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分享设计师平衡游戏难度的4大技巧

发布时间:2012-09-14 14:42:06 Tags:,

作者:David Maletz

平衡游戏难度是件非常困难的事。不同玩家将带着不同技能水平进入游戏——取决于他们之前是否玩过类似的游戏。而他们在游戏中的学习曲线也是多种多样,这便导致开发者在游戏创造过程中很难把握游戏的难度——太困难会让玩家感到沮丧,而太简单又会让他们感到厌烦。

difficulty_curve(from gamasutra)

difficulty_curve(from gamasutra)

上图是基于玩家技能和游戏难度的平衡区图表。我们可以发现,随着玩家技能的提高,游戏难度也必须相应提高,如此才能确保游戏整体的平衡。平衡区主要包含如下内容:

沮丧——太复杂以致感觉不到乐趣。

艰难的乐趣——非常困难,但是有些人就刚好喜欢这种困难。

挑战的乐趣-—–对于那些喜欢克服挑战的人群而言。

平衡的乐趣——最适宜的区域(不太困难也不太简单)。

休闲的乐趣——简单,不具备多少挑战性,但却也不愚蠢。

愚蠢的乐趣——玩家只是想要玩而不愿意思考。

无聊——比起玩游戏我更想睡觉。

为了平衡游戏我们可以采取测试,以及收集玩家的反馈意见等方法,而我将通过本篇文章阐述我在游戏开发过程中所明确的游戏难度设计4大技巧。

1.了解你的用户

在每一个游戏开发过程中,了解用户这一点总是非常重要,在游戏平衡中也不例外。谁希望玩你的游戏?在玩你的游戏前他们玩过哪些游戏(这些游戏与你的游戏有何共同点)?找出这两个问题的答案能够帮助你明确玩家一开始的技能水平,并为他们选择最合适的平衡区。就像休闲游戏将假设大部分玩家拥有较低的游戏技能,并不希望面临太过复杂的挑战。细分市场的游戏应该假设每个玩家都喜欢这类游戏,并且之前已经玩过许多类似的游戏,拥有较高的技能水平并喜欢接受挑战。了解目标用户是平衡游戏的起点,将能帮助你更准确地完成最初的平衡工作。

要点在于,如果你能更好地了解你的用户,你的游戏便能更好地迎合他们的喜好——这一点不只适用于游戏平衡中。

2.不要高估玩家的学习曲线

随着游戏的发展,玩家的技能将不断提高,所以游戏难度也必须进行相应的提高。但是比起高估玩家的学习曲线,低估将会带给你更多帮助(很多开发者都会高估他们的玩家——但是事实上却不是每个人都和你一样擅长玩游戏!)如果你高估了玩家的学习曲线,那么学习能力较高的玩家便能够获得有效的平衡,但是其他玩家却只能被学习曲线远远地甩在后面,而这时候游戏将会继续提升难度,并最终导致这些玩家难以继续游戏。而如果你低估了玩家的学习曲线,那么学习能力较强的玩家将继续平稳地享受游戏(游戏邦注:尽管游戏可能不再具有多大的挑战性,但是他们可能会觉得自己非常厉害),而与此同时其他玩家也将能够有效地追赶上游戏的难度变化。

可能一开始玩家会觉得游戏很有趣,但是随着难度的不断提升可能到最后他们便不再能够感受到游戏的乐趣了。最后的boss非常无聊,导致玩家只能选择放弃游戏。而这也是开发者必须想尽办法避免的情况。

要点在于,比起复杂的游戏,简单的游戏更能留住玩家的心。所以毫无疑问,低估比高估有效。

3.不要用降低游戏难度来奖励技能型玩家

许多游戏都会给予那些表现出色的玩家更多升级的机会。但是这种做法就等于让那些攻克游戏难度的玩家只能面对更容易的游戏,并且不能给予那些不断努力着的玩家任何帮助。许多这类型游戏便是通过提升游戏难度去弥补这种升级奖励,但是这么做虽然能够平衡技能型玩家,但却为那些不断努力的玩家设置了更多挑战,导致他们更加难以升级了。这也是导致游戏用户流失的最快速的方法。你必须提供给表现出色的玩家更加复杂的游戏并“惩罚”那些表现糟糕的玩家较为容易的游戏,即有针对性地为不同玩家设置不同难度。虽然这听起来有点矛盾,但是的确存在一些方法能够帮助我们创造出具有奖励性的高难度游戏以及具有惩罚性的低难度游戏。例如我看过的一款游戏便奖励那些表现良好的玩家直接进入第二个关卡结尾的机会。第二个关卡结尾的游戏玩法总是难于第一个关卡的结尾,但是至少玩家能够获得进入第二个关卡的奖励,而面对更加复杂的结尾,没准是件好事。

你同样也可以隐藏将更复杂的游戏作为奖励的做法。例如你可以让表现出色的玩家获得升级,但同时去提升他们所面对的游戏难度(高于他们所获得的级别),并且不改变其他玩家所面对的游戏难度。这看起来像是在欺骗玩家,但是大多数游戏既让玩家获得升级也相应提高了游戏难度,并且这种难度提高仅面向获得升级的玩家。

要点在于,给予玩家奖励固然重要,但是从长远角度看来,让那些表现出色的玩家面对更简单的游戏并不能算是一种真正的奖励。

4.允许玩家去改变游戏难度。

我们总是很难面向所有潜在玩家而平衡游戏。所以让玩家自行选择游戏难度能够帮助游戏吸引更广泛的玩家。那些喜欢休闲乐趣的玩家便能够降低难度,而喜欢迎接更多挑战的玩家则可以提升难度。如果玩家能够在游戏过程中调整难度,那么他们便能够更好地适应学习曲线。切记不要因为玩家降低了难度而惩罚他们。这只是他们为了完善游戏体验所做出的选择。他们可能是因为支撑不住了才选择降低难度的,你又何必在他们面前喋喋不休呢。如果你真的想要做些什么的话,就给予那些提高难度的玩家奖励吧。要点在于,只有玩家最了解自己,所以让他们选择难度可以有效地平衡游戏去适应他们的需求。

结论

测试与修改始终是平衡游戏的最重要的方法。不管你如何擅长游戏平衡,你都需要明确别人对于游戏的看法,除非你只是为了自己而创造游戏。让好友去玩你的游戏并做出评价(即哪些内容简单哪些内容复杂等等)是你需要迈出的第一步。如果能够发行测试版并获得目标用户的评价就再好不过了。但是以上的4大技巧则能帮你尽早平衡游戏,并将帮助你更加专注游戏设计。

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

Four Tricks to Improve Game Balance

by David Maletz

Balancing a game’s difficulty can be tough. Different players will enter the game at different skill levels depending on whether they’ve played similar games or not. Their learning curves during the game will be varied as well, making it tricky to decide how difficult to make the game without making the game too difficult (frustrating), or too easy (boring).

Above is an approximate graph of balance zones based on the player’s skill and the game’s difficulty. As player skill increases, the difficulty must also increase to keep a balance. The balance zones are as follows:

•Frustrating – Too difficult to be fun.

•Hardcore Fun – Really tough, but some people like that.

•Challenging Fun – For people who like to overcome challenges.

•Balanced Fun – The goldilocks zone (not too tough, not too easy).

•Casual Fun – Nice and easy, never a challenge, but not mindless either.

•Mindless Fun – They just want to play, they don’t want to think.

•Boring – I could play this in my sleep… in fact, I’d rather sleep.

While it requires testing, balance and player feedback to really balance a game, this article will cover four tips and tricks for designing game difficulty, which I’ve learned through my game development experiences.

1. Know your audience.

Knowing your audience is important in almost every aspect of game development, and is also important for game balance. Who do you expect to play your game? What games will they have played before yours (and how similar are those games to yours)? Knowing the answer to these two questions will help you guess what skill level the players will start with, and which balance zone they prefer. A casual game should assume that the average player has a low skill level, and doesn’t want to be particularly challenged. A niche game should assume that the average player enjoys that niche and has played many similar games before, and so has a high skill level and enjoys a challenge. Having a good read on your target audience gives you a starting point to balance the game, and will make your initial balancing more accurate.

The takeaway point here is that the better you understand your audience, the more you can cater the game to that audience – and that applies to a lot more than just the balance of the game.

2. Underestimate the player’s learning curve.

The player’s skill will increase throughout the course of the game, and so the difficulty of the game has to increase to compensate. However, overestimating the player’s learning curve is worse than underestimating it (and most developers tend to overestimate their players – not everyone is as good as you!). If you overestimate the player’s learning curve, players who learn quickly may get a good balance, but the rest of the players will not be able to keep up with the curve and the game will continue to get harder and harder until they can’t continue. Whereas if you underestimate the player’s learning curve, players who learn quickly will still enjoy the game even if it’s not as challenging for them (they will simply feel that they are awesome), while the rest of the players will still be able to keep up with the game difficulty.

You’ve probably played a game you liked a lot in the beginning, but then it became so difficult that by the end it was no longer fun to play. The final boss was impossibly frustrating, and you probably resorted to walkthroughs or outright gave up. This is a situation you want to avoid at all costs. A player is far less likely to quit because a game is too easy.

The takeaway point here is that it’s easier to lose players by making a game too hard than by making a game too easy. So, when in doubt, underestimate the player’s learning curve (actually, it’s good practice in general to underestimate your players).

3. Don’t reward skilled players by making the game easier!

There are a lot of games that reward their players for doing well by giving them more upgrades. But what this is basically doing is making the game easier for players who already found the game easy, while giving nothing to the players who are struggling. A lot of these games try to compensate for these upgrades by increasing the difficulty. While this may balance the game for skilled players, it makes the game even more difficult for the players who were struggling and didn’t even get the upgrades. This is a very fast way to lose players. Really, you should “reward” players who do well by making the game more difficult, and “punish” the players who do poorly by making the game easier, in essence dynamically changing the difficulty to suit the player. While this seems like an oxy-moron, there are ways to make higher difficulty feel like a reward, and lower difficulty feel like a punishment. For example, I’ve seen games that, if you do well enough, reward you by giving you access to a second ending. The gameplay to get the second ending is a lot more difficult than the first ending, but the reward is that you get the second, perhaps better, ending.

You can also hide the fact that the reward is making the game more difficult. For example, you could give the player upgrades if they do well, but increase the difficulty even more than the benefit of the upgrades (and don’t change the difficulty for those who didn’t get the upgrade). While this seems like cheating the player, most games that give upgrades increase the difficulty to compensate – this is the same idea, simply limiting the increased difficulty to the players who got the upgrades.

The takeaway point here is that while it’s important to give rewards to players, making the game easier to a player who is already doing well is not really a reward in the long run.

4. Allow players to change the game’s difficulty.

It’s impossible to balance a game perfectly for every potential player. So, giving the player a choice on how difficult they want the game can help widen the audience. Players who want casual fun can lower the difficulty, and players who want a challenging experience can raise the difficulty. If the player can adjust the difficulty in the middle of the game, then they can even compensate for their learning curve. Just be certain to never punish a player for lowering the difficulty. It is a choice they are making to improve their gameplay experience. They may already feel bad about having to lower the difficulty, you don’t need to rub it in their face with a punishment. If you do anything, reward players who increase the difficulty.

The takeaway point here is that players (sometimes) know themselves best, so letting them choose the difficulty can help balance the game to suit their personal needs.

Closing Thoughts

Testing and tweaking are still the most important methods of balancing a game. No matter how well you balance the game yourself, unless you are the sole audience of the game, you will need to know what it’s like for others. Getting friends to play and comment on what they found easy and difficult is a great first step. A beta test that gets comments from the actual target audience of the game is even better. But these four tricks can improve the balance early on, and in doing so help focus the design of the game.(source:GAMASUTRA


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