作者：Adriaan Jansen

打通你最喜欢的游戏后，你可能会停下来想道：“多么令人惊叹的游戏啊！我希望自己能够做出与它同样令人惊叹的游戏！”为什么不开始行动呢？但是，我要如何成为游戏设计师？我需要具备哪些技能和素质？游戏设计师究竟在做什么工作？成为游戏设计师之前，需要回答的重要问题很多。所以，我决定编写一系列相关博文！接下来，我们来讨论第1部分：游戏设计师的任务是什么？（请点击此处阅读本系列第2、3部分）

职责1：创造体验

experience-crafter(from martianflytrap)

游戏实际上是种体验，比如体验变成中世纪应用和体验变成士兵等。即便是最基本的游戏，也是由一系列体验组成。以《吃豆人》为例。你体验身为收集者的感觉，在被追逐和成为追逐者的体验间转换（游戏邦注：这两种体验都很令人兴奋）。玩家之所以感受到乐趣，是因为他正在体验某些自己喜欢的东西，而确保体验的高质量便是你的工作！应当注意的是，你不一定会是提出游戏核心体验的人。如果你提出制作一款泥鳅冒险游戏的想法，而有个技术人员提出的是让玩家扮演巫师的绝妙RPG想法，那么团队很可能会选择后者。那么，你的任务就是确保玩家能够感觉到自己是个令人害怕且强大神秘的巫师。（请点击此处阅读本系列的游戏设计师素质、技能篇）

假设我们正在制作一款玩家扮演超级英雄的游戏。这是个富有吸引力的体验！每个人都想知道成为超级英雄是什么感觉。你的想法吸引了玩家的注意力，但这并不意味着体验已经实现。

如果没有富有挑战性的坏人，体验会如何呢？这会极大地影响到超级英雄体验，因为超级英雄故事是成为超级英雄的一部分。想想看，你最喜欢的超级英雄冲向敌人，在3到5秒的时间内就将其打翻在地。这样的环境完全没有紧张感！超级英雄及时出现，很快就获得了胜利。我们必须确保玩家能够体验到这一切！

如果只有富有挑战性的坏人，体验又会如何呢？这样就能够呈现大量紧张感，不是吗？所以，我们在游戏中加入几个劲敌，这样就可以了！不！如果超级英雄与他所保护的普通人无异，那么就称不上超级英雄！我们需要500个暴徒来向玩家展示他是个能够轻易把这500个暴徒干掉的超级英雄。超级英雄是很强大的，玩家必须能够感受到这一点。

如果控制方式充满漏洞，情况又会如何呢？这个问题似乎显得有点偏题，但是控制方式确实非常重要。如果你是个超级英雄，却无法根据自己的需要来控制身体，你会有何感觉？你可能会直接冲进建筑物中，因为你无法恰当地控制自己的身体。它会影响玩家对角色力量的体验，所以必须修正控制偏差的问题。

我还可以阐述更多有关体验的内容，但这次先到此为止。要点在于，你负责创造体验。你要努力让呈现的体验仅可能令玩家相信并感受到，利用机制、时机、故事、可能性、控制、游戏资产、奖励、惩罚以及些许美术风格、动画和音效手段（游戏邦注：这部分更像是美术人员和音效设计师的工作）。

职责2：表达和交流

communicator(from martianflytrap)

你有了游戏想法，现在到了该同整个团队分享的时候了！这个层面似乎很简单，只要将想法告诉他们，不是吗？事实上，你还有更多的事情要做。你必须说服团队，这个想法会提升游戏体验，值得付出时间和精力来执行。我们来分解阐述这句话。

“你必须说服团队……”这意味着你需要花时间来准备与团队进行交谈。组织内容、预想问题同时确保所有内容都清晰明了。优秀的游戏设计师应当能够设计自己的表述。

“……这个想法会提升游戏体验……”你不是要告诉团队需要去做什么，你要努力让他们能够感受到自己构想出的体验。以Martian Flytrap工作室为例，程序员Bas往往会批判性地思考我提出的想法。他应当这么做，因为如果这些想法很糟糕，会让他浪费时间和金钱！我必须向他展示想法的背景和使用，这样我们才能在真正的执行上达成一致意见。有时，对想法做出的只是叙述层面上的修改。“不，角色不是跳跃，而是使用火箭飞行器”，这也算是对游戏设计的不同观点，但机制保持不变。

“付出时间和精力来执行”这个层面较为简单。了解你的团队，探索你的想法执行起来的困难程度。你不是专家，但是你可以有良好的直觉。如果你知道想法执行的成本，就会明白自己的想法是否值得执行。

通常情况下，执行想法可以通过多种方法来实现。你也必须认真听取整个团队的意见！如果你与团队讨论起想法时，他们觉得这个想法很差劲，可能有以下两个原因：要么是你的表述不够良好，要么是你的想法确实很糟糕。

后者的可能性是前者的100倍，尤其当你的合作者是开放且善于倾听的人。记住，你的想法很可能并非如你想象的那样好！它只是游戏开发过程的一部分而已！

顺便提下，编写游戏设计文件也是种交流的形式！

职责3：测试和修改

Tinker(from martianflytrap)

体验得到团队认同后，你让美术人员和程序员执行游戏想法。但是，游戏开发的完成并不意味着你的工作就此结束。重要的工作才刚刚来临。游戏设计师应当寻找玩家来测试游戏，根据他们的反馈对游戏进行修改。这个过程

需要大量的工作，会耗费大量的时间。尤其是在开发过程的润色阶段，你需要不断循环测试和修改这个循环。修改的幅度从改变些许参数到完全改变玩家获得体验的方法不等。有时候，你会回到职责1中的工作，也就是制造体验。在这种情况下，应当称为“重新制造”。而且，应当大胆舍弃无用的内容。对于那些无法修改的内容，我们应当将其取出，然后努力修改剩余内容的问题。不要对内容舍弃感到担忧，这也是开发过程中的重要环节。我们鼓励你尽快和频繁进行游戏测试，这样你就能更早且更容易地修改游戏中的不当内容。

寻找合适的人来测试游戏也很重要，邀请测试者也是游戏设计师的工作。你必须了解测试者、了解游戏体验且了解你的游戏。有时在同一个人身上多次测试游戏比较好，有时用新对象来测试游戏比较好。

游戏邦注：本文发稿于2012年2月18日，所涉时间、事件和数据均以此为准。（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 : The Designer Class – What does he do?

Adriaan Jansen

After finishing your favorite game, you may have stopped and thought: “Wow, what an amazing game! I wish I could make a game as awesome as this one!”. Then it hits you. Why not? But how can I become a game designer? Which skills or talents do I need? What does a game designer actually do anyway!? There are many important questions to be answered before, so I decided to make a series of blog-posts about them! Because we’re talking games here, and because it’s fun, let’s treat these blogs as an RPG character creation guide, shall we? The different “chapters” are:

Role: What are the tasks of a game designer? (This chapter!)

Passive Abilities: What are favorable character traits?

Powers: What are important skills?

Weaknesses: What are the biggest pitfalls?

Of course, these are just my humble opinions, mixed with some wise words of Jesse Schell, local hero Joost van Dongen, and the guys from Extra Credits. So, to the first part: What are the tasks of a game designer? To keep it simple, I’ll just talk about 3 of the activities that I do the most.

Role 1 – Crafting the Experience

A game is actually an experience. The experience of being a medieval hero, the experience of being a soldier or any other kind of experience. Even the most basic game is composed of strings of experiences. Take Pacman. You experience what it’s like to be a collector (which is a low paced experience), and switch between the experience of being hunted and the experience of being a hunter

(Which are both more exciting). The player is having fun because he’s experiencing something he likes, and it’s YOUR job to make sure those experiences are top notch! Note that you’re not necessarily the one coming up with the core experience. If you want to make an eel-adventure-party game and one of the techboys comes up with a brilliant rpg where you play a witch, the team is probably going to agree to make the second game. It’s your task to make sure that the player is going to feel like a scary, powerful and mysterious witch.

Let’s say we’re making a game where the player is a superhero. That’s a compelling experience! Everyone has wondered what it’s like to be a superhero. You’ve got the initial attention of the player, but that doesn’t mean the experience is already done.

What if there are no challenging baddies? This greatly interferes with the experience of being a superhero, because a part of being a superhero is the superhero-drama! Think about your favorite superhero going down to the baddy in that one episode, and just completely kicking his ass in 3 or 5 seconds. There is no tension in that! Superheroes come in just in time, and win by just an inch.

We have to make sure the player experiences that!

What if there are only challenging baddies? So a lot of tension right? Ok, so we put in some arch-nemeses, and we’re done! NO! What is a superhero, if he can never distinguish himself from the common man he protects? You need to show off your power! We need the 500 goons to show the player that he’s a superhero that can take on 500 goons easily. Being a superhero is being powerful, and the player must feel it!

What if the controls are buggy? This seems a bit out of our lane, but it’s really important. How would you feel being a superhero, and not being able to control your body as you wish? You would look totally lame crashing into that building, because you couldn’t get the controls right. It interferes with the player’s experience of power and awesomeness, so it must be fixed.

I could go on hours and hours about experiences, but let’s keep that for another time. The point is, you create the experience. You try to make your experiences as convincing as possible using mechanics, timing, story, possibilities, controls, game properties, rewards, punishments and to a lesser extend art-style, animation, and sound (this is more like the artists/sound designer’s job). This brings us to…

Role 2 – Pitching & Communicating

You’ve got an idea, now its time to bring it to the team! This aspect seems easy. Just tell em, right? But you have to do so much more. You have to convince the team that this idea will enhance the experience and is worth the time and effort to implement. See how many things are already in that sentence?

You have to convince the team… This means you need to take time to have a clear conversation together. Organize stuff, anticipate on questions and make sure that everything is clear. A good game designer designs his pitch.

…that the idea will enhance the experience… You don’t tell the team what to do. You try to make them experience what you have in mind. Here at Martian Flytrap for example, Bas (the programmer) often thinks critically about the ideas I present. He should, because if they suck, he’s wasting time and money! I have to show him the context and use of the idea, so that we share the same view on the game. Sometimes, small narrative changes are all it takes. “No, that character isn’t jumping, but using a jet-pack”, gives a different view on the game, while the mechanics might still be the same.

…and worth the time and effort to implement. This one is easy. Know what your team does, and know how hard it is to implement your idea. You’re not the expert, but you can get a good hunch. If you know the costs of implementing your idea, you know if it’s even worth bringing up.

Naturally, this is not a one way street. You have to listen carefully to the team as well! If you’ve discussed your idea and the team still thinks it stinks, two things could have happened. Either you didn’t do the pitch well enough, or your idea just stinks. The latter is 100 times more likely to occur, especially if you’re working with open-minded, listening people. Keep in mind your ideas could not be as good as you thought! It’s part of the process!

By the way, writing game design documents is also a form of communication!

Role 3 – Testing & Tweaking

So, you got your experience set, and you asked the artist and programmer to implement it. The game is done, and so are you! Hahaha, no. Now comes the big part. The game designer should test the game on people, and tweak it according to their feedback. That’s just a lot of work, and it takes up a lot of time. Especially towards the polishing-stage of the development process. You’re going to test, tweak, test, tweak, test, throw away, test, tweak, etc. forever and ever. Tweaking can range from changing a few parameters to totally changing the way you approach the experience. You’ll be set back to role 1, the crafting of the experience, often. Re-crafting, in this case. Also, note the “throw away” earlier. Sometimes, something is just plain off. We take it out, and try to fix the problem with something else. Don’t be afraid to throw things away, it’s a vital part of the process. This also encourages you to test soon and often, so you can change things earlier and easier.

It’s also important to get the right people to test your game, and inviting people is part of the game designer’s job as well. You have to think about the right audience, right game experience, and the right knowledge of your game. Sometimes, it’s better to test the game multiple times on one person, and sometimes it’s better to test it on new test subjects. (Source: Martian Flytrap)