作者：JOHN GAUDIOSI

John Romero是行业内少数众人皆知的人之一。作为iD Software的联合创始人之一，他负责过许多富有影响力的射击游戏，比如《恶魔城3D0》、《毁灭战士》和《雷神之锤》。在与Ion Storm合作完成不甚成功的作品《Daikatana》后，Romero与Iron Monkeystone Games配合转战手机领域，随后又到Midway负责开发《圣铠传说：七悲》和《Area 51》等主机游戏。

近期，Romero正在自己创办的Loot Drop开发免费PC和手机游戏，还包括刚刚发布的Facebook游戏《幽灵行动：指挥官》以及该战略游戏的iOS版本。这位身兼CEO、CCO、程序员和游戏设计师多个职位的人在近期采访中谈论了自己及项目的最新进展。

John-Romero(from digitaltrends)

你是如何转向免费游戏领域？

2010年，我努力说服自己联合创办的MMO公司（游戏邦注：也就是Slipgate Ironworks）进军Facebook社交游戏市场，最终发现他们对这个方向并不感兴趣，因为他们将大部分精力投入到MMO中。所以，我决定只身离开公司转向社交游戏，因为我已经看到了社交游戏的崛起。我看到了Zynga、Playfish和许多其他小公司的崛起，这种游戏类型的设计看起来相当有趣，因为它们与我此前玩过的任何硬核游戏都不同。它们甚至不像我在任天堂掌机或其他设备上玩过的任何游戏，这使我对它们产生了浓厚的兴趣。

你的首款免费游戏是什么？

2010年，我同一家公司合作制作了游戏《Ravenwood Fair》，它的表现确实很不错。巅峰时期时，它有约2500万的MAU（游戏邦注：月活跃用户）和200万的DAU（日活跃用户）。这是一次非同寻常的体验，设计这种游戏玩法与社交元素相结合的游戏确实很有趣。这也正是我在2010年11月决定同Brenda Brathwaite创办Loot Drop的原因。我们知道如何制作社交游戏。所以我们不断随着这个领域的改变而调整开发形式，这正是我们现在做的事情。我们努力演变的不只是Facebook上大众用户喜欢玩的东西，而且还向广大用户介绍新的玩法，看看他们是否喜欢。

你如何看待育碧之类的发行商进入社交游戏领域？

数年之前，该领域内的做法大多数为克隆。因为许多公司没有雇佣游戏设计师，所以最简单的方法是尝试复制那些成功的作品。随着该领域的发展，社交游戏逐渐受到行业的重视。现在，我们可以看到所有的题材和设计方法都被运用到社交游戏开发过程中。多数公司清除了硬核游戏内容，因为这个平台上都是些非常休闲的用户。许多游戏公司从项目开始就朝Facebook的休闲方向发展。现在，我们看到竞争性变得愈发激烈。

为何《幽灵行动：指挥官》有可能吸引那些不喜欢Facebook游戏的人？

现在，Facebook用户已经做好了面对基于技术的游戏玩法和更多硬核内容的准备，其游戏图像更具现实性，射击等效果也更加出众。这正是我们运用到《幽灵行动》上的开发方法，将硬核游戏风格融入到Facebook中。但是，我们仍然会在游戏中使用人们易于理解的Facebook元素，比如能量模式和他们可以用来购买商品的虚拟货币。我们的做法是，保留那些Facebook用户熟悉的内容，但是将其添加到《幽灵行动：指挥官》这种更硬核化的游戏中。

Ghost-Recon-Commander(from digitaltrends)

你认为这款游戏与主机游戏《幽灵行动：未来战士》之间有何联系？

育碧认为二者可以并存，而非相互替代。《幽灵行动》的粉丝可以在白天把Facebook版本当成独立的游戏来玩。而由此解锁的内容可以让他们晚上在PS3或Xbox上获得良好的体验。你可以改变角色的迷彩服以及枪支的外观等。玩Facebook版本还可以让你为主机游戏解锁许多超高等级的幽灵，然后将他们带到任务中。我们想要让这款游戏为主机版本的游戏体验增色。

你认为平板电脑将来会对传统主机业务产生何种影响？

2005年时，我写过有关这个方面的博文，结论是主机将退出市场。我更多考虑的是PC，它本身就已经相当强大。如果你对家用PC进行升级，它们就会变成强大的机器。它们的性能可以超越主机。PC的速度越来越快，而主机在6年时间里几乎未曾改变，或只发生些许小改变。这是游戏行业中不争的事实。就目前的技术和价格差异而言，我为何不选择购买PC呢？当PC可以传输高清WiFi视频时，我为什么还要多花钱来购买主机呢？我可以使用无线控制器在PC上玩主机游戏。我在2005年未曾预见的是后PC时代的崛起，也就是现在的平板电脑。这种产品绝对有可能终结主机。新iPad有相当出众的图像效果，运行迅速且能够呈现绝妙的游戏。从根本上来说，它所传达的信息是，你不需要购买主机。（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）

Id co-founder John Romero says goodbye to consoles

JOHN GAUDIOSI

John Romero, the co-founder of iD Software talks with us about his shift towards free-to-play and social game, and translating Ghost Recon for a new model.

John Romero is one of the few names in the industry that everyone knows. One of the co-founders of id Software, the game designer worked on such influential shooters as Castlevania 3D, Doom, and Quake. After working on his own with Ion Storm on the much-delayed flop Daikatana, Romero moved into the mobile space with Iron Monkeystone Games before working on console games at Midway like Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows and Area 51.

These days, Romero is developing free-to-play PC and mobile games at his company, Loot Drop, including the just-released Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Commander for Facebook and the new iOS version of that strategy game. The CEO, CCO, coder and game designer took a break from developing new games (he has a number of original free-to-play games in the works) to talk about his latest venture in this exclusive interview.

How did you end up migrating to the free-to-play games space?

In 2010, I was trying to convince my MMO company (Slipgate Ironworks) that I co-founded to pivot into social games on Facebook and eventually decided that they were not interested in doing that because they had so much invested in MMOs. So I decided to take myself out of the company and move to social games because I had seen the rise of the social. I saw the rise of Zynga, Playfish and a bunch of other small companies and the game designs looked really interesting because they were not like any of the hardcore games I’ve played. They weren’t even like games I played on handheld Nintendo systems or anything, and that made them interesting to me.

What was your first free-to-play game?

I consulted with a company and made a game called Ravenwood Fair in 2010 it did really well. At its peak it had about 25 million MAU (monthly active users) and about 2 million DAU (daily active users). That was a great experience and it was fun designing the game to be a very light style of gameplay with the social element. That’s why I decided to start Loot Drop in November 2010 with Brenda Brathwaite. We definitely knew how to make social games. So we continue to work on developing through the evolution of the space and that’s what we’re doing now. We’re trying to evolve not only the things that the mass audience on Facebook likes to play, but also to introduce new kinds of play to that mass audience and see where it goes.

How have you seen publishers like Ubisoft embrace social games of late?

A few years ago it was all about cloning because there were a lot of companies out there that didn’t have game designers in them, so the easiest thing to do is to look at what’s successful and try and copy that. They called it fast-balling a game. There was a lot of that going on and the game industry took notice and basically dove into social. Now we’re seeing all the genres, all of the design, all of the production value that we’re used to in games. All of that stuff has descended into social and basically started taking it over. Most companies steered clear of the hardcore stuff because this is a very casual audience on this platform. There were a lot of game companies just trying to do casual in the Facebook way in the beginning. Now we’re seeing companies get more competitive and making some hardcore games.

Why might Ghost Recon Commander appeal to someone who doesn’t like Facebook games?

Today’s Facebook audience is ready to have skill-based gameplay and more hardcore content, graphics that are more realistic and shooting and maybe blood and stuff like that. That’s where we’re at with Ghost Recon, bringing more of a core type game into Facebook. But there’s still that Facebook element that people will understand like the energy model and the currency they use to buy and all that. We kind of keep all of the things that are very familiar to Facebook users, but then put all of that into a game that’s more hardcore with Ghost Recon Commander.

How do you see this game fitting in with Ghost Recon: Future Soldier now out for consoles?

Ubisoft talks about it as being a companion game. It’s not a replacement. I don’t think that it’s a launching pad to a different game. It’s a nice way for Ghost Recon fans to play the Facebook version during the day as a separate game. And it allows them to feed their addiction for the game at night by giving lots of unlocks that will work on the PS3 or the Xbox. You can change your character’s camo and look at how your gun looks and all that kind of stuff. There are also some very high level Ghosts that you can unlock in Facebook for the console game and then bring them on missions. We want this game to be additive to the console experience.

What impact do you think tablets will have on the traditional console business in the future?

That’s kind of something that I wrote about on my blog in 2005, which was bye-bye consoles. I was thinking more about the PC, itself, being so powerful. Your PCs at home if you’re upgrading them are powerful machines. They’re way more powerful than consoles. They keep getting faster and faster, while consoles sit for six years without changing, or if they do they there are minor changes. There’s been this truth in the games business. It’s been happening for a while, but they’ve gotten to the point now with the technology and the price differential, why don’t I just get a PC? Why would I spend more money beyond the console when a PC can deliver Wi-Fi video at HD resolutions. I can play my console games on my PC and blast it to the screen and use a wireless controller? What I didn’t foresee in 2005 was the rise of the post-PC, which are all these tablets now. These are the things that actually will probably be the end of the consoles. The new iPad has crazy fast graphics and it’s a fast machine and it delivers great games. It can mirror the graphics to a giant HD screen and it’s basically just showing you that you don’t need a console. (Source: Digital Trends)