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分析游戏沉浸式体验的五大设计元素

作者:Geoff Howland

如何让游戏更加令人上瘾?我们需要有一个驱动力促使玩家愿意沉浸于游戏中。这其中包括:玩家如何完成游戏,与其他玩家竞争,掌握游戏的控制以及界面,探索游戏,获得高分或者赢得同等奖励。

完成任务的沉浸感

完成任务的沉浸感经常依赖于玩家是否愿意看到游戏结果或者只是单纯地希望完成游戏。如果玩家只是想完成游戏的话,那么游戏对于他们来说就是一种挑战。如果玩家接触的是特别复杂的游戏,那么在他们完成游戏之前都会感受到一种成就感。但是并不是都会出现好结果,虽然有些人会认为这是一种挑战而努力去赢取游戏,但是也有些人会认为太困难而中途放弃游戏。人们都喜欢胜利,所以如果你能够提供给玩家一款富有挑战并又能够使他们最终获取胜利的游戏,那么这便是最完美的结果。但是这仅是其中一种设计选择,你应该根据目标用户而做出适当的决策。

如果玩家想通过完成游戏而了解游戏的整体发展,那么这里便需要一定的故事动机。甚至在一些拥有简单故事情节的游戏,如《超级马里奥》也有结果。很多玩家都希望能够在完成游戏后有所收获,并最后拯救出公主。但是一旦玩家知道了游戏故事的结局,而游戏又开始从第一个关卡循环播放,那么很多玩家便会因为掌握了游戏故事而退出游戏。

super-mario(from fanpop.com)

super-mario(from fanpop.com)

竞争的沉浸感

竞争的沉浸感非常重要,它可以有利地推动并保持游戏长期受欢迎。如果一款游戏能够让2名以上的玩家相互竞争,那么这款游戏有可能会比它的平台或者是硬盘驱动器的还长寿。竞争是电脑游戏的一大基础。在竞争模式下,玩家间能够在游戏规则的监督下按照一种常规模式相互影响,并且游戏的控制权从开发者转移到了玩家身上。玩家可以自己在游戏中设置陷阱,并让其他玩家上当,而且我们常常不能够猜到每个玩家的真正想法。如果你所创造的游戏带有一些较为灵活的规则,那么你也可以让你的玩家自行创造游戏风格,即不约束玩家的移动和所采取的任何战术。

控制权的沉浸感

关于游戏控制权的沉浸感也非常重要。特别是汽车模拟游戏把这种机制当成游戏的首要目标,并模拟特定汽车的相关控制。玩家总是希望能够在赢得一款游戏后,继续玩游戏而完善并提高自己的游戏技巧。而如何才能为他们创造这种游戏界面?你可以在控制器中分设多个细分关卡。举个例子来说,在赛车游戏中,当玩家加速转弯时必须能够深切感受到地面摩擦以及轮胎失去牵引力的感受。你可以通过提供给玩家游戏反馈而帮助他们更好地了解游戏的相关控制。通过音效预示轮胎什么时候开始失去牵引力,以及在转弯的时候引擎发生了何种变化。等等的这些都能够帮助玩家更好地理解游戏是如何运作,从而了解游戏界面并有动力去掌握更多的游戏机制。如果游戏不能提供给玩家足够的反馈信息,或者游戏界面太模糊难懂,那么玩家便很难获得游戏的控制权;如果游戏初学者和高级玩家在游戏中所获得的机会相差无几,那肯定没有人愿意累得半死去成为所谓的高级玩家吧。

探索的沉浸感

探索的沉浸式游戏在很早之前就已经进入电脑游戏领域了。事实上,早前许多游戏都是属于探索类游戏。游戏冒险是指在一种文本游戏中玩家可以在一些区域里游荡,寻找并收集道具,解决一些谜题从而打开更多新的区域进行更深入的探索。《神秘岛》这款游戏也沿用了这种模式,并且取得了不错的销量。《神秘岛》所取得的成绩离不开游戏所采用的模式,即让玩家能够在游戏中探索更多有趣的地方,而不是将游戏局限于一块特定区域。其它游戏如《大魔域》以及《Infocom》冒险系列游戏同样也是基于这种模式,所以很明显这是许多游戏所依赖的一特定流派,不容轻易被忽视。

秘密关卡也是许多游戏不可小觑的重要部分,从《超级马里奥》到《最终幻想7》,游戏沉浸感的一个关键点便是玩家可以在游戏中找到一些秘密关卡。宫本茂(游戏邦注:任天堂的设计师,曾开发了《超级马里奥》,《塞尔达》以及《银河战士》等)曾经说过,在视频游戏中,至少有40%的关卡需要对玩家隐秘,而他确实也在自己的游戏中实践了这一点。

获得高分的沉浸感

获得高分或者打败高分者分为两类,而且都很重要。一般来说,那些想要在电脑游戏中获得高分的行为一方面可能是想要打败其他玩家的分数,另一方面可能是想要精通游戏。所以说大多数游戏博弈的结果都是一个玩家打败了另一个玩家。这种机制最初来自于弹珠游戏,并且仍然适用于今天网络上一些更为先进的游戏。如果你还不知道如何玩这类型游戏,那么你可以先尝试着了解它们的游戏机制,可以说它们已经获得了很大的知名度,甚至创造了一种属于自己的亚文化了。

关于高分沉浸感的另外一种类别便是赢得游戏,而不只是简单地完成游戏。在《超级马里奥》中,当你赢得一个关卡后可以继续挑战更高难度的关卡。对于某些玩家来说在一定时间内多次赢得游戏或者没有任何牺牲顺利完成游戏都是一种自豪的表现。有时候,玩家间会以一段时间为期限比赛谁能够最快赢得《塞尔达传奇》。随着不同玩家间的竞争这种沉浸感也会有所不同,并且最终都能够帮助玩家更好地掌握游戏。

让玩家即使赢得游戏也愿意继续玩游戏,通过添加一些更复杂的机制而推动玩家继续挑战也是增强游戏沉浸感的另外一种方法。

游戏邦注:原文发表于1999年9月7日,所涉事件和数据均以当时为准。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转载,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Game Design : The Addiction Element

By Geoff Howland

What makes a game addictive? In order for a game to become addictive there must be a driving force to keep playing the game. Some reasons behind this are: to finish the game, to compete against others, to master the game’s control and interface, to explore the game and getting a high score or equivalent.

Addiction of Finishing the Game

An addiction to finish the game is often based on either wanting to see the end result or just to complete it. In the case of just trying to complete the game it can be seen just as a challenge. A particularly difficult game it may be an act of pride to keep playing until the game is complete. This doesn’t always create the best results though because where some people may find a challenge to win, many others may just find it too difficult and give up. People like to win, if you can provide a game that challenges them and still lets them eventually win you will probably end up with happier players overall. This is a design choice though and needs to be made when your targeting your audience.

In the case where a player finishes a game to see how it ends, there is a story motivation. Even in a game with a simple story such as Super Mario Brothers there was an ending. Many players wanted to find out what happened when they beat the game and eventually rescued the princess. Once they found out the ending and the game started over on the first level again they had finished the story and this is where many people stopped playing the game.

Addiction of Competition

The addiction of competing against others is a powerful one and can keep a game alive and thriving for incredibly long periods of times. A game that two or more players find a good interface to compete through can last far longer than its shelf or hard drive life expectancy. Competition is one of the cornerstones of computer games. It allows people to interact with each other on a common level under the supervision of the game’s rules and really puts the game in the hands of the players, instead of the developer. The players will figure out their own traps and snares for each other and usually far exceed what the developer could think of before hand. If you create your game with flexible rules you can allow players to create their own playing styles, moves and tactics in your games that you had not planned for.

Addiction of Mastery

The addiction of mastery of a game or its control is also extremely powerful. Vehicle simulation games especially show this as their primary goal is to simulate the control of a particular vehicle. Often after a game has been beaten it will still be played to improve and refine the player’s skill. The trick in making a good interface to allow this is to create detail levels in the controls. For example in a driving game a simple turn with maximum efficiency you must be able to feel the road and give when your tires are losing traction. The key to allowing the player to learn your game’s control is in your feedback to the player. A sound signifying the tires beginning to lose traction, the sound of the engine in different states as you are pushing through a turn. Anything the player can use as a map to understanding how the game is functioning will let them grow into an interface and give them a reason to try to master it. If the player does not have enough feedback or if the interface is too black and white there may be no good way to master it and if a beginner and an advanced player have roughly the same chances of doing something there is no reason to try to become an advanced player.

Addiction of Exploration

The addiction of exploration has been in computer games since the beginning. In fact some of the first games were only about exploration. The game Adventure was a text game where the player could wander through areas looking around and collecting items, there were a few puzzles to be solved by getting items in combination to unlock more areas to explore. More recently the game of Myst also used this as its basis and has sold well over a million copies. The popularity of Myst cannot be ruled out as an anomaly as there is a strong urge in many people to explore interesting places and more than one game has capitalized on this. Games such as the Zork and Infocom text adventure series also were based on this premise and it is clear that this is a definite genre to be explored and not discounted.

Secret levels have also been the key of many games, from Super Mario Brothers to Final Fantasy 7, a main facet of the addiction was to find the secret levels. I once read that Shigeru Miyamoto (pride Nintendo’s design team who created Super Mario Brothers, Zelda, Metroid, et al) said that 40% of a video game’s levels should be hidden, it seems to have worked quite well for him.

Addiction of the High Score

The addiction of getting or beating a high score falls under two categories but is important enough to have a spot of its own. Normally someone who is trying to get a high score or some equivalent in a computer game is either trying to compete against other player’s scores or is trying to master the game. A huge amount of game playing has resulted simply from beating a high score of another. I believe this originated in Pinball games and still holds true in a more advanced way in the ladders of today’s Internet. If you haven’t already, take a look at them, they are extremely popular and have created their own sub-culture of sorts.

Another type of high score addiction is over winning a game. To do more than just finish the game. In the game of Super Mario Brothers, after you won you could continue to play with added difficulty. It became a measure of pride for some people to beat the game many times in one session or to perhaps beat the game once or twice without ever dying. For a while it was also very popular to see how fast you could beat the Legend of Zelda in one sitting. These types of addictions are variations of competing with others or with yourself and also fall into mastering the game.

Creating a way for your players to keep playing even after they have won the game, and giving them more incentive to play by making things harder and thus making it more challenging is another way you can add the element of addiction to your games.(source:gamedev


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