Richard Vorodi是Crytek的资深游戏设计师。Richard创造的热门游戏包括《Wave Race》，《1080° Avalanche》，《马里奥大战金刚》以及《银河战士》等经典游戏，还有最近的《暗黑血统II》。本文是去年4月份对他的访问。

1080° Avalanche(from covergalaxy)

EL：照例，一开始我也想先问问你对于游戏设计的看法？

RV：这是一个大问题。你会从不同人口中听到不同的答案。比起绝对的答案，你将听到更加个性化的答案。

优秀的游戏设计意味着你的工作并不是创造一件有趣的内容。这是你的技巧包的一种工具。游戏设计师的角色是为用户创造规则和体验介绍。你的工具箱中的其它工具将清楚如何让玩家产生焦虑，害怕或不安等感受，然后清楚如何奖励并娱乐他们。

我认为在游戏设计中，你真正扮演的只是管理者的身份。你需要通过不断尝试而更加接近目标玩家想要的结果。

EL：为什么创造出除了乐趣之外的其它情感如此重要？

RV：我认为如果在一段时间内体验到不到任何刺激感，你便不会感受到乐趣。如果你曾在家里待一周并且除了看电影和吃披萨什么都不做，那么在这段时间后这些事将不再对你有任何吸引力。

这也是我们为什么会在周一回到忙碌的工作中时开始想念家里的沙发，美味的披萨以及精彩的电影。这对于那些体验你所创造的游戏的用户来说也是如此。你需要让他们感受到一个情感范围，有酸也有甜。

EL：对于那些我所访问过的人，他们都是致力于主机游戏的创造，我想你是唯一一个也致力于手机体验创造的人。

你是否发现这两个平台间存在许多共性？在创造《马里奥大战金刚》和《暗黑血统II》中你是否使用了设计师工具箱中的相同工具？

RV：这是个很棒的问题。我认为人们总是会着审视自己的工具包中并习惯性地拿起相同的工具。

如果你比较《马里奥大战金刚》与《1080° Avalanche》会发现，在《马里奥大战金刚》的一些关卡中我们在前面添加了许多复杂的谜题，然后我们在场景中添加了一个敌人而进一步复杂化这些谜题，结果便是，当你解决了谜题时，你将只是直接滑向目标之门。

所以你对于游戏的最后印象将不是“这看起来很难。”而是“哇，看看我所做的。我越过天空并解决了这一谜题。看我多聪明啊。”

让我们比较主机体验与2D手机体验。基本上看来我使用的是相同的技巧。

《暗黑血统》也突出了一些类似的内容。你将拥有谜题元素，你将拥有行动序列。然后你将拥有一些领域并可以待在这里，思考环境或进行一些叙述。

我认为这里的关键在于提供比用户预期的更多的内容。如果你进入一个房间并只是期待遭遇敌人的攻击，那么不让玩家只是做着自己期待的事或许会出现更好的效果。因为比起自动操控，他们更希望能够专注于更加主动的体验。

EL：我们已经聊了一些有关游戏设计的内容。你认为游戏设计师在这里扮演的是怎样的角色？

RV：这是另外一个有趣的问题，因为我认为这是取决于不同的团队以及团队规模，也许还要考虑到团队所处的区域。根据我的经验，日本在面对游戏设计所采取的方法主要是关于理念或机制：即先突出游戏玩法。“我们想要让玩家从这一内容中感受到什么？我们能够为此做些什么？”当我们想出这些问题的答案后，我们将为其添加一份包装，将其变成一款单板化学游戏或《马里奥》游戏。

至今我所经历过的西方市场所采取的方法是关于事先明确理念。这是该市场的开发者最先做的事，“我希望创造一款有关外星人的游戏，”然后思考怎样的机制能够支持这一理念？

所以这主要取决于你所处的区域，而工作始终都是一样的。游戏设计师是游戏体验的把关者，他们将把最后的印章盖在产品上并让它能够与玩家进行互动。

EL：作为游戏设计师你所面临的最大挑战是什么？

RV：应该是游戏设计的开始阶段，即我们可能未谈论真正的执行或制作—-只是说着要设计某些内容。脑子里一直涌现出各种想做的事。而为了让团队中其它部门的人对你的理念感兴趣，你就要想办法变成具有说服力的人。

美术人员和工程师都是基于绝对的事物，所以你必须绘制出一张你所设想的图像—-不管你是否喜欢该图像的外观，其中需要包括角色和环境在内等内容。

在设计中，人们必须相信你所说的将会带给玩家惊吓，乐趣，欢笑或悲伤，这些才是真正精确的标准。

当你进入制作过程，当你开始创造关卡，你便能够提供一些内容供人们检查。但通常从传达理念到落实行动之间还有好几个步骤，而理念也是在这时候一个个组合起来的。我们在这里所面临的最大挑战便是带着自己所相信的理念走向制作阶段。

EL：你是否曾经觉得某些功能，机制或关卡非常强大，并知道它们将会很有趣或具有很高的质量，但却不能说服其他团队成员（不管是制作人还是谁）投入更多精力去创造它或在游戏第一次执行时将其添加到游戏中。

RV：有太多时候我们本来认为很棒的事物最终都不能得以落实。就像《1080° Avalanche》中的雪崩便是在项目一开始就讨论过的内容，但之后却因为未经证实的技术和游戏玩法而被断定是过于冒险的内容。从基本上来看，我们总是很难让所有人的想法都凝聚在一起，因为在完成这些工作间会遇到各种各样的任务与未知数。

但是随着时间的发展，项目中持反对意见的人将逐渐减少，并最终达到全体一致意见，这便是我们尝试着做的事。所以最后游戏也是基于该功能而命名。

当你在观察那时以来问世的大多数单板滑雪游戏时，你会发现很少有游戏使用雪崩机制。可以说我们真的在游戏中下了很大的风险赌注。而这也是我真正引以为傲的。

EL：你能否分享一些自己在职业生涯中所吸取的重要经验教训？

RV：我认为自己所获得的最大的经验教训便是，在设计任何内容时都应该将玩家摆在优先的位置上。如果你只是为了自己制作某些内容，你便创造不出什么好的东西。你必须面向产品并面向用户去创造最棒的内容。

很多时候我只是在构建一些关卡，当你来到这些大道上时可以选择向左走或向右走。如果你向左走，你可能会遇到非常酷的事物。这有可能是我想创造的最让我惊喜且害怕的事物。但是这时候我的脑中便会出现一个声音说道：“没人能够理解这个。这只是我自己喜欢的事物。这是一种自私的设计。”

所以这时候你就需要思考如何为玩家进行创造。因为最终你所创造的一切都是为了服务公众。我们将服务玩家。这么想你才有可能创造出真正优秀的内容。

最近我吸取的另外一个重要教训（游戏邦注：即在处理电子游戏业务时）便是，尝试一些新内容。比起让自己变得陈腐过时，尝试一些新的挑战会更有益，即使你会因此产生不安感。创造电子游戏是关于激情。所以尝试能够让自己惊艳的方法将会带给你一定的帮助。

这是我从未想过自己必须吸取的教训。我认为致力于能够带给自己惊喜，并且自己也能够带给其巨大影响的项目非常重要。

AAA级游戏的创造需要花费2至3年的时间，还要加上之后的收尾工作。从根本上看来你最新创造的一款游戏总是会被当成是“你的最后一款游戏”。你不知道一段时间之后自己还会创造另外一款游戏。

如果致力于一些毫无惊喜的内容，你便不可能真正投入其中，这也是对于自己的一种折磨。

（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）

On Game Design with Richard Vorodi

The following are excerpts from a conversation with Richard Vorodi, Senior Game Designer at Crytek. Richard’s’s hit games include classics like Wave Race, 1080° Avalanche, Mario vs Donkey Kong, Metroid Prime, and more recently, Darksiders II. This conversation originally took place in April of last year.

EL: The question I start everybody off with is, what is game design?

RV: That’s the big question. And I think that you’re going to get a different answer from every person you speak to. I think it’s probably more of a personal question than an absolute.

Good game design means it’s your job not to make a fun thing. That’s one of the tools in your bag of tricks. A game designer’s role is ultimately to craft the rules and the presentation of an experience for an audience that you have in mind. Other tools in your kit would be knowing how to bring out anxiety in a player, or fear and discomfort, and then knowing how to reward them and knowing how to entertain them.

I think game design really is that you’re just a curator. You’re just overseeing and trying to get as close to the result from the player that you have in your mind.

EL: Why is it important to be able to create emotions other than fun?

RV: I don’t think that you can have fun for extended amounts of time without feeling some sort of stressor. If you’ve ever laid around your house for a week and did nothing but watch movies and eat pizza, after a while those things aren’t as enticing to you anymore.

It’s the minute you go back to work on Monday and you start a hectic work week that you long to be back on your couch, eating pizza, watching movies. That’s going to hold true for any audience that’s experiencing what you’ve created. You need to have them feel a range of emotions, the sweet and the sour.

EL: I’m curious, of the people who I’ve talked to who’ve worked on console, I think you’re the only one with handheld experience as well.

Do you find there are a lot of commonalities? Are you using the same tools in your designer toolbox on Mario vs. Donkey Kong as you are on Darksiders II?

RV: That’s a good question. I think you’re always looking into your bag of tricks and trying to do the same things.

If you compare Mario vs. Donkey Kong to 1080° Avalanche, there’s certainly levels that have been created in Mario vs. Donkey Kong where we put a lot of heavy puzzles up front and then maybe we’ll add an enemy to a situation to amp it up even more, and then the payoff is, right when you solve that, there’ll just be this slide that goes straight down into the goal door.

So your last impression is not like, “Man, that seems hard.” It was like, “Oh wow, look what I just did. I jumped over the sky and slid down this thing and solved this puzzle. Look how smart I am.”

So that’s comparing something from a console experience right down to a two-dimensional handheld experience. I used basically the same technique.

And Darksiders features sort of the same thing. You’ll have puzzle elements and then you’ll have action sequences. And then you’ll have areas where you can just sit and just sort of reflect on the environment or take in some narrative.

I think the key is to always do more than what is expected. If you walk into a room and you expect to just be attacked and swarmed by enemies, it also pays off to not let the player be right about what their expectations were. Because then, all of a sudden, instead of auto pilot, they have to actively focus on the experience to keep up with it.

EL: We’ve talked a little bit just about game design in general. What do you think is the role of a game designer?

RV: That’s another really interesting question because I think it varies depending on the team that you’re in or the size of the team, and maybe geographically where that team is located. I think the Japanese method for game design, in my experience, has always been about the concept or the mechanism: the gameplay first. “What is this thing that we’re trying to get the player to feel? What is this thing that we can do?” Then once we’ve figured that out, then we’ll put a wrapper over it and, okay, we’ll make it a snowboarding game, or we’ll make it a Mario game. There are things like that.

And I think the Western approach so far that I’ve experienced is the concept is already sort of established. That’s the thing people think about first which is, “I want to make this game about aliens,” and then what kind of mechanic will support that high concept?

So it depends on where you are, but the job is always the same. The game designer is the gatekeeper to that experience and they’re the ones that ultimately are putting the final stamp on the product that the player is going to interact with.

EL: What is the biggest challenge you face as a game designer?

RV: Game design, in the beginning, if we’re not talking about implementation or production—if we’re just talking about simply designing something—is usually on paper or it’s on pictures or it’s in your mind. A lot of what you are being a zealot about is in the ether. You really have to be a good pitch person in order to get the other departments on the team excited about your idea.

I think it’s a very impractical art, whereas art and engineering are based on absolutes and if you draw a picture you know whether or not you liked the look of that picture, that character, that environment, things like that.

In design, people really have to trust and have faith that what you’re saying will scare the player or be fun for the player or make the player laugh or cry—that those things are accurate.

When you get into production, when you start blue-rooming out levels, you have something that people can see. But oftentimes there are steps in between going from your pitch to the blue room, and that’s really when the idea starts to come together. The biggest challenge is getting to the production phase with the thing that you believe in.

EL: Is there an example you can think of when you had a feature or a mechanic or a level that you felt really strong about and knew that it would be really fun or really high quality, but you weren’t able to convince the other members of your team—or your producer, whoever—to get enough momentum behind it to actually get it in the game or maybe to keep it in-game once it was first implemented.

RV: There are tons of things that you think are going to be good and then ultimately just don’t get made. With the avalanches in 1080°, it was something that was discussed really early on in the project and then was deemed maybe too risky of a thing to do whereas it was unproven technology and it was unproven gameplay. Basically it was really hard to get people to rally behind it because of the sheer amount of work and unknowns that were involved in completing that.

But as time went on, people on the project that were proponents of it would just keep chipping away at folks until eventually we got a pretty good consensus that, hey this is something we should try. And ultimately the game ended up being titled after that feature.

And if you look at most snowboarding games that have come out since then, you don’t really find avalanches in them. I think it was a really scary, risky thing that we did in that game. That’s something I’m really proud of.

EL: Can you share an important lesson you’ve learned during your career?

RV: I think the best lesson I ever learned was that you should always put the player first when you’re designing. You should never do things because you want to do them solely. It should be the best thing for the product and the best thing for your audience.

There are a lot of times I’ll be constructing levels and you get to these avenues where you can turn left, or turn right. And if you turn left, that’s the thing that’s gonna be the coolest to you. That’s the scariest or the hardest thing that’s exciting you most about what you’re making. But then there’s this little voice in the back of your head that’s saying, “Well, no one’s ever going to understand this. This is something that I like. This is a selfish design.”

And that’s when you should go right and build for the player. Because ultimately, what we’re doing is we’re serving the public. We’re serving the player. We’re serving the audience. And I think that’s the best thing you can do.

The other lesson that I learned recently—and has to do with just the business of videogames and your career within that—is it’s okay to try new things. It’s okay to feel unsafe and it’s good to seek out new challenges rather than letting yourself get stale. Making videogames is all about passion. And it’s okay to try and seek out avenues that are going to excite you.

That was a lesson that I learned that I never thought that I would have to learn. I think it’s usually important to work on the projects that excite you, the projects that you think you’re going to have the most impact on. Because really how many more games can we make as individuals?

Triple-A games take two to three years to make, plus wrap-up time. Basically your last game should always be considered as “Your last game”. You don’t know that you have another game down the road.

Working on something that doesn’t absolutely excite you and thrill you, that you don’t put your all into, I think is sort of a crime against yourself.(source:famousaspect)