作者：Mike Rose

目前，2D解谜游戏在独立领域并不出彩，因此，这对于想在该领域崭露头角的工作室而言十分棘手。但《Pid》发行商Might and Delight已经发现解决这一问题的方案——不要将游戏定义为解谜类型。

《Pid》首席程序员兼Flash小游戏《You Have To Burn The Rope》开发者Kian Bashiri表示：“我认为《Pid》属于冒险类型，因为游戏中的解谜模式并非如大部分用户所设想的那样。”

Pid(from gamasutra)

当然，《Pid》中包含大量被玩家定义为经典的漫长解谜片段。但如Bashiri所描述那般，该游戏的主要部分是“连续不断地构成游戏核心的引导性谜题。”

Bashiri补充道：“《Pid》中的光线如同《生化奇兵》中的钩锚枪，它迫使玩家采用独特方式解读游戏环境。当你真正‘了解’它的用法，并逐渐上手时（因为它属于强制机制），你便能够十分灵活地体验游戏进程。围绕各种危险情况设定路线是随着游戏深入不断丰富的一种解谜模式，而后，游戏的全新‘规则’与限制条件会体现在敌人、装备与精妙的关卡设计上。”

Bashiri希望《Pid》通过这种方式脱颖而出，尽管有人认为该作具有抄袭嫌疑。

他指出：“有些评论家批评我们独立开发者只会制作2D益智游戏。我认为这是不公平的说法。《传送门2》、《地狱边境》与《时空幻境》属于完全不同的游戏，在我看来，和这些独立游戏相比，《Pid》的游戏进程更加贴近《洛克人》或《大金刚》。”

《传送门2》是Bashiri一直以来的一个心结。其实在《传送门2》发行前，《Pid》已利用重力光线作为主要游戏机制。结果人们发现，《传送门2》中‘传送漏斗’的运行方式十分类似《Pid》的光线，尽管Bashiri并不介意这种对比。

他表示：“当我们首次看到传送漏斗时，我们确实担心两者之间存在相似性，但在体验过《传送门2》后，我认为这两种机制只是表面的相似。它们的玩法大相径庭，而且它们在各自游戏中的作用也存在差异。”

开发者不单单在《Pid》中设置了重力机制，其游戏世界与整体效果也不容小觑，玩家可能在这一时刻跋涉穿过黑夜与地牢式场景，下一时刻可能会受到一只戴着眼罩、拿着左轮手枪的巨大气球的攻击。

Bashiri笑道：“我们在整个游戏中设置了‘心跳指数’，用于指示体验速度。比如这个区域十分安宁，那个区域正缓慢步入高潮。节奏是指导玩法的主要因素。我们还利用图片、动画、音乐、声音、故事情节等元素修饰游戏玩法，激发玩家的游戏热情，吻合理想节奏。”

他继续提到：“因此，比如先前你所提到的Crook boss为了四处移动，需要采用这种气球装束。玩家极其注重利用光线提升各种物品。基于这两个原因，我们需要制作出可以自由移动的boss，那么为何不采用气球造型呢？”

目前，玩家可以购买《Pid》的PC与Mac版本，不久，该游戏将登陆Xbox 360与PlayStation 3平台。Bashiri解释道：“我们暂时不考虑移动平台，因为我们的游戏要求精确的控制，无法通过触摸屏体验。作为小型工作室，我们已经十分满足能够在PC、Mac、XBLA和PSN平台发行游戏。”（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）

Pid’s dilemma – how do you make a 2D platformer that stands out?

by Mike Rose

2D Puzzle platformers are now ten a penny in the indie game space and, as such, it can be tricky for a studio to get noticed amongst all the noise. Might and Delight, the studio behind the newly released Pid, has found its own solution to this problem — simply don’t refer to the game as a puzzle platformer.

“I think of it as a platforming adventure,” notes Kian Bashiri, lead programmer on the title and creator of the cult Flash mini-game You Have To Burn The Rope, “since our puzzles aren’t of the kind that most people think of when the genre is mentioned.”

Sure, Pid features numerous lengthy sections that most players would describe as classic puzzling, but for the most part Pid is made up of what Bashiri describes as “moment-to-moment navigational puzzles that make up the core of the game.”

“The beam, like the grappling gun in Bionic Commando, forces you to read your environments in a unique way,” he adds. “When you really ‘get’ how to use it and when you get comfortable with using it (because it is a demanding mechanic), you get extremely agile. Planning your route around the various hazards is a kind of puzzle that gets richer and richer the further you get in the game as new ‘rules’ and restrictions are introduced in form of enemies, gadgets and clever level design.”

In this way, Bashiri hopes that Pid will stand out from the crowd — although he notes that some people have already taken it upon themselves to label the title as they see it.

“Some commenters have criticized us — and indies in general — for making nothing but [2D] puzzle platformers,” he says. “I think that is unfair. There’s a huge difference between Portal 2, Limbo and Braid! Pid is much closer to Megaman or Donkey Kong, I think, than those indie titles.”

Portal 2 in particular is a slightly sore point for Bashiri. Pid uses gravity beams as a main gameplay mechanic, and has been since well before Portal 2 was released. As it turns out, Portal 2′s ‘excursion funnels’ work in a very similar way to Pid’s beams — although Bashiri isn’t too bothered by the comparison.

“We did worry about the similarities when we first saw the excursion funnels, but after having played Portal 2, I think that the two mechanics are only superficially similar,” he says. “They play very differently and they have very different roles in both games.”

Pid has far more going for it than just gravity-based mechanics — the game’s world and overall feel are a force to be reckoned with, as one moment you’re trudging your way through dark, dungeon-like settings, and the next you’re being attacked by a giant eyemask-wearing, revolver-totting balloon.

“We have a ‘beat chart’ for the whole game that dictates the pacing of the experience,” laughs Bashiri. “Like this area is very calm and this other area slowly builds up to a climax. The pacing is a guide for the gameplay, which is king. Then we dress up the gameplay in graphics, animations, music, sound, story, etc that motivates the gameplay and fits in with the desired tempo.”

“So for instance,” he continues, “the Crook boss you mentioned looks the way he does because he needs to be able to move around a lot. The encounter puts a strong focus on lifting things in the beam. These two reasons motivated us to make him float freely, so why not a balloon?”

Pid is currently available to purchase for PC and Mac, and is coming soon to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Notes Bashiri, “We didn’t think too much about mobile platforms — the kind of game we wanted to make really can’t be played on a touch screen, it demands a good controller. Releasing on PC, Mac, XBLA and PSN was ambitious enough for our small studio!” (source:gamasutra)