作者：Josh Bycer

说起游戏中的讲故事机制，它通常都不是我在游戏设计时的第一个关注对象。但是我想在此说说独立游戏社区所掀起的一股正面趋势。故事和游戏玩法一直都是两种独立单位，就像故事的发展和变化都不会受到玩家行动的影响（游戏邦注：除了实际游戏中的各种选择）。但是最近我却注意到了一些新变化，即我们能够使用故事机制将这两种独立体有效地结合在一起。

我们可以将故事机制定义为：能够通过玩家行动而直接影响故事发展的一种或一套机制。

在阐述例子前，让我们先简要谈谈一些反面例子。首先，选择将影响善/恶滑动器。因为故事仍然深受玩家行动以外的元素所影响。也就是不论玩家是如何玩游戏，滑动器上的标记都将阐述着故事的发展。其次，虽然玩家在过场动画期间所做出的选择能够在后来影响游戏玩法，但在那之前这些选择与玩家的游戏玩法毫无关系。

alpha protocol（from chronicgamedesigner)

接下来我将陈述3种叙述机制案例（从最早的机制开始说起）：《阿尔法协议》。《阿尔法协议》虽然通过对话选项突出了多种选择，但是玩家的一些细微行动也将改变这种故事或选择。在游戏的多个关卡中，各种NPC同盟或敌人将影响着玩家的过关的行动，要么通过暗地里协助，要么通过枪击对抗。其中一个关卡还要求玩家偷偷地将侦查装备安置在基地中，以帮助其他玩家更加顺利过关。

在这个关卡结束后玩家必须做出一个选择，即选择通过清除漏洞而获得基地的尊敬还是放任这些漏洞不管而与基地决裂。如果玩家可以安全地通过关卡，他便能够选择无视这些漏洞——除非基地领导抓住了玩家并强迫他这么做。如此，你便能够鱼和熊掌兼得了。

接下来我们说说《堡垒》——这是我去年最喜欢的一款游戏之一。《堡垒》拥有一种独特的叙事设置，即被动旁白。当玩家在游戏中移动并经历各种关卡时，他便能够听到一个对于事件评述的旁白响起。大多数评述都是针对于关卡本身而事先录制好的，但是也有一些评述是基于玩家的游戏发展而变化。例如玩家受到了严重的伤害或者他们决定使用何种武器等。尽管这种评述的影响是既定的，但是它也表明了玩家所使用的机制能够影响游戏故事的发展。

Lone_Survivor(from chronicgamedesigner)

《唯一的幸存者》更是唤起了我对于这一主题的思考。这是一款发行于Steam平台上的2D生存恐怖游戏。推动这款游戏备受关注并成为本文例子的一大原因便是游戏允许各种剧透，所以我将尽可能地谈论游戏玩法，尽管这么做也将影响游戏的发展。

虽然游戏玩法是既定的，但是玩家的行动却能够影响着游戏故事和结尾。游戏将始终记录着你是如何玩游戏的以及你在游戏中采取的行动；你杀死了多少敌人以及你是如何养活自己并获得安稳的睡眠。而在你游戏过程中游戏将透露的唯一内容是：你的生命遭遇危险，你开始感到饥饿，你感到疲倦了。游戏隐藏了所有的其它内容，而当你最终面临结果时，游戏将向你分解你的所有行动以及那些影响着游戏结果的元素。

在游戏中只有一个点是游戏停下来等待玩家做出选择；而大部分时间游戏都是在追踪玩家的行动。观察游戏的最终分解结果，我们将会发现甚至是一些最微小的行动也会被分解成最终结果。

尽管《唯一的幸存者》已经拥有了最新的叙述机制，但是我仍希望能够看到这一机制在今后的发展变化。让我们想象游戏世界或环境的改变不再是受到玩家选择的影响而是取决于他们在游戏中所采取的行动。例如你可以选择秘密地执行某一游戏行动，避免其他人或队友们独自战斗。随之，玩家们便会在过场动画中开始联合或抵抗其他玩家。

除此之外，我们也希望看到游戏世界是基于玩家如何杀死敌人而变化而不是基于他们是否杀死了敌人。也就是比起射击某人，我们将假设玩家使用最危险的武器并射击敌人头部将其致死。这时候我们便会觉得玩家慢慢失去了人性。同时游戏也让我们很难从那些了解玩家“凶残性”一面的人身上获取更多相关信息。

尽管关于游戏机制的理念还具有种种限制，但是越来越多独立游戏已经开始使用这一机制，所以我们真心希望在今后能够从一些AAA游戏中看到更多变化。就像我们在《质量效应3》的结尾论战中所看到的那样，电子游戏中的故事也能够影响着玩家的行动，而不再只是作为这种行动的背景。现在我们真正需要做的只是进一步将游戏玩法整合到故事中，并以此创造出更多优秀的游戏。（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）

Extreme Storytelling: The Use of Narrative Mechanics

Josh Bycer

When it comes to talking about storytelling in games, I’m usually not the first choice as I prefer to focus on game design. However, there is a positive trend I’m seeing from the indie community that I want to talk about. Narrative and gameplay have always existed as two separate entities, as the story grows and changes not based on the player’s actions, but choices that are removed from the actual play. But lately I’ve seen the start of something new, a way of combining both of them together, using narrative mechanics.

Narrative Mechanics can be defined as the following: A mechanic or set of mechanics, which directly influence the story through player action.

Before we talk about the examples I’ve seen, let’s briefly cover some that aren’t. First are choices that affect good/evil sliders. The reason is that the narrative is still being affected by something outside of the player’s action. It doesn’t matter how the player is playing the game, but where a mark is on a slider that dictates the story. Second, are choices made during cut-scenes, even if they affect the gameplay afterwards, they still have no bearing from how the player has played the game up until that point.

Moving on, there are three examples of narrative mechanics that I want to talk about, starting with the oldest: Alpha Protocol. Alpha Protocol did feature a lot of its choices through dialogue options, but there were many subtle things the player did that changed the narrative or options. In many levels, the various NPC allies or enemies would comment on how the player got through the level, either by stealth or gun play. One level which asks the player to stealth-fully place recon devices in a base has a reward for people who can make it through perfectly.

Alpha Protocol

After the level is over the player has a choice to make, either to earn the respect of the base by deactivating the bugs or leave them in and ruin the relationship. However, if the player made it through without being caught at all, they have the option of turning off all the bugs… except for the one the base leader didn’t catch you do. Allowing you to have your cake and eat it too.

Moving on we have Bastion, which was one of my favorite games of last year. Bastion’s unique storytelling device was the reactive narrator. While the player is moving around and going through the levels, you can hear the voice of the narrator commenting on the events. Most of the comments are pre-canned about the level itself, but there are plenty that come from how the player is playing. Such as if the player is taking a lot of damage, or what weapons they decide to use. While the effect is basic, it does show how the player’s use of the mechanics could affect how the narrative is being told.

Bastion

Now for the example that made me think of this topic. Lone Survivor was just released on Steam, which for those that haven’t played it, is a 2D survival horror title. A lot of what makes Lone Survivor stand out and the subject of this post, are also very spoiler fill, so I’m going to talk as generally about the gameplay as I can, but be-aware that I’m going to be spoiling the game a little bit.

While the gameplay is basic, the game’s story and ending are determined by the player’s actions. The game keeps track of how you’re playing the game and what actions you’re taking. Everything from how many enemies you killed, to how well you’ve been feeding yourself and getting a good night’s sleep. The only things the game tells you during play are: your health when critical, when you’re starting to get hungry, and when you’re starting to get tired. Everything else is hidden from the player. After you’ve seen the ending, the game shows you a breakdown of all your actions and what influenced your ending.

Lone Survivor

There is only one point that I saw in the game, where everything stops for the player to make a choice; most of the time it’s just the actions by the player that are tracked. Checking the end of the game breakdown, it was interesting to see how even the tiniest actions were factored into the ending.

While Lone Survivor is the most recent example of narrative mechanics, I would like to see this trend further developed. Imagine playing a game where the world and situations around the player change not by their choices, but their actions in game. For example, let’s say that you choose to play an action game stealth-fully, avoiding other people and teammates to go it alone. From that, in cut-scenes the people will start to look alien and be cold to the player.

Or basing the game not on whether or not the player kills enemies, but how they kill them. Instead of just shooting someone once, let’s say that the player just mutilates enemies, with the most dangerous weapons and constant head shots. This time people around will start to look more animal like as the character begins to dehumanize everyone. Also it makes it harder to get information from people as they know how violent the player is.

Lastly an example of a negative response, this time let’s say that the player has shown that they have trouble with platforming sections in the past. What happens is that as the player encounters new ones, they’ll twist and warp to become nightmarish versions to show the character’s fear or inexperience with them.

The sky is pretty much the limit with this concept and while it has been used more in the indie crowd, hopefully we’ll have a chance to see this work from an AAA developer. As we’ve seen with the Mass Effect 3 ending controversy, video game story telling has reached the point that it can affect people beyond just a backdrop for the action. Now we just need to find a way to integrate the gameplay further into the story and we could see some amazing titles.（source:chronicgamedesigner）