at Firaxis Games. But to millions, he’s better known as the “Father of Computer Gaming.”

Now, the designer of “Civilization” is ready to take over a completely new world — social gaming on the pages of Facebook.

“Civilization” is one of the most popular computer strategy games of all time, and has spawned several versions and updates over the past 20 years. The game allows players to build and develop their own cities, countries and civilizations across the expanse of time.

It has sold millions of copies and drawn in fans from around the world who are involved, vocal and loyal. From its beginning in 1991 to its most recent edition, last year’s “Civilization V,” Meier said it has been a strong, connected community that has kept the game strong.

“Players have continued to respond to the game in spite of how far technology has come, in spite of how the world has changed, in spite of how the demographics of game players have changed,” Meier said. “Each game starts out in a brand new world (and is) probably going to go off in a different direction than your last game. You’ve never really exhausted the possibilities of the game.”

While the game primarily has remained a PC game over the years, Meier took his creation to consoles in 2008 with “Civilization Revolution.” The game retained many of the PC version’s features, but made them available to a new set of fans — those who enjoy console and mobile gaming.

“We’ve seen console games getting more strategic, having more depth. It felt like, both in terms of the technology and also where players were, that they would respond to having a strategy type game on their console.”

Fans and critics who enjoyed the fast playability and ease of control warmly received the game. Long-time fans bemoaned the simplicity of the console version, but it won 2008′s Best Strategy Game award from the British Academy Video Games Awards.

Now, Meier is ready to take to the pages of Facebook with an incarnation of the franchise called “Civilization World.” Developers hope to have the game up and running this summer.

“It’s been the most dramatic stretch for the game, I’d have to say, so far,” he said.

“We really weren’t looking to make a quote-unquote ‘Facebook game’,” he said. “We were looking at what does Facebook bring us that is unique, that we can leverage and take advantage of with ‘Civilization’-style game play.”

Meier said there were things that a Facebook game can offer Civ players over a traditional PC game. Connections with friends and a world with potentially hundreds of millions of players provided fuel for the development team to re-imagine the classic strategy game.

“What was really intriguing to us was being able to emphasize cooperative game play, which was something that really hadn’t been a major part of ‘Civilization’ up to now,” he said. “A lot of our design in ‘Civ World’ was taking advantage and using these opportunities for players to work together — teamwork, communication, planning. Those are all the things that become really important to ‘Civ World.’”

Meier points out that a typical “Civilization” multiplayer game can easily span 12 or more continuous hours, whereas a Facebook game will take place in stops and starts over days and week.

He said pacing and having to work with other people would be the biggest adjustments for PC “Civilization” players.

Playing at different times in the day, Meier said, “fundamentally changes the mechanics of the game because if you are not there at the same time as other players, there needs to be ways of leaving messages, ways of communicating Things have to happen at a pace where everybody can be included. So that fundamentally changes the pacing and the mechanisms of the game.”

Meier said all the game’s traditional pieces — science, economy, military, culture — will be in “Civilization World.”

“You can do those things yourself but you’ll be most effective — science, for example — if a couple of people are researching the same technology then that technology will be discovered more quickly and you can all use it.”

In the Facebook game, a world will consist of 200 people, all vying for supremacy. The goal remains the same as previous “Civilization” games — to build an empire that will stand the test of time.

“You have your own city to manage and you can do all kinds of stuff (on your own),” Meier said. “However, the most successful players will be those that can also work together with other players.”

Unlike other Facebook games (oh, let’s say “Farmville”), “Civilization World” will have a beginning and an end. Players who succeed will be rewarded, and then another game can start.

The game will also look different from its PC counterparts.

“We’re dealing with Flash. We’re dealing with browsers, dealing with kind of a whole different technology than we are with PCs. It is not your standard PC ‘Civ’ look by any means.”

He said designing a Facebook game does give them the ability to update things really quickly because players are essentially downloading the whole game every time they play. He said they will be taking a look at feedback and making adjustments and providing new stuff frequently.

Meier says he’s excited about the prospects of social gaming, but thinks its full potential hasn’t yet been reached.

“The future is really out there, but I think we are at the very beginning of exploring the possibilities of social gaming,” he said. “It is not like I can see the end and know where this is going.”

He said that, ultimately, gamers will decide whether social gaming will stand the test of time alongside consoles and PCs.

“It’s just one more place to experience games,” he said. “Games are really taking over the world.”(Source:CNN


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