作者：Gera Hmurov

每款游戏均喜爱为玩家带去一些挫败感。可能是难度加大的boss，或是干扰项等。我已经试图收集促使玩家抓狂的原因。就我个人看来，有些要点则是对开发者发出严肃警告，因此我们有必要对此进行深入探讨！

注解：请注意，在我谈及硬核游戏时总会涉及枪战题材。我知道过去几日，游戏行业引发了关于电子游戏暴力现象的争论，因此我决定在此标明注解。我从不赞同在现实生活中射杀别人（即使是对待坏人）。而且我相信电子游戏同样不会支持这种做法。在我看来，游戏仅仅是一种娱乐项目，请相信，我从未因为体验电子游戏而有过到大街上杀人的想法（仅在面对坏人时有过这种念头，但我更喜欢以和平方式选择默默憎恨）。我喜爱射击方面的电子游戏，许多玩家也喜爱这类题材，他们也从未因此到大街上杀人。我想，游戏行业会继续推出含有复杂故事与深刻角色的出色作品（游戏邦注：如同《光晕》、《侠盗猎车手》等游戏）。我只是希望，有一天，人类文化能够停止对他人失败的责备，而是告诫自己抛下侵略行径，解决社会问题，停止战争，探索整个宇宙。

注解2：如果某些游戏以反面例子存在，这并非意味着其整体效果十分糟糕，即使不止一次提到。以下提到的事例均是出色作品，只是在设计上有所欠缺（个人见解）。

dishonored(from pocket-lint.com)

以下是愤怒玩家认为游戏不应令人受挫的21条标准：

1.热爱自己的工作与游戏，并试图赋予它们更棒效果。《Serenity》电影中的最后一幕是该灵感的来源。

2.注重细节与整体设计效果（包括游戏、关卡、画面）。比如《死亡空间》系列的出色设计与《龙腾世纪》系列的糟糕设计。同时，Remedy推出的所有游戏均可堪称详细精心构造游戏世界的典范。

3.保持UI的简单、逻辑与一致性，这是重点。比如《Dishonored》PC版本中特殊按钮的布局与《XCOM》中的某些对话框。

4.拒绝设置无止尽或坚不可摧的敌人。玩家能够消灭所有敌人。它可能具有极大难度，且不大可能完成，但仍在玩家的能力范围内。如果你打算在游戏中添加无止尽的敌人模式，可以考虑设置为300个（或1000个）。如果玩家能够以任意方式消灭它们，那就这么做。而且玩家会成为冠军，游戏应提供相应成就。如果你打算设置坚不可摧的敌人，你应将此转变为一种自然灾害。此外，这类敌人通常是100米高的坚固形象。那样，玩家在面临失败时可能会将此归结为自然灾害的后果。《死亡空间》与其它作品便是采用这种做法。

5.过场动画的结束不能改变玩家当前掌控的武器，或是将他置于巨大危险中，或是让他制定出史无前例的决策。比如《马克思佩恩3》。

6.游戏中至少应存在三种自动保存模式，且实施时应清晰地呈现在画面上。《XCOM》的自动保存系统便是如此。

7.过场动画后，应保存当前游戏模式。特别是在最后boss出现前会上演数十分钟的过场动画。比如《质量效应》、《XCOM》与其它大量游戏便采用这种做法。

8.将玩家派遣到城市的另一边时，无需采用三个加载画面与10分钟步行模式（仅为了让玩家完成一个词组的对话）呈现。比如《杀出重围2》与其它游戏。

9.不要提供只能增加0.2%能力的新型装备。全新出色的装备应符合其本身含义，比如提升玩家5%或50%的能力。支持玩家用新剑杀掉不可能战胜的黑魔。此外，每个小于1%的奖励不足以构成奖励模式。比如出色的《Gothic》系列，而《龙腾世纪》系列与《Torchlight》则为反面教材。

10.提供层次递进的挑战模式。如果毫无难度，探索将不具有意义。即使你担心骨灰级玩家会一击命中最后的boss，那也应允许这种情况存在。如果玩家可以完成游戏中的所有任务，那就允许这种情况。这是一款单机游戏，纯粹为了娱乐，而非平衡！《辐射3》中的20道关卡便做到这一点（玩家在探索不到一半的荒地后便会有所成就）。

11.如果玩家谨慎敏捷地体验游戏，那应避免损害情况发生。游戏应避免出现仅了解如何杀死敌人的状况。比如EA成员曾在接受采访时指出这些方面。

12.游戏应充满趣味。它可以给玩家带来情绪波动、困惑、伤心、难度，但最终可以体会到乐趣。追赶玩家角色，打败他，令他做出艰难选择，让其感受到失败。这样做均是为了让玩家感受到乐趣。但无论你对“乐趣”有何理解，都不要为了保证游戏时长而重复游戏中的枯燥元素，包括无止尽地随机生成支线任务。枯燥极易剥夺趣味性。比如《质量效应2》中的行星观测机制避免重复整个游戏进程的唯一元素。该作甚至削减了既定的采矿时间，因此玩家可以在补丁中获得升级机会。

13.如果你打算在绝密/动作游戏中添加“不要杀死敌人”的成就机制，那么开发者应设计一些玩家在消灭一切事物的同时不会违背该规则的关卡。它可以是一些机械敌人，或是极度愚蠢的坏蛋。要知道，你是通过操纵玩家行为赋予其成就。而为了获得成就剥夺玩家的枪击乐趣则相当无理。同时，你还应在此设置多种秘密武器。手握某个秘密武器通过游戏进程，或是在首个关卡便获得惊喜，或是从小贩那购买多种不同型号的SMG、猎枪与手枪则毫无乐趣可言。比如《杀出重围：人类革命》。

14.不要在毫无时间紧迫感的游戏中采用定时任务模式。游戏是模仿的产物，玩家能力也是如此。玩家是在整个进程中习得行为方法。如果你打算在几个地方改变玩家的行为，应告知他。如果是定时游戏，屏幕上应显示出来，或提出警醒，或以“如果你没有及时完成任务，你将面临失败”的对话告知。因此，如果玩家在规则发生改变的情况下仍以采取一般行为，且最后以失败告终，他们不会感到沮丧。玩家不会理解为何游戏跟随其行动前进，为何不立马做出这种反应。《杀出重围：人类革命》（其首个任务）与《质量效应2》（其中的团队绑架任务）便是这方面的典范。

15.制作更多强大独特的道具。探索并非单指体验，同时还包括寻找全新装备。我并不想在第二座城市中制作精良的全副铠甲，套在角色身上，而后宣告探索模式已经终结。如果我了解其它装备在游戏中的确切方位，且其特性并不优于当前我所拥有，那我不会为了找到具有魔力效应的出色木制装甲，走进那条深邃洞穴。当你体验一会游戏后，你会逐渐了解游戏中的装备性能。如果它不符合你的期待，那你又何必浪费时间体验这款游戏。《辐射3》是这方面的典范（其中设置的特殊武器与T-51b能力装备），而《TES:Oblivion》与《天际》则是反面教材。

16.不要在简单游戏中设置长时间的过场动画。简单游戏应以快速、简洁、乐趣为主。设置长篇故事的过场动画则会适得其反。如果简单是游戏的优势，那就不要牺牲这一方面？与此同时，不要在展示某些玩法前，在一开始设置持续数小时的过场动画，尤其在你手头预算紧缺时。不要误导我，游戏简介是一个最佳切入点。我在安装游戏后总会尽快尝试它，此处的“尝试”意指体验。游戏玩法简介完毕，并夺我眼球后，我会欣赏故事与过场动画。而在玩法中展示故事比在过场动画中展示具有更棒效果。比如移动平台上的大量JRPG游戏，《Torchilight2》是反面教材，而《Braid》与《Limbo》是该方面的典范。

Torchlight-2(from digitaltrends.com)

17.角色控制方式应令玩家满意。玩家并不打算在不符合逻辑的有限游戏中以控制策略取胜，他只想获胜。如果进程中设置了低难度障碍，玩家会略过它，而不是在进行一半后又需要做出选择。如果黑暗与僵尸包围了玩家，他希望在了解僵尸方位后射击，并继续前行。玩家想要顺畅地操控镜头，查看周围潜伏的危险。他确实无法理解为何不能采取这些行动。《毁灭战士3》、《寂静岭2》与《寂静岭3》因糟糕控制的方式试图令人陷入恐惧，《死亡空间》中既设置流畅控制方式，又营造出恐怖氛围。育碧在《Prince of Persia》采用的控制策略是流畅控制方面的又一典范。

18.敌人应迅速死去。如果消灭一个最简单的敌人需耗尽全部弹药，那肯定是军火方面出现问题。为何不采用具有强大功能但速度缓慢的枪支？我历经过的最棒枪战当数《Mafia》系列，在此，你可以利用速射自动步枪以精确一击，消灭一群暴徒。Clive Barker的《Jericho》与《Bulletstorm》便是如此。

19.玩家能在游戏出现转折点前完成所有任务。如果玩家尚未完成支线任务，不要突然加速其到达最后故事任务的步伐。而这是造成玩家挫败感的原因。只有在玩家决定放弃任务时，才可能出现未完成情况。如果游戏中设有两扇门，一扇是通往结束关卡，那么开发者应注明这一点。比如《Alpha Protocol》与《质量效应2》中的团队绑架任务。

20.应延长并详细说明结尾。我并不是抱怨《质量效应3》在这方面的糟糕做法。我的意思是，当你历经30小时完成最后一道关卡，喜悦且自豪地慵懒坐在椅子上观看这款颇具难度的杰出作品接近尾声，此时，你仅看到一段毫无意义的一分钟片断。开发者应更加关注结尾部分。这是最终奖励，他们应将此列为重点。而且，如果玩家在游戏进程中遇到了一些深刻角色，你应告知它们的结局。比如《Mark of Ninja》（其中确实呈现出短暂的结局影片）及《杀出重围：人类革命》（我仍旧好奇Faridah在逃出灾难后的命运，我希望可以再次见到她）在这方面表现很糟。

21.探索过程应附加相应奖励。如果在布满精灵的深邃洞穴中并不存在百宝箱（游戏邦注：或是百宝箱中装满了新鲜苹果，比如《天际》），这种做法最终没有多大益处。如果加深洞穴长度，应相应扩大百宝箱容量。通过空荡荡区域且毫无嘉奖十分枯燥。比如《辐射：新维加斯》（在进入维加斯前，玩家会看到三座空旷的大房子，而且玩家需耗费20分钟在毫无嘉奖的情况下通过它们）与《Gothic 2》（在城市附近的巨石上设置着装有精良物品的箱子，当你最先登上顶端时，你会找到这样珍贵的奖励，对此我十分感谢关卡设计师）。

我希望以上的某些要点有助于开发者制作出更加出色的游戏，我希望有一天可以体验到自己理想中的作品。（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）

21 tip to keep game not frustrating to a player according to real gamer

by Gera Hmurov

The following blog was, unless otherwise noted, independently written by a member of Gamasutra’s game development community. The thoughts and opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of Gamasutra or its parent company.

Every game even favorite one sometimes brings some frustration to a player. It may be very hard boss or glitch or something else. I’ve tried to bring together in one place everything that makes lazy and unforgivable gamer (like myself) angry. Some points have large IMHO alarm on their top so discussion is welcomed! =)

Note: Please be aware that as I write about hardcore games there will be examples of gunfighting with enemies. I know there is a lot of buzz about violence in video games last days, so I decided to make this note. I do not support shooting and killing people in real life at all (even for bad guys). And I don’t believe that video games support it too. I believe that in this case games are just a kind of entertainment like laser tag and believe me that I never thought about going to street to shoot people because of video games (only because of bad guys, but I prefer pacifistic silent hate to agression). And I know that I love video games where you could gunfight your enemies and a lot of people love them too and they also don’t go to street to shoot people. And I guess the industry will continue to make cool games with a complex story and memorable characters like Halo, GTA, etc. I just hope that someday we as a human culture will stop blaming other people every time we (humanity) fail and instead we will look into ourselves to pacify aggression, solve social problems, stop wars and finally explore the space. End of note.

Note #2: If the game mentioned in example as bad one it doesn’t mean it’s overall bad game. Even if it is mentioned not once. Every game in examples is more like great game than bad. It just lacks that one point in its design. IMHO.

So the angry gamer rules for not frustrating a player are:

1. Love your work and love your game and always try to make it better. Thanks to last scene of Serenity movie for this inspiration.

2. Pay attention to details and overall design (game-, level-, graphical-). Thanks to divine design of Dead Space game series and very undivine design of Dragon Age game series for this. And all games from Remedy also should be mentioned as good examples for detailed carefully created game worlds.

3. Keep simplicity, logic and consistency in UI. It’s important. Thanks to goddamn peculiar button mapping of Dishonored for PC and some dialog boxes of XCOM for this.

4. Say NO to countless or immortal\invulnerable enemies. Player should be able to kill all. It may be hard, very hard, damn f-g impossible to perform BUT player should be able to kill all. If you consider adding countless enemies, please add instead 300 (or 1000). If by any means player kill them all so be it. Cool, he’s a champion. Give him achievement. If you consider adding immortal enemy please change it to a natural disaster. Besides, immortal enemies isn’t interesting until they are 100-meters tall adamantium giants. That way player may consider it as natural disaster. Thanks to Dead Space (again) and many others for this.

5. Cut-scene should not change current weapon after it ends, should not place player’s avatar under immense danger, should not let player’s avatar decide to do thing that no one gamer on Earth will ever consider to do. Thanks to Max Payne 3 for this.

6. Use at least three slots for autosave instead of one. And please make clear when autosave occurs. Thanks to XCOM autosave system for this. And many others.

7. Always save the game after cut-scene, not before. Especially if it is many-minutes lasting cut-scene before final boss. Thanks to Mass Effect, XCOM and many others for this.

8. Do not send player on other side of city through three load screens and 10 min of walking only for one phrase in dialog. Ever. Thanks to Deus Ex 2 and many others for this.

9. Do not give player new +0.2% gear. New cool gear should feel as new cool gear. Give him +5%, give him +50%. Let him kill that impossible-to-kill black troll with new sword. Yeah! Every bonuses <1% isn’t felt like bonuses. Thanks to good Gothic series, not that good Dragon Age series and Torchlight for this.

10. Do not level cup. There is poor exploration if there is no experiencing. Even if you afraid of one-shooting the final boss by a fully experienced player – let it be. If the player solved every quest in the game let him be the local god. It’s a single-player, baby! It’s all for fun, not balance! Thanks to 20lvl cup of Fallout 3 for this (it really can be achieved by exploring less than half of wasteland).

11. Every damage to player should be avoidable if player is careful and agile. Going for death only to know how to kill “that one enemy” every time is such a pain in the ass. Thanks to some EA guy for pointing this out in an interview. Good one!

12. Games are fun. Games should be fun. Emotionally, mind-puzzling, heart-breaking, difficult but fun in the end. Pursue your player, press him, make him take hard decisions and make him feel losses through game. Anything for the sake of fun. But no matter how you understand “fun” don’t do repetitive and boring elements of gameplay to ensure game lasts long enough just because you can. This includes Infinite random-generated side quests. Boring isn’t fun. It looks like easy one. Thank goes to Mass Effect 2 because of planet scanning mechanic. It’s the only one thing that prevents me from replaying overall excellent game. They even reduced the amount of mining time required to acquire all upgrades in a patch.

13. If you consider adding a “don’t kill an enemy” achievement to a stealth\action game – make some levels where player still could kill everything without violating this rule. It may be some robot-enemies or REALLY stupid bad demon-guys. Remember that you are manipulating the player’s behavior by giving him achievements. There is no reason to deprive all gunfight fun from player only for achievement’s sake. Also please make a various stealth weapons in that case. There is no fun in walking around with the one and only shocker from the first level and selling tens of different models of SMGs, shotguns and pistols to vendor. Thanks to Deus Ex Human Revolution for this one.

14. Don’t implement time-pressing missions in otherwise not time-pressing game without clear note about time-pressing. Game is a simulation and player abilities are simulation too. Player learns how to behave through the entire game. And if you want to change his behavior only in a couple of places – notify him. If there is a timer, place a timer on screen, make alarms and make dialog “If you don’t be in time you will lose, yes, really lose, it’s not a usual story bluff”. There is no more disappointment then one because of loss due changed rules of the game while playing normally. Player won’t understand why the game always waited for his move before and why the game doesn’t do it now. Thanks to Deus Ex Human Revolution (because of first mission) and Mass Effect 2 (because of kidnapped team mission) for this.

15. Make more unique powerful items. Exploration isn’t only about experiencing. It’s also about finding new gear. I don’t want to make a cool daedric full plate armor in the second city, put it on avatar and understand that exploration is ended now. If I know that every other armor in a game even unique one will be worse than mine, I just won’t go to that far away cave for finding Cool Magic Wooden Plate. When you play a game for a while you will eventually know what you can expect from gear. And if you couldn’t expect much then why bother yourself about it. Thank goes to good Fallout 3 (because of special weapons and T-51b Power Armor) and not so good (in this case) TES: Oblivion and Skyrim for this.

16. Don’t make long lasting cut-scenes for a simple game (or game that looks simple). Simple games used to be simple, quick and just fun. Long story cut-scenes make game not so simple. And if simplicity is a good side of your game why should you sacrifice it? Also please don’t make hour-lasting cut scene at the beginning of the game before showing some gameplay especially if you have small budget at hand. Don’t get me wrong – intro is an excellent entry point. But when I installed a game I’d like to taste it as fast as I can and by “taste” I mean play. After gameplay was introduced and conquered my attention – cut-scene and story are warmly welcomed.  And it would be much better if you can show me story in gameplay not in cut-scene. Thanks goes to lots of JRPG for mobiles, Torchlight 2 (bad examples) and Braid and Limbo (good examples).

17. Controlling your avatar should be comfortable. Player doesn’t want to win controlling scheme and illogical limitations of the game, he want to win game. If there is low obstacle on the way player wants jump over it, not run half of the level back to choose another road. If darkness and zombies surrounds him he wants to be able to shoot, light up zombies and move simultaneously. And the player wants to control game camera fluently to see danger around him. Player really doesn’t understand the reason why he can’t do it. Thanks go to Doom 3 and Silent Hill 2 and 3 which try to be scary because of bad controls (and I love these game nevertheless) and Dead Space with fluent controls that is still scary as hell. Ubisoft’s control scheme for Prince of Persia games is another example of fluent controls (even if sometimes camera gets really-really wrong).

18. Enemies should die quick. If it takes full ammo clip in the head to deal with an easiest enemy then something is definitely wrong with your ammo. Why not make a powerful but slow gun instead? The most cool gunfighting I experienced was one in a Mafia series where you could deal with a pack of gangsters in one careful burst from tommy-gun. Thanks to Clive Barker’s Jericho and Bulletstorm for this point.

19. Player should be able to finish all quests before turning point in the game. Don’t suddenly hasten him to the end of story quest if he have unfinished side quests. Unfinished quests are the reason of disappointment. Quest should be unfinished only if player decides to abandon them. If there are two doors and one door ends level – mark that door clearly. Thank goes to Alpha Protocol and Mass Effect 2 kidnapped team mission (again, I still remember how I lost all my crew just because I decided to finish companion quest for Legion first).

20. Ending should be long and detailed. I’m not writing some whine about Mass Effect 3 now. I mean the situation when you’ve just finished last level on the 30th hour of gameplay – full of joy and proud of yourself you relaxed in chair to see the ending of this f-g hard and excellent game – and all you see is a 1-minute-last clip that don’t make sense. Please pay more attention to the ending. It is the final award of the game and it should be important. Also if player met some memorable characters through game please tell him something about fate of these characters. Thank goes to Mark of Ninja (this one has really short ending movie) and Deus Ex Human Revolution (I’m still curious what happened with Faridah after she escaped crash and I hope to meet her again sometime).

21. Exploration should be awarded accordingly. If there is a long cave full of goblins without treasure chest (or with a treasure chest full of fresh apples, yes, Skyrim?) at the end there is no good. If there is even longer cave then the treasure chest should be bigger. It is really boring to walkthrough big empty spaces without award. Thanks to Fallout New Vegas (which has three empty LARGE houses before entrance to Vegas – it takes about 20 minutes to walkthrough every side of them just for nothing) and Gothic 2 (which has a chest with cool staff on the top of large forbidding rock near city – it really seems like abusing a glitch when you make your way to the top at first and then you find such precious award – my sincerely gratitude for this moment to level-designer).

I hope some of these points will help make games even cooler than they are now and sometime I play that one fantastic game I dreamed about. Or better those two =)(source:gamasutra)