作者：Ashish Mohta

游戏可以让你产生别样的感觉，那些精于设计和逻辑的人可以制作出让玩家铭记的绝妙游戏。

那么，在你开始制作游戏之前需要做什么呢？你需要先了解游戏设计的相关事宜。以下这些技巧可以让你的游戏设计有个好的开始：

1、瞄准用户

在你设计游戏时，最重要的因素是目标用户。游戏应当以每个目标用户都能够理解的方式来传达信息。游戏的目标应当简单，而且必须用几个词表达清楚，比如“拯救公主”或“你需要更多的金钱”。避免长篇大论。

2、交流方式

你通过游戏如何与用户交流也是很重要的。你的陈述应当简明扼要。它们应当能够告诉用户接下来要做什么。玩家可能不会熟练使用电脑，所以游戏应当要为他们提供指导。

3、合理架构谜题

无论是动作游戏还是街机游戏，每款游戏都含有某种程度的谜题。不要让玩家漫无目的地到处寻找谜题。而且，每个阶段不可只有单个谜题。要将众多谜题同游戏各阶段混合起来，且谜题在各个阶段中有所改变，让玩家在每个阶段产生新的兴奋点。不要将谜题制作得过于简单，也不要重复。种类丰富的谜题会让玩家在每次体验游戏时产生新鲜感。

gamer-room-mario-bros-classic(from destructoid.com)

4、平衡谜题难度

根据我个人玩游戏的经验，这是主要因素之一。第3点中指出你在游戏中需要设置谜题，但是如何向用户呈现谜题还要依实际情况而定。每款游戏中都存在不同难度的谜题。难度等级可以随关卡的提升而增加。给玩家些许奖励，然后提供下个谜题。游戏的整体难度不仅取决于游戏设计，而且还要依玩家类型来定（游戏邦注：玩家分为新玩家、普通玩家和硬核玩家）。我曾经玩过的一款游戏中，通过穿插简单小花招的方式来使难度等级上下波动。这可以保持住玩家的兴趣，因为在较高层次关卡以较为简单的方式来解决问题会让用户感到高兴。

5、不可忽略逻辑性和科学性

我们或许会去玩那些完全凭想象构建出的游戏，但是我们仍然不希望游戏中出现的所有事物都不合常理。遵循逻辑和科学，给玩家提供真实世界的感觉。尽量保持内容的准确性，添加反馈或音效，让内容显得更为真实。

6、提供公平的获胜机会

所有人都希望成为获胜者，而且所有人都喜欢在游戏中获胜。这就是你会去玩游戏的原因。有些人可能会认为，高难度的游戏让人更为兴奋，但是如果你能够战胜游戏中的挑战但玩家却做不到，兴许他们就不会再玩你的游戏了。玩游戏的目标是获得放松，在游戏中发掘自己的思维和寻求胜利感。过难的游戏会让他们对结果感到愤怒，你就会逐渐失去玩家。让玩家高兴，在游戏中给予他们力量和分数。

7、不可提供过分的奖励

不要只是不断地给予他们分数，使他们变得过于强大，玩家可能会想：“这到底是谁制作的游戏？这么简单，我要去体验下其他较难的游戏。”奖励给予应当适当，在必要的时候可以减少或剥夺奖励，这样他们就会留在游戏中。

8、不要忽略故事

如果你设计的游戏中蕴含故事，那么它会帮助激发玩家的想象力。这不仅可以帮助他们对游戏有更多的了解，而且还能够更容易地找到线索。确保你的故事背景与游戏相符。我回想起自己在玩《魔兽争霸》时的经历，游戏对所涉4个种族有充分的介绍，使我能够更容易地理解这些种族的某些特性。

9、向玩家提供神秘内容

在某些游戏中，制作者有意制作某些神秘的内容。比如密径、某些隐藏的门，既可能困住玩家也可能是通往下个关卡的通道。减少神秘内容的难度，同时减少其在游戏中的可见性，但是要给予玩家一定的线索。

10、提升游戏的再玩性

许多优秀冒险游戏在玩家打通之后就会被遗弃。通常情况下，开发额外投入些许精力就可以防止这种情况的发生或将其推迟。设置谜题有多种解决方案。有些冒险游戏甚至会根据玩家在游戏中的选择提供不同的结局。

如果你发现自己犯了以上所提及的某些错误，那么可以考虑我的这些建议。设计优秀的文字冒险游戏是个漫长的历程，但是结果可能也会让你觉得付出有所价值。优秀的互动游戏总是受玩家喜欢的。

游戏邦注：本文发稿于2007年3月2日，所涉时间、事件和数据均以此为准。（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）

10 Steps to great game design part

Tadhg Kelly

Gaming is something which makes you different, Makes you enjoy the moment like you were doing it for real. Sometimes we feel making designs. May be not everybody but who are good at designs and logic can make an awesome game to remember.

So what you do before you start making a game. !!!! Read about it not games but how to make game design and everything. Here are some if we can follow those points…. you have a kick start.

1. The Kiss Factor

KISS stands fro Keep it simple Stupid. When you design a game, the most important factor is whom are targeting. The message should be passed in such a way that even a simple person can understand. The goal of game should be simple and must be expressed in few words, like”Save the princess”,”You need more money”. Avoid essays.

2. Communication Statements

How you communicate to the users trough the game is what matters. You should have statements which are simple and explainative but not very long. They should be able to tell the user what he or she is intended to do. Gamers might not be very sophisticated computers user, so your game should be able to guide them through out.

3. Puzzle has to be structured properly

Every game weather its action or arcade has certain degree of puzzle involved in it. Don’t make gamers aimlessly wander for the puzzle. Plus don’t have just one puzzle that can solve that stage. Have a couple of puzzle intermingled with the stage which change with every stage, giving the user a new thrill at every stage. Don’t keep it too simple neither the same every time. More variations will make your game look very new every time the player plays.

4. Balance the difficulty of puzzles

This is one of the major factor as per my gaming experince says (well not designing but playing). As per the 3rd point you need puzzles but how you throw it to user it depends. Every game has puzzles which has a certain level of difficulty. Increase your difficult level as the stages increase. Rewards them some points and give another. Over all difficulty will depend not only on the game design but also the type of user (new, moderate and hardcore). One of the games I played, used to fluctuate its difficulty level by injecting small and easy tricks. That used to keep the interest alive as “it makes the user happy to solve something at higher level easy”.

5. Never ignore logic and science

We might be playing games which is based totally on imagination but still we don’t want it act a really irrational. Give them a real world feel by following logic and science. Make them as accurate as possible and add some feedback affects or sound effects to make them real.

6. Give a fair chance to win

Every one loves a winner and everybody loves to win a game. That’s why you play it. Some people might think that a very difficult game will make it more exciting but if you do and people are not able to solve it, will they play again? Games are played to relax them, to diver mind and make them happy when they win. Too difficult games can make them irritated results, you loose the player. Make them happy, give them powers and points.

7. Never go over board with rewards

Don’t just keep on giving them points and make them so powerful that they feel, “hah who made this game its so easy, Let me find some other difficult game”. Make it a fair decision, give them points and take away when necessary, so they keep up with game.

8. Never ignore the story

If you can have a story of the game you are designing, it will create an imagination in the mind of gamers. This not only will help them to get more understanding of the game but also find clues. Just make sure you story fits the game. I remember playing warcraft. It has such an awesome introduction of the 4 tribes it had, it was easy to understand some of the typical nature of those tribes and gave a strong imagination how the AI was designed.

9. Give them some secret doors and mysteries

In some games the author purposely make some secret things. Like a secret path, some hidden doors which either can trap the user or give them a key to next stage. Make them little difficult and keep them more invisible, but give users a hint somewhere which makes them feel “Something is there, I had seen it flashing once. ”

10. Long Live the game

A lot of good adventure games become dust collections after players have solved them. Often this can be prevented or at least delayed, by a little extra effort on the part of the author. Give some of your puzzels multiple solutions. Think of imaginative ways of dying and humorous tricks for the player to try. Some adventures have even multiple endings depending on various things player has done during the course of time.

If you see yourself making mistakes like that, you might consider what I said above. Designing a good text adventure is long and frustrating but the end can be rewarding. Good interactive fiction is always in demand. I Am not a designer but that’s what I felt when I played games. SO I thought why not make it into a points. SO it’s a user expressing all above points …. make it click. (Source: Technospot.net)