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分析合作模式的恐怖游戏及阿尔法英雄问题

发布时间:2013-01-06 09:37:31 Tags:,,,,

作者:Josh Bycer

近来在恐怖游戏设计中,一个比较大的突破是在游戏中加入合作模式,其中以《生化危机5》、《生化危机6》、《死亡空间3》和最新的《寂静岭》最为典型。虽然发行商和设计者认为合作模式可以刺激销售,但使用合作模式现在面临的小问题是:它并不能产生恐怖感。

Alan Wake(from store.steampowered.com)

Alan Wake(from store.steampowered.com)

阿尔法英雄

无论是恐怖游戏还是恐怖电影,我们都会看到两类角色:阿尔法英雄和幸存者。阿尔法英雄是指那些积极地与怪物作斗争的角色,例如《恶魔重生》中的Ash、《突变怪物》中的Mac-ready或《异型》中的Ripley。幸存者是指那些只顾逃亡的角色,或没有办法保护自己直至遇见能够阻止怪物的关键角色,出现这类角色的电影有《Hell Raiser》、《猛鬼街》和《黑色星期五》等。

这两类电影体现的是不同类型的恐怖感。前者讲的是一个人或一小队人与不可思议的力量作斗争,一旦失败就意味着一切都完了。而后者讲的是幸存者目睹其他角色挨个儿死亡,只有他/她活到最后。

而说到电子游戏,因为游戏的核心是战斗,所以设计师倾向于创造阿尔法英雄。这类角色包括《生化危机》中的Leon Kennedy、《死亡空间》中的Isaac和甚至《毁灭战士》中的Marine。在这些例子中,你不是因为角色很弱而感到害怕,而是因为角色必须单独与邪恶作斗争。

甚至那些看起来并不强悍的角色,如Alan Wake和Isaac仍然属于阿尔法英雄。因为他们必须单独作战,用尽一切办法将所有人从恶魔的手中拯救出来。

然而,我最喜欢的恐怖游戏却是以幸存者为主角的。在这类游戏中,幸存者并不积极地与邪恶作战,而只是想办法生存。例如《零3》、《狂城丽影》和《失忆症》等,在这类游戏中,玩家不是努力拯救世界,而是努力摆脱现状。即使给玩家武器,武器也无法稳定局势或消除恐惧。

在这类游戏中,因为玩家知道他们总有通过战斗才有希望生存下来的时候,所以他们会更加紧张。也正是在这类游戏中,我认为合作模式会发挥最佳效果,但我现在说得有点早了。

horror(from gamasutra)

isolation(from gamasutra)

孤独感

在阿尔法恐怖游戏的设计中加入合作元素的问题是,他们消除了游戏中主要的恐怖来源:孤独。玩家只是一个人,陷入可怕互环境中的一个人;只要玩家还是孤家寡人,就无所谓给他们武器和工具。

但是,当你增加了另一名玩家,这种孤独感就消失了。即使你受到许多敌人的攻击,你也不会再感到孤身作战的恐惧了。减少恐怖元素导致恐怖游戏玩起来更像动作游戏。

对于需要大量操作的恐怖游戏,如《死亡空间》或《生化危机》,最佳作战策略就是用背贴墙,谁敢靠近就炸谁。设计师的一个设想是,限制两名玩家的子弹和恢复道具,如《生化危机5》。但人为地提高紧张度仍然不能产生恐怖感。

resident evil 5(from multiplayerblog.mtv.com)

resident evil 5(from multiplayerblog.mtv.com)

在我看来,设计师要在合作模式下创造恐惧感就必须改变恐怖的类型。

情境性幸存者

因为阿尔法设计,成为孤独英雄(或孤独英雄们)并不会产生恐惧感,除非玩家不是孤独英雄,而面临的邪恶力量又相当强大。

极少有恐怖游戏,更别说具有合作模式的恐怖游戏会让玩家扮演幸存者的角色。但如果设计得当,这种做法会使游戏更加恐怖,无论玩家是一个人还是一群人。

在恐怖游戏的合作模式中,今年设计最成功的一款游戏大概是模拟枪战游戏《武装突袭2》的DayZ模式。这种僵尸模式是超现实的军事射机战。

在这种模式下,游戏将所有玩家置于僵尸包围的末日中,同时保持游戏的逼真感。

在僵尸横行的世界里,因为有限的补给、精确的武器和逼真的伤害,玩家面临着极大的心理压力。就像许多僵尸电影,有时候最坏的敌人就是人类自己,所以这款游戏含有完全开放的PVP模式。

我认为合作模式就是在这种情况下管用:一队玩家必须互相守护、保存资源同时应对强大的威胁。玩家不能只是跑进一堆活死人里胡乱射击,就像在《Left 4 Dead》里那样。因为轻易开火会使同伴受伤或失血而死,所以玩家会选择保存弹药直到不得不开枪的时候。

介于《Left 4 Dead》和Day Z模式之间的是,一队玩家必须在一个随机生成的区域里一边逃窜,一边受惊吓。

这种设计的一个重要特点是,团队的力量应该大过任何一位成员的力量,这样才能让玩家在被迫分散时感到惊慌失措。当这种情形与有限的资源相结合时,就会迫使玩家在如何分配装备上做出坚难决定。

因为我们说的是幸存者而不是阿尔法英雄,所以对抗强大的力量或完成困难的任务会让玩家更紧张。

恐怖游戏可以使用合作模式,但不是像现在的设计师们那样使用。降低游戏的恐怖感而使之更像动作游戏,只会模糊恐怖游戏的特点。你不可能只增加一种模式或一种设计元素,让恐怖游戏变成另一类游戏,还妄想这种方案行得通。构想一款使用合作模式的恐怖游戏,需要设计师发挥创意,用不同的眼光挖掘恐怖来源,而不是像设计师们现在那样做。(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

Co-op Horror and the Alpha Hero Problem

by Josh Bycer

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.

Want to write your own blog post on Gamasutra? It’s easy! Click here to get started. Your post could be featured on Gamasutra’s home page, right alongside our award-winning articles and news stories.

In horror design these days, the big push would have to be the inclusion of Co-op. Resident 5 and 6, Dead Space 3 and the latest Silent Hill game that was a top down dungeon crawler are leading the charge. While publishers and designers think that co-op can drive sales, there is one little tiny problem with how co-op is currently used: It DOESN’T CREATE HORROR.

The Alpha

When we look at both horror games and movies, there are two types of heroes: Alpha characters and survivors. Alpha characters are those that actively fight the monsters, characters like Ash from Evil Dead, Mac-ready from The Thing or Ripley from Alien. Survivors are people that are just trying to get away, or have no means to defend themselves until they find the key to stopping the monster. Some movies that go this route are: Hell Raiser, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Friday the 13th.

Both types of movies provide a different type of horror. Those with Alpha characters are about one person or small group fighting an unimaginable force where failure would mean the end of everything. While survivors are about seeing who gets knocked off first and figuring out who will be left standing.

When it comes to video games, because of how games are built around action, designers tend to create alpha characters. This includes everyone from Leon Kennedy in Resident Evil, to Isaac in Dead Space, and even the Doom marine. In these cases you’re not supposed to be afraid because the character is weak, but because they have to fight an evil force alone.

Even characters that aren’t considered strong, like Alan Wake or Isaac still fall into the Alpha category. As they alone must fight to save everyone from the evil using whatever tools they have.

Alan Wake’s status as an alpha hero is an exception from other games, as it is a major plot point instead of as part of the setting.
However, my favorite horror games are about survivors: where they’re not actively fighting the evil, but just trying to find a way to survive. Games like Fatal Frame 3, Haunting Ground, or Amnesia.

Where the player isn’t trying to save the world, but just trying to escape the situation. Even if the player is given any weapons, they won’t make the situation calm or downplay the horror.

Instead in these games, they increase the tension as the player knows that at some point they will have to fight and hopefully survive.  It’s these types of games where I think co-op horror would work best, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

One Gun or Two?
The problem with the inclusion of co-op elements in alpha horror design is that they remove the main source of fear in these games: isolation. The player is just one person, stuck in a horrible situation; it’s ok to give the player weapons and tools, as they are alone.

But when you add in a second player, that isolation is gone. Even if you raise the number of enemies attacking, the dread that you are just one person against the force is no longer present. Reducing the horror element and making the title play more like an action game.

For horror titles that deal with clunky controls like Dead Space or Resident Evil, the best strategy becomes putting your back to a wall and blasting anything that comes close. One idea that designers use is to limit ammo and recovery items between the two players such as in Resident Evil 5. But artificially raising the tension that way still doesn’t produce horror.

What designers need to do in my opinion to have horror in a co-op setting is to change the type of horror that they are striving for.

Situational Survivor:
Being the lone hero (or heroes) doesn’t produce horror due to the Alpha design, but when the player isn’t that unstoppable force can do a lot to raise the tension of the game.

Very few horror games, much less co-op titles put the player in a survivor role.  But when it’s done right, can make a situation scary no matter if it’s just you, or a group.

Resident Evil 5 started the co-op horror trend and was noticeably less scary compared to previous games in the series.
One of the biggest successes this year of this style of design would be the DayZ mod for Arma 2. DayZ was a total mod conversion for Arma 2, which is a hyper realistic military shooter.

The mod takes the setting and puts a server full of players into the zombie apocalypse, while keeping the realism of the game.

What happens is that all the pressure of having limited supplies, accurate weapons and realistic damage, is applied to a world where the undead have taken over. And just like many of the zombie movies, sometimes the worse enemy is man, as the game has completely open PvP.

This is where I feel co-op can work in a horror setting: Where a group of players must watch each other’s back and conserve resources while dealing with an overwhelming threat. Suddenly you can’t just run into a group of undead shooting randomly like in Left 4 Dead. As one good hit could injure you or cause you to bleed out, or conserving ammo until you have no choice but to fire your weapons.

Something like a middle ground between Left 4 Dead and Day Z, where a group of players must escape a randomly generated area while being threaten from every corner.

The important part of the design is that the group should be more powerful then each individual member, making the times where people have to split up all the more terrifying. When this is combined with limited resources will force the players to make hard decisions about how equipment should be divvied up

Because we’re dealing with survivors and not alpha heroes, the situation of dealing with a stronger force, or accomplish a difficult goal would be even tenser.

Co-op design can work in a horror setting, but not in the current template that designers use. Making the title less scary and more of an action game just makes it more generic. Just like with anything else, you can’t just add a mode or design and force it into another game and expect it to work. Coming up with a horror title that makes use of co-op design, is going to require someone creative and a different view compared to what designers are using now.(source:gamasutra)


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