作者：Tom Curtis

PopCap热门策略游戏《植物大战僵尸》罕见地完成了一项使命——成功地将休闲玩家引进这种一般只有硬核群体才会感兴趣的游戏。该游戏开发者George Fan在2012年GDC大会上分析了它能够吸引广泛用户群体的原因，并重点指出低调而完整的新手教程所发挥的作用。

他认为，“假如新手教程处理不当……游戏中的其他元素也就不可能引导我妈这类用户通关。”

他分享了设计更有效而有趣的游戏新手教程的10点建议。

1.让新手教程融入游戏中

Fan表示，“我们致力于淡化新手教程的‘指导’色彩”，多数玩家喜欢立即玩游戏，如果游戏迫使他们先掌握一些内容，他们很可能就会失去玩游戏的兴致。

“我有意淡化新手教程与游戏内容的界限……虽然人们喜欢学习，学习也具有内在的趣味性，但有时候我们得富有技巧地修饰它。”

“我们可以将教程与游戏无缝融合在一起……我们应该以潜移默化的方式引导玩家，不要让他们意识到自己正在接受指导。”

2.不要让玩家光“看”不“做”

“执行操作是让玩家在游戏中获得学习的最理想引导方式”，文本教程内容当然可以传达更多信息，但让玩家“做”些事情往往更为有趣。

《植物大战僵尸》的首个关卡就体现了这一特点，它为玩家指明植物向右射击，僵尸向左行进，让玩家通过自己动手并查看操作结果，了解其需知的一切信息。

“玩家只需要玩游戏，就能掌握一切情况，我们不需要刻意告知情况。”

3.扩展引导游戏机制

Fan表示PopCap认为玩家并不需要立即领悟一切游戏机制，如果将教程扩展至整个游戏，这种做法将更有效果。

“我们在《植物大战僵尸》中的做法很保守，我们缓慢而逐渐引进边缘机制”，即使像金钱这种基本概念也会等到玩家闯过10关后才出场。

而针对Zen Garden模式这类最复杂的游戏元素，PopCap直到游戏将近尾声才令其亮相。因为在这个时候，玩家已经有了许多经验，并且更原意掌握一些新的游戏机制。

“我刚开始玩游戏时，我学习新内容的积极性并不高。但深入玩游戏之后，我就会更有继续投入其中的意愿。”

4.不要让玩家重复操作

有时候，玩家完成一次操作就能掌握游戏机制。“他们看到自己的操作结果，基本上就能领会该操作的含义”。

在《植物大战僵尸》中，Fan通过在地面投掷钱币，并在其上设置一个巨大的箭头，为游戏引进了金钱的概念。玩家点击钱币后，马上就会理解如何搜集地面上的物品。

在游戏的其他环节中，有些图标会以不断闪烁的方式，促使玩家点击并领会该操作的意义。

5.使用简洁明了的语言

“不管是什么时候，最好只让屏幕最多显示8个字，我有时也会破例，但这确实是我们应该追求的理想状态”。

plants-vs-zombies-level-1-tutorial(from gameusabilitythoughts）

例如，游戏中就使用了“点击并拾取种子袋”这种简洁且便于玩家理解的描述。Fan称开发者应该使用最简练的措辞来传递核心理念。

“这会让玩家更愿意先看文字内容，然后玩游戏”。

6.尽量不出现突兀的信息

Fan建议，如果在游戏过程中需要呈现文本内容，开发者最好使用不会暂停或打断游戏的被动方式传递信息。

“我每次在游戏过程中呈现信息时，都会尽量让它以被动方式体现出来，这样就不会干扰玩家的游戏操作。”

7.灵活呈现信息

Fan认为开发者不但要让玩家知晓如何玩游戏，还要顾及已知晓如何操作游戏的玩家情绪。

在测试《植物大战僵尸》时，他发现有些玩家不知道息应该将植物放在屏幕左侧，为解决这个问题，他植入了一个信息提示系统。该系统只会为“操作失误”的玩家提供建议，而其他玩家却不会看到这些提示。

“我们必须让操作正确的玩家觉得自己很聪明……通过灵活的信息设置，我们能够让游戏在覆盖硬核游戏群体的同时，也兼顾像我妈这种休闲玩家”。

8.不要频繁出现无用信息

“另一注意要点就是不要出现嘈杂的信息。我们都需要避免玩家因其他事情而转移注意力……我们应强调玩家需关注的内容”。

Fan鼓励开发者设置富有启发性或娱乐性的文本信息——要删繁就简，否则就可能失去玩家。“如果我们接二连三地向玩家抛出无关紧要的信息，这看起来就像是谎报军情，也会导致玩家关掉游戏”。

9.使用图像传递信息

明智的视觉设计是一种传递游戏系统信息的必要工具，在《植物大战僵尸》中，每一个角色外观就会体现其自身功能。

例如一般的“射豆枪”植物，就有一个发射炮弹的大嘴，从它的名称就能看出这一特点。Fan表示游戏中的铁栅门僵尸、咖啡豆等其他角色也几乎都遵循了同样的原则。

10.结合人们所掌握的常识

Fan最后解释道，《植物大战僵尸》使用这种看似极为常规的名称和假设条件的原因——这归根结底还是与视觉设计有关。

Fan称他从塔防游戏中得到灵感，他想设置静态的“塔”，这样玩家很快就会明白为何植物不能移动。而僵尸则行动缓慢，这样才会与游戏的单屏界面相称。

当玩家看到角色以自己能够理解的方式行动时，他们就会更愿意进入游戏世界，即便游戏机制乍一看有些可笑。

这种原则甚至也运用到了游戏中最微妙的系统。例如，游戏中的货币系统，使用的是钱币和宝石，这可以让玩家快速理解其价值。Fan本来还想使用大脑元素，但玩家并不理解这种元素的价值。

“这些设计决策看似微不足道，但如果你掉以轻心，可能就会产生令人困惑的结果”。

Fan用一句话总结了自己的演讲，“将这些经验运用到你的游戏上，你也可以制作出一款像《植物大战僵尸》一样容易上手的游戏。”（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）

GDC 2012: 10 tutorial tips from Plants vs. Zombies creator George Fan

by Tom Curtis

PopCap’s hit strategy game Plants vs. Zombies accomplished a rare feat — it made casual audiences interested in playing a strategy game, a genre often reserved for only dedicated, hardcore players.

At GDC 2012 on Friday, Plants vs. Zombie creator George Fan explained why the game reached such a broad audience. The biggest reason, Fan argued, was its unobtrusive yet thorough tutorial.

“If the tutorial hadn’t been done well… then the other elements of the game wouldn’t have mattered in getting [someone like] my mom to play through,” he said.

To illustrate his point, Fan outlined 10 tips for making game tutorials more effective and more fun.

1. Blend the tutorial into the game

“We strive to make it not feel like a tutorial at all,” Fan said. Most players want to jump right into playing the game, and if they feel like they need to study before they begin, they’re likely to lose interest.

“I go out of my way to never call any sections of my game the tutorial… humans like learning and leaning is inherently fun, but sometimes we have to trick them.”

“Now we can seamlessly blend the tutorial in the game, so why don’t we?… [We should] teach players without them ever even realizing they’re being taught,” he said.

2. Better to have the player “do” than “read”

“The best way for a player to learn is to actually perform actions in the game,” Fan said. Text-based tutorials can certainly communicate a lot of information, but actually doing something will always prove more fun.

Plants vs. Zombies illustrates this approach in its first level, which demonstrates to players that plants shoot to the right and zombies move to the left. It teaches them everything they need to know by letting them go hands-on and see the results for themselves.

“The player learns all of this by simply playing the game, and we didn’t have to tell them any of it,” Fan said.

3. Spread out the teaching of game mechanics

Fan explained that PopCap realized players don’t need to understand everything right away, and if the tutorials are spread throughout the course of the game, they can prove much more effective.

“In Plants vs. Zombies, we were quite conservative…we introduced peripheral mechanics very slowly,” Fans said, pointing out that even basic concepts like money don’t come into play until the player completes 10 levels.

For the most complicated elements of the game, such as the Zen Garden mode, PopCap chose to delay their introduction until near the end of the game. At that point, players have invested themselves in the experience and are thus more willing to learn about new mechanics.

“When I first start playing, I only have a certain willingness to learn things. But as I play it and become invested in the game, I have more of a willingness to learn,” Fan said.

4. Just get the player to do it once

Sometimes, players can pick up on mechanics after performing an action just one time. “Once they see the results of their action, that’s often all it takes for them to understand that action,” Fan said.

In Plants vs. Zombies, Fan introduced players to money by dropping a coin on the field with a giant arrow over it. Once players clicked it, they instantly understood how to collect the items from the field.

In other parts of the game, icons would blink on and off, encouraging players to click them and learn what they do. “I have to thank Fisher Price for this. I looked at how a pre-schoolers brain works, which is just to press the bright shiny object — and it worked, so I guess we never really grow out of that,” he said.

5. Use fewer words

“There should be a maximum of eight words on the screen at any given moment,” Fan said. “I do break [that rule] from time to time, but it’s a good thing to shoot for.”

Fan’s game, for instance, uses descriptions such as: “Click on a seed packet to pick it up.” It’s brief, it’s simple, and players understand it easily. Fan said that developers should think like an “eloquent caveman,” using only terse phrases to communicate key ideas.

“It makes the player more likely to read it, process it, and play the game,” Fan said.

6. Use unobtrusive messaging if possible

When a game needs to display text in the middle of a gameplay session, Fan suggested that developers use passive means of communication that don’t pause or otherwise interrupt the game.

“Whenever I display a message in the middle of a game, I try to express it in a passive manner so the player doesn’t have to stop what they’re doing.”

7. Use adaptive messaging

While it’s important to make sure players understand how to play a game, Fan said developers should also try not to baby the players that understand what they’re doing.

When playtesting Plants vs. Zombies, Fan discovered that some players didn’t understand that they should put their plants on the left side of the screen. To fix this problem, he implemented a system what would give tips to players who we’re “doing the wrong thing,” while other players wouldn’t see any tips at all.

“We need to give players the chance to feel smart if they’re already doing the right thing… By using adaptive messaging, we can make sure people like my mom are covered, while also covering [the most hardcore players].”

8. Don’t create noise

“Another reason to be frugal with your messaging is so you don’t create noise. We’re always competing with other things a player could be doing… You need to be aware what your player should be focusing on,” Fan said.

Fan encouraged developers to make all of their text either enlightening or entertaining — cut out all the excess, or risk losing a player altogether. “If we bombard them with one irrelevant message after another, it’s like being the little boy who cried wolf, and the player will tune out,” he said.

9. Use visuals to teach

Smart visual design can prove an essential tool in teaching players about certain game systems, and in Plants vs. Zombies, Fan made sure that each character visually represented its function.

The standard “Peashooter” plant, for instance, has a giant mouth for spitting projectiles, and its name further suggests what it’s capable of. Fan said this technique applied to nearly all other characters in the game, from the shielded Screen-Door Zombie to the energizing Coffee Bean.

10. Leverage what people already know

Finally, Fan explained why Plants vs. Zombies uses such a seemingly random name and premise — and it all comes down to visual design.

Drawing inspiration from tower defense games, Fan knew he wanted to use stationary “towers,” and players immediately understand why rooted plants are unable to move. Zombies, on the other hand, are known for moving slowly, making them a perfect fit for the game’s single-screen fields.

When players see the characters behave in ways they understand, they become even more likely to buy into the game world, even if it seems ridiculous at first glance.

This approach applied to even the game’s most subtle systems. Fan made sure that the game’s currency system, for instance, used coins and diamonds, ensuring that players understand their value. He could have used something like brains, he said, but players wouldn’t understand that they needed to save them up.

“These decisions seem insignificant, but if you’re a little off, it can lead to a confusing experience,” he said.

Concluding his talk, Fan told developers, “Take your games and apply these lessons, and you can make your game as easy to play as Plants vs. Zombies was.” （source:gamasutra）