作者：Zoya Street

《无尽之剑》系列取得了巨大的技术性成就。玩家仅需支付不到10美元的价格，就能进入一个引入人胜的iOS游戏世界，并可通过其中的IAP功能干脆利落地除掉敌人。

有不少人认免费增值模式冲击了传统游戏设计，那么IAP对这款游戏的故事和美术设计究竟有何影响？

无尽之剑2（from toucharcade.com)

科幻现实

该游戏创意总监Donald Mustard在最近的采访中强调了团队为游戏角色和框架设计投入了大量时间，这一点在《无尽之剑2》中的表现尤其明显。

“虽然从表面上看它像是传统的奇幻游戏，但我们逐渐呈现它的科幻现实特点”，这正是由电脑终端在第一版游戏尾声时所提示的内容。

这种用奇幻风格掩盖其科幻现实的特点可从它的美术设计中体现出来。例如，主角的脸部完全被头盔所遮蔽，所以他虽然看似一个中世纪的骑士，但也可以是一个机器人或者《光晕》中的Master Chief这种人物。

外观差异

从美学角度来看，《无尽之剑》中的场景构造和角色设计所使用的材料较有为限。

游戏中基本上是以石头或金属为主调，所有生命的构造元素与角色所处的环境构建素材并无不同，角色的生命器官总是隐藏在赛博格（游戏邦注：即机器化生物，也称电子人，以无机物所构成的机器作为身体的一部份生物，这样做的目的是借人工科技来增加或强化生物体的能力。俗称机械化人、改造人、生化人等）的躯壳之下，偶尔会才会显现敌人的骨骼或毛发。人类角色与拥有獠牙利爪的敌人在外观上形成了鲜明对比。

游戏道具

那么这些场景设计与玩家所使用的道具有何关系？

首先，玩家在游戏中拥有一系列令人眼花瞭乱的道具可供选择，舍得花钱的玩家更是如此。

不少道具为游戏屏幕增添了丰富的色彩，它们外观炫目，与周围游戏环境相对单一的色调形成对比。有些道具则为游戏带来了一种罕见的科幻风格。

这种醒目的视觉效果无疑更能强化玩家的游戏体验。

游戏构造

当然，尽管有50%左右《无尽之剑》玩家购买IAP，但并非所有人都愿意另外为道具掏钱。不过该游戏内虚拟货币系统却是促使玩家消费的重要刺激因素。

如果玩家仔细观察游戏构造，就有可能获得回报。玩家可以选择忽略过场动画，但这并非最佳策略，因为这可能会错过其中隐藏的一些奖励——设计师有意在游戏中四处散布几袋金子，眼尖的玩家可以迅速获取这些奖励。

这看起来像是《无尽之剑》构造设计中的一种小计谋，但这正是其运营模式的绝妙之处，这种小细节可能成为促使玩家购买虚拟商品的动力。

找到四处散布的金币会让玩家兴高采烈，这样他就会产生用刚获得的金钱购买强大道具的渴望，即便其心仪的道具价格极为昂贵。另外，在摄像镜头转移之前迅速拾取这些散落的钱币，这也显示了玩家眼疾手快的技能，玩家也可能会产生一种购买新道具犒劳自己的想法。

消费体验

从购物体验来看，如果移除了交易环节，该游戏的虚拟商店就相当于玩家自己的道具库存扩展版。

玩家不会在奔向塔顶的半途中遇上一个NPC小贩，而是在滚动的选项列表中，通过比较不同道具的属性、外观设计来选择自己所需的武器或盔甲。

精心制作的付费道具一般都会比随机掉落的道具更有吸引力。它们在与游戏整体美术风格保持一致的同时，仍会凸显华丽的外观，并且不失强大的战斗功能。

玩家玩得越久，就越容易对那些高价而令人难以抵抗的道具心生向往，例如拥有强大魔法攻击力的指环，加快攻击速度的盔甲，或者威力超群的无尽之剑（游戏邦注：它在第一版《无尽之剑》尾声时已经出现，但在《无尽之剑2》开始时并没有这项道具）。

便宜一点的道具仅需几千个金子，精英级道具则需花费玩家上万个游戏虚拟货币。

这样，玩家在游戏中呆得越久，就越容易被那些超出自己所搜集货币购买能力的高价道具所吸引。他们搜集的虚拟货币越多，就越可能直接花真钱购买心仪的道具。

玩家最初可能会因为没有多余的钱币购买Night Armour，但后来在游戏中发现大量钱币（虽然其数额仍不足以购买该道具）时，就会考虑购买该道具，毕竟他们此时离这个目标已经更近一步了。

赛博格化

玩家的敌人头目——God King，当然也基本上是一个赛博格角色（虽然它实际上并非电子人）。他不停地使用众人未知的技术干预手段复活。他在移动设备上的赛博格形象十分出众。可以说，我们也都因为智能手机而变身成为赛博格。

但是从盈利模式来看，赛博格故事元素的重要性更提升了一个层次。

只要游戏是以道具为主，赛博格化就会是一个富有吸引力的故事。这就像是William Gibson（科幻小说家）的小说。人们每一次变强都会在世界中获得优势，这种优势令人兴奋和沉醉，它也是人们幸存下来的必需条件。

这也正是《无尽之剑》中的内容。

玩家所购买的IAP内容会让自己在游戏中的角色获得优势，他们的消费能力会转变成虚拟世界中的一种神秘的战斗力。他们需要重塑自我的物质。

我们常在一个并不存在的世界中花钱改变自己的状态，但在Game Center这种社区中例外，因为我们在此的目标是攀向排行榜高峰。

所以我们这些21世纪的智能手机用户，如果也了解赛博格这一理念，我们可能就会发现在《无尽之剑》中的游戏体验正反映了自己的内心渴望。

了解这背后的故事之后，相信大家就不会困惑为何《无尽之剑》每一次IAP交易都能为玩家带来快乐的胜利之感。（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 historian Zoya Street deconstructs how IAPs fit into the design aesthetics of Infinity Blade

by Zoya Street

The Infinity Blade series is a magnificent technical achievement.

For less than $10, you gain access to the most stunning graphics and scenario design on iOS, while the option of in-app purchases (IAPs) help you to slice through enemies like iTunes through your bank balance.

But with the free-to-play business model under scrutiny in terms of whether it overwhelms traditional game design mechanics for financial gain, do its IAPs contribute to the game’s narrative and visual design as a whole?

Layered realities

In a recent interview, series creative director Donald Mustard stressed the amount of time spent on character design and architecture, especially in terms of Infinity Blade II.

‘While on the surface it looks like traditional fantasy, we’re slowly revealing … that it’s much more grounded in a science-fiction reality,’ he explained; something that was signposted by the computer terminal discovered near the end of the first game.

The notion that fantasy is masking a science-fiction reality is skillfully explored in the visual design. For example, the main character’s face is hidden by his helmet, so that while he looks like a medieval knight, he could be a humanoid robot or Halo’s Master Chief.

On the surface

Aesthetically, there’s also a limited palette of materials pervading the architecture and the character design.

Almost everything is stone or steel. All life is artificial, forged and constructed from the same materials as the built environment through which the character travels. The organic is always concealed under a cyborg shell.

The only exceptions are the occasional use of bone or hair in the costumes of the already monstrous enemies. The contrast between man, the warrior engineer, and the brutal strength of nature red in tooth and claw – something for the hero to conquer with his technology – is obvious.

Accessorise me

But so much for the scenario. How does this feed into the items available to the player?

For one thing, there’s a dazzling array of weapons to choose from, especially if you’re prepared to spend additional cash.

Many bring a splash of colour to the screen, catching the eye with dazzling good looks that step beyond the game world’s otherwise limited palette. And some introduce science-fiction styles that are barely hinted at in the standard scenario design.

It’s a strong visual sign that buying IAP will have a tangible impact on your play experience.

Architecture that pays

Of course, not everyone wants to spend additional cash, although around 50 percent of Infinity Blade players do buy IAP. But even they need encouragement, and that’s how the in-game currency system works.

If you pay attention to the architecture, it will pay you back. Skipping through cutscenes is possible, but not best policy; you’re rewarded for appreciating the gorgeous scenario design.

Some careless person – a careful designer – has left bags of gold lying around everywhere, and it’s yours if you spot them quickly enough.

It’s certainly a contrivance that feels out of place in the grounded architectural design of Infinity Blade, but that’s the devil you dance with for adopting the business model.

For this little detail can be a driving force in your virtual goods experience.

Finding sacks of coins lying around makes you feel flush. You’re keen to find cool items on which to spend your newfound wealth, even if many are shockingly expensive. Plus, some retail therapy is a well-deserved reward after succeeding at the skill test of collecting the cash before the camera pans away.

Shopping is magic

When it comes to the actual retail experience, the game’s store is a fluid extension of your own inventory of items, if abstracting the transaction from the magic circle of the game world.

There is no place for cheery NPC merchants on the lonely road to the top of the tower. But smoothly scrolling through the options available makes it easy to compare, at a glance, the attributes and visual appeal of each weapon or armour item.

Elaborate flourishes adorn the paid items in a way not seen on the rarely-dropped free alternatives.

While staying broadly within the art style of the game, there is something to suit every vain whim and combat style.

The more you play, the more your eye gets drawn towards highly expensive but undeniably tempting items, such as rings with powerful magic attacks, sleek armour that increases attack speed, or the eponymous infinity blade won at the end of the first game, and lost at the start of the sequel.

While the cheaper items cost a couple of thousand gold, elite items cost hundreds of thousands of in-game coins.

In this way, the more you play, the items you’re really drawn to are the ones that you can never buy relying on in-game coin drops. But the more coins you collect, the more you’re encouraged to directly spend real world cash in-game.

Initially, it was discouraging not to be able to buy my coveted Night Armour, but soon after I found a lot of coins in the game – although still not enough – it was sufficient to make me consider a purchase. After all, I was already part way there.

My phone becomes me

But let’s wrap up by returning to the underlying science-fiction reality of the game.

Your nemesis – the God King – is almost certainly a cyborgian figure, even if not literally a cyborg. He’s constantly reanimated using unknown technological interventions. His fleshy body could not survive alone on the battleground; he is dependent on the modifications that he finds in treasure chests that players buy for him.

And the image of the cyborg is very compelling on a mobile device. To a degree, we have all been cyborgised by smartphones; for example, many of us have the spatial intelligence of children if we can’t access Google maps.

Enhance me

However, the significance of the cyborg narrative goes even deeper, right to the monetisation model itself.

So long as a game is item-focused, cyborgisation is going to be a compelling narrative. It’s like a William Gibson novel. Every enhancement provides an edge in the world. That edge is thrilling, intoxicating, and is also necessary for survival.

That’s exactly what’s happening in Infinity Blade.

Your in-app purchases – many of which look appropriately cyberpunk – give your on-screen character an edge in that beautiful, rich virtual world. Spending power translates into mythic, warrior power. Materials modify the self.

We spend cash to improve our status in a world that doesn’t exist, except in the community of Game Center, in which we’re ranked against the rest of the world.

So if we – as 21st Century smartphone owners – on some level feel an affinity with the idea of the cyborg, it follows that we will feel the situation in Infinity Blade reflects our own.

It’s not just that our character is getting stronger the more we spend, but also that we need to spend more as more powerful enemies are arrayed before us. It’s not about skill. It’s about skill and the ability feel as though we’re in control of our destiny – even if that is mediated through cold, hard cash.

And with such a narrative, it’s no surprise that each and every in-app purchase in Infinity Blade feels like a joyous victory in itself.（source:pocketgamer）