作者：Adriaan Jansen

我们正在制作一款有关行星、巨人及优美画面的游戏。但我们不能透露过多游戏的具体内容。

但若你想要体验游戏的核心构思，现在就可以进行尝试。

shitmeister from abbeygames.com

理智的游戏设计师通常都会给自己的游戏建模。有时这可能相当简单。基于简单规则和操作的游戏可以充当模型，因为规则非常容易调节。有时，纸上建模会比进行编程更适合。我遇到的一个最佳范例就是Jesse Schell《the Art of Gamedesign》中的俄罗斯方块纸上模型。他随机裁出玩家在纸板上绘制的形状，将其抽出，玩家需要找出它们的适当位置。若排满一行，你需要暂停游戏，用小刀将这一行切除。显然，这不是俄罗斯方块原本该有的模式，但它包含许多能够进行测试的核心要素。这里包含谜题元素、时间限制和积分机制。这让游戏设计师能够充分把握什么元素有趣，什么元素无趣。

chefprototype from abbeygames.com

我们的游戏内部非常复杂，所以我觉得纸上建模对我们来说缺乏可行性。但我显然错了。规则也许非常复杂，但其基础体验通常非常简单。它无需包含真正游戏作品将呈现的所有精致技能和操作元素，无需呈现游戏的重要信息。下面是我们作品的一个纸上模型。

SUPERGIANTDICER

必要内容：

* 7个6面骰子

* 笔和纸

* 最低程度的数学知识

体验方式：

玩家从1个6面骰子开始游戏。游戏的目标是累加所有掷出的骰子数，直到总数达到120。若你在20个回合中累加到120，那你就获胜。若你在15个回合里累加到120，你就获得支配地位。但这里有2个陷阱。你结束游戏时你必须拥有至少5个骰子。玩家可以凭借积分购买新骰子。例如，若他的积分数是10，那他可以通过花费4个积分购得第2个骰子。各个骰子的价格分别是：

* 骰子2：4个积分

* 骰子3：10个积分

* 骰子4：17个积分

* 骰子5：24个积分

* 骰子6：30个积分

* 骰子7：36个积分

另一陷阱就是玩家不能够掷出很高的数值。若掷出很高的数值，你就会爆炸。若你爆炸1次，你就需要交出1个6面骰子，但是在在掷2次骰子之后。若你连续爆炸2次，你得交出2个6面骰，但还能够再掷1次。若你连续爆炸3次，你得直接交出3个6面骰。这些影响会相互抵销，但不会累加。你的骰子数量不能够少于1个。爆炸标准是：

* 1个骰子：没有爆炸情况

* 2个骰子：11或更高数值

* 3个骰子：15或更高数值

* 4个骰子：18或更高数值

* 5个骰子：20或更高数值

* 6个骰子：22或更高数值

* 7个骰子：24或更高数值

此外，玩家可以选择不投掷所有骰子。例如，若你有6个骰子，但你为避免风险可以选择只掷4个骰子。若你在获得120积分后需要交出1个骰子，那么你就无法结束游戏，此时你的骰子总数低于5。所以你可以在经历2次爆炸，手中握有7个骰子的情况下完成游戏，但若你遭遇1次爆炸，手中只有5个骰子，那你将无法完成游戏。

此模型的运用

这个模型看起来有些荒谬，似乎和行星、巨人之类的元素没什么关系。但从本质来看，其包含游戏的某些重要元素。玩家决定速度的方式就是个典型例子。我们发现，玩家喜欢思考是否要购买下个骰子，因为更多并不是就更好。爆炸情况也是游戏的一大要素，其中玩家会开始遭遇“表现太好”的风险，需要交出前进速率。而玩家对于多次爆炸所需做出的反应也有利于我们查看某个游戏要素是否富有趣味。

giantdicing from abbeygames.com

当然在我们的游戏中，玩家不会通过投掷骰子决定自己的分数。这一模型只测试了我们游戏的若干核心要素。（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: Paper Prototype

So all this time you’ve been reading our blog, watch us bump into different kind of problems and seeing our progress. But you probably have no idea what we’re actually making! Yeah, sure, something with a planet, giants and purdy pictures. Well, we still can’t tell much about the game. You know, buzz is everything, play your cards wisely, bladibladibla. Greg Kasavin from Supergiant games (from Bastion) also said that: “…we feel that games that aren’t ready to be played aren’t ready to be showed. And we here at Martian Flytrap tend to agree with that!

But if you want to experience the core thought of the game, without all of the depth, sugar coating and pretty graphics, you can play it right now!

Every sane gamedesigner prototypes his game. Sometimes this can be fairly easy. Games based on simple rules and actions are very prototypable, since the rules are easy to tweak. Sometimes, it’s better to prototype on paper instead of programming it. A good example I encountered in Jesse Schell’s “the Art of Gamedesign” was a tetris paper-prototype. It just used cardboard cut outs where one player draws them at random and slides them down, while you try to find the right place and rotation for them. If you score a row, you just pause the game and cut of the row with a knife. Sure, it’s not tetris as it should be, but it involves a lot of core elements that can be testen. The puzzling aspect is there, the time limit is there and the point system is there. It gives the game designer a pretty good view of what is fun and what is boring.

Well, our game is pretty complicated on the inside, so at first, I thought paper prototyping was impossible for us. But, of course, I was wrong. See, the rules can be complicated, the underlying experience is likely to be remarkably simple. It doesn’t have to have all the fancy-smanchy abilities and actions the real game is going to have, to give valuable information about your game. So here is one of our paper prototypes!

SUPERGIANTDICER

required:

* 7 d6′s (that is geekspeak for seven 6-sided dice)

* Pen and paper

* minimal math skills

How to play:

The player starts out with 1 d6. The goal of the game is to accumulate all your dice throws up until 120. If you reach 120 in 20 turns, you win. If you reach 120 in 15 turns, you rule. But there are 2 catches. Also, you must end the game with at least 5 dice. The player can buy new dices from his score. Like, if he has a score of 10, he can lower his score to 6 to buy a second d6. The prices of each dice is:

* die 2: 4 points

* die 3: 10 points

* die 4: 17 points

* die 5: 24 points

* die 6: 30 points

* die 7: 36 points

The other catch is that you can’t roll to high. If you roll to high, you burst. If you burst once, you have to hand in one d6 after you rolled 2 more times. If you burst twice in a row, you have to hand in two d6, but after 1 more roll. If you burst three times in a row, you have to hand in 3 d6′s directly. These effects override each other and don’t stack. You can’t have less than 1 d6. The burst values are:

* 1 die: no burst

* 2 dice: 11 or higher

* 3 dice: 15 or higher

* 4 dice: 18 or higher

* 5 dice: 20 or higher

* 6 dice: 22 or higher

* 7 dice: 24 or higher

Additionally, you can roll with less dices than you’re allowed. For example, you have 6 dices but you decide to roll with only 4 to play it safe. You can’t finish the game if you would have to hand in a die after you got a score of 120, and this would take your total amount of dice below 5. So you can finish the game with a double burst and 7 dice, but you can’t finish the game with a single burst and 5 dice.

The use of this prototype

So this prototype looks kind of silly and has nothing to do with a planet, giants or anything like that whatsoever. But in it’s core, it uses some important aspects of our game. The way the player decides the pace is a good example. We found out that a player enjoyed thinking about whether or not they should buy the next die, since more is not necessarily better.  The burst is also an aspect which is in our game, where the player  start risking “playing too good” and has to hand in progression speed rate (but not progression itself!).  The way how people react to bursting more than once was also valuable to see if a certain aspect of the game was fun.

Of course, in our game you won’t be throwing dice to determine your score. And this does only test some of our core elements. But it’s a good place to start while Bas keeps messing around with the engine.  Remember, there is always something the game designer can test or evaluate!（Source：abbeygames）