作者： tony oakden

我一直在思考自己设计游戏的方法。进行自省分析是个复杂的过程，但我认为自己掌握了一套新颖的设计方案。即将设计过程的各个阶段当作富有不同个性的人物。

阶段1：假想的朋友

在游戏设计的第一阶段，我会在想象中体验游戏，以此感受游戏的整体概貌及相应玩法。我会努力理解游戏的核心部分，从中发现一些问题。我想要理解游戏中存在的元素，以及推动我体验该作的动机。这是个复杂的过程，但这些年来，我已逐渐熟练这类做法，并且能够确定，自己在完成第一阶段后可以得出一个出色设计。虽然这并非意味着该创意可以打造出一款有趣的游戏，但我会不断试验，得出最终结论。通常，在这一阶段中，我会制作出大量游戏，而我总会不断思考它们的可行性。当我在吃饭时间两眼放空，妻子会问我在作何思考时，通常情况是，我正在脑海中体验一款游戏。在此，游戏如同与你排练对话的假想好友。由于我们都清楚头脑中确定可行的创意不一定可以在现实中实现，所以，此时我们应进入第二阶段……

game design(from thetechscoop.net)

阶段2：内向的极客

如果我相当满意自己假想的游戏，那我会据此快速制定出一个可行版本，以此研究它在现实中的运作方式。由于我并不打算让其他人看到该作，所以我并不在意它的画面、声音、教程等。这一阶段的重点是自我证明核心机制可以运行，而且游戏充满趣味。如果我可以从游戏中体会到乐趣，那么其他玩家也可以享受到！在此，你必须认识到，该阶段的游戏可能会成为不善言辞者。也就是说，它并不会告知玩家游戏场景中发生的事情。我认为这样是可以的，因为我了解整个游戏进程，所以我理解整款游戏的运作方式。由此可见，游戏如同一个内向者，只有真正了解他们的人才能体会到与其相处的乐趣，但你需要付出大量努力才能真正地了解他们。如果我能在游戏中体会到乐趣，那我将进入第三阶段。

阶段3：双重性格的人

现在，我能够确定游戏具有趣味性，但我还不大清楚它能否转变为其他人也感兴趣的模式。所以，我必须将内向的游戏转变为畅谈者，以此传达游戏进程，告知自己对用户的需求。为此，我开始在游戏中添加更加杰出的画面、动画效果、各种界面元素（游戏邦注：比如分数、生命值等）、声音，以及可以让玩家理解游戏进程的所有元素。也就是说，游戏将演变为更加直观的模式。注意，在这一阶段中，我把玩家假想为经验丰富的测试员，我会向他们解释游戏的运作方式，因此我们没有制作游戏教程，也未进行多次修改。在这一阶段中，游戏就像由一个共同朋友介绍，相识，然后融洽相处的人。但他们并非该过程的核心部分。通常，第三阶段会出现大量关于设计与美术的迭代，如果测试员可以从游戏中体会到乐趣，那我将进入第四阶段。

阶段4：外向的社交者

这是游戏设计的最后阶段。此时，游戏需依靠自己的力量走向全世界，并且无需引荐便能同他人交朋友。同时，它应大声宣布自己的优势，而且大胆地同陌生人交谈！而游戏教程应包含启动画面、精选图片，以及可以让用户清晰了解整个游戏的所有元素（因为我不会在那解释游戏进程）。游戏中可能存在漏洞，但重要的是，完全的陌生者可以无需任何帮助便能体会到其中的乐趣。在该阶段中，游戏是个真实的社交者，好像一个走进派对便能引发全场活力的人。如果它可以通过这个测试，那么它十分适合进入生产阶段。

生产：

这并非设计阶段，但值得一提的是，当某款游戏突显出它的优势，它仍然属于半成品。在这一阶段，我需要制作出人人都可体验并享受到的短片以证明游戏理念，但我们仍需要大量的附加内容与相关测试，此后才可推出完整产品。

所以，以上为我设计游戏的全部过程。在每个阶段的末尾，游戏可能会面临测试失败，在我看来，如果游戏创意失败了，我们应挥手告别，随后投入下一个试验。在这一过程中，每个阶段所需的时间会逐渐递增，精力与资金的投入也会成倍增加，因此，各个阶段的游戏数量会逐渐减少，风险性便会相应提升。并非我脑海中体验的每款出色游戏都可以突显其价值，重要的是我们不要把这些当做失败历程。毕竟并非所有游戏都是佳作。也许我头脑中体验的100款游戏中，实际上只有1款可以为大众所知。（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）

My game design phases have personalities

by tony oakden

I’ve been thinking about how I come up with the designs for my games. It’s tricky to do that sort of introspective analysis but I think I’ve got a novel handle on it.  I think it’s possible to think of each phase in the design process as a person with a different personality.   See what you think of this:

Phase 1: Imaginary friend

In this phase I play the game in my imagination to get a feeling for how the game will look and play.  I am trying to understand the core game play and hopefully spot any major defects in that game play.  I want to understand what’s exciting and what would make me want to play it.  It’s tricky to do this but over the years I’ve got better at it and be reasonable certain that when I finish this stage I’ll have the core of a good design.  That doesn’t mean that this idea will form the basis for a fun game though,  I have to implement it before I can know for sure.   I have a lot of games at this stage and I’m often thinking about them.  When my wife asks what I’m thinking about, when I’m staring off into infinity at dinner time, it’s usually a game I’m playing inside my head.  At this stage the game is like an imaginary person who you are rehearsing a conversation with.  As we all know things which often sound OK in your head don’t always work out so well when spoken aloud which brings us onto the next phase…

Phase2: Introverted Geek

Once I’m reasonably happy with the game I’m playing in my imagination I make a working version of it as quickly as possible so that I can see how it plays for real.  Because I’m not going to let anyone else see it I don’t worry about graphics, sound, tutorials etc.  The point of this phase is to prove to myself that the core game play mechanisms work and that the game is fun to play.  If I’m having fun with this version of the game then there is a chance other people will too!    The important thing to realize though is that at this stage the game can get away with being a really bad communicator.  That’s to say that a lot of what is happening behind the scenes  isn’t communicated to the player.  This is OK though, because I know what is going on so I can understand it.  It’s as if the game was a really introverted person, if you know them really well they can be a lot of fun to be with, but it takes a lot of effort to get to know them.  I won’t move onto phase 3 unless I’m having fun with this game.

Phase 3: Ambivert (look it up!)

By now I’m confident that the game can be fun to play but I’m yet to prove that it translates to something which others will be interested in.   So the challenge is to turn my introverted game into one which can communicate what is happening and communicate it’s needs to an audience.   To do this I start to add better graphics, graphical effects, various HUD elements such as score, lives etc, sounds, all the things which players need so they understand what is going on as they play.  In other words the game is becoming more intuitive.  Note at this stage I’m assuming my players are experienced testers, and I’m going to explain the game too them, so there aren’t many tutorials and the game isn’t polished.   In this phase the game is like the sort of person you get on well with once you’ve been introduced by a mutual friend and they have started the conversation for you.  But they are not the heart and soul of the party yet.   I won’t move onto phase 4 until my testers are having fun and usually there is quite a lot of iteration in the design and art.

Phase 4: Extrovert Party Animal

This is the final phase of the design process.  The game has to stand on its own feet now and go out into the world and make friends without me introducing it.  It has to shout out its merits and not be afraid to talk to strangers at parties!  Tutorials must be in, splash screens, fancy graphics,  all elements of the game play must be completely transparent to the user because I won’t be there to explain what is going on.  There can be bugs in the game but the important thing is that complete strangers have to have fun with the game without help from me.  In this phase the game is a true part animal, it is like that person who when they walk into a party suddenly everything comes alive.  If the game passes this test then it’s good to go into production.

production :

Not really a design phase but it’s worth mentioning that once a game makes it to extrovert it still isn’t finished.  What we have at this stage is a short demo, proof of concept, which anyone can play and enjoy but we will still need a lot of additional content and testing before it’s ready to be released as a commercial product.

So that’s how I see my design process working.  At the end of each phase a game can fail the test and I think it’s important that if it fails we say a sad farewell and move on.  Each stage takes progressively longer than the previous and the investment in effort and money is greater so there are less games at each stage and the stakes higher.  Not every game which plays well in my mind will be able to make the long journey to extrovert and it’s important that I don’t see that as a failure.  After all we can’t all be extroverts.  Probably only one game in a hundred, which I play in my imagination, actually gets released to the public.(source:gamasutra)