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关于RPG游戏类型及其存在问题的思考

发布时间:2013-02-25 09:47:56 Tags:,,,,

作者:Jordane Thiboust

RPG是一种很复杂的游戏类型。我知道RPG复杂,但没想到RPG这么复杂,直到最近。除了机制上的复杂,多重系统和剧情叙述,我注意到让RPG类型如此复杂还有,游戏的主要体验。

我开始发现这一点,是在我预生产我参与项目的那段时间。许多反馈或建议都可能误导我们,因为这个误解:无论是什么,吸引我们注意力的东西都是“RPG元素”。

原因是,很多游戏被当作“RPG”,我们很容易忽略这么一个事实——有些游戏提供的玩家体验是完全不同的。这就是最困难的部分:检索一下各种游戏体验,问问你自己“什么能让玩家玩上30个小时以上?”,然后以之为核心;而不是单纯地将所有你能想到的RPG特征放进一款游戏里。

因此,我认为非常有必要根据游戏的亚类型体验,进一步细分RPG类型,然后再决定你的目标是哪一种亚类型。

这有助于游戏的制作和定位目标受众;使你更加关注重要的甚至必要的特征,以及排除无关的甚至可能破坏游戏的特征。

因为“RPG”这个术语被滥用,对于大多数人,任何RPG都属于同一个大类。“RPG”就是RPG。这种看法可以说正确,也可以说错误;即使两款游戏确实都是RPG,但它们对玩家的吸引力来源可能是完全不同的。

我举一个愚蠢的类比,假设RPG是蛋糕,你确实可以说只要是RPG,那就是蛋糕,但不同蛋糕的口味,比如巧克力蛋糕和柠檬蛋糕,是有很大不同的。这就是为什么有必要明确你正在做的游戏是哪一类RPG——因为,在烘焙中,这决定了你必须使用什么材料,不能使用什么材料。

那么,我们先罗列出不同的RPG亚类型以及它们的主要成分。

剧情RPG

剧情RPG是最常见的一个亚类,如《狩魔猎人》、《质量效应》和《龙腾世纪》。在这类游戏中,吸引玩家的是游戏的剧情;玩家享受情节、背景和人物。甚至玩家自己的角色也必须按照剧情发展而成长(剧情甚至比机制具有更大的驱动力)。

这意味着开发者的大部分精力时间应该放在剧情上,特别是所谓的剧情“主线”,即玩家的主要任务、战斗或玩家关注的以及想要达成的东西(无论你把它叫作什么)。

在剧情RPG中,沉浸感是至关重要的;无论是什么东西,从战斗到探索、关卡设计和美术风格,都应该有一个围绕的核心:沉浸感。

剧情RPG的重要成分列举如下:

角色形象应该立体饱满;你应该让玩家觉得游戏人物有值得一提的经历和故事,是独特的——即使那只是因为他们的谈吐方式有点奇怪或脸上有大疤。

所有地点都应该有背景故事;在关卡设计时要特别关注这一点。为什么这个地方会有那些怪物?为什么这个地方会变成这样?为什么要这么布局?你要给自己提大量问题。即使你不一定要在游戏中告诉玩家答案,设想一下答案也有助于创造沉浸感。

甚至道具也要促进沉浸感产生——为什么这家伙会掉那把剑?那把剑是哪来的?

你的战斗机制和力量展现应该与你的游戏世界观保持一致。理想的情况下,要在对话环节和过场动画中让角色发挥自己的某些能力。是的,你的治疗型角色可以并且应该能够治疗过场动画中的受伤NPC。

游戏中的所有东西基本上都要根据剧情发展:主角、伙伴(如果有的话)、玩家途经的区域地点、配角和甚至“坏人”。

你的对话必须提供多种回答;避免出现太多线性对话,给玩家机会塑造角色的个性和道德观。当然,这里有一个例外:如果你根据预先制做好的角色制作剧情RPG。《狩魔猎人》就是一个例子:开发者的目标是创造角色的形像,让玩家与角色产生亲密的感情。这就防止在个性或道德观上出现反差太大的选择,因为开发者必须忠于原始角色。但是,如果反差做得好,也可能非常吸引玩家。

rpg_witcher 2(from gamasutra)

rpg_witcher 2(from gamasutra)

剧情RPG应该避免或限制复杂度,因为复杂度可能会稀释玩家的主要体验和分散玩家对剧情的注意力。例如:

不要重刷敌人,除非出于剧情安排。确实,为了重刷敌人而重刷敌人的目的只有一个:刷任务。优秀的剧情RPG应该避免这么做,因为如果玩家开始刷任务,意味着他已经放弃跟进剧情了,也就是说,你的剧情没有促进玩家进展。

你不需要手艺系统,但如果你确实想要一个或根据剧情需要一个——就像《狩魔猎人》一样,那就避免做得太复杂或带有“刷任务”倾向。《龙腾世纪2》就是一个好榜样:它的资源点只能采集一次,这样就完全避免玩家刷任务了,从而刺激玩家继续探索。

你不需要非常复杂的角色养成和道具系统;毕竟你不是《暗黑》。即使你必须让玩家觉得自己能够自定义角色、让角色多多少少按自己的意愿成长,角色养成系统也不宜太艰深复杂。记住,你要靠剧情牵引玩家,而不是每10秒钟就比较一下新得到的宝剑或花30分钟考虑应该把点加在哪一个天赋上。至于道具,最重要的是为道具存在于剧情中提供有根有据的解释,而不是灵活地狡辩。基本上,让玩家获得“亚瑟王之剑”比怪物掉落20把属性不同的长剑来得有意思。

剧情和沉浸感就是剧情RPG的关键词,永远不要忘记!

沙盒RPG

最复杂最昂贵的亚类型之一就是沙盒RPG,因此这一类游戏也相当少;比如《辐射3》和《上古卷轴》系列。这类游戏吸引玩家的地方在于,玩家随时都可以做任何想做的事,杀掉自己想杀的人物,成为自己想成为的人。

不过,这就产生了一个悖论:为了保持这种自由,创造自己的传奇,玩家乐意忍受许多在其他RPG亚类中他绝对不能容忍的东西:破坏沉浸感的漏洞、平淡的剧情、单一的战斗系统等。

因此,开发者的注意力显然不会放在剧情主线上,而是放在主线周围的其他东西上:大量支线任务、NPC、可探索的地下城等。几乎所有功能特点都必须支持上述的自由;沙盒RPG的关键成分列举如下:

深刻的角色创造、自定义和发展系统;记住,玩家希望成为自己想成为的人。如果他决定成为持双手斧的魔法刺客,那就让他成为(即使他的角色会因此残掉)。那就是为什么优秀的沙盒RPG不会把玩家角色困在一个严格的职业或种族体系里。事实上,这种职业或种族体系只不过是为玩家培养角色提供一个指导。

只有想不到,没有做不到,即使玩家所做的事是毫无用处的或对他自身有害的(如《天际》中的捡扫把,或杀死任务发放者)。玩家想做什么就让他做。

玩家不应该觉得受剧情限制;是的,那意味着跳跃和不存在“无形的墙”。玩家体验是自由的,不允许他跳多多少少会减少自由感。值得注意的是,几乎只有沙盒RPG才有跳跃按钮——这就是原因。

可探索区域多。细节才是王道。你的游戏世界应该是活的——玩家来或不来,游戏世界都在那里。

非线性进程。这一点很显然,但玩家应该觉得自己可以随心所欲地去任何地方,不感到被剧情约束着。

至于应该避免或限制的成分,如下:

与剧情RPG相同,你的道具应该有“真实感”。例如,要避免随机掉落物品的生成者,因为那会产生“怪异”的感觉。

你的剧情必须将游戏与玩家自己的故事结合起来,不要有太大的焦点,以免玩家过分关注而失去“自由”体验。在这一方面,《天际》做得比《遗忘》做得好:前者的成功之处在于,让玩家觉得自己是特别的——你是龙之子,你要做自己觉得对世界很重要的事,因为世界对你很重要,但这又不是唯一重要的事。

避免形成对照的道德系统(如《质量效应》中的Paragon/Renegade)。这种系统的唯一效果就是,即使有其他方式,玩家还是觉得自己只选择其中之一,从而减少了自由感。

自由就是沙盒RPG的关键词,永远不要忘记。

地下城RPG

这个亚类型是最容易识别的,如《火炬之光》、《地牢围攻》、《暗黑破坏神》和甚至《黑暗之魂》也属于这一类。这类游戏一度被清楚地定义为“砍砍杀杀”,但近几年来似乎被纳入所谓的“动作RPG”(这是个问题,稍后再说)。

这类游戏吸引玩家的地方在于,角色升级(通过属性、新技能或战利品等)。让角色从1级开始不断升级,寻找更高级的装备,学习更强大的技能——以杀死更强悍的怪物,这样怪物就会掉落更好的装备道具,如此循环反复。

地下城RPG来源于早期的《龙与地下城》,该游戏的剧情只是为杀死怪物以得到战利品提供理由和情境。画面确实要精美,沉浸感确实要强,但这类游戏的开发投入主要在于:掉落物品、战斗、属性系统、升级系统、职业或种族系统,等等。任何有助于完善角色升级系统的东西都应该优先考虑。

rpg_diablo 3(from gamasutra)

rpg_diablo 3(from gamasutra)

这类游戏的必要成分列举如下:

复杂的掉落物品系统。随机掉落物品的生产者应该产生游戏中的大部分“面包屑”(稍后再说);应该是你的优先任务。

自定义掉落物品也很重要——符文、宝石、魔法元素等强化装备道具的物品总是很受欢迎。

深刻的角色培养系统。职业或种族系统、属性系统、技能等,就是玩家的主要游戏对象,不要让玩家失望。

深刻而详尽的游戏背景和世界观——也就是游戏的上下文,而不是剧情本身。有趣的传说、非凡的角色(谁不知道《暗黑》中的迪卡凯恩和泰瑞尔?)、丰富的场景和怪物。

你的敌人必须不断重刷,甚至BOSS也是!这一点非常重要。玩家希望通过刷怪物获得更多装备道具、经验、符文、金子等等。“重刷”就是这类游戏的精粹所在,虽然对剧情RPG有害,但优秀的地下城RPG必备。如果不能刷怪物打装备,你觉得《暗黑》还有意思么?

我个人认为以下几种情况应该避免:

剧情是次要的,如果表现得太多,反而会妨害游戏的主要体验。一般来说,你应该避免带多种选择的、复杂的对话系统;虽然这对剧情RPG是必要的,但对于地下城RPG的玩家简直是浪费时间——他们只想杀怪打金升级捡东西,所以不要给玩家出复杂的道德选择题或规定角色的个性。他们也不指望对游戏的剧情产生多大的融入感。

避免开放世界;出于某些原因,许多动作游戏都尝试了,但一直不太成功。《圣域》就是一个案例。主要原因可能是玩家不想浪费时间四处跑动,只想重复进入地下城打BOSS拿装备。“我们有一款‘开放世界’的动作游戏”听起来似乎很了不得,但事实上,这种游戏的唯一结果就是让你损失大量时间、资源和精力做出一款破坏角色升级这一主要体验的游戏。无论如何,你的游戏永远不会成为《天际》或《辐射》,所以你永远也满足不了玩家追求自由的心。相信我——不要迷恋开放世界,它只是一个传说!

地下城RPG的关键词就是角色升级,永远不要忘记。

动作RPG的问题

“动作RPG”是目前RPG类型的主流。但它存在问题,即与它的名称相反,它并没有体现这类游戏的主要体验。因此,简单地将RPG描述为“动作RPG”,无论是开发者还是玩家,都会对这个概念感到困惑。我们以几款被称作“动作RPG”的游戏作为例子:

rpg_skyrim(from gamasutra)

rpg_skyrim(from gamasutra)

《狩魔猎人2》:游戏的主要体验是剧情。

《天际》:沙盒。

《黑暗之魂》:硬核地下城探索。

《阿玛拉王国:惩罚》:主要体验不太确定。

所以,以上游戏提供的主要游戏体验是完全不同的,因此吸引的也是不同类型的玩家,但它们都被扣上“动作RPG”的帽子。之所以说这是一个问题,是因为动作RPG并不是一个真正的亚类型;相反地,它只是当前市场为游戏机发明出来的行话。

至于玩法机制,动作RPG一般包含两种东西中的一种(或二者兼有):

按下按钮就会触发“基本”攻击;不存在所谓的“自动攻击”。

按下按钮就会触发闪避或阻挡动作。

就是这样,离“体验界定”太远了,因此就产生了风险:

对于简单地将游戏描述为“动作RPG”的开发者,可能会将多种体验混为一体,结果反而削弱/模糊了主要体验。

对于因为它被叫作“动作RPG”而购买它的玩家,可能不会得到他想要的游戏体验。

我曾听人说“我白买了《狩魔猎人》,无聊死了——对话咋这么多啊!”或者“我买了《暗黑》,剧情太坑人了!”又或者“该死,为什么《天际》中的战斗这么无聊?”好吧,原因很简单:赎买这些游戏的人没有意识到他们得到的只是一款提供了他们不喜欢的体验的亚类型RPG。他们想要精彩的剧情,深刻的角色升级系统和纯打斗,或者可能更多自由。

这种市场营销策略是不会有什么作用的,因为现在发行的所有RPG都被称作“动作RPG”!

当然,毫无疑问,出现这股趋势是因为市场营销必须打出“用平板玩RPG太酷了”这样的宣传标语。最终,它只是粗略地描述你可能期望的战斗类型,而不是游戏的核心体验。随着这股趋势加剧,我敢说,不出几年,所有RPG都会变成动作RPG,最终使“动作RPG”这个标签变得基本无意义。

但是,把某款游戏当作“动作RPG”,比当作“剧情RPG”或“沙盒RPG”来得吸引人,也难怪大家都扎堆使用“动作RPG”的口号——尽管如此,仍然令人困惑不解。如果你是开发者,不要单纯地将你的游戏描述为“动作RPG”;如果你是玩家,不要天真地购买标着“动作RPG”的游戏;试着理解游戏的核心体验是什么,看看是不是你想要的。

RPG中的战斗类型不能定义游戏的核心体验;战斗只负责支撑核心体验,而这种核心体验可能是剧情、沙盒或角色升级。

面包屑技术

现在,你已经确定了游戏的主要体验。你知道你的目标是什么。然后呢?以下是我的建议:

详尽地定义游戏的体验。上述内容只是基本分类,但还存在多种变体。例如,正如我在前面提到的,剧情RPG可能进一步划分成“可以创建角色的”(如《质量效应》)和“不能创建角色的”(如《狩魔猎人》)。这通常对游戏的故事叙述方式具有重大影响,前者将玩家当作“角色”,使玩家与角色混为一体,而后者表现的是角色的形象,允许玩家对角色的个性产生共鸣。当你通关《质量效应》,你就创造了你自己的Shepard,但当你通关《狩魔猎人》,你只是知道了Geralt是什么样的人。

确保团队成员都明确你们正在制作的RPG是什么类型的,它的主要体验是什么——这样才能保证所有人都在朝一个方向努力,得到的反馈和建议都针对主要体验。例如,“《暗黑》中有这个,我们也加一点吧?”这样的建议就应该避免,因为那个特点显然属于角色升级的,而你做的是剧情RPG,你应该关注的是创造沉浸感和剧情体验。

当你准备就绪,你就可以使用面包屑技术了。

我所谓的“面包屑技术”基本上就代表游戏的主要体验,也就是玩家希望遵循的路线或轨迹——就像在童话故事中,兄妹俩一路上洒下面包屑,以便之后沿着面包屑走回家。以剧情RPG为例,这里的面包屑就是永远不会停止的剧情。聊天、过场动画、对话、事件等等,玩家应该沿着游戏的剧情玩下去,剧情永远不能给玩家停歇的机会。

《质量效应3》就是这方面的经典例子。在游戏中,总是会有事情发生,这就是一种明智的剧情节奏。哪果你在任务,区域里的所有空间都有一些让你感兴趣的东西:显示某些信息的控制台,聊天、视角、爆发了一件事或者飞船着陆、过场动画等等。在故事叙述中,玩家从一块面包屑到另一块面包屑,再到一块大面包屑——高潮,就像任务的结尾,或者故事中的惊天秘密。玩家就像坐上剧情的过山车,当它停止时,只是因为游戏结束了。

在地下城RPG中,角色和装备道具的升级是永无止境的。玩家总是有东西要升级。新鞋子、新裤子、新帽子——啊,还要升级我的剑!如此循环反复。你的注意力应该主要放在掉落物品系统和随机数生成者;它们制造了游戏的大部分面包屑,应该认真制作。

当然,你也必须关注角色升级本身——等级、技能、属性等等。玩家强化角色的方面越多越好。当然,你要仔细安排重大事件,使玩家产生更强烈的进步感,就像升级一样。不要忘记在考验中加入更难获得的强化道具。

基本思路是这样的:将游戏的体验分成小块的面包屑和大块的面包屑,保证玩家沿着小块面包屑进展下去,时不时出现大块面包屑让玩家惊喜一下;另外还要保证甚至是支线也要将玩家带回这条洒着面包屑的主线。

BioWare和Blizzard就非常擅长放面包屑。即使我们是以《质量效应》系列为例子,也不能否认这两家公司的游戏甚至将面包屑技术使用得更好:

在《质量效应》中,支线任务与主要故事不同步。许多人说无聊,不少人确实没有通关游戏,因为他们“迷失”在支线任务中。

《质量效应2》的改进办法是将支线任务与主要体验捆绑在一起,即专注于与角色紧密相关的、对结局有重大影响的Loyalty任务。但仍然有一些支线任务与游戏的宏大主题没有多少关联。

《质量效应3》的做法更进一步,使用War Assets系统——是的,这个系统自有缺陷,但还是有很大的优点,即将甚至最小的支线任务也与主要体验——主线任务捆绑在一起。通过添加War Assets系统,让玩家始终记得他的主要目标。就这样,玩家永远不会迷失;任务永远会把你带回洒着面包屑的路上。因此,我非常肯定,《质量效应3》的通关率比大多数RPG都高。

混合体验的诱惑

作为开发者,你要抵制这种诱惑:将其他类型体验的特征添加到你的游戏中,以便“取悦更多玩家”。这种做法基本上以失败告终。

有过上述尝试的大部分(即使不是全部的)RPG的成功都不太明显,而只专注于主要体验的RPG却有不少获得巨大成功。

添加其他类型体验的元素非常可能破坏设计和体验的一致性——削弱体验、分散开发者和玩家的注意力。基本上,喜欢那类体验的玩家不会感到满意,因为游戏中不存在任何深度或辅助特征来支持它。

我不知道成功的秘诀,但失败的根源肯定是,试图讨好所有人。

rpg_kingdoms of amalur(from gamasutra)

rpg_kingdoms of amalur(from gamasutra)

有些游戏尝试了体验混搭,但成效并不明显:

《地牢围攻3》将剧情和地下城RPG融为一体,消解了主要体验;所以这款游戏既算不上优秀的剧情游戏,也说不上合格的地下城RPG,因为它的角色升级的深度和规模还不够。

《阿玛拉王国:惩罚》基本上把所有体验都混合起来了;无焦点的体验使大多数玩家很快就放弃这款游戏了。它是沙盒?不是——你并没有那么自由。它是动作?也不是,虽然掉落物品是蛮多的;但随机掉落物品生成者和它的变体并不如优秀的地下城RPG中的那么好。归根结底,这款游戏就是什么都要粘一点,结果玩家找不到任何清楚的“萌点”。

但是,请大家不要误解我:任何类型的RPG都有值得借鉴的地方。当无论什么时候你参考其他游戏时,你都要保证你拿来的东西可以支撑游戏的主要体验,而不是产生一点得不到支持、不完整的新玩意,让玩家失望——甚至干扰玩家的注意力,使玩家失去兴趣。

你是想做最好的巧克力蛋糕,还是最好的柠檬蛋糕?

将柠檬和巧克力混合在一起,最可能的结果就是,喜欢柠檬的人和喜欢巧克力的人都不喜欢这种混合体。但是,柠檬蛋糕中的某些成分可能有助于增加巧克力蛋糕的风味?那么无论如何,把它找出来!

无论如何,你应该意识到,混合类型需要更强更新更严谨的设计。

结论就是,总是明确定义游戏的主要体验,永远不要迷失,问问你自己:我的面包屑放好了吗?在哪里?出显的频率够吗?间隔有时候是不是太长了?大块面包屑在哪里?如果游戏有支线任务、目标或特征,那么有没有紧密关联到主线,从而将迷失的玩家温柔地带回主线?

我们都有过这种经历:你开始玩一款RPG,过了一阵子,你不玩了,而且始终没有完成,你其实说不上什么确切的原因,只是觉得“玩不下去了”。

原因通常是,你找不到面包屑了或整体体验还不够集中。确保游戏的主要体验吸引着玩家,永远不停止,让玩家不断吃到小块面包屑,定时地给他们大块面包屑,直到他们完成游戏,帮助你创造出一款成功的RPG。总之,你会很快发现,说得容易做得难。祝你们好运!(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

Focusing Creativity: RPG Genres

by Jordane Thiboust

Designer Jordane Thiboust, who deeply investigated the RPG genre while in preproduction for a next generation title, shares his hard won insight — mainly, that mix and match genre-bending isn’t the best way to deliver a polished core experience.

The RPG genre is a complex one. I’ve always known this, but I never realized just how much until recently. Beyond the complexity of the mechanics, the multiple systems, and the narrative, I noticed that what makes the RPG genre complex is focusing on, and nailing, the player experience.

I really started noticing this during the pre-production of a project I was working on. A lot of feedback or suggestions would be misguided because of the misconception that whatever was brought to our my attention was “RPG stuff.”

The reason behind this is that the term “RPG” is used to describe lots of games, and it is easy to overlook the fact that some of those games have a completely different goal for their player experience. That’s the hardest part; narrowing down that experience, asking yourself “What will drive the player for 30-plus hours?” and sticking to it… Instead of simply adding every RPG feature that you can think of.

For that reason, I found out that it is extremely important to subdivide the RPG genre by the experience of each subgenre and focus on, and then clearly decide, which of those subgenres you are aiming for.

This will drive both your production and the player who buys your games; this will help you focus on what type of features matter and might even be mandatory, and what features have no place in your game and might even have a detrimental impact on it.

Since the term “RPG” is used so loosely, for most people, every RPG game just belongs to the same big pool. They are all simply “RPGs.” This is both true and false at the same time; while they are indeed all RPGs, two RPG games can sometimes have a completely different drive for the player.

Using a food analogy, if RPG were cakes, you could indeed say that they are all cakes, but still, there is a pretty big difference in taste between a chocolate cake and a lemon cake, and that’s exactly why it is important to know what kind of RPG you are making — because, as in cooking, this will determine the list of ingredients that you must use and the ones that you probably shouldn’t.

So let’s start by listing the different RPG subgenres, as well as their main ingredients.

The Narrative RPG

The narrative RPG, the most common type — games like The Witcher, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age are all part of that subtype. In that genre, the player is driven almost completely by the narration; he wants to enjoy the story, the setting, and the characters. Even for his own character, it is important that he evolves narratively (even more so than mechanically).

What that means is that most of your production effort and features should be focusing on supporting this — especially for what is usually called the “critical path.” That’s your main quest, campaign, or whatever you call it, the thing that the player will focus on and will want to finish.

In a Narrative RPG, immersion is critical; everything from combat to navigation, level design, and art direction, should always keep that word in mind: Immersion.

Some of the most critical ingredients for narrative RPGs are as follows:

Characters should be three dimensional; you should feel like they all have a story to tell and that they are unique in some way — even if that’s simply because they talk in a weird way or have a huge scar on the face.

Every location should tell a story; this should be a strong focus on the level design side. Why are those monsters here? Why is it shaped like this? Why is it decorated like this? Ask yourself plenty of questions. Even if you don’t always give the answer to the player, just defining those answers will help you create immersion.

Even itemization should help immersion — Why does that guy drop that sword? Where does it come from?

Your combat mechanics and the powers displayed should feel coherent with your universe. Ideally, make use of some of the character’s powers in dialog and cutscenes. Yes, your healer character can and should be able to heal a wounded NPC in a cutscene.

Almost everything should feel like it is evolving narratively: the main character, the sidekick characters (if any), the areas the player travels through, the secondary character, and even the “bad guys.”

Your dialog must have multiple answers; avoid doing too much linear dialog, leave the opportunity to the player to create the personality and morality of his character. There is one exception to this, though, and that’s if you create a narrative RPG based on a predefined character. The Witcher is one of those, for example; in that case, your goal is to create a portrayal of that character, to let the player become intimate with who that character is. This prevents you from having extremely contrasted choices in terms of personality or morality, as you have to stay close to the original character. But if it’s done well, it’s also extremely rewarding for the player.

The Witcher 2

There are a few ingredients that should be either avoided, or limited in their complexity, as they could actually dilute your main experience and lose your player’s focus on the story. For example:

Enemies should not respawn, or only do so if it makes sense narratively. Indeed, enemies respawning just for the sake of it, serves only one goal: grinding. You want to avoid this in a good narrative RPG, since if the player starts to grind, that means he is not following your story anymore, and in turn that your narrative has failed to keep him going.

You don’t need a crafting system, but if you really want one or can’t avoid having one due to the story — as in The Witcher — avoid making it complex, or grinding-oriented. Dragon Age II is a good example of this; its resource nodes only need to be harvested once and that’s it, thus completely avoiding the grind, and instead simply giving an incentive for exploration.

You don’t need a very complex character evolution and itemization; you are not Diablo. Even though it is important for your player to feel that he can customize his characters and make them evolve more or less as he wishes, the system should not be too deep or complex. Remember, you want your player to feel driven by your story, not by comparing a new sword every 10 seconds or by thinking for 30 minutes about where to put that next talent point. As for itemization, it is way more important for it to make sense narratively, to have lore attached to it, than to be extremely flexible. Basically, it’s better for the player to acquire Excalibur, rather than for the game to drop 20 longswords, all with slightly different stats.

Narrative and immersion are your keywords; never forget them.

The Sandbox RPG

One of the most complex and costly subtypes, and thus pretty rare — is the sandbox RPG, which includes games like Fallout 3 and the Elder Scrolls series. Here, the player is driven by the fact that she can do what she wants, kill what she wants, be what she wants — and do it all when she wants.

That being said, there is a bit of paradox here; in order to obtain that freedom, and be able to create her own story, the player is willing to tolerate a lot of things that she would absolutely not tolerate in any other subgenre of RPG: immersion breaking bugs, average narrative, a simple combat system, etc.

For that reason, the focus of the production and features are clearly not on the critical path, as in a Narrative RPG, but on everything surrounding it: massive numbers of secondary quests, NPCs, places to visit, dungeons to explore, etc. And almost every single feature needs to support that freedom; some of the most important ingredients of the Sandbox RPG are:

Deep character creation, customization and evolution; remember, the player wants to be what she wants. If she decides she wants to be a thief-mage fighting with a two-handed axe, she should be able to do so (even if that might not be optimal). That’s why good sandbox RPGs don’t lock themselves in a rigid class system. At worst, the class system is simply a guideline for the player.

Almost everything that the player would like to do should be doable, even if it is useless or potentially detrimental to her (like picking up brooms in Skyrim, or killing a quest giver). The player wants to do whatever she wants.

Navigation should not feel restricted; yes, that means jumping, and no invisible walls. The player experience is freedom-based; not allowing her to jump would more or less consciously reduce that feeling massively. You will notice that almost only sandbox RPGs have a jump button — that’s the reason.

A vast world to explore. The strength is in the details. Your world should feel alive; it should feel like it lived before and will live after the player’s arrival.

Non-linear progression. This should be obvious, but the player should feel free at all times to go where she wants, and never feel restricted by the story.

As for the ingredients that should be avoided, or be more limited, here they are:

As with the Narrative RPG, your itemization should feel “real”, so avoid a random loot generator that could give “exotic” results, for example.

Your narration needs to find a fine line between involving the player in your world and her story, and not being too big of a focus, so that she simply follows this and loses the “freedom” experience. Skyrim did a way better job than Oblivion in this area; the developers managed this by making you feel special — you are The Dragonborn, ensuring that you feel important to the world, and thus the world to you, without making it the only thing that matters.

Avoid a contrasted morality system (like Paragon/Renegade in Mass Effect). The only thing it will achieve is to make the player feel like she should follow one path over the other, and thus decrease the feeling of freedom.

Freedom is your keyword; never forget it.

The Dungeon Crawler

That subtype is one of the most easily recognizable; games like Torchlight, Dungeon Siege, Diablo, and even Dark Souls are part of it. Once upon a time they were clearly defined as “hack ‘n slash,” but recently they joined the ever-growing group of RPGs called “action RPGs” (this is an issue; more on this later.)

The main thing driving the player here is, by far, character progression (through statistics, new abilities, or loot). Evolving your character from level 1 to, well, a lot, finding always more powerful loot, acquiring more and more powerful powers — to kill stronger monsters that will drop better loot, and so on.

They trace their roots in your typical old school Dungeons & Dragons game, where the plot was simply a pretext and context to kill monsters and loot their stuff. Decent graphics and immersion is expected, but above all, the main focus of the production and features should be: loot, combat, a statistics system, an evolution system, a class system, etc. Anything that can make the evolution of the character more thrilling and granular should be considered a priority.

Diablo III

Some essential ingredients to focus on:

Complex loot system. Your random loot generator will be generating most of your “breadcrumbs” (more on this later); it should be your top priority.

Customizing this loot is also important — slots for runes, gems, enchanting, and those kinds of things are always nice to have.

Deep character evolution. A class system, stats system, skills, feats. That’s the main reason the player is playing; don’t let him down.

Deep and detailed lore and universe — that’s your context, not your narrative itself. Having interesting lore, remarkable characters (who doesn’t know Deckard Cain or Tyrael?), and varied environments will go a long way into creating a comfortable place for your player to grind through all those monsters.

Your enemies must respawn, even the bosses! That’s critical. Your player will want to keep farming those guys for more loot, experience points, runes, gold, or whatever. That’s the whole point of the thing, and while it is detrimental to a narrative RPG, it is completely mandatory for a good dungeon crawler. Do you think Diablo would be as fun if you couldn’t farm the hell (literally!) out of Diablo himself?

A few things to avoid, in my opinion:

Narrative is secondary, and could actually hinder your main experience if it’s too present. Typically, you should avoid complex dialog systems with multiple choices; while they are a must in a narrative RPG, they are just a loss of time for most players playing a Dungeon Crawler; they want to kill, bash, loot, level up — not make complex morality choices or define their character’s personality. They are also not looking to be emotionally engaged by the story.

Avoid open worlds; for some reason, that’s something that a lot of hack ‘n slash games tried, and it never worked very well. Sacred is an example. The main reason is most certainly that the player doesn’t want to lose time running around, and also wants to have an easy way to simply restart a dungeon in order to go farm that boss again and again. I know it sounds cool to say “We have an open world hack ‘n slash”, but in reality, the only thing it will do is make you lose a massive amount of time and resources production-wise, and dilute the main foci of your game: character evolution. In any case, you will never be a Skyrim or Fallout, so you will never satisfy the players looking for freedom. Trust me — don’t do it.

Character Progression is your keyword; never forget it.

The Action RPG Problem

The “Action RPG” genre is the current trend in the RPG industry; the issue with it is that contrary to its name, it is not representative of the main experience of the game. Consequently, it can be confusing both for developers and consumers to simply describe an RPG as an “action RPG.” Let’s take a few games that have all been described as action RPGs as examples:

The Witcher 2. The main experience is Narrative.

Skyrim. The main experience is Sandbox.

Dark Souls. The main experience is hardcore Dungeon Crawler.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. The main experience seems to not be properly defined.

So all those games have completely different goals for their main experience, and as such would appeal to different type of players, but still they all have been described as action RPGs. That’s an issue because action RPG is not a real subgenre; instead, it’s simply the current marketing slang for “it is cool to play it on consoles.”

In term of mechanics, it usually comes down to one of two things (and sometimes both!):

Pressing a button triggers a “basic” attack; there is no such thing as “auto-attack.”

Pressing a button triggers a dodge or parry.

And that’s usually it, which is far from being “experience defining,” and that’s the risk:

For the developers to simply describe their game as an action RPG, and as a result maybe mix multiple experiences without realizing it, and end up with a diluted/undefined experience.

For the consumer to buy a game simply because it’s called an action RPG and end up with an experience that he might not enjoy.

Ever heard someone say, “I bought The Witcher, but it’s boring — there’s too much dialog!” or “I bought Diablo, but the story sucks!” or “Damn, why is the main campaign in Skyrim so lackluster?” Well, the reason for this is simple: the people who bought those games didn’t realize they were buying a subgenre of RPG that focuses on an experience they don’t like. They wanted awesome narration, deep character evolution, and pure action, or maybe more freedom.

And marketing doesn’t help with that, as every RPG released nowadays is described as an action RPG.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Of course, there is no doubt that this trend started because marketing needed a way to market “RPGs that are cool to play with a pad.” The thing is, in the end, it simply roughly describes what kind of combat you might expect, but not the core experience of the game. And as the trend grows, we can safely expect that in a couple years (if that’s not the case already) every RPG will be an action RPG, making the label basically useless.

In the end, it is understandable that marketing a game as an action RPG is sexier than as a “Narrative RPG” or “Sandbox RPG” — but it’s still confusing nonetheless. If you are a developer, don’t simply describe your game as an “action RPG,” and if you are a consumer, don’t simply buy a game because it is called an action RPG; try to understand what the core experience in it is, and see if that’s what you want.

The type of combat you have in an RPG does not define your core experience; combat is only a support for that core experience, which is either: story, sandbox, or character evolution.

The Breadcrumbs Technique

So now you have your main experience nailed. You know what you are aiming for. Now what? Here is what I suggest:

Define your experience in detail. What I described above are only high level guidelines, but there are multiple variations. For example, like I said above, the narrative RPG genre can be sub-divided again between the games where you can create your character (Mass Effect) and the others where you cannot (The Witcher). This typically will have a huge impact on how your narrative works, the first one being aimed at the player “being” the character and forging it, while the second is aimed at showing a portrayal of a character, allowing the player to get intimate with his/her personality. When you finish Mass Effect, you created your Shepard, but when you finish The Witcher, you know who Geralt is.

Make sure that everyone in the team is clear about the type of RPG you are making and what the main experience is; this will put everyone on the same page, and ensure that you get feedback and suggestions that are aimed toward that experience. For example this should avoid suggestions like, “What about adding this and this from Diablo?” when these are clearly features aimed toward the character evolution experience, while you are making a narrative RPG, and thus focusing on creating an immersive character and story experience.

When you’re ready, use the breadcrumbs technique.

What I call the “breadcrumbs technique” is basically representing your main experience, as a trail that the player will want to follow — like a trail of pebbles or breadcrumbs. If we take the example of a narrative RPG that means that you narrative never stops. Party chatter, cutscenes, dialog, events, etc. The player should be following your narration continually, never giving him a rest.

One of the best and recent examples of this is Mass Effect 3; in that game, there is always something happening, narrative-wise. If you are on a mission, every single room of an area will have something to keep you interested: a console with some info, a quick party chat, a point of view, an event like something exploding, or a ship landing, a cutscene, etc. You go from narrative breadcrumb to narrative breadcrumb, then to a big breadcrumb — a milestone, like the end of a mission, or a huge event in the story. It is a narrative rollercoaster, and when it stops, that’s only because you finished the game.

In a Dungeon Crawler that means ensuring that your character and loot progression is permanent, that there is always something to upgrade, often. New shoes, new pants, slightly better shoes — wow, a massive upgrade for my sword! — and so on. Your loot system and random number generator needs most of your attention; they generate a big part of your breadcrumbs and should be carefully tweaked, and that’s far from simple to do.

Of course the character evolution itself — levels, skills, feats, attributes, stats, etc. — needs attention, too. The more ways for the player to enhance his character, the better, and of course with carefully placed milestones, that generates a bigger feeling of progression for the player once in a while, like a level up. This is without forgetting new challenges to put those hard-earned improvements to the test.

It basically comes down to this: divide your experience in small breadcrumbs and big breadcrumbs, and ensure a constant flow of them for the player to follow, with big breadcrumbs (milestones) appearing once in a while to refresh his focus, and make sure that even secondary things bring him back to the main path.

BioWare and Blizzard typically are very good at this, and if we take the Mass Effect series as an example, it even got better at it with each game:

In Mass Effect, the secondary quests felt out of synch with the main story. A lot of people said they were boring, and quite a few people actually never finished the game because they got “lost” in the secondary quests.

Mass Effect 2 brought that back to being tied to the main experience, by focusing on Loyalty Quests that are tied to the characters and which have an impact on the ending. But there were still a few secondary quests that had no link whatsoever with the grand scheme of things.

Mass Effect 3 pushes that even further by using the War Assets system — yes, it had its downsides, but it had one big thing for it, though, and that’s making it so that even the smallest secondary quest is tied to the main experience — your main path — by adding to those War Assets, always making sure that you, as a player, never forget your main objective. That way, you never lose your focus; the quests always bring you back to following the breadcrumbs. For that reason, I am pretty sure that Mass Effect 3 had a higher completion ratio per user than most RPGs.

The Temptation of Mixing Experiences

Be careful to not be tempted to add features from other types of experiences just to “please more people.” This most certainly won’t work.

Most, if not all, RPGs that have attempted this have been received with mild success, whereas RPGs that solely focused on their main experience and making it the best possible have been very successful.

Trying to add a bit of another type of experience brings a lot of chances to simply damage the coherence of your design and experience, dilute it, and scatter the focus of both your production and your player — and in every case most certainly won’t be enough to satisfy the people who like that type of experience, since there won’t be any of the depth and ancillary features needed to support it.

I don’t know the secret of success, but the secret of failure is certainly trying to please everyone.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

Here are a couple of games which tried to mix and match with mild success.

Dungeon Siege III mixed storytelling and dungeon crawling, giving something diluted; the end result being not a good enough narrative game, and not a good enough dungeon crawler either, since the depth and granularity of its character evolution was not pushed far enough.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning mixed and matched basically everything, resulting in an unfocused experience that had most people stop playing the game quite fast. Is it Sandbox? Not really — you are not so free. Is it a hack ‘n lash? Not really, either, even though there is a lot of loot; the random loot generator and its variety are not mastered as well as in a good Dungeon Crawler. It was simply too much of everything, and not any clear drive for the player.

Don’t get me wrong, though; there are great things to take or adapt from every kind of RPG. Every time you do so, however, you have to make sure that what you take is going to support your main experience, and not create the tip of a new one which won’t be properly supported, feels incomplete, and thus disappointing — and risks losing your player’s attention and interest in the game.

Do you want to make the best chocolate cake, or the best lemon cake?

Trying to make a cake mixing lemon and chocolate might just end being something that pleases neither the people who like chocolate nor those who like lemon. But maybe there are some ingredients from that lemon cake that could enhance the flavor of your chocolate in your chocolate cake? Then by all means, go for it!

In every case, though, be aware that if you start mixing genres this will require an even stronger, innovative and carefully considered design.

So in conclusion, always clearly define your main experience, never lose it from sight, and ask yourself: Are my breadcrumbs clearly defined? Where are they? Do they appear often enough? Do they stop sometimes? Where are my milestones? If you have secondary quests, objectives or features, are they somehow tied to the main path, bringing the player back to it gently?

We’ve all had those moments where you start an RPG and, after a while, you stop playing it and never finish it, and you can’t really put your finger on the exact reason. You are just “not into it anymore.”

Usually the reason is that the breadcrumbs stopped, or that the experience as a whole was not focused enough. Ensuring that your main experience, what drives your player, never stops and that they go from a series of small tastes of that experience, to big dishes regularly until they are satiated, will go a long way to help you create a successful RPG of any kind. That being said, you will quickly notice that it is easier said than done, so good luck!(source:gamasutra)


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