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细数游戏设计师常犯的10大错误

作者:Oliver

自家庭视频游戏诞生以来,大约是1980年,游戏领域就出现探索和探险内容。这让大家觉得自己好像变成英雄,能够探索危险和未知陆地。从一开始,游戏设计师就在创造这些游戏世界时犯下很大错误。这并不是指他们未能正确把握游戏内容——他们其实非常明了。若游戏缺乏趣味,我们就不会持续体验游戏。但随着媒介的发展,有些游戏设计错误却依然还在。

也许这是由于开发者面向大众推广游戏,也或者只是由于懒惰。不论原因是什么,这些都令人难以接受。玩家得要求更多。我要要求更多。

下面是游戏设计师常犯的10大主要错误。

错误 1:非移动性NPC(非玩家角色)

Zork I from technabob.com

Zork I from technabob.com

这个错误早在《创世纪》最先系列的游戏中就已出现。也许时间要比这更早,但我最先在这里发现。此错误也出现在《大魔域 I》。Grue总是出现在所有黑暗空间。现在,游戏设有探索标记、关卡地点,有时关卡目标甚至会直接出现在地图上。那么为何就是没有具有移动性的NPC?设计师是否准确把握游戏设计理念?确保游戏设有标记,供玩家参考和辨识。我清楚这点。但令Johnny Questgiver走到自己家,或喷泉旁不是什么严重错误——尤其是当我能够从门上的便签上获悉他在哪里,或者他是否穿着什么特别的衣服。

设计师需记住,NPC人物的头上多半会盘旋着一个很大的灰色感叹号,所以我们能够很容易辨认。

例外情况:Gothic系列的游戏努力尝试将此融合起来,很多都非常成功。

错误 2:乏味、重复的任务

姑且不论题材,你是否常在头1小时体验中,对玩法感到惊讶?就我来说,这种情况极其罕见。在重复体验4个类似关卡7次后,乏味的感觉更是强烈。这造成的影响非常糟糕,因此这些任务常被冠以绰号。这怎么能行?若你没有发现,你怀疑我所说的话,看看如下常见绰号范例:

* 获取任务(游戏邦注:玩家需获取某物)

* 快递任务(这同上类似,但通常玩家需要通过各种NPC进行重复操作,以获得1个以上的物件)

* 杀死Y任务中的X

* 在空间中寻找道具

* 护送任务

* 在Y中收集X

所以想象空间在哪里?给我更多互动?我想要解决谜题。或融入仅瞄准仓库特定道具的随机操作指令。或者我需要解密线索完成任务。也许是同NPC谈论仓库的某道具,解决任务。但现在我只是在此抛出物件,但若设计团队给予更多关注,也许我们就能够看到更富想象力的任务设计。

是否有游戏融入独特、有趣而新鲜的任务设计?若你的团队超过2个人,或者有比较多的预算,这个错误就能够轻松避免。许多低预算游戏都能巧妙避开此问题——那么髙预算游戏显然也能够做到。

错误 3:单个玩法贯穿整个游戏

出现此错误显然是因为很多游戏都试图锁定某特定题材,但我希望在这些游戏题材中看到更多变化。我厌倦直白的FPS;RPG非常乏味;RTS多年来一直非常枯燥。若你玩游戏多年,那么你的射击、上升、创建和劈砍操作次数多半数不胜数。所以为什么我体验的每款游戏都设有4块学习内容,我得反复操作这4块内容。

也许是出现在射击某些敌人及收集健康包裹的情况。或是创建制作道具的基础。或毁灭某些小动物,这样我就能够获得额外积分。设计师不妨将这些内容变得更多样化些。我们已操作过这些内容,请打破陈规。

错误 4:假设我们从未玩过游戏,指南设置非常糟糕

这个错误同上类似。若你制作的游戏非常杰出,那么前15分钟的内容就要非常亮眼。我不希望游戏给我的感觉是自己好像曾经玩过类似内容。我希望自己受到喝彩。此外,不要告诉我如何操作方向键,除非我能够选择跳过这些基本要素。我知道怎么操作方向键。我知道怎么控制摄像头,怎么挑选东西,打开仓库,操作枪支。若你要迫使我进行这些操作,我会觉得非常无聊。至少确保我能够选择跳过这些生硬的指导。设置快速帮助弹出窗口,或其他能够帮助我迅速获悉所需道具的提示,这样我就能够继续体验。

《两个世界 II》和《恐水症:预言》在此的设置截然不同。虽然两款游戏前1个小时都关乎学习控制装置,但《两个世界 II》在此犯下严重错误,将此过程变得枯燥乏味。游戏迫使我观看某些无法跳过的截屏,穿插某些关于如何奔跑的枯燥内容。我完整玩过第一款游戏,所以我对此非常清楚。而且他们还向买过《Oblivion》及类似RPG游戏的玩法推广这款游戏,这些人之前多半都玩过RPG游戏。而《恐水症》也提供类似介绍内容,让玩家熟悉环境。其中某些截屏也无法跳过,但我所处的学习环境完全改变这一切。我置身于燃烧着,且将要下沉的船只中,学习如何在紧张的环境中体验内容,此时我若失败,就会沉入水中。这完全让我忘记自己面对的是游戏操作指南,让我立即融入游戏玩法和环境中。

错误 5:PC UI同掌机UI类似

你锁定PC购买游戏是因为它的马力超过Xbox 360和Playstation 3。你希望最大程度地利用设备性能,发挥阴影效果,浏览远处画面,融入设计师所创造的世界。然后你获得自己的仓库,得到庞大图标和生硬键盘控制装置。这就是所谓的掌机移植。开发者不妨充分发挥鼠标的作用。显然,我处在PC平台。不要告诉我“按下回车开始游戏”。这里指的是《无主之地》。

Oblivion from plume.dk

Oblivion from plume.dk

还有其他Gothic游戏,如《两个世界 II》、《Saboteur》及未经修改的《Oblivion》。

《火炬之光》就没有问题。

错误 6:糟糕战利品

这无疑是一大惹人厌的问题。《Oblivion》在此表现最突出,虽然《火炬之光》也融入许多砍砍杀杀的内容。我在《Oblivion》中投入30小时,我不断砍杀,消灭所有怪兽。然后游戏赐予我一把平凡的剑?前20个关卡我也是得到这把剑。而《New Vegas》将剑变成枪。不会吧?那么我为什么要千辛万苦地穿过此庞大地下城?我喜欢战利品。我玩游戏就是为了获得战利品。我希望自己更加强大。游戏设计师需添加的最佳游戏元素是令玩家反复猜测,犹豫不决的决定。这就是我所希望的战利品。我希望战利品足够特别、有趣和出色,值得我付出时间。所有战利品都要非常出色,让我纠结地选择某枪/剑/盔甲/鱼类。

若无法做到这点,那你就算失败。

一大例外是《无主之地》和《两个世界 II》。《无主之地》有18款枪。非常棒。而《两个世界 II》则反复呈现相同内容,但游戏将整个过程设计得非常有趣。在这款游戏中,你能够自动组合所有相同战利品,主要是进行升级。我通过蹩脚工具制作出很棒的武器——这就是我玩这款游戏的目的(游戏邦注:游戏剩余的内容都非常糟糕,除配音很棒之外)。

错误 7:未提供完成游戏的线索

本来游戏不应设有插件,提示玩家其已完成某操作。也许插件不是很大,但非常讨人厌。我玩过很多RPG游戏,特别是开放世界类型。不妨想想《Oblivion》、《两个世界 II》、《Risen》、《Gothics》和《Drakensang》。有时我都想不起自己是否已处于洞穴中。我记不起自己是否已开启金库,进行洗劫。不要再次向我呈现缓慢的检索动画/开门/开箱动画。不妨呈现提示信息表明我已将其洗劫一空。若这是个箱子/房间/盒子/橱柜,请保持打开状态。这有这么困难?《Oblivion》在此的失误尤其突出。地图也是如此——让我在地图上做标记,或是提供“战况地图”,呈现我所探索的地盘。有时我会忘记,或者过很长时间才回到游戏。我不希望再次穿过怪兽遍布的地方,然后最终发现自己其实早已来过。

错误 8:大量衍生的敌人

我觉得这是游戏设计师所犯的最大错误。有人喜欢不断衍生的敌人,所以若你是其中之一,不妨直接跳至第9条。我不喜欢这样的内容。若我喜欢不断衍生的敌人,我会选择体验《太空入侵者》。但我跳过这款游戏。我想要坚强而富有挑战性的聪明敌人。他们企图杀死我。我在游戏中试图击败他们。然后我会觉得富有成就感,这就是非常完美的设计。称得上是优秀设计师。但不要将游戏变得残酷成性。提供素材,让我能够稍微吹嘘自己的成就和勇敢。《Piranha Bytes》开发者需仔细遵循这点,因为在我看来,这款游戏就是十足的虐待狂。

错误 9:无法跳过的截屏

这本不该出现在此列表中。若我喜欢某游戏,我会反复体验。或者也许我丢失保存好的游戏内容,所以不得不再玩一次。无论如此,有时我非常不愿意看到表演夸张、配音糟糕、编程粗糙的CG木偶活动过程。我尤其不想看到反复赞扬Intel/Nvidia/AMD的愚蠢介绍内容。我已在此掏钱,能否让我跳过这些内容,直接进入游戏。

错误 10:糟糕的自动保存节点/没有“随处保存”选择

不要将自动保存节点设置在boss战斗前。若是在PC平台,不要设置没有“随处保存”选择的自动保存节点。我不再基于掌机平台体验游戏,我有很多空间保存副本文件。所以请让我能够随时随地进行保存。若你一定要设置自动保存节点,不妨提高保存的频率。我不在乎游戏有48个保存节点,还是112个。只是出现这样的情况:你只在游戏开始设置保存节点,而我在试图退出时,游戏出现崩溃,我因此不得不重新穿过庞大空间,进行好几小时的体验。这会让我再也不想购买你的游戏。(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

the top 10 mistakes that game designers still make

by Oliver

Since the dawn of home video gaming, circa 1980, games have offered exploration and adventure. They give everyone the ability to feel like a hero, to explore dangerous and uncharted lands. And since the very beginning, game designers have made huge blunders in creating those worlds. That’s not to say that they don’t get a ton of stuff right – they do. We wouldn’t keep playing games if they weren’t fun. But as the medium has evolved, some game design blunders have inexplicably remained consistent.

Perhaps this is due to the mass-marketing of games to all, perhaps it’s just laziness. No matter what the reason is, these aren’t acceptable any more. Gamers should demand more. I demand more.

So without further ado, I bring you (in no particular significant order) …

the top 10 mistakes that game designers still make

Mistake 1: Non-moving NPCs

This mistake is as old as some of the first Ultima games. Probably older, but that’s where I first saw it. Heck, it was in Zork I. That damn Grue was always in any dark area. Nowadays, we’ve got quest markers, minimaps, area maps, world maps, all nicely marked with quest givers, quest locations, sometimes even with quest objectives right on the map. So why on earth can’t we find NPCs that move around a bit? I know, game design 101 right? Make sure that there are landmarks for gamers to attach to and recognize. I get that. But having Johnny Questgiver walk to his house or down to the fountain isn’t a grievous error – especially not if I can read a note on his door saying where he went, or if he’s wearing clothes that are unique.

Heck, knowing most designers, he’s likely got a giant grey exclamation point floating over his head anyway, so he shouldn’t be too hard to spot.

noticeable exceptions: The Gothic series tries really hard to mix this up, and those titles succeed, for the most part.

Mistake 2: Boring, repetitive quests

How often in any game you play, regardless of genre, do you find yourself genuinely surprised in the first hour of gameplay? I would say that happens very, very rarely. This is even more grievous further in the game when you’ve done 4 variations of each of the primary quests, each about 7 times. Heck, this has gotten so bad that these quest types have gotten nicknames!! How is this acceptable? If you aren’t aware and you’re wondering what I mean, the nicknames generally are something along these lines:

* fetch quests (you have to go get something)

* fedex quests (like the above, but often you have to repeat this with multiple NPCs to get more than 1 thing)

* kill X of Y quests (sometimes followed by a boss or miniboss)

* find item in area

* escort quests

* gather X of Y

So where’s the imagination? Give me more interaction! I want to solve a puzzle. Or become involved in a random action sequence that only occurs with a specific item in my inventory. Or I may need to decipher clues to complete a quest. Perhaps talk to an NPC about an item in my inventory to solve a quest. I’m just throwing stuff out here, but if a team of designers sat down and thought a little harder about this, perhaps we’d see some real imaginative quest designs.

Does anyone have some examples of quest design throughout a game that is unique, interesting and fresh? If you have more than 2 people on your team and/or a budget of more than your spare change, this mistake can be easily avoided. Heck, most of the low-budget games deftly avoid this problem – your massive-budget game should be able to as well.

Mistake 3: One gameplay to rule them all

This mistake is probably due to most games trying to adhere really closely to a specific genre, but I’d like to see WAY more slashes in many games’ genre. I’m tired of straight-up FPS. RPGs get boring. RTSes have been boring for years. If you’ve been a gamer for a couple years at least, you’ve likely shot, leveled, built, and hacked more times than you can count. So how come in almost every game I play, there’s about 4 main things I have to learn to do (and almost every single time, I’ve done it in a very similar way in dozens of other games) and I do those 4 things over and over and over.

Maybe that’s shooting some dude in the face and collecting a health pack. Or building a base to churn out units. Or slashing beasties to oblivion so that I can get another stat point. Mix things up a bit, designers! We’ve done these things. Break the mould.

Mistake 4: Assuming we’ve never played games before… oh those awful tutorial areas

This kind of goes hand-in-hand with the above mistake… If you’ve spent all this time making a really awesome game (and you’d better think it is, you designed it), make my first 15 minutes awesome. I don’t want to feel like I’ve played this exact same game before. I want to be wowed. On top of that, don’t show me how to navigate with WASD, unless you give me an option to skip the basics. I know how to steer with WASD. I can figure out how to control the camera and pick stuff up and open my inventory and shoot my gun. If you’re going to force me to do this, I’m going to be bored. At the very least, let me skip it your lame tutorial! Give me quick help page popup or something so I can quickly check out what I need and get to playing.

Two games I just got that do this very differently: Two Worlds II and Hydrophobia: Prophecy. Although in both the first hour is all about learning the controls, Two Worlds II makes the grievous mistake of making most of this a weary process, making me watch some non-skippable (see #10) cutscenes (though some are skippable) and interspersing that with dull, dull instruction about how to run and such. I finished the first game (I think I’m the only one), so I think I can figure this out. Besides, they’re marketing this to people who have bought Oblivion and similar RPGs… I’d say these are the types of people who’ve played an RPG before. Hydrophobia, on the other hand, gives you a similar intro, showing you the ropes. Some of their cutscenes are also non-skippable (SERIOUSLY??), but the environment that I’m learning this stuff in makes all the difference in the world. I’m thrown into a burning, sinking ship and am forced to learn how to play in a truly exciting atmosphere, where if I fail, I drown. This completely makes me forget that I’m playing a tutorial, immersing me in the gameplay and the environment right off the bat.

Mistake 5: The same UI for consoles as PCs

We’ve all been there. You buy a game for your PC because it’s got way more horsepower than your Xbox 360 or Playstation 3. You want to be able to max the textures, crank up the shadows and view distance and immerse yourself in the world the designers’ have created. Then you bring up the inventory and you’re greeted with enormous icons and asinine keyboard controls. WTF?? Hello, console port. Let’s utilize the amazing capabilities of the mouse to its fullest, okay?!  There’s not a lot else that needs to be said here. I’m on a PC. Do NOT tell me to ‘Press Enter to start’. Borderlands, I’m looking at you.

Also, every Gothic game that was ever made, Two Worlds II, the Saboteur, Oblivion without mods, ummmm… anyone else want to chime in here?

Torchlight, you did okay.

Mistake 6: Crappy crappy loot

This is possibly one of the most annoying things ever. Oblivion, you are the worst offender here, though Torchlight and I’d say likely any hack-and-slash is up there as well. I’ve played your game for 30 hours. I hack and I hack and I hack and kill all of teh monster. And you give me a PLAIN sword? You give me the same DAMN SWORD I GOT 20 LEVELS AGO! If I’m playing New Vegas, insert GUN for SWORD. Seriously?? Why did I bother slogging through this enormous dungeon? I like loot. I play games for loot. I want to feel more powerful. The best thing a game designer can add to a game is a decision that makes the player second-guess themselves and be unsure which choice to make. This is what I want when I find loot. I want loot that’s unique enough, fun enough, and COOL enough to make it worth my while. And all the loot I get should compete with this loot for coolness, making me struggle to choose one gun/sword/armor/fish over another.

If it doesn’t, you FAILED.

A HUGE exception to this rule goes to Borderlands, and remarkably, Two Worlds. Borderlands, well… Borderlands had like 18 quajillion guns. So, duh. Awesome. On the other hand, Two Worlds gave you the same crap over and over, but they made finding the same shitty loot over and over again very exciting. You see, you could just auto-merge all identical loot in that game, basically leveling it up. I made some really badass weapons out of the lousiest gear in that game – it’s probably why I finished it. The rest of the game was terrible. Except for the voice acting which was horrifically wonderful.

Mistake 7: No in-game cues for completion

I shouldn’t have to have a mod to tell me when I’ve done something in-game. Now, this one might not be huge, but it’s annoying nonetheless. I play a lot of RPGs, especially open-world ones. Think Oblivion, Two Worlds, Risen, Gothics, Drakensang, that sort of stuff. Sometimes I can’t remember if I’ve been in a cave or not. I can’t remember if I’ve opened that chest and looted it or that body. Don’t make me watch your oh-so-slow search animation/open door/open chest animation YET again! Give me a tooltip that indicates I’ve looted it. If it’s a chest or room or box or cabinet, leave THE DAMN DOOR OPEN! Is this so hard? In a game like Oblivion, this is especially grievous. This goes the same for maps – let me mark on maps, or even better, have a ‘map fog of war’ that shows where I’ve explored. Sometimes I just can’t remember, or I’m coming back to the game after a long time away. I don’t want to run through your infinitely-spawned monsters (grrrr… see below) again, only to discover I’ve actually already been in that area.

Mistake 8: Spawning enemies

Sigh. I think this is the game designer’s worst mistake ever. Some people like spawning enemies, so if you’re one of them, feel free to move on to #9. I don’t. If I wanted spawning enemies, I’d play Space Invaders. I’ve moved past that. Give me intelligent enemies that are tough and challenging. Kill me. Make me think to get past them. Then I will feel achievement and you will have done a good job. Good game designer. But for the love of God, don’t get sadistic about it. Give me a little bit of fodder so I get just a little bit cocky about how awesome and heroic I am. Then kill me again. Piranha Bytes, please read this very closely as I feel you are all sadists.

Mistake 9: Non-skippable cutscenes

This shouldn’t even be on this list. If I like a game, I might play it more than one time. Really! Or I might lose my save game and be forced to play it again. Either way, sometimes I don’t want to be forced to watch your hammy, poorly voice-acted, poorly written CG puppets act. I ESPECIALLY don’t want to watch your stupid INTROS proclaiming Intel/Nvidia/AMD over and over and over again. I’ve paid for your damn game, let me skip that and get right into the game. If you make me wait and don’t let me skip this stuff, I’m going to write another post just like this one only with a lot more swearing.

Mistake 10: Asinine autosave points / no “save anywhere” option

Don’t put an autosave point right before a boss fight. Hell, if I’m on a PC, don’t make autosaves without ALSO giving me a full “save anywhere” option. I’m didn’t buy your game on a cartridge. I have TERABYTES of space for your silly, bloated save files. So let me save, whenever and wherever I want. And if you absolutely MUST make autosave points, do it OFTEN. I don’t care if I have 48 saves. Or 112. Just don’t make me redo massive areas, HOURS of gameplay because you made ONE autosave point and it was at the beginning of the level, and your game crashed when I tried to exit. That will keep me from ever buying your game again. Just a tip.

So all you game designers that I really wish were reading this post.. please feel free to comment, and at the very least, pay attention to some of the above in your next game. You likely won’t make everyone happy by avoiding the above mistakes, but I know damn well I will be.(Source:thegeeklynews


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