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恐怖游戏应给予玩家力量并引发其恐惧感

发布时间:2012-07-25 17:56:22 Tags:,,,

作者:Josh Bycer

之前我曾探讨过游戏中的恐怖设计,如为什么游戏中的“抵抗或逃跑”反应应该“势均力敌”。《战锤40K:星际战士》最近发布了,让我想起以战锤世界为背景的另一款游戏——《太空战舰:铁血天使的复仇》。我认为这款游戏能告诉我们如何在给予玩家力量的同时引发他们的恐惧,是一个经典案例。由此,我想出了以下几条建议。

1、玩家必须始终能够反击

虽然我将《失忆症:黑暗后裔》当作冒险游戏来玩,我认为这款游戏不恐怖的原因之一是:玩家无法自我防御。

回到我以前写的一篇文章,抵抗或逃跑反应是人类的本能,因为我们的大脑必须遭遇危险的情况下快速决定留下来抵抗或逃走,此时大脑会释放相应的神经递质。当你移除这种反应的其中一半时,玩家的选择就受限了。在《失忆症》中,当我被怪物抓到时,我从来不逃走,任凭它杀掉我,因为我大不了重来一次。相比于重来,逃跑要做的事情更棘手。

如果存在抵抗和逃跑的选项,玩家就不得不作决定了。在这一点上,《Alan Wake》做得比较成功:在游戏中,玩家不断地被敌人包围,迫使玩家决定把敌人打倒还是逃向下一个安全区域。

Alan Wake(from kotaku.com.au)

Alan Wake(from kotaku.com.au)

另一方面,游戏允许玩家反击,但只能在特定的时间。在《Haunting Ground》中,大多数时候,玩家会被一群要杀死他而不是伤害他的敌人追赶。在每个区域的尽头都有一个BOSS,玩家不得不想办法打倒它。

问题是,这种游戏在每一次危险来临时仅为玩家限定一种反应。在冒险过程中逃跑,在BOSS战中反击。为了让这种反应管用,玩家必须在任何时候都有这两种选择,如果你把玩家和BOSS锁在一间房里,那么这游戏就不再是恐怖游戏了,而是动作游戏,因为玩家知道自己唯有拼死一战。

在《太空战舰》中的常规剧情是,玩家是血天使的一分子,而血天使是一个太空战团,其任务是防止外星人占领地球。在游戏中,玩家的主要敌人是基因偷窃者,这种外星人用自己的基因传染给人类,使人类变成他们的同类。阅读了写在指南上的基本剧情后,我们知道太空战士是会接受任何挑战,无论挑战多么致命也要抗争到底。

偷窃者的数量总是多于玩家和小队成员,他们必须决定什么何时移动、停留和抗击。虽然有整队成员作为后援,幸存玩家一人并不难,但要让所有人活着回来就是另一回事了。

2、敌人的等级必须与玩家不同

恐惧的基本原则之一是,经历某些不习惯的事。虽然恐怖游戏在一定程度上做到了,比如怪异的怪物设计,但许多没有切中要点:敌人的战斗方式不应该与玩家相同。

在《战争机器》和《死亡空间》中,主线都是主人公用先进的武器与异世界的敌人战斗,但为什么前者被当作动作游戏,而后者是恐怖游戏?区别在于,在《战争机器》中,大多数敌人的战斗方式与玩家一样,都是打枪或扔手榴弹。而在《死亡空间》中,敌人与玩家是完全不同的,无论是进攻还是击杀方法。对于《死亡空间》中的怪物,玩家必须分离他们的肢体,否则肢体还会从被枪击的身体或头部重生。

死亡空间2(from g4tv.com)

死亡空间2(from g4tv.com)

在《太空战舰》中,玩家的小队全副武装,用先进的武器抗击敌人。战队的标准配备包括一把狙击枪和一副用于近身战的能量手套。作为战士,他们有远攻的优势,且在与基因偷窃者的一对一近身战中,他们也会赢。

另一方面,偷窃者在近身战中表现更为快速灵活,因为他们的的爪子很强悍。如果他们从背后偷袭,战士还来不及回头就会毙命。偷窃者可以爬过通风口出现在军团的背后,即使用上了运动检测器,玩家也得时刻警惕。最后,偷窃者最危险的优势是,在许多关卡中,他们的数量总是比战士多,而且会无限产生。

《太空战舰》中的平衡是不对称的,双方是完全不同的,玩家反应和战斗的方式也与敌人不同。再说《Fatal Frame 3》,玩家与敌人战斗时不断处于劣势,因为敌人可以消失、重现,可以穿过墙壁、地板和天花板攻击玩家。

我玩《寂静岭》系列时遇到的一个问题是,虽然怪物设计得很独特,但大多数敌人都遵循相仿的进攻模式:接近然后伤害。因为玩家的主要武器是近距的,所以双方的交互作用也是类似的(《寂静岭2》中的锥头怪是例外》。

3、应该避免线性模式

最阻碍恐惧产生的方式就是线性攻击,因为一旦玩家知道游戏是按这种方式设置的,就不会再感到紧张了。

至于《F.E.A.R》,这款游戏在动作和恐怖这两部分是分离的。在动作部分,玩家被敌人攻击,处于恐惧中,他们徘徊着,没有意识到可怕的事正在酝酿。问题是,在动作部分没有任何可怕的事发生,而在恐怖部分没有出现任何危险(直到游戏的非常后面)。当游戏试图吓倒我时,我不但不害怕,反而觉得更放松了,因为我知道我还没到危险关头。

如果可以让玩家去猜测,如下一波进攻是什么时候,玩家会感觉到更紧张害怕。原因是,玩家会不断地想到“我什么时候会被攻击?”。这种逐渐积聚的过程是恐惧感的绝妙来源,但是,当玩家最终受到攻击时,应该有一个中断点。如果玩家在整个阶段都完全没有受到攻击,那么这个逐渐聚积的过程就白费了。

在《太空战舰》中,可以让玩家意识到危险的唯一工具就是运动感应器。与电影《异型》类似,当有危险逼近时,这种工具就会发出哔哔声。而在《太空战舰》中,感应器有时候会出现失误,有时候玩家得自己提高警惕。这就维持了玩家的紧张感,因为玩家不知道什么时候下一波攻击会来袭,只知道危险正在逼近。

为了让恐怖游戏摆脱我个人认为的惯例,必须借鉴rogue类游戏的做法,并随机分布敌人的位置及进攻方式。怪物越快从群体中冲出来,游戏就越恐怖。我还希望怪物不总是进攻玩家,就像在《太空战舰》中,玩家会因此疑惑目前情况的安危。

4、敌人与玩家一起成长

玩家变得更强大后,会觉得更有安全感,这就减少了对游戏的紧张感,因为原来无法通关的地方,现在可以回头再闯了。恐怖游戏在这里出现的问题是,忘了恢复玩家的紧张感,最好的解决办法是,敌人也跟着变强。

《Alan Wake》也存在这个问题,随着游戏进展,玩家会得到更多类型的武器和手榴弹,然而敌人从来没变。有些敌人可能需要更多光才会被削弱,但这个过程从游戏开始到结束都是一样的。

在《死亡空间》中,玩家会得到新的武器和装备,设计师也确实引入了新敌人挑战玩家,包括两次与只会受伤不会被杀死的敌人战斗。、

在《寂静岭2》中,玩家遭遇锥形头怪物的时刻非常可怕,因为这个怪物与玩家战斗过的普通敌人不同。当锥形头怪物挥舞巨大的剑时,玩家一接近就是自找死路,这就迫使玩家从远处开始反击或逃跑。

在《太空战舰》中,玩家会因为获得新武器而变强,包括一种有助于近战的武器。随着游戏进展,玩家会与新类型的基因偷窃者作战,还有暴走的战士,他们是玩家的邪恶版本。之后,敌人的类型包括能进行超能力攻击的偷窃者,如心灵之火或让玩家的武器失灵。当玩家变得更强大,敌人也有自己的增强方式,由此达到敌我双方的平衡。

如果玩家不进步,敌人也不必变强,这一点很重要。在《Fatal Frame》系列中,玩家由始至终都是用相机作为唯一的防御工具。相机可以升级得更有破坏力,但相应地,敌人的命值也会变长。后来的敌人确实有不同的进攻模式,但玩家的防御方式保持不变。

5、给予玩家喘气时间

再返回用随机进攻模式保持玩家的紧张感,游戏中应该总是存在一段轻松或安全的时期。原因是,如果玩家总是被恐惧感轰炸,他们会对险境变得麻木。即使我认为《失忆症》不够恐怖,但我确实很欣赏设计师让玩家有安全时期的设定,玩家在这段时间内可以专心解谜或什么事也不干。

当然,给玩家一段安全时期也可能起到反效果。《Fatal Frame 3》中最恐怖的时刻之一是,游戏进行时,安全时间就像沙漏一样慢慢流逝,我不想在多说,怕坏了感觉。

如果你想让玩家想出正在发生什么事或作出重大决定,就必须给玩家时间处理游戏中的事件,而在这段时间内,玩家不应该疲于奔命或与怪物战斗。

《太空战舰》的处理手法很巧妙。一旦到了玩家给小队成员下达指令的时候,玩家可以暂停,以查看区域地图和完成发令。屏幕下方有一个仪表,会慢慢地缩短,表示当前冻结的时间,玩家可以在这段安全时间内思考和发号施令。一旦仪表走完,敌人就开始进攻了。玩家正控制着角色时,仪表会再次恢复,让玩家有更多时间思考。

我们都会不同程度地感觉到恐惧,这只是人类的本能。然而,我认为恐惧的入口是重点,会吓倒所有玩家。我的设计目标之一是,制作一款游戏,玩家有各种各样的武器:散弹枪、火箭筒、喷火器等,但是玩家仍然会因为黑暗和未知而感到毛骨悚然。

游戏邦注:原文发表于2011年9月11日,所涉事件及数据均以当时为准。(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

The Interplay of Fear and Power In Horror Games- Or, How To Make Manly Men Cry.

by Josh Bycer

We’re one month away from October, which can only mean one thing: discussing horror elements in games. In the past I’ve talked about horror design in games, such as examining why “Fight or Flight” needs to be around. With the recent release of Warhammer 40k: Space Marine, it reminded me of another game in the Warhammer universe. Space Hulk: Vengeance of the Blood Angels, which came out for the 3d0 in the 90s and as I thought about it, the game is an excellent example of how to do fear while giving the player power, which led me to thinking about the guidelines for how to do this.

1. Player Has To Fight Back At All Times:

While I enjoyed Amnesia: The Dark Decent as an adventure game, I don’t consider it scary for one reason: the player cannot defend themselves.

Going to back to an article I wrote awhile ago, the fight or flight response is part of human nature, as our brains have to make a split second decision in a dangerous situation to either stay and fight or run away and release the corresponding neurotransmitters. When you remove half the equation, it restricts the options the player has. In Amnesia, I didn’t even bother running away when I was caught by a monster because I could just let it kill me and try again. There was more work involved with running away then just retrying.

By having both fight and flight as available options, it forces the player to make that decision. This was one area where Alan Wake succeeded, as the player is constantly outnumbered by the enemies in the game, forcing the player to decide if they can take them on, or try to run to the next safe area.

Another side of this is games that allow the player to fight back, but only at specific times. In Haunting Ground, the player for the most part, is chased by an enemy who wants to kill them with no means to hurt them. At the end of each area there is an actual boss fight where the player has to find a way to put them down.

The problem with this is that the game is still exemplifying one response at a time. Flight during the adventure segments, and then fight at the boss fights. In order for the responses to work, the player must have both options available at all times, if you lock the player in a room with a boss, then it’s no longer a horror game but an action game as the player knows that their only option is to fight.

In Space Hulk, the general plot is that you part of the Blood Angels, a group of space marines whose task it is to keep aliens from taking over planets. In the game, your main foes are the genestealers, aliens who infect races with their DNA to cause their species to grow. From reading the basic plot that was in the manual, the space marines are the kind of people who take on any challenge no matter how suicidal and fight to the last man.

The player is always outnumbered by the stealers and with squad members persistent across maps, they have to decide when to keep moving, or when to stay and fight. While it is easy for the player to survive with a full squad as backup, getting everyone back alive is a completely different story.

2. Enemies Have To Fight At A Different Level Then the Player:

One of the basic rules of horror is that you should be experiencing something that you are not accustomed to. While horror games get this right to a degree with weird monster designs, many miss the point that enemies should not fight from the same rulebook as the player.

Tell me, why is it that Gears of War is considered an action title and Dead Space is a horror title, when both games have the protagonist fighting otherworldly enemies with advanced weaponry? The difference is that in Gears of War, the majority of the enemies fight the same way as the player, using guns and grenades. While in Dead Space, the enemies are completely different from the player, both in how they attack and how to kill them. With Dead Space, the monsters or necromorphs can only be killed by severing their limbs, as they will just regenerate from body or head shots.

In Space Hulk, the player’s squad is heavily armored and uses powerful weapons to stop their enemies. The marines’ standard load-out includes a ranged gun and a power glove for close quarters. As a marine, they have the advantage of ranged attacks, and in a one to one fight against the genestealers they will win.

The stealers on the other hand, are quicker and better at close quarters due to their powerful claws. If they attack a marine from behind, that marine is dead before he turns around. The stealers also move through vents and can appear behind the marine group, even with a motion detector the player has to be on the lookout. The last, and most dangerous advantage, is that the stealers will always outnumber the marines and in many levels, they will infinitely spawn.

As you can see, Space Marine is about asymmetrical balance, both sides are completely different and how the player reacts and fights, is not the same as the enemy. Going to Fatal Frame 3 for a second, the player is at a constant disadvantage when fighting ghosts, as they can disappear and reappear while going through walls, floors and ceilings to attack the player.

One problem I had with the Silent Hill series is that while the monster designs were unique, the majority of the enemies followed the same attack pattern: get in close to do damage. Since the player’s main weapons are close range, both interactions are similar (with the pyramid head fights of Silent Hill 2 the exception).

3. Linearity Should Be Avoided:

One of the biggest ways to remove horror in your games is to have linear attacks, as once the player knows that the game is setup this way, it removes the tension.

With F.E.A.R, the game is split between action and horror segments. During action, the player is attack by the enemies, while in horror; they wander around while creepy stuff happens. The problem is that nothing scary happens during the action segments, and there is no danger while the horror segments play out (until the very end of the game.) Instead of being scared, I was more relaxed while the game was trying to scare me as I knew I was in no immediate danger.

When you can make the players guess, as to when the next attack is, it increases the tension and horror. The reason is that constant feeling of “when am I going to be attack?”. That buildup is an excellent source of fear, but it has to have a breaking point when the player is finally attacked. If they go through an entire area and not be attacked at all, then the buildup was for nothing.

In Space Hulk, the player’s only way to tell that there is danger is their motion sensor. Similar to the movie Aliens, it beeps louder as something dangerous gets closer. With Space Hulk, there are times that the sensor will go off, and there won’t be an attack, other times the player will have to defend themselves. This keeps the tension high, as the player doesn’t know when the next attack is coming, only that there is one on the way.

In order for the horror genre to get out of its current rut in my opinion, it has to take a cue from rogue-likes and implement randomized enemy positions and attacks. The faster they move on from “monster closets”, the better for the genre. I would also like to play a horror game, where the enemies won’t always attack the player, like in Space Hulk, making the player question if this situation will turn dangerous.

4. If The Player Evolves, So Must the Enemies:

Becoming more powerful gives the player a feeling of security and can lower the tension of the game and can be used to provide the player with an area that is toned down as they can now fight back effectively. The problem with horror games is that they forget to ratchet the tension back up, and the best way to do that is to have the enemies evolve.

Alan Wake suffers from this, as the game goes on the player is introduced to more weapons and grenade types, however the enemies never change. Some enemies may require more light to weaken, but the process remains the same from beginning to end.

In Dead Space, the player will get new weapons and armor as the game progresses and the designers did implement new enemies to challenge the player, including two fights with an enemy who could only be wounded by their weapons, not killed.

The moments in Silent Hill 2, where the player encounters the pyramid head monsters are scary, as this is something different from the normal enemies the player fights. Getting up close to one is suicide when they start swinging their over-sized swords, forcing the player to either fight from afar, or run away.

As the player progresses in Space Hulk, they will be promoted with new weapons, including ones that grant the player an advantage in melee combat. As the game goes on, the player will fight new types of genestealers, along with chaos marines, which are the evil version of the player. Later enemy types include stealers who have psychic attacks, such as pyrokinesis, or making your weapons act up. The point is that while the player becomes more powerful, the enemy is growing in their own way to challenge the player.

It’s important to note for this category, that if the player doesn’t evolve then the enemy doesn’t have to. In the Fatal Frame series, the player will be using their camera as the only means to defend themselves from beginning to end. The camera can be upgraded to do more damage, but that coincides with fighting stronger ghosts that have more health. Later ghosts do have different attack patterns, but the way to defeat them remains the same.

5. Give the player downtime:

Going back to randomizing attacks to keep the player tense, there should always be a period of rest or safety to wind things down. The reason is that if the player is constantly being bombarded with horror, they’ll become desensitized to the situation. Even though I didn’t find Amnesia scary, I do appreciate the fact that the designers did give the player periods of safety, where they can focus on the puzzle solving and nothing else.

Of course giving the player a safe zone can be used against them at some point. One of the best moments of fear in Fatal Frame 3, was how the period of safety slowly trickled away as the game went on, I don’t want to say anymore as it would ruin the event.

If you want to challenge the player to figure out what is going on or make important decisions, they need time to process the events of the game, where they aren’t running for their lives or fighting against strange creatures.

Space Hulk has an interesting way of doing this. Once the player reaches the point where they can give squad members orders, they can use the pause screen to view a map of the area to accomplish this. A meter at the bottom of the screen slowly drains, representing that time is currently frozen, allowing the player to think and command in safety. Once the meter runs out, time starts again and the player will now have to command while enemies are attacking. As the player is controlling their character, the meter fills back up again allowing them more time to think.

We all have different degrees of fear, that’s just human nature. However, I think that the points in this entry can serve as a focal point, which will scare any player. One of my design goals is to create a game that gives the player all kinds of weapons: shotguns, rocket launchers, flamethrowers etc, and yet is still completely terrified of the dark and unknown. With that said if I do make that game at one point, I have one bit of advice for you: be afraid, be very afraid.(source:chronicgamedesigner)


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