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阐述细节机制在游戏玩法中的重要性

发布时间:2012-06-13 18:11:36 Tags:,,,

作者:Randy OConnor

当我们谈到自己喜欢的游戏时,总是不自然地提到游戏细节。这些细节总是隐藏在游戏环境中,并且能够加强游戏的氛围。我也将在此突出一些游戏的细节内容,并阐述这些细节是如何加强游戏核心机制和情感表现。

当我着眼于以下细节时,我仔细思考了这些元素形成的环境。它们是出于教育需要,深度需要,还是只是想以此创造出一种特定的情感?

《我的世界》——“爬行者”

minecraft_creeper(from calitreview.com)

minecraft_creeper(from calitreview.com)

“爬行者”(即苦力怕)便是一个显著的例子。有些玩家非常喜欢它,也有些玩家非常讨厌它。可以说这是过去五年里游戏中出现过的最好辨识的生物。我相信它受欢迎也是有原因的,因为它与游戏的系统机制总是紧密地结合在一起。毕竟这是游戏世界中的一个“引爆点”,并且与《马里奥》不同的是,创造和破坏都是游戏系统的基础。

当你听到危险的嘶嘶声时,这便意味着你煞费苦心完成的建筑马上就要面临终结,它是你花了20分钟所创造的图案玻璃墙的潜在威胁。而这时候你只需要等待像素化效果发生变化便可。简单地说,爬行者将原本的地形影响扩大化了。

忘了有多少次我是勉强从户外的爆炸中逃出,爬行者是我们在《我的世界》游戏过程中最难忘而惨痛的记忆。

《戴斯班克》——战利品的名称和描述

这款游戏的精彩描述便是其吸引我走到最后的主要因素。它拥有非常有趣的核心循环,但是却不够新颖。而游戏和描述的精彩之处便体现于战利品上。我们可以在游戏中找到“Bladed Shoulders of Blades”,“Bad-Ass Crossbow”,或者“Log Sword”(游戏邦注:被描述为“带有记录的剑”)等战利品。

《戴斯班克》拥有稳固的图像,整个世界就像是一本精致的故事集,但是游戏中的武器却非常普通。而关于这些武器的名称和描述却具有深刻的含义。当玩家找到更加强大的新武器时,他们并不会因为这些武器能够帮助他们更好地前行感到惊讶。当这些武器的描述与游戏玩法联系在一起时,即当我使用Poop Hammer去“铲除任何恶魔”时,我才会慢慢感受到其用意。

游戏描述是我真心想从游戏中看到的内容。我也不知道当我第一次与Swamp Donkey对抗时我糟糕的反击是否遭到别人的嘲笑。在这种情况下,文本描述便是游戏机制中不可分割的重要内容。与许多冒险游戏一样,这类型游戏无时不体现故事作者的聪明才智。

《火星漫步》——与Amani对话

当提到文本描述时,《火星漫步》中有便有一个非常贴切的功能。即当玩家深入到火星的洞穴中时,他们将发现一个大垂直洞穴。事实上游戏扩大了这个洞穴使玩家能够使用通信设备与营地搭档Amani取得联系(游戏邦注:一般情况下玩家只能在接近行星的表面与之联系)。Amani将告诉你,当你想要与别人进行对话时就需要回到这个洞穴中。她很孤独,所以玩家就需要多与她说说话。

Amani(from gamasutra)

Amani(from gamasutra)

当玩家发觉他们会受到游戏中孤独感的影响时,他们便会回应这一功能。你是一个孤独的角色,下降到一个洞穴中,并且只能偶尔与同伴取得联系。游戏可以持续6至7个小时让玩家与其他角色展开对话,并最终获得惊人的力量。

不仅如此,Amani也将帮助玩家明确自己该做些什么。如此,游戏空间将真正变成一个暗示系统,即当玩家需要时游戏便会给予相关提示。在这种环境状况相对模糊的游戏中,这种细节机制无疑是一种良好的故事氛围补充,并在突出主题性的同时,让开发者能够为受制于环境的玩家提供帮助。

其它关于机制的例子

《FEZ》——整个游戏使用了《俄罗斯方块》元素,其中的益智和建筑元素不断扩大我对于游戏内容的好奇。

《黑暗之魂》——玩家需要在游戏中穿越狭窄的走道,就好像永远也达不到极限。

《正当防卫2》——在自由降落时引爆炸药,就像是电影中的动作演员。

所以,我能从这些游戏中得到什么呢?当你创造出一个游戏机制时,你便需要证实在整体系统的环境下的次要机制是否合理。虽然结果有点可笑,但是在《Morrowind》中,当我能在不同建筑物间跳跃时我便能够四处穿越的这一机制仍然很吸引我,我甚至花费了很多时间去“训练”自己如何当好一名“杂技演员和跳跃者。这似乎比在一系列数据中添加更多理论性内容有逻辑多了。

norrland(from gamasutra)

norrland(from gamasutra)

就像那些设置有枪支的游戏,为何都是关于使用枪支进行射击并按压“R”键装填弹药呢?细节机制将能够提高枪支的重要性,而Cactus的《Norrland》的重装子弹机制更是非常有趣。我并不喜欢那种需要我们花费半个多小时而缓慢前行的游戏,并且同时还要具有惊人的装填子弹速度。Cactus的这款游戏让我花些时间重装子弹,这让我感觉自己确实像个杀手。

如果你认为你的游戏机制超越了一般类型,并重新思考为什么你会做出这些决策,我相信你将能够找到一些可行的替代机制去创造出RPG,建筑模拟游戏,赛车游戏和其它类型的游戏。这些细节有助于让你的游戏脱颖而出,让玩家更容易注意到游戏,记得自己在游戏中的体验,并真正关心自己在游戏中的挑战。(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

Detail Mechanics

by Randy OConnor

It seems that we usually point to details when we talk about games we love.  Those little moments that work within the context of the greater piece of work and enhance a game’s atmosphere.

I wanted to highlight the small details of certain games that strengthen the core mechanic and mood of said game.

When I look at the following details, I think about the context in how these elements came to be?  Were they constructed out of a need to teach, out of a desire for additional depth, or to create a certain emotion?

Minecraft – The Creeper

The creeper is my “duh!” example.  It is widely loved/hated by players, and one of the most recognizable creatures from gaming’s last five years.  I believe it has this popularity because of how tightly it is integrated with the system’s mechanics.  It’s a bob-omb, after all, in a world where, unlike Mario, creation and destruction are the foundations of the system.

When you hear that threatening hiss, it signals the end of procedural and constructed perfection.  The creeper is a potential end to the patterned glass wall you spent twenty minutes designing.  Waiting just on the inside of your door, watching that pixelated face stare back at you.  Almost stupidly simple, the creeper amplifies how easily any terrain can be affected.

How many times have I barely escaped explosive death out in the wild and then, out of compulsion, replaced every cubic meter of sand a creeper uprooted?  I have the power to undo its evil upon a perfect procedural wilderness.  The creeper is a cruel reminder of the time we spend within Minecraft’s ruleset.

Deathspank – Loot Names and Descriptions

This game held my attention all the way to completion, and I attribute that largely to the wonderful writing.  It has a fun core loop, but nothing overly original.  Where the game and the writing meet wonderfully is in the naming of loot.  You can find the Bladed Shoulders of Blades.  There is a Bad-Ass Crossbow, that’s been “carved from a wicked donkey”.  Or the Log Sword, the description being: “A sword with a log on it, or is it a log with a sword on it?”

Deathspank’s art is solid, it is a cool world with a clever storybook terrain, but the images of the weapons are almost generic.  The names and descriptions speak volumes more.  The discovery of new weapons, and what is the mega-bad-assedest of weapons, kept me going in a game that is otherwise unsurprising.  I relished when those descriptions even tied further back into gameplay, when I had to use a Poop Hammer to literally “Kick the poop out of any demon.”

The game’s writing was exactly what I want from games, concise and human.  And I don’t know if I have ever laughed as hard playing a game as when I first fought a Swamp Donkey.  Writing, in this case, is integral to the game’s mechanics.  Like many adventure games, the game is ultimately about exploring the wit of the writer[s].

Waking Mars – Speaking to Amani

While we are on the subject of writing, Waking Mars has a feature that works well in function and form.  As you get deep into the caves of Mars, you discover a large vertical cave.  So large, in fact, that it somehow amplifies and allows your comm device to reach your partner, Amani, down at base camp who you can normally only contact from near the planet’s surface.

Amani tells you to return to this cave any time you want to talk to someone.  She’s a bit lonely and you guys have plenty to talk about.

People have responded to this feature, after they find how affected they are by the game’s solitude.  You are a lone character descending into a network of caves and you are limited to only occasional communication with your suit’s computer.  In a game that can span six or seven hours, giving the player a place to initiate conversation with another character ends up being surprisingly powerful.

Not only that, but Amani will help with clues about what you should be doing.  This space ends up being a really cool hint system that is the game talking to you when you may need it.  In a game that remains reasonably vague about the world, this detail mechanic ends up complementing the mood of the story, remaining thematic, and allowed us, as developers, to help the player within the confines of the world.

A few other bits and example mechanics

FEZ – The usage of Tetris shapes throughout the game as puzzle and architectural elements amplified my already overflowing curiosity about what everything might mean.

Dark Souls – Crossing narrow walkways in the game wears you down, as if you are not already tested to your limits.

Just Cause 2 – Setting off triggered explosives as you free-fall makes you feel like an action-movie star. Every single time. (For me, at least.)

So what do I draw from all of these?  When creating a mechanic, you should question your sub-mechanics within the context of your overall system.  It ended up a bit ludicrous, but jumping all around Morrowind until I could leap from building to building still made sense to me, in the idea that I had spent all my time “training” as an acrobat and jumper.  It seemed more logical than adding some theoretical points to a list of stats.

When making a game with guns, why are so many games about only shooting the gun and pressing R to reload?  Detail mechanics could enhance the heft and meaning of the gun, and a game like Cactus’s Norrland makes reloading its own mechanic that I got surprisingly good at.  I became uncomfortable at how over the 30 minutes of playing the game I went from slow and awkward while reloading to chillingly quick. Shik-snik-click!  I felt like a killer because Cactus forced me to spend time reloading my hunting rifle.

I want more of these things. If you think about your mechanic beyond genre conventions and reexamine why you make each mechanical decision, I firmly believe you will find a plethora of alternative mechanics to create RPGs or construction sims or racing games or any other type of game.  And these things will make you stand out, they will make me take notice and remember how I felt playing your game, caring about what I was doing.(source:GAMASUTRA)


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