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分析手机“无限”游戏的题材及其优势

发布时间:2012-05-07 14:44:18 Tags:,,,,

作者:Steve Litchfield

有种手机游戏经常被人忽视。大家普遍关注的是包含劈砍和破坏的3D渲染RPG游戏。有些游戏不完全是休闲游戏,不完全是运动游戏,也不完全是桌面游戏。但是,有些此类游戏确实有很高的质量。我说的是无限游戏,指那些你可以永远且每天玩下去的手机游戏。

那么,什么是所谓的“无限游戏”呢?

现在,多数游戏以“关卡”为基础,其想法是令你解开每个谜题或场景,内容包括喂食外星人、释放小鸟或杀死僵尸等。关卡开始比较简单,通常带有教程,然后逐渐变得越来越难,提供越来越大的挑战,不断挑战玩家的脑力或反应速度,直至游戏结束。尽管你感觉很疲劳,但你击败了游戏。

如果你幸运的话,还可以在游戏中体验各种不同的“模式”,比如使用另一个角色、体验更高的难度或略有不同的游戏玩法。随后,你的目标依然是击败对手打通关卡。游戏中甚至还会有在线多人模式,让你可以同其他真实玩家互动。

但是,大部分的游戏都有“结局”,也就是游戏结束的时刻。当经历过所有挑战后,如果你再次玩游戏,你就只是在重复做上次做过的事情。事实上,你可能会选择从手机上删除游戏。这就是我所谓的“有限游戏”。

还是,目前市场上也有真正的“无限”游戏,这种游戏提供的是你获得乐趣的框架,也提供了很大的随机性,你永远不会看到完全相同的屏幕,你永远也不会做出完全相同的动作。现在,这种随机性通过各种不同的形式呈现出来。最简单的是,游戏随机安排你的出发点。最令人兴奋的情况下,它可以是一个或多个由手机控制的对手(游戏邦注:也就是所谓的“人工智能”,简称AI),这些对手会与你互动,而你需要靠智谋取胜。在基于关卡的有限环境中,AI往往看上去显得很愚蠢,你可以预测到它下一步的行动。但是在真正的无限游戏中,不会看到这样的AI,它的响应具有不可预测性。

当然,最经典的无限游戏是象棋,它有着数千年的历史。尽管开局的移动往往是相似的,但数量众多的棋子意味着经过数十次移动后,你看到的是以前从未见过的棋盘布局情况。再经过数十步后(游戏邦注:假设游戏有恰当的AI对手),你会发现自己越来越难按计划行事。如果以象棋为例让你觉得有点过于古老,那么我们可以举个更有趣的例子——双陆棋。下图是塞班系统中的双陆棋,含有很大的随机因素,包括骰子点数、AI对点数的响应和类似象棋的移动变化。

backgammon(from allaboutwindowsphone)

backgammon(from allaboutwindowsphone)

桌游特别适合制作成无限游戏,毕竟它们的形式和规则已经以实体形式存在了数个世纪的时间,一直能够娱乐和挑战玩家。但是,其他游戏类别也可以提供同样的挑战,比如体育运动。数量众多的角色、互动对象和复杂的环境都会产生永不重复的游戏场景。

我经常将桌球作为手机无限游戏的绝佳范例,而且它也算是休闲游戏,因为每次玩游戏都不需要耗费数小时的时间。塞班系统上的《Micropool》在过去6年来给我带来了很多欢乐,而且我现在仍然能够从中体验到乐趣和挑战。在桌球游戏中,经过两次击球后,你看到的就是完全不同的台面情况。当然,其他手机平台上也有类似的桌球游戏,比如我同样很喜欢的Windows Phone游戏《International Snooker》。

international snooker(from allaboutwindowsphone)

international snooker(from allaboutwindowsphone)

micropool(from allaboutwindowsphone)

micropool(from allaboutwindowsphone)

纸牌游戏也是无限游戏,尽管每套牌只有52张,但是出牌方式相当多。除了《Micropool》和《International Snooker》外,我也很喜欢《Mau Mau》,凭借自己的智慧和运气战胜3个AI对手。

mau mau(from allaboutwindowsphone)

mau mau(from allaboutwindowsphone)

从定义上来看,运动游戏通常也是“无限”游戏,因为你永远都不会看到完全相同的游戏场景。高尔夫游戏也是我最喜欢的游戏类型之一,几乎所有手机平台都有此类游戏,下图是塞班的《Real Golf 2011》。

Real Golf 2011(from allaboutwindowsphone)

Real Golf 2011(from allaboutwindowsphone)

从定义上来看,模拟游戏本质上也是无限游戏,游戏呈现的情况完全取决于你的输入。《Infinite Flight》(如下图所示)是款相当出色的游戏,可能吸引你玩上数年时间,无论是其5分钟快速战斗模式还是近1个小时的全模拟模式。你的输入决定了飞行的轨迹,再加上不同的天气因素,每次空中飞行都有着独特之处。

Infinite Flight(from allaboutwindowsphone)

Infinite Flight(from allaboutwindowsphone)

我确信,“无限”游戏并不仅仅是上文所举的这些例子,它存在于许多题材中。我曾经指责过有些人抱怨手机应用的售价“过于昂贵”,如果购买的是“无限”游戏,那么这种抱怨就显得更加可笑。在过去4年间,我玩《Micropool》的时间约为2.7万分钟,平均费用为每小时0.3便士,这比去电影院的成本便宜了近100倍,比玩真正的桌球便宜了近300倍。所以,你可以看到,那些不会令你感到厌烦的无限游戏还能够帮你节约娱乐成本。

不要误解我的意思,我并不是否定《愤怒的小鸟》等“有限”游戏的价值,击败每个关卡的确能够给人带来很大的成就感,这是与“无限”游戏完全不同的挑战。我想在这里说的是,在查看游戏细节并决定它是否值得购买时,你可以根据游戏是提供固定数量的游戏玩法还是无限的游戏场景来制定购买决策。

游戏邦注:本文发稿于2012年4月16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

In praise of the infinite game

Steve Litchfield

There’s a certain class of mobile game that’s often ignored. One that gets overlooked in favour of all-singing, all-dancing 3D-rendered RPG slash-em-ups and orgies of feathered destruction. It’s not – quite – casual games. It’s not – quite – sports games. It’s not – quite – board games. Though many of those titles qualify. I’m talking about infinite games. By which I mean mobile games that you can happily play every day – forever – literally.

So, what do I mean by the ‘infinite game’?

The majority of games these days are based on ‘levels’, the idea being that you work through each puzzle or scenario, feeding aliens or freeing birds or killing zombies, and so on. The levels start easy, usually with tutorial prompts, then gradually get harder and harder, providing more and more of a challenge, either in brain power or reaction time, until…. the game’s over. You’re exhausted, you’ve collapsed in a heap, but – you’ve beaten it.

If you’re lucky, there’s another ‘mode’ to play in, as another character, under a harder difficulty level, or with slightly different gameplay. And then… you’ve beaten that too. If you’re very, very lucky, there might even be an online multiplayer mode, adding an extra human element, which can often prove a real inspiration.

But all too many game titles end up being ‘done’. Game over. All challenges met, if you play the title again then you’ll just be repeating what you had to do last time. In fact, you might as well delete the game from your phone. ‘Finite’, by definition.

But here’s to the genuinely ‘infinite’ title, a game which provides a framework for your enjoyment while also supplying enough randomisation that you’ll never, ever see the same screen twice, you’ll never make the same move twice. Now, this randomisation can take varying forms – at its purest, it might be a random starting grid that you have to solve in some way. At its most exciting, it can be one or more phone-controlled opponents (so called AI – Artificial Intelligence) which interact with you and which you have to outwit – in a finite, level-based environment, AI can often be somewhat stupid and predictable, but in a true infinite title, the AI has never seen the game state like this either and so its responses also have an air of unpredictability.

The classic infinite game, thousands of years old, is chess, of course. Starting with familiar moves, the sheer number of pieces means that within half a dozen moves you’ll be looking at a piece configuration that’s unfamiliar – and within a dozen moves (assuming a decent AI opponent) you’ll be way, way out of your comfort zone. But if chess sounds rather hard going, there are lighter and more colourful alternatives – Backgammon, shown below in Zingmagic form for Symbian, adding in the huge randomising factors of dice rolls, AI-responses to those rolls and a chess-like possible number of move variations.

Board games are particularly appropriate as infinite games – after all, their format and rules has been honed, in physical form, for centuries, designed to keep players amused and challenged for entire lifetimes. But there are other game categories which offer the same challenge. Sports, for example. With either a large number of players (e.g. football), a large number of objects to interact (e.g. pool/snooker/bowls), or a particularly complex environment (e.g. golf, with wind/terrain/lie), no two games are ever quite the same.

I’ve often used pool as a great example of an infinite game on a phone that also works as a casual title because you don’t need hours to play it each time. Micropool (below, left) on Symbian, has been keeping me company in odd moments on more than a dozen smartphones over the last 6 years – and I still get a buzz and a challenge from playing it – with pool, after only two shots you’ve got a totally different ball configuration to that which you’ve ever seen before. Similar pool games exist on other platforms, of course – on Windows Phone, I’ve also enjoyed International Snooker (shown first below).

Also usually applicable are card games – although there are only 52 cards in a pack, it’s surprising what you can do with them. For a start, there’s the massive randomising effect of a good computer ‘shuffle’ – add in some phone AI opponents and things can get very addictive. In addition to Micropool and International Snooker, I’m also more than a little addicted to Mau Mau, shown above right, pitting my wits and luck against up to three AI opponents.

Sports games – full stop – are usually ‘infinite’, almost by definition, in that you never get the same game twice. Golf games are another favourite of mine, on every mobile platform – shown below is Real Golf 2011 on Symbian.

Simulations generally, not just sports titles, are usually infinite in nature, by definition, in that they rely on your inputs all the time. Infinite Flight (shown below) is a cracking title that you can genuinely spend years playing, either in five minute quick flights or in hour long full simulations of actual journeys. And with your own trajectory, course and stick inputs being added to weather that can be almost infinitely specified (and then randomised within your parameters), every trip into the air is indeed very different.

I’m sure my selection here is by no means definitive, ‘infinite’ games exist in many genres, but you’ll get the idea. I’ve complained before about people criticising a mobile application for being ‘too expensive’ at a couple of pounds or dollars and this becomes doubly ridiculous once a purchase price applies to an ‘infinite’ game. I’ve played Micropool for approximately 27,000 minutes in the last 4 years. Working out to 0.3p per hour – some 100 times cheaper than going to the cinema, some 300 times cheaper than playing the real thing, etc. So, you see, infinite gameplay that you’ll never get tired of also means exceptional value for money.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking ‘finite’ games – the likes of Angry Birds come to mind – there’s a real sense of achievement in vanquishing each level, but they offer a different kind of challenge. What I’m suggesting here is that, when looking at game’s details and trying to decide whether it’s worth buying (or not), you also take into consideration whether it’s going to offer a fixed, finite amount of gameplay or whether every game is different to the last.

To infinity and beyond! [Sounds catchy, I really must trademark that phrase...] (Source: All About Windows Phone)


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