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阐述《水果忍者》等游戏UI设计的巧妙之处

发布时间:2012-03-01 18:40:18 Tags:,,,

作者:Keith Stuart

游戏前端内容总是被留在开发过程的最后,甚至很少有人会将其当成整体游戏体验的一部分。每次当我去拜访一些工作室并观看其最新项目的开发过程时,我都发现开发者经常略过菜单系统,并将其当成是“应该忽视的占位内容。”

有些开发者甚至在游戏的最后发行阶段也未优化游戏的前端内容。你是否玩过射击游戏《Cave》?这款游戏的菜单比起最后关卡中的“boss”战斗更加繁琐且含糊不清,甚至让我觉得只要进入游戏便应该获得“成就值”作为奖励(因为看懂菜单本身就是一种巨大的挑战)。如此证明这并不是一个好方法。

水果忍者 UI(from touchytalk.com)

水果忍者 UI(from touchytalk.com)

这也是我为何会认为《水果忍者》是一款优秀游戏的重要原因。游戏加载后玩家便会看到一系列表示不同游戏玩法的图标。如果你用传统方法去轻点图标,将会出现“一只手”告知你,应该滑动图标才能进行选择。在游戏正式开始之前,Half Brick Studios便通过一个简单的动画告知玩家游戏的核心机制。在这款游戏中,游戏前端内容不只有菜单系统,还包括交互指南,即采用一种简单的方法向玩家传达游戏的本质内容。

如今,很多现代游戏开发者总是会下意识地抹去前端游戏与正式游戏内容之间的传统界限,因为他们的本能告诉自己,前端元素并不能自然融入游戏内容。《半条命》在此的做法令人称道,游戏一开始出现的铁轨就直接通向了最核心的黑山研究所;而《侠盗猎车手IV》通过精心呈现角色列表而在菜单和游戏之间创造了一种“间隔区”,从而有效地避免了前端内容与非交互式过场动画之间的不协调。

但是这么做也不能真正将开始页面与游戏主题和理念完全联系在一起。《涂鸦冒险家》创造了一个非常有趣的菜单,并告诉玩家游戏中值得他们期待的内容,但是这却不是真正的游戏内容。而最新的《FIFA》游戏则成功地克服了这个问题,在菜单整合了一小部分非正式、并且在比赛加载完成时仍可持续进行的游戏内容。《使命召唤:黑色行动》将菜单系统打造成一个“审讯室”的样子,即让游戏中的音效和画面不断地回荡在菜单背景中,从而让玩家迫切地希望赶紧进入那个黑暗且沉重的冷战世界。

当然了,《水果忍者》可以采用这种做法,是因为它拥有一个非常简单的游戏机制;而《上古卷轴5:天际》等游戏,却不可能在玩家加载游戏后的第一个页面就看到所有游戏内容。但开发者必须仔细思考菜单设计的符号学以及玩家打开游戏后,游戏真正需要对玩家表达的内容。为何我们在来到菜单页面之前还需要面对“开始”的画面。在早些年代,Codemasters对于前端游戏内容有一个非常简单的设计原理,即只要按压三个按钮,玩家就能够立刻进入游戏中。但是这三个按钮却不能告诉玩家他们应该做些什么——所有的这些信息都留给了游戏中的内嵌式指令,也就是现代的游戏内部指南。

所有的游戏都是一种学习与交流系统;它们虽然拥有某些共同的视觉语言,但是每一款游戏也拥有属于自己独特内容,需要玩家真正理解这些内容。《水果忍者》在这方面就很出色,因为它让玩家甚至不会察觉到自己正在学习一些必要的内容。玩家能够很自然地了解到这是一个充满新鲜农产品的武术世界。而这就是游戏设计的巧妙所在。

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

Snapshot: Fruit Ninja’s subtle act of game design genius

by Keith Stuart

Designing a game’s front-end is something that’s often left until very late in the development process – and even then it’s rarely thought of as part of the entire experience. Whenever I visit studios to see their latest projects, they’ll usually whiz through the menu system, muttering things like ‘this is all place-holder stuff, please ignore it’. And amid that self-conscious kerfuffle I will usually catch a glimpse of something that looks like a cross between a seven-year-old’s Christmas list and a ransom letter.

Some developers don’t even both to properly polish the front end for the final release. Have you ever played a Cave shooter? Their menus are more densely challenging and obtuse than most of the end-of-level boss battles – I feel like I should be awarded Achievement Points for just accessing the game. That’s not really the best approach.

That’s why I think Fruit Ninja is a work of genius. At least the front end is. When the game loads, you’re presented with a series of icons that denote gameplay options – but if you try to tap on one in the traditional way, a hand appears on the screen and shows you that, no, you need to swipe through the icon in order to select it. In one simple animation, before the game even begins, developer Half Brick Studios has taught you the game’s central mechanic. Here, the front end isn’t just a menu system, it’s an interactive tutorial – it contains and communicates the very essence of the game with an almost zen-like simplicity.

Certainly, modern developers are now very consciously attempting to break down the traditional barrier between the front end and the game; because they know instinctively that front ends are unnatural. Half-Life, with its wonderful rail ride into the bowels of Black Mesa, and Grand Theft Auto IV with its elaborate credits sequence seek to create a sort of interstitial zone between the menu and the game – and that’s a nice idea because it prevents that jarring sensation of flashing from a front-end screen to – usually these days – an non-interactive cut-scene.

But this still leaves that opening screen on its own, away from the themes and concepts of the game. Scribblenauts does a great job of making the menu fun and entertaining, and that at least informs the player of what they can expect form the rest of the game, but it is still not the rest of the game. It is separate. The latest Fifa games are getting there, because they integrate a sort of kickabout game into the menu – and that continues while the match loads up. Black Ops also uses an interrogation room as its menu system, with sound effects and samples from the game recurring in the background, allowing you to mentally pressurise to the dark and oppressive cold war setting.

Of course, Fruit Ninja has a very simple mechanic; you possibly couldn’t describe every facet of say, Skyrim, on the first screen the player sees when they load up the game. But developers should think about the semiotics of menu design, and what they’re saying to players when we boot up. Why, for example, do so many games force us to go through a ‘start’ screen, before getting to the menu? In the early days Codemasters had a very simple design philosophy for its front ends – within three button presses, the player should be in the game. But those three button presses rarely told the player what they should be doing – that was left to the cassette inlay instructions – or nowadays the ghastly in-game tutorial.

All games are systems of learning and communication; they have a visual language with some shared elements, but every title has its own signs that it needs the player to understand. Fruit Ninja does it in such a way that many people won’t even realise they’ve learned practically all they need to learn. Players have been indoctrinated into the world of fresh produce-based martial arts, as though it were the most natural thing in the world. That is game design genius.(souece:hookshotinc)


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