作者：Sharon Boller

欢迎来到我的《学习游戏设计》系列文章的第三部分。在上篇文章中，我谈论了游戏设计五步过程中的第二步：熟悉游戏元素，尤其是游戏目标和游戏动态。本篇文章将继续围绕着第二步展开，但是主题却是关于游戏机制。（请点击此处阅读本系列第一、第二、第四篇）

游戏机制是指引导着玩家的规则和程序，以及对于玩家的移动或行动的回应。通过你所创造的机制，你可以定义游戏是如何作用于玩家。而我们只需要明确的一点便是，机制描写的是玩家遵循的规则以及游戏本身遵循的规则。

game-mechanics（from theknowledgeguru）

玩家遵循的具体规则或机制的例子

这些规则是玩家在玩游戏前会阅读的一些书面规则集：

在每个月末，玩家需要滚动骰子去决定他们是否能够继续待在收容所里。如果他们获得的点数是1或6，他们便能够继续待在收容所里。否则他们便需要离开那里。（游戏邦注：这是我们在桌面游戏《A Paycheck Away》中所创造的一个规则。）

当玩家通过Go时，他们便收集到200美元。（你们会意识到这是《大富翁》中的一个规则。）

如果你是Pilot（飞行员），你便可以朝着岛屿中的任何地方飞去。（这是来自《禁闭岛》中的规则。）

游戏遵循的机制或规则的例子

以下所罗列的机制都是源自我参与开发的数字游戏。游戏都未直接将这些机制呈献给玩家，不过玩家通常都会在游戏过程中意识到相关机制。

一个只会在玩家完成之前关卡后才解锁的关卡。（《The Knowledge Guru》便是一个典型的例子。接下来两个机制也出现在这款游戏中。）

knowledge guru(from bottomlineperformance)

当玩家未准确回答一个问题时，他们便会立刻收到有关正确答案的反馈，并拥有再次尝试回答该问题的机会。

对于道路A问题的正确回答能够带给玩家50个点，对于道路B的正确回答能够带给玩家250个点，对于道路C的正确回答能够带给玩家1000个点。积分算法是游戏本身遵循着游戏机制的一个有效例子。

当玩家完成了第一个关卡时，之后所有的关卡便会解锁，如此玩家便可以基于任何顺序选择关卡。（我们在自己创造的一款销售游戏中使用了这一规则。）

玩家会因为每一次向消费者提出适当且相关的问题而获得销售现金。但是如果他们提出的是不相干的问题便会失去销售现金。如果玩家选择提出一个“中立”的问题，他便不会获得或失去任何现金。

游戏机制和学习体验间的联系

游戏机制有助于提高游戏的乐趣，同时它们也是学习体验的重要组成部分。以下是关于游戏机制是如何与学习体验联系在一起的例子：

在销售游戏中，通过问消费者问题而赚取现金或失去现金都是直接与现实销售员的责任联系在一起，即现实中的销售员必须在问题出现时问消费者一些有意义的问题。比起那些不知道如何提出一个有效问题的销售员，那些了解自己的产品且能够提出相关问题的销售员更能轻松地实现销售目标。这些支持并鼓励现实行为的游戏机制正是游戏公司想要看到的。

在《The Knowledge Guru》中，机制会提供给那些错过问题的玩家即时反馈，让他们能够立即再次尝试。这样的游戏机制支持通过反复帮助玩家巩固记忆，通过反馈帮助玩家学习的学习原则。即时反馈加上再次尝试的即时机会能够进一步巩固玩家的记忆，并在之后唤醒这些相关信息。

在《A Paycheck Away》中，我们想要模拟无家可归的现实经历——因为某些艰难的选择或不可预期的事件导致一个人背井离乡。我们的游戏机制主要便是反射这些现实的挑战。一个有效的例子便是在每个月末掷骰子。这便等同于在现实世界中的一个问题，即是否允许一个人在30天过后仍住在收容所里。在现实世界中，收容所通常都遵循着一个规则，即要求人们在30天后离开，但是如果没有其他等待名单的话，这些人便可以继续住下去。

a paycheck away(from spiritandplace.wordpress)

同样地，在《A Paycheck Away》中，玩家还必须在每一轮中选择“工作卡片”和“机会卡片”。工作卡片代表现实中也存在的工作。如果多个玩家同时选择了一份工作，他们便需要通过掷骰子去决定谁才能获得这份工作。（要求掷骰子的机制也等同于现实世界中的工作竞争。）

游戏机制既有可能推动游戏玩法变得更有趣，也可能降低这种乐趣。不要假设你在游戏设计一开始便能够定义机制，然后再也不碰触到它们。测试并完善游戏机制非常重要。你可能会认为游戏机制非常棒，但是通过游戏测试却发现它隐藏了玩家对于游戏“乐趣元素”的认知，更糟糕的是，它还隐藏了学习体验。相反地，你可能会需要添加一些通过观看玩家游戏才意识到的有趣机制。

例子：在《The Knowledge Guru》的早期创造中，游戏性只会出现在定时回合中。玩家每一回合将面对10个问题，并需要在2分钟时间里回答所有的这些问题。如果不能在规定时间里答出所有问题，他们便会遭到处罚。那些乐于竞争（以及擅于快速阅读）的玩家便很喜欢这一机制。但是大多数玩家却不想看到这样的机制，因为这只会导致他们失去动力。他们认为快速阅读能力只是做好一件任务的元素，但却不是游戏的学习点。所以我们便删掉了时间元素，并完善了学习体验，并且未减少游戏体验。当然了，我们也调整了其它机制。即我们为此采取了各种变量，希望最终获得自己和玩家都会喜欢的机制。

总结

你希望游戏机制足够清晰，能够强化游戏体验，支持游戏目标，并有助于学习体验。你不能后知后觉地添加游戏机制。它们是一个优秀游戏设计的重要元素。当然了，你并不可能在第一次设计尝试时便创造出完美的机制，你需要不断测试和完善，但这便是游戏设计过程的所有组成部分。

（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）

Learning Game Design Series, Part 3: Game Mechanics

by Sharon Boller

Welcome to Part 3 of my multi-part Learning Game Design series. In my last post, I talked about Step 2 in my 5-step process for getting started in game design: getting familiar with game elements. Specifically, I focused on game goals and game dynamics. This post will stay on Step 2, but now we’ll be focusing instead on game mechanics.

A game’s mechanics are the rules and procedures that guide the player and the game response to the player’s moves or actions. Through the mechanics you create, you define how the game is going to work for the people who play it. So just to be clear, the mechanics describe rules the player follows and the rules the game itself follows.

Examples of explicit rules or mechanics that PLAYERS follow

These kinds of rules are examples of what you might find in a written set of rules the players read before playing a game:

At the end of each month, players have to roll a die to see if they can stay in the homeless shelter. If they get a 1 or a 6, they stay. Otherwise, they have to leave. (This rule is one we created as part of A Paycheck Away tabletop game.)

When players pass Go, they collect $200. (Most of you will recognize this as a rule in Monopoly.)

If you are the Pilot, you can fly to any location on the island. (This rule is from the game, Forbidden Island. It’s available in the App Store as a digital game for the iPad or as a tabletop game.)

Examples of mechanics or rules that GAMES follow

The mechanics listed below are all from digital games I’ve helped develop—they are coded into the game. None of these mechanics are explicitly stated for the player, though players can often figure out what the mechanic is as they play the game.

A level remains locked until a player successfully completes the previous level. (A publicly available sample would be The Knowledge Guru game. The next two mechanics also apply to this game.)

When players respond incorrectly to a question they get immediate feedback on what a correct response should be, followed by an opportunity to re-try answering the question.

Correct responses to Path A questions earn players 50 points, correct responses to Path B questions earn players 250 points, correct responses to Path C questions earn players 1000 points. The scoring algorithm is a great example of game mechanics that the game itself follows.

Once the first level is completed, all subsequent levels are unlocked and available for completion in any order the player chooses. (We applied this rule, and the one below, to a sales game we created—a description of the game is available here.)

A player earns sales dollars for each appropriate, relevant question they ask the customer. A player loses sales dollars if he chooses an irrelevant question to ask.  If a player chooses to ask a “neutral” question, he doesn’t gain or lose any dollars.

The link between game mechanics and the learning experience

Game mechanics contribute to the fun of the game, but they also are a significant part of the learning experience. Here’s some examples of how game mechanics I’ve described link to the learning experience:

In the sales game, the dollars earned or lost by asking the customer questions directly links to the real-world responsibility of sales reps to ask meaningful questions of their customers when issues arise. Sales reps who know their stuff and can ask relevant questions are going to find it easier to meet sales goals than will reps who do not know how to ask good questions. This  game mechanic supported and encouraged the real-world behavior the company wanted to see.

In the Knowledge Guru game, the mechanic is to provide immediate feedback to players who miss a question and then let them immediately try again. This game mechanic supports the learning principles that repetition helps cement memory and that feedback helps people learn. Immediate feedback, coupled with an immediate opportunity to re-try, further cements memory and the ability to recall the information later.

In the game A Paycheck Away, we wanted to simulate the real-world experience of being homeless—the difficult choices, the unexpected events that throw a person off course, the challenges of securing housing. Our game mechanics were critical to mirroring these real-world challenges. One example is the roll of the die at the end of each month. This equated to the real-world question of whether someone would be allowed to remain inside a homeless shelter once 30 days elapsed. In the real-world, shelters often have a rule that requires people to leave after 30 days, but they will make exceptions if the shelter doesn’t have a waiting list.

Also in the game A Paycheck Away, players have to select a “jobs card” and a “chance card” on each turn. The jobs card represents a job that might realistically be available in the real-world. If multiple players want the job, they each have to roll a die to see who actually gets the job. (The mechanic of requiring the die roll equates to the competition for jobs in the real world.)

Game mechanics can also make gameplay  more, or less, fun. Don’t assume you can define the mechanics at the start of your game design journey and then never touch them again. It’s critical to test and tweak game mechanics. You may think a game mechanic will be great, only to find out via play-testing that it is hindering the players’ perception of your game’s “fun factor” or, worse, actually hindering the learning experience. Conversely, you may discover you need to add a game mechanic that you hadn’t considered until you watched people play your game.

Example: In early renditions of The Knowledge Guru, game play occurred in timed rounds. Players got a round of 10 questions with two minutes to answer all 10 questions. They were penalized for failing to answer questions in the two-minute time period. Those who were wildly competitive (and fast readers) liked this mechanic. However, the majority of players did not like this mechanic, and it actually demotivated them. They felt their ability to read fast was a factor in doing well—and fast reading wasn’t the learning point of the game. We eliminated the time element, which then improved the learning experience and didn’t detract from the play experience as we feared it might. Of course, we also tweaked other mechanics in the process. It took us numerous variations on scoring to get it to a place we, and the players, were happy with it.

Summary

You want your game mechanics to be clear, enhance the game play experience, support your game goal, and contribute to the learning experience.  They are not an afterthought. They are a critical component of a good game design. You will not get them perfect on your first design attempt—you’ll want to test and tweak—but this is all part of the game design process.(source:theknowledgeguru)