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《GTA 5》带给游戏设计师的3点启示

发布时间:2013-10-16 17:08:57 Tags:,,,

作者:Angela Freeman

《侠盗猎车手》(以下简称GTA)系列被许多游戏网站和出版物誉为“史上最伟大的电子游戏”。它是多个国家的多个工作室历时5年、投入1亿1500万美元开发成本和大量人力资源的结晶。

考虑到即将推出的新游戏可能被拿来与GTA 5作比较,以下有至少3件事是设计师可以向这款倍受赞誉的游戏学习的:

GTA V(from gamasutra)

GTA V(from gamasutra)

1、主机游戏没落之际出现的杰作

游戏杰作似乎总是诞生于它们的游戏机游戏即将被淘汰之时。《GTA:San Andreas》就是这样的,它在这一代游戏机游戏发布非常短的一段时间后首次出现在PS2和Xbox上。正如彭博社撰稿人Joshua Brustein所观察到的,最优秀的游戏似乎总是为了拯救主机而出现的,正是因为“硬件技术太成熟了”,开发者已经很精通它了。

至于下一代主机,Brustein进一步指出,设计师将有一段相当重要的学习过程。开发新受众是很费时间的,因为新技术的普及可能是一个长期过程。所有这些都成为游戏公司选择针对“很快就过时的”主机开发游戏的强制理由。

2、成人玩家喜欢具有明显的暴力、色情元素的电子游戏

尽管这不应该代表大部分玩家的立场,但对于阅读最近一期《卫报》的游戏评论文章的许多人来说,仍然是一条新闻。然而,正如撰稿人Keith Stuart所说的,这种态度确实是电子游戏的旧时代的遗物,过去玩游戏的主要是儿童和年轻人。

尽管自那以后,电子游戏行业经历了漫长的发展。充斥着明显的暴力、色情和吸毒情节的游戏如GTA 5吸引成人玩家的原因与《绝命毒师》、《混乱之子》和《黑道家族》一样。在这些虚拟的世界里,不存在真实的后果(至少对玩家而言)——玩家可以无忧无虑地探索人心的阴暗面,沉浸于虚拟的享受,不必担心接受成瘾治疗。

3、设计沙盒游戏远远不同于电影制作

游戏除了大量配音演员的参与,还有一些确实壮观的电影级画面。游戏甚至利用了电影制作中的动作捕捉技术,以更好地表现角色的面部神情和身体活动。这导致人们认为,电影制作技术完全可以适用于游戏制作。

因为游戏如GTA 5的大小,期待玩家玩游戏就像看电影是错的。即使他们只做通关游戏必须完成的剧情主线任务,也要花至少40个小时——这个过程本身就与看电影大不相同。正如Rockstar的副总裁Dan Houser在纽约电影节上所说的,游戏剧情和玩法应该更类似于“长篇电视剧和小说”。

总之,这款游戏带给设计师的经验教训可能在几年内还不能看得分明。游戏开发者应该从这款游戏中学习什么?你认为它将如何改变你的游戏设计思路?(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

3 Things Game Designers Can Learn From GTA V

by Angela Freeman

Rockstar North’s latest iteration of the Grand Theft Auto franchise has already been almost universally hailed as the “greatest video game of all time” by numerous gaming sites and publications. It’s the culmination of nearly five years’ worth of design and $115 million worth of development efforts spanning between multiple studios and nations.

Given that upcoming game releases will likely be compared to GTA V for the foreseeable future, there are at least a few takeaways that designers can garner from this highly anticipated title. Here are a few of the major ones.

Gaming Masterpieces Happen When Consoles are Nearly Obsolete

Image via Flickr by Ferino Design

It seems like gaming masterpieces are always released shortly before their consoles become obsolete. This was the case with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, for example, which premiered on the PS2 and Xbox not to terribly long before the release of the current generation of game consoles. As BloombergBusinessweek Technology writer Joshua Brustein observes, the best games seem to come out for consoles precisely because the “hardware is so mature” in terms of how developers have learned to utilize it.

With the next-gen consoles, Brustein further argues, there’s going to be a fairly significant learning curve for designers. The audience will also take time to develop, because adoption of new technology can be a lengthy process. All of these are some fairly compelling reasons why game companies choose to develop for soon-to-be-outmoded consoles.

Adult Gamers Love Violent, Explicit and Sexually Charged Video Games

Although this shouldn’t come as a revelation to most gamers, it still came as news to many people who read reviews of the game in the Guardian recently. As writer Keith Stuart explains, however, this attitude is really a relic of video games’ bygone era, when they really were played primarily by children and young adults.

The video gaming industry has come a long way since those days, though. Filled with explicit violence, sexuality, and drug usage, games like GTA V appeal to adult gamers for much the same reason that shows like Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy, and the Sopranos do. These are worlds without tangible consequences (at least for the gamer) — players can safely explore these darker parts of the human experience and engage in all sorts of simulated hedonism without having to check into a 12 Keys addiction treatment facility as a result.

Designing a Sandbox Game is Far Different from filmmaking

With its array of voice actors, though, the game includes some truly spectacular theatrical-calber performances. It also utilizes some motion-capture filmmaking techniques to better depict facial expressions and physical mannerisms. All of this does lead one to believe that a filmmaking approach is completely in play when it comes to games of this ilk.

Due to the sheer size of a game like GTA V, though, it would be a mistake to design it with the expectation that gamers will be playing through a movie. Even if they just follow the main storyline, it takes 40+ hours to finish all the requisite missions to complete the game — in and of itself, that is distinctly different from a feature film. As Rockstar vice president Dan Houser explained at the New York Film Festival, “long-form television and novels” are better analogues to how the narrative and gameplay should be shaped.

With all of that being said, the true takeaways from this game for designers might not become fully apparent for years. What kind of lessons do you think game developers could learn from this game? How do you think it will (or will not) shape your own game designs? (source:gamasutra)


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