作者：John Adamus

今天我们将探究游戏设计的核心，就像是缺少原子的科学不再是科学，缺少文字的著作不再是著作，而缺少情感，机制或主题这些基本单位的游戏也将不再是游戏了。

当你在设计一款游戏时，不论是集换式卡牌游戏，棋盘游戏，还是使用授权角色和电影场景或者自行开发的桌面角色扮演游戏，你需要考虑的核心内容都与游戏体验有关。你希望玩家和游戏管理员都能够着眼于游戏体验——你希望自己的游戏能够与众不同，并且玩家能够在游戏中感受到这种独特体验。

emotions(from lifeoptimizer.org)

第一部分：所需情感和体验

游戏设计是一种实际任务，所以你可以随身携带一些小本子，记下关于所需体验的任何文字，概念或短语。并问自己“我希望游戏提供何种体验？”

也许你已经记录了一些内容：

有趣且简单

就像融入一部我最喜欢的电影

快节奏

玩家会想要再次体验游戏

在这个阶段你无需考虑机制和主题，那是下一阶段的内容。现在，你只需要思考玩家在游戏过程中会有何种体验便可。如果你能够尽可能详细地描绘出这种体验，你便能够更加轻松地落实这些内容，并最后创造出让人印象深刻的游戏。

创造一个列表，是关于你希望玩家能够在游戏中体验到的情感的列表。并且这只是一个列表，你无需将一些无谓的情感添加到你所写下的内容上。比起“游戏管理员”的感受，你应该拥有更多的“玩家”感受，但同时也不能忽略前者。

同时我还要指出，关于这种列表并没有长度限制，你也可以只记录一个内容，并且在今后慢慢扩充。重要的是你能够记录下这些重要的内容。

你的列表可能包括：

战斗期间的激动感

悬而不决的紧张感

整个游戏过程的喜悦

你已经完成了游戏设计的初步规划，现在可以进入第二个阶段。

第二部分：游戏机制

游戏的生存很大程度依赖于游戏机制，因为它是游戏的根源所在。游戏机制是创造性想法的实践，我们应该进行适当的调整而用于回答一些基本问题并想象一些未来可能发生的问题。

从根本上说，游戏机制应该是指“如何”执行你想要做的事，但是却不意味着这些事是至关所有玩家的重要内容。我门必须牢记，游戏是一种协作活动，没有一款游戏能够解释玩家的任何潜在行动。没有一款游戏能够拥有瑞士军刀那样广泛功能，因为这样的游戏会带给玩家一种压迫感。所以千万不要成为如此不顾一切的设计师。

同样地，也不要过于极端或者过度专门化。也许你的游戏拥有一个突出的机制，但是这绝不是指你的游戏只是关于掷动骰子或者在特殊情境下玩一张特殊纸牌的游戏。的确，游戏经常会趋向于这种情境，但是如果反复掷骰子是游戏的唯一机制，那么玩家便很难从中感受到情感与乐趣体验。

如果你的游戏是关于某些内容，那么这个“关于”的对象应该也是机制。根本不存在让玩家扮演着捉盗贼的警察，但他们却没有办法找到或抓住盗贼的这种游戏。

如何才算过度？是否一切内容都需要一个规则？不一定，你必须让游戏成为一种协作活动。你必须相信那些游戏管理员以及玩家接收了你所给予的内容，并根据自己的方法进行实践，但是前提是他们的方法不会破坏你的本来意图。如果破坏的话，你也不能完全控制这个局面。你只能提供给他们一些基本的帮助，而让他们“自生自灭”。

最优秀的游戏机制应该是最清晰易懂而不是复杂费解的。你必须创造一些容易掌握的句子去解释游戏机制。如此你可以再次使用记录小本子，先记下你所想到的游戏机制并作出适当解释。

就像是：

滚动Fudge骰子并在结果中添加属性。

滚动Fudge骰子并计算增加的数字。当到达这个数字，可以增加你的属性得分。最终的数字便是用于我们所说的机制问题。

的确，如果你是首次接触这种方法，那么执行效果可能会不甚如意。但是与你的所有技能或者习惯一样，只要经过反复实践，你便能够做得更好。

故事能够阐述机制，而机制也能够呈现故事。游戏管理员将带领玩家走进充满创造性的故事中，并且在某一时刻他们也能从故事中看到游戏机制。假设我们正在阐述一个殖民者与本地土著之间的对抗，然后在某个时刻我们也能够感受到战争机制。游戏故事能够帮助玩家和游戏管理员感受到游戏体验，而机制将让我们感受到受机会，风险，运气以及力量深刻影响着的体验。

同时，不同的机制情境将会推动着故事的进一步发展。同样以上述的殖民者和本地土著之间的对抗为例。如果殖民者遭到了土著居民的重击，那么故事的发展将不同于双方休战或者一方逃跑的结果。故事总是会向前发展着，并且不会只是依赖于你或游戏管理员的想法而发展。可变性具有很多优点。不论是设计师还是游戏管理员都需要具有可变性的思考方式，因为它将给游戏体验带来更加深刻且积极的影响作用。（游戏邦注：但如果你所创造的一款基于特定情境并执行特定方法的游戏，那么这就更偏向于叙述而非机制）

第三部分：主题/背景

主题和背景（也就是客观化的主题）是你的游戏情感和机制的大环境。在设置主题之前，你的游戏可能还是处于一种朦胧的状态，没有明确的方向。所以主题能够帮助你明确游戏的地点，过程以及目的。

游戏环境也就是游戏给玩家提供的一种参数。例如发生在1492年的游戏中不应该出现飞机。设置于外太空背景下的游戏也不可能出现美国的政治问题。让我们打个比方来说——环境就是运动场，而机制则是“秋千”。主题结合了你想表达的情感，并与机制和环境整合在一起共同构成了一款游戏。

同样地，因为主题能够提供给玩家不同的参数，就像是在“严肃的战斗类”游戏中不能出现太多滑稽有趣的场面，“有趣的”棋盘游戏不能以死刑为结尾等，所以为了让游戏的表达更加合理，你就必须有序地编撰并完善主题。

游戏邦注：原文发表于2011年12月13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 Equation, Part 2

John Adamus

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

YOUR GAME = Desired Emotion / Experience + Mechanics + Theme/Setting

You’re going to want a legal pad by your side when you go through this post. It’s meaty.

Today we’re going to explore game design at it’s core, because in order to understand something, you have to get down to it’s most basic unit. We can’t talk science without atoms, we can’t talk writing without words, and we can’t gaming without emotion, mechanics and theme.

When you’re designing a game, whether that’s a card-trading game, or a board game or a structured tabletop RPG using licensed characters and cinematic plots or something home-brewed, there sits at the heart of it a desired experience. You want the players, and you (presumably as its first GM) have an experience in mind – you want your game to be a certain way, you want the time you spent playing to feel a certain way.

Part I: Desired Emotion & Experience

Because game design is a practical task, take that legal pad next to you and write down some words, concepts or phrases to describe this desired experience. Ask yourself the question, “How do I want the game to be?”

Maybe you’ve written down things like:

Fun and easy

just like [insert favorite movie title here]

fast-paced

my players want to do it again

You want to stay away from the mechanics and setting here, because we’ll get to those next. For now, think only of the experience of people around the table while playing. The better you can detail this experience, the easier it is for you to put your finger on it, the more evocative and expressive the game will turn out.

Add to this list, or in a second column, a list of emotions you want the players to experience while playing. This is just a list, you don’t have to tie emotions to things you’ve already written. Do your best to have more ‘player’ feelings than ‘GM’ feelings, but don’t exclude the GM side of play either.

I should point out now that there’s no ‘wrong’ length to any of the lists we’ll create, and if you only have one item on it, that’s fine, in time you can always expand it later. What matters is that you’ve put something down on paper.

Your list may have things like:

excited during combat

nervous during suspense

happy to play at all

Now stop and congratulate yourself because you’re one-third of the way done with the first draft of this game. Onto part 2.

Part II: Mechanics

Games can live and die by their mechanics, since it is lifeblood of play. Mechanics are the practical application of creative desire, and should be relatively codified in such a way as to answer basic questions and promote imagination about future issues.

Basically – mechanics should be ‘how’ the things you want to do get done but they aren’t meant to be everything to everyone. Remember that play is a collaborative event, and no game is ever going to be able to account for all the potential things a player can do (or not do, depending). No game should be a Swiss Army knife, constantly trying to do everything, as that sounds and feels desperate, like a child begging a parent to pay attention to them. Don’t be a desperate designer.

Likewise, don’t swing the pendulum the other way and over-specialize. Your game might do one thing well, it may have one or two strong building blocks at the base, but by no means is your game just about the rolling of dice or the playing of one specific card in one specific context is it? Yes, the game can be driven/railroaded towards that situation time and again, but there’s a decided lack of emotion and fun in always going back to rolling that dice just because it’s the only part of the game that you know works.

When talking and thinking about your game, those elements you get really excited about, or the ideas you want other people to be excited about should have mechanics. Also, if your game is “about” something, that “about”ness should be mechanized too. It’s really hard to have a game where players are police who catch robbers if there’s no way for them to find and/or catch robbers.

But how much is too much? Does EVERYTHING need a rule? No. You have to let the game be collaborative, remember? You have to trust those GMs and players to take what you’ve given them, and use it their way…so long as their way doesn’t absolute ruin your intention…but if it does, so what? You cannot ultimately control that. All you can do is provide them a skeleton with some meat on the bones, and it’s up to them to Frankenstein it to life.

Your best mechanics should be the clearest to understand, not the most convoluted. And you should be able to distill explanations of mechanics down to easy-to-grasp sentences. To practice this (and develop the critical skill of being able to explain your game), get that legal pad again, and write out first the mechanic and then an explanation.

It might look like this:

* Roll Fudge Dice and add your [Attribute] to the result.

* Roll Fudge Dice and count the plusses. To this number, add your [Attribute] score. The end number is the number used for [whatever mechanical issue we're talking about].

Or maybe this:

*Roll d100, subtract X% for difficulty.

* A percentile dice is rolled, and from the result a penalty is assessed. The result is the percent chance of [whatever mechanical issue we're talking about]

Yes, it’s going to be clunky if you’re new to thinking this way. Yes, it’s not going to be pretty writing. But that’s why the world has editors (Hello. My 2012 calendar open, and we should talk.) But just like all your other favorite skills and habits, you got better at it over time with practice.

Mechanics are dictated by the story and they also dictate the story ahead. The GM will take the players through the imagined/created story and at some point will turn to the mechanics because the story got them there. If we’re telling the story of conquistadors encountering natives, then at some point, we’re likely going to have mechanical instances of combat. The story has brought the players and GM to that experience, and the mechanics will walk us through the parts of the experience where chance/risk/luck/The Force plays a role.

Also, the resolution of those mechanical situations will shape the story going forward. In the above conquistadors versus natives example, if the conquistadors get walloped by the indians, then the story will advance differently than if both parties fought to a standstill or if one side ran away. The story will ALWAYS move forward, it may not move forward in a way that you or the GM intended. But adaptability is a good thing. Both designer and GM need some amount of adaptability in their thinking, because it will have profound and positive impacts on the experience of play. (Note: If the game is supposed to have a certain situation go a specific way, it should be narrative, not mechanical)

We end now with the top of the pyramid.

Part III: Theme/Setting

I’ve talked previously about finding your theme. You’re going to want to do that exercise now before going further. Now let’s look at what the theme can do.

Theme and Setting (which is the theme objectified) are where the meal that is your emotion and mechanics are eaten. Up until this point, your game is nebulous and can occur anywhere. This is where you place a firm stamp on where the game occurs, how it occurs and to a deeper level, why it must occur.

A game’s setting dictates parameters for the players. A game that occurs in 1492 won’t have planes in it. A game that occurs in deep space likely won’t have American politics at its core. The setting gives you a playground to explore, and the mechanics are the swingset thereupon. The theme is the…lax supervision that allows you to run from the slide to the monkey bars and tease that one kid for his pants falling down. (Not that I’m bitter about my pants falling down, but I was sensitive and stuck on those damn bars for five minutes until you were done laughing) Theme cooperates with emotion you want to express to cohere the mechanics and setting together into a game.

Likewise theme gives you a different axis of parameters for players. A “serious thrilling” game should not have too many moments of slapstick humor. A “fun rainy day” board game should not result in arguments about the nation’s death penalty. Codifying and expressing your theme are critical if you want your game to feel unified. （source:writernextdoor）