作者：Eric Caoili

如果你对经历过16位主机游戏时代的人说起《Shinobi III》、《出击飞龙》和许多其他经典的动作游戏，你一定可以看到他们眼中闪动的光芒，那是因为他们想起了有老游戏相伴的美好时光。玩这些2D老游戏必须掌握准确的进攻和特技技巧，还要投入大量极少成年人能均得出来的时间。

独立游戏开发者Kris Durrschmidt认为：“许多人带着怀旧的心情看待这些游戏，但他们没有意识到这些游戏的乐趣从来没有消失。这些游戏没有过时，游戏机制也并不落后。人们只是不再制作这类游戏了。”

Durrschmidt和程序设计师Taron Millet最近组建了一个名为Crazy Viking的工作室，他们打算制作一些带有超级任天堂和Genesis时代意味的复古游戏。一些大发行商大多已经将这些老游戏抛弃了。

这两人在组成Crazy Viking工作室以前，曾制作横版动作游戏，他们曾供职于Griptonite Games，曾参与制作手持设备授权游戏如《The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night》 （GBA）、《Spider-Man: Web of Shadows》（DS）和最后的《Shinobi III》（3DS）。

Glu Mobile于去年兼并Griptonite Games，并将其发展重点改为智能手机和平板电脑游戏。Durrscmidt和Millet决定是时候退出并制作自己的游戏，摆脱版权持有者经常性的无理要求。

volgarr-the-viking(from gametrailers.com)

他们第一个项目《Volgarr the Viking》的宣言是“向街机游戏的黄金时代致敬的16位游戏，在今天光彩重生。”对于外行人来说，这款游戏看起来就像SNES或Genesis的游戏——甚至连游戏盒都是旧式风格的，只是游戏的运行平台是Windows PC。

除了外观仿古，为了让《Volgarr the Viking》的游戏机制也像老游戏，Crazy Viking必须将自己怀有和数十年前的设计师们相同的心态，同时不忘开发者们数年来学到的经验。这对二人来说并不容易，但是，如果有谁也想尝试制作16位动作游戏，他们倒是有些建议可供参考。

1、专注于完善主要机制

从最开始到整个开发周期，开发者必须不断地问自己，“这款游戏到底是什么？”，并且牢牢把握这些简单的想法。因为在开发早期，当开发商或发行商觉得游戏不够有趣时，他们往往会转向其他机制作为权宜之计。

Dursschmidt指出：“老式2D游戏的设计之道在于‘好吧，给这家伙三个非常严密、准确的机制，然后我们再找找使用这些机制的方法有多少，最后做出一款了不起的游戏。因此，游戏体验会非常严密而准确。”

至于《Volgarr the Viking》，Crazy Viking已经花了大量时间用于调整游戏的固定轨道跳跃系统，这个系统的设计受到Capcom的《Super Ghouls’n Ghosts》的启发。二人对这个关键机制的修改是，将双重跳跃也作为攻击方式，且游戏的平台挑战主要围绕这个系统展开。

2、操作简单、易学

Durrschmidt主张在一开始就给予玩家完整的角色动作组合，这样玩家就能早些学会如何使用工具，掌握动作和进攻，免除了游戏指南的干扰。

他主张的操作设计的原则与机制一致：保持简单和严密性。尽量让操作准确而可预测；完全围绕一个按键设计游戏，除非绝对必要才增加其他按键。必须让玩家的注意力放在限时跳跃和敌人分布上，而不是被操作弄得手忙脚乱。

3、有难度，但不失公平

16位动作游戏的最大魅力在于有挑战难度，拒绝娇纵玩家。玩家可能在相同的地方死好几次，但当最终通关（或掌握敌人的特点）时，他们会觉得特别有成就感，死了那么多次总算死得其所。

虽然这类老游戏的困难是使它们如此好玩的主要原因，但有必要意识到它们同样存在不少陈旧的机制——如毫无预警地杀死玩家的陷阱和玩家目力不及的凹点（玩家要跳起来才能发现，但那时已经来不及了）。

Durrschmidt认为最好不要再使用这些过时的把戏。

设计师必须平衡玩家害怕在游戏中挂掉的紧张感。20年以前的标准是给玩家三条命和一些连续游戏，但是，当玩家消耗完三条命就得从头再来，在现在看来是毫无道理的。类似地，不允许玩家在比较重要的阶段重新开始关卡也是不合理的。

4、作弊有理

Durrschmidt认为不必遵循老式游戏的那一套设计和表现方法。“我们允许作弊。《Volgarr the Viking》不是真正的16位游戏。游戏中的海盗有各种各样的颜色，还有其他关卡通道。我们把所有游戏部分都丢在那里了，我们还有很多横版图层。”

Crazy Viking不觉得作弊是件令人难受的事，因为最终它使《Volgarr the Viking》更好玩了。Durrschmidt补充道：“许多人回想起这些老游戏，回忆都是美好的，他们会说，‘喔，这款游戏真强大。’但时当你再回头玩它，你会说，‘好吧，你知道的，这里本可以做得再好一点。’。”

然而，当玩家的自由太多时，就会导致游戏看起来很草率，有些不合时宜的东西就很明显了。发现你是否越过这条界线可能是一个简单的过程，就像你自己从头到尾玩遍这款游戏，然后说，“这里看起来完全不对劲。我们得把这个去掉。”

这个策略也适用于音乐。《Volgarr the Viking》中过多的管弦乐原本不可能出现在16位的系统中，但Durrschmidt和Millet发现在游戏中加入史诗配乐非常有喜感——测试之后，他们觉得这种音乐给游戏增加了不少欢乐的气氛。

5、不要照搬《Castlevania》

super Castlevania 4(from obsoletegamer.com)

“不要只是照抄《Castlevania》。如果你要制作一款16位游戏，那就努力做出带有老游戏时代的感觉的东西。你的游戏要与《Castlevania》竞争，要与《ActRaiser》和《Ghouls’n Ghosts》竞争。”

尽管《Volgarr the Viking》借用了许多《Super Ghouls’n Ghosts》、《Rastan》和《Castlevania》中的创意，但是Crazy Viking努力确保游戏建立在这些借来的机制之上，将这些特点与自身融为一体。

开发者必须记住，自己的目标不是制作出一款完全像老式16位游戏的游戏，而是带有这些经典气息的好游戏。（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）

5 tips for making great 16-bit-style action games

by Eric Caoili

Bring up Shinobi III, Strider, or a number of other classic action titles to veterans of the 16-bit console game era, and you’re likely to see a spark in their eyes, a fond remembrance for the good old games that the industry once produced — 2D titles that demanded precise attacks, prescient acrobatics, and the sort of time investment that few adults could spare.

“A lot of people look at those games with nostalgia, but they don’t really identify the fact that those games never actually stopped being fun,” says indie developer Kris Durrschmidt.

“These games aren’t outdated. The game mechanics aren’t outdated. People just stopped [making them].”

Durrschmidt, along with programmer Taron Millet, recently formed a startup called Crazy Viking Studios to create games that look and play like those action titles they remember from the Super Nintendo and Genesis’ glory days, the kind of experiences that big publishers have, for the most part, since left behind.

The two have a history producing action-heavy sidescrollers; before forming Crazy Viking, they worked on a number of handheld licensed titles with cult followings at Griptonite Games, such as The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night (GBA), Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (DS), and most recently Shinobi 3D (3DS).

When Glu Mobile took over Griptonite last year and transformed it into a smartphone/tablet-focused studio, Durrscmidt and Millet decided it was time to strike out and create something unburdened by someone else’s license or the often times irrational demands of IP owners.

Their first project, Volgarr the Viking, promises “16-bit style action from the golden era of arcade games, reimagined for today.” To the untrained eye, it looks just like an SNES or Genesis title — it even comes with a throwback box (provided you pledge enough money to its Kickstarter campaign) — except the game’s releasing for Windows PC.

Beyond getting the look right, Crazy Viking has needed to put itself into the same mindset as those designers from decades ago in order to get Volgarr’s gameplay right, without forgetting the lessons developers have learned over the years. It hasn’t been easy for the pair, but they have advice for anyone who wants to try their own hand at making 16-bit action games.

1. Focus on perfecting primary mechanics

From the beginning and all throughout development, developers need to constantly ask themselves, “What is this game really about?” and stick to those simple ideas. Too often, when developers or publishers feel a game isn’t compelling enough early in its development, they’ll want to throw in other mechanics for a quick fix.

Dursschmidt points out, “In older 2D games, the design philosophy behind them was ‘Okay, let’s give this guy three really tight, really sharp, really precise mechanics, and then we’re going to find out how many interesting ways to use that mechanic, and make that game awesome. It’s a very tight, precise experience because of that.’”

With Volgarr, for instance, Crazy Viking has spent a lot of time tweaking the game’s fixed-trajectory jump system, which is very much inspired by Capcom’s Super Ghouls’n Ghosts. The team modified this essential mechanic by making double jumps also serve as an attack, and designed the game’s platforming challenges specifically around this system.

2. Simple, easy to learn controls

Durrschmidt advocates giving players their characters’ entire movesets from the beginning, allowing them to discover how to use the tools they have through level design and enemy placement, and forcing them to master their movements and attacks without any involved tutorials that delay the fun parts of a game.

His goal for controls is identical to his philosophy for mechanics: keep them simple and tight. Make them as precise and predictable as possible, and try to design your game entirely around a single button, only adding another when absolutely neccessary.. Players need to concentrate on timing jumps and dispatching enemies, not fumbling with controls.

3. Difficult but not unfair

One of the biggest appeals of 16-bit action games is their often challenging design, their refusal to mollycoddle players. A player might die at the same spot a dozen times, but that feeling of reward they get after finally passing that area (or mastering an enemy’s pattern to the point where it’s no longer a concern) more than makes up for it.

And while the difficulty of those old games were a major part of what made them so fun, it’s important to realize there were a lot of antiquated mechanics — like traps that killed players without warning, and pits that weren’t visible until players commit to a jump and it’s already too late — that Durrschmidt says are best left behind in that era.

Designers must also balance the tension that comes from fearing in-game deaths. Offering only three lives and a few continues was the standard two decades ago, but sending players to the beginning of the game once they’ve depleted all their lives seems unreasonable now. The same is true with not implementing checkpoints for players to continue from in a big stage.

Indies Zero’s cult DS release Retro Game Challenge is an excellent example of how developers can create a retro-style game with modern conveniences — the game collection’s Dragon Quest-inspired old school JRPG, for instance, has a handy save anywhere option, an auto-battle system, and fast text scrolling.

4. It’s okay to cheat

As you can probably already tell, Durrschmidt doesn’t believe it’s imperative to adhere to the design and presentation of older games. “We are cheating,” he admits. [Volgarr] is not a true 16-bit game. We have a lot more colors in the sprites. We have alphas. We’re throwing all kinds of particles out there. We have multiple scrolling layers.”

Crazy Viking didn’t feel uncomfortable cheating because at the end of the day, it made Volgarr look better. Durrschmidt adds, “A lot of folks look back on those old games and remember them fondly, like ‘Oh, this game looked really awesome.’ But you go back and play it, and there are things where you’re like, ‘Well, you know. This could’ve been a little nicer here.”"

When you take too many liberties, however, the game ends up looking sloppy, with certain anachronisms standing out like a sore thumb. Figuring out whether you’ve crossed the line can be a process as simple as playing through the game yourself and deciding, “That doesn’t look right at all. We should take that one out.”

That strategy applies to music, too. Volgarr’s over-the-top orchestral music wouldn’t have been possible on 16-bit systems, but Durrschmidt and Millet found the idea of attaching an epic score to it hilarious — after testing the idea as a gag, they realized that it added a lot to the game’s atmosphere and tone.
5. Don’t just make another Castlevania”Don’t just re-skin Castlevania,” advises Durrschmidt. “If you’re going to go back and make a 16-bit game, try to approach it in a way that you’re in that era, you’re trying to compete with Castlevania. You’re trying to compete with ActRaiser and Ghouls’n Ghosts.”

Though Volgarr cribs a number of ideas taken from Super Ghouls’n Ghosts, Rastan, and, yes Castlevania, Crazy Viking tries to make sure it builds on those borrowed mechanics and make those features its own.

Developers need to remember that the goal isn’t to make a game that plays just like those old 16-bit titles; it’s to create a great game that harkens back to those classics.(source:gamasutra)