游戏邦在:
杂志专栏:
gamerboom.com订阅到鲜果订阅到抓虾google reader订阅到有道订阅到QQ邮箱订阅到帮看

游戏关卡设计方式之先框架后细节

发布时间:2012-03-24 11:27:12 Tags:,,

作者:Andrew Meade

我不确定自己这篇文章究竟适合何人阅读。或许这些想法更适合刚刚进入游戏行业的人士,但我也会在下文中提出某些新概念,令所有读者都能够从阅读本文中获益。如果要说我有什么期望的话,那就是希望能以新颖的方式呈现某些较老的想法。

有人告诉我说,对于刚刚进入游戏行业的设计师,关卡设计是个很好的切入点。我不知道这种说法是否正确,因为我的首份工作及目前的工作都是专注于平台设计,而不是某项具体的功能。

我认为自己必须继续钻研这个领域,可用性和趣味性之间或许存在结合点。这难道不应该是每个设计师的主要目标吗?这两样东西难道不能融入到我们所做的各项工作中吗?或许我不应当继续纠结于这样的问题,以免变得过于以哲学角度思考问题。

上周,我有幸在游戏开发者大会上与我的数位老师单独交谈,包括我的现任老师Tom Long。

我们讨论了自己“为什么”要这样设计关卡。为什么玩家应当遵从预定的路线?为什么要在游戏中呈现这样的天气状况?这些内容看上去似乎都像是美学上的内容,但事实上它们都是经过精心推算后所得出的产物。但它们仍然包含美学成分。

我希望以上说法不会令你感到困惑。美学能够赋予玩家特定情绪,改变他们在关卡中的玩法风格或情感状态。反过来,这也会改变关卡机制。我们不能忘记,不能只是因为某些内容看起来很棒就将其添加到关卡中,而是应该根据游戏的实际需要。

我经常进行的一个练习是制作一个纸笔关卡,然后将注意力放在关卡的内容上,也就是真正的可玩空间(游戏邦注:如果它们不能通过某种方式改善关卡,那就没有存在的必要)。

codmw1 all ghillied up from gamasutra.com

codmw1 all ghillied up from gamasutra.com

我认为,既带有限制性又让人觉得范围很广的关卡设计典型代表是《使命召唤4:现代战争》中的“伪装起来”和“弹无虚发”关卡。玩家能够行走的范围很广阔,但是游戏过程只发生在小范围空间内。

在游戏末尾的疯狂追捕关卡中,玩家穿过的整个城市看起来很大,但是遭遇战只发生在特定区域,让玩家产生一定的混乱感觉,但游戏节奏依然得到控制。关卡中的空间完全没有浪费,我们看到的是现在仍备受赞誉的完美关卡。

寻找原因并做出解答一开始或许有点困难,但是通过练习和研究,我们能够预先解决相关问题。

在讨论过关卡设计某些做法的原因后,我们开始讨论“swipe”。如果你对这个东西还不了解,那么你很可能会对它感兴趣。

swipe是一系列可以提升设计师工具集的道具,多数是以照片的形式存在,但也有可能是纲要、架构、音频文件及石头、织物和泥土实物。你可以通过使用你的swipe变成更好的设计师。

当我们思考关卡设计时,我们会先构建出其大概的框架,就像我们用漆滚筒刷过某件东西一样。概念已经产生,只是缺乏细节内容,需要通过更多的工作让关卡变得更加真实。

玩家并不愚蠢,即便他们对关卡设计的过程并不了解,他们也能感受到自己所处的虚拟世界是否恰当,因为虚拟世界的产生是以他们所处的真实世界为基础。对于那些处于我们认知范围外的关卡设计,这种情况也是存在的,因为所有的关卡设计内容都是基于我们人类已掌握的知识来制作的。

绘制完关卡的大体架构后,你可以使用你的swipe来补充细节。比如,昨晚我设计了一个柱子,觉得它看起来有点暗淡。查看我的swipe,我发现了一个教堂,其通过3个柱子来促成1个巨型柱子。它看起来着实令人惊叹,所以我就将其放置在关卡中。

自从我开始创建swipe,我觉得自己更容易获得灵感。我创建的San Francisco Swipe给我带来了很大的帮助。这个swipe包含了城市的轮廓、各种小酒馆以及所有可用于关卡设计中的细节。

我往往会以自己见过的东西为单位拼凑出swipe,比如Lisbon Swipe、Northern Ohio Swipe和Central U.S. Nature Swipe等。我觉得这些东西都很不错,我可以随时从中获得自己所需的素材。

因为自己见过而且亲手拍下照片,所以看起来显得更加真实。这些素材的作用就是帮我填充关卡中的空白。

这些内容看起来似乎有点跑题,但是我觉得自己阐述的所有内容都有内在相关性。查看自己的San Francisco Swipe,我忽然觉得关卡设计师事实上并不是行业所描述的关卡设计师或构建师。关卡设计师其实是建筑师!

在开始进行关卡设计前,我并没有意识到这一点,但现在我能够肯定,我之前的想法有些滑稽且很不成熟。现在,我已经认识到了关卡设计的本质。如果你还没有着手的话,应当努力进行探索。

battlefield from gamasutra.com

battlefield from gamasutra.com

关卡设计师越像建筑师,所构建的关卡便越显得逼真(游戏邦注:越深层次的逼真度就等同于越高的沉浸性和可信度)。

不要对我说的“逼真”产生误解,我并不是说每款游戏都需要像《战地3》那样写实,这里的逼真含义是“虚拟世界的内在运转逻辑与我们对现实世界的理解相一致”。

所以,我决定了,当我开始从事关卡设计师,我要把自己称作建筑师。事实上,我已经对外表达了这种想法。有一天在公交车上,有个老妇问我负责游戏中的哪个环节,我告诉她在体验过多种岗位后,最后专注于关卡设计。

我说道:“事实上,我更偏向于将自己视作建筑师。”遗憾的是,在说“建筑师”这个词时我自己不禁笑了起来,因为这确实显得有点自命不凡。或许,我们需要点自负才能获得更良好的感觉。(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

Opinion: Be an architect

Andrew Meade

Now, I’m not sure whom I’m directing this to. It may be for a more entry-level perspective, but maybe I will be throwing some new concepts out there for everyone to benefit from. If anything, hopefully I am tossing some old thoughts around in a fresh way.

They tell me that Level Design is an entry point into the industry for fresh-faced designers. I wouldn’t know much about that, as my first (and current) job has been centered on a more rounded design platform, as opposed to one specific discipline.

I suppose if I had to hammer down what I focus on most, it’s probably a combination between usability and fun – then again, shouldn’t that be every designer’s main pursuit? Shouldn’t those two things be infused in everything we do? I should probably move on, before I get too philosophical.

Anyways, let’s gain some relevance in regards to the title of this post. Last week, I had the benefit of spending a lot of one-on-one time with quite a few of my teachers at the Game Developers Conference – none more than my current teacher, Tom Long.

Chilling at Golden Gate Park, we were chatting about the “Why” of what we do in a level. In comparison to “How” and “What”, “Why” seems like quite the sticky wicket. Why should the player follow a certain path? Why are the weather conditions the way they are? It may all seem like aesthetics, but it’s a carefully calculated choice. But it’s also aesthetics.

I hope that isn’t confusing. Aesthetics have the ability to put the player into a specific mood, which will alter their play-style or emotional state in the level. This in turn alters the mechanics of the actual level. We mustn’t forget that we can’t just put things in a level because they look cool or seem clever – this is where our restraint needs to come into play.

An exercise I have been taught, and frequently practice, is create a pen and paper level, then “zoom in” to the nuts and bolts of it – the actual playable space. If it doesn’t benefit the level in some way, shape, or form, then it doesn’t need to be there.

I think a great example of a level designed with constraint, yet with a seemingly large scope, are the “All Ghillied Up” and “One Shot, One Kill” levels from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The actual landscape that the player traverses is vast and imposing, yet play happens on a very small scale.

Even the frantic chase scene at the end through an entire city seems large, yet encounters are set in very specific pockets, giving the player a feeling of chaos when in fact the pacing is very controlled and deliberate. No space is wasted in that level, and what we are left with is an example of Level Design that is still referenced glowingly today.

Finding the “Why” and answering it may be a bit difficult at first – hell, I’m still wrangling with it myself, but through practice, study, and constraint, we can tackle that question head on.

So let’s go back to the park, where we were discussing the “Why” of Level Design. Once that bit of conversation was over with, we started discussing “Swipes,” or “Swipe Files.” If you aren’t aware of this yet, then you’re really going to love it.

A swipe is a collection of items meant to enhance our designer’s toolkit – mostly it’s in the form of pictures, but it can also be samplings of schematics, sketches, audio files, scents, and actual materials like rocks, fabrics, soils, etc. You can use your swipe to be a better designer.

When we think of a level, we paint it with broad strokes. Like we’re going over something with a paint roller. The gist of the concept is there, but it’s missing all the details and trim work that make a level real.

Players aren’t stupid – even if they don’t know anything about anything, they will know if something isn’t right with their virtual world, because it’s based off a reality they live in. This is even true with levels outside our known reality, because everything is based on our own implicit human knowledge.

Once you have painted the broad strokes of your level, you can use your swipe to get down to the details. For instance, I was working on a pillar last night and thought it felt a little lackluster. Looking through my swipe, I found a cathedral that used three pillars together to form one giant uber-pillar. It looked awesome, so now that’s in the level.

Since I started my swipe, I’ve felt much more inspired than I have in months. As soon as I learned about it I started a San Francisco Swipe – literally the moment I heard I pulled out my phone and started to work – and it has benefited me greatly. I have set pieces that are as huge as an entire city overlook, shots as intimate as a bistro in Little Italy, and details as minute as the grain and pattern of a concrete slab to use as a material in the editors I work in.

Going through my things, I also put together swipes from places I’ve been before – a Lisbon Swipe, a Northern Ohio Swipe, a Central U.S. Nature Swipe, and more. I think these things are great, because instead of looking at pictures online and formulating my work from those, messing with my swipes brings me to the moment in time when I took them, and I suddenly remember the smell in the air, the direction of the wind, the sounds of the area – all of it.

It’s more real because I’ve been there, and I took the picture. All it does is help me fill in some blanks – plus it makes every trip I take into a business expense!

Looks like I’ve diverged from the initial point of this post, but I think everything I’ve said is relevant in a way. Looking through my SF Swipe, I was kind of thunderstruck by how Level Designers really aren’t Level Designers, or Builders, or whatever industry term one wants to use. Level Designers are Architects!

I never really knew what a flying buttress was before I started Level Design, but I sure do now – granted what I thought they were beforehand was far funnier and immature, but that’s beside the point. I didn’t know what cresting or an oriel was, but now I do – and if you don’t, you really should look it up.

The more of an architect a Level Designer is, the more realistic the level will be. More realism equals more ambiance, more immersion, and more credibility.

Don’t forget that when I say “realistic,” I don’t mean that every game needs to be realistic in that Battlefield 3 kind of way, but realistic in “there is an internal logic to the workings of this world that is congruent with our opinions and knowledge of how things work”. I hope I’m clear on that; kind of a “learn the rules to break them” sort of thing.

So I’ve decided, when I wear my Level Design hat, to call myself an Architect. In fact, I told that to an old lady at the bus the other day. She asked what I did in games, and I said that I do this and that, but lately I’ve been focusing on Level Design.

I puffed my chest up a bit, and then said “Actually, I prefer to think of myself as more of an Architect”. Unfortunately I busted out laughing through the word architect, because let’s face it – it’s kind of pretentious and douchie, but that’s ok. Maybe we need a bit of pretension to make us feel good. (Source: Gamasutra)


上一篇:

下一篇: