作者：Vladimir Ignjatijevic

前言

我做Android游戏已经有些时候了，准确地说从发布《Spacetracks》算起，近四年了。那款游戏给我带来了喜悦、兴奋、每周上千的下载量和许多邮件、积极的评价和恶劣的抨击……我想再次体验这些，当然，恶劣的抨击除外。但这一次，我打算换一种方法。着手开发《Spacetracks》时，我打算一边开发一边写开发日志，等到游戏发布后就把日志也一并发表了。结果我发现写开发日志是一件非常费时间的事，再加上我的游戏是要拿去参赛的，每个特征的制作时间都很紧。于是，我放弃写开发日志，许多特征也没能出现在最终版里。我在那次经历以及之后的四年中学习到很多东西，所以我想我已经为下一个项目做好准备了。

另一种方法？

那么，我所谓的“另一种方法”是什么呢？我不打算从无到有再做一款游戏。我想有一个简单的网站，供我发表为新游戏写的开发日志，但这次我想一边开发一边发表日志。当然，社交媒体也是非常重要的，所以我申请了新的Facebook和Twitter帐号。因为我在过去几年我已经做了不少应用，我也可以在那些社交媒体上发表一些相关的见解或更新消息。

对于我想到的那款游戏，我的目标是在开发的初期就开始培养社区。我想，对于有志于游戏开发的人来说，看到一个想法如何变成一款产品是一个非常有意义的过程；还可以让他们知道当不必赶截止日期，也没有老板监督时，应该怎么做游戏。我不敢保证这个方法就是最好的，但若干款游戏和多款应用的经验告诉我，我肯定做了正确的事。

这款新游戏是什么？

我得承认，在我过去的生活里，我不止一次地庆幸我出生在80年代，有机会目睹整个电脑游戏行业的兴起过程。我也很高兴自2000年以后，许多游戏公司用更先进的图像和声音技术重塑了老时代的经典游戏。是的，尽管我也喜欢玩AAA游戏，我仍然是老游戏和独立游戏的忠实粉丝。

出于粉丝精神，我打算重制我小时候一直玩的游戏。因为我想重制的老游戏太多了，我得好好考虑我想走什么方向、如何激发社区的兴趣等。所以，我罗列了我的要求：

1、可在单人模式下玩

2、多种完成目标的方法（游戏邦注：即有很高的重玩价值）

3、使用排行榜和成就系统

4、容易扩展

5、发布关卡编辑器，允许玩家扩展游戏

6、有多人模式

我的目标列表很长，帮我过滤掉了许多游戏。于是我终于做出我的选择了……

《Laser Squad》

laser squad(from retrogamer.net)

《Laser Squad》是Target Games工作室的Julian Gollop于80年代末制作的游戏，最初运行于8位家用电脑。它开创了一个全新的游戏类型——回合制策略游戏。它为若干成功的游戏和系列打下了坚实的基础，比如《UFO – Enemy Unknown》、《Jagged Alliance》，等等。

这款游戏的目标是，带领一个小队穿越地图，使用不同的策略和装备完成各个情节中的任务。简单地消灭该场景中的所有敌人单位也可以完成任务。游戏引入行动点数（AP）的概念，它用于计算每个回合中的每个单位的各种参数如单位的力量、精力、抗性……之后AP可以用于每个回合中的移动、开火或与地图上的其他对象互动。只要你认真阅读游戏指南，你就会发现这款游戏非常细致，所有参数都用于计算游戏中的单位执行的所有行动。

你可以在lemon64.com上找到这款游戏的Commodore 64版本的截图。

项目开始

这个项目开始于10月1日，我一边工作一边在开发日志中写下我的做的事和大部分想法。我的日志并不长，但你可以在插图中看出项目的进度。

我不想在这里写出我的新游戏的方方面面，等到我确定我的方向正确，且我确实有时间写代码和维持项目进展的时候再说吧。两个月过去了，一切似乎都进行得很顺利，所以我发表了第一篇开发日志。我希望在接下来的两个月里，我还能继续写下去。（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）

Remake of a classic game – Part one

by Vladimir Ignjatijevic

Introduction

It’s been a while since I’ve made a game for Android; almost four years to be more precise, when Spacetracks was released. The joy, the excitement, the thousand downloads per week, the emails I’ve got after release, the good and bad reviews… I wanted to experience that again, well, all of that except of the bad reviews. But this time with a different approach. The idea with Spacetracks was to write a dev journal with many screenshots during development and to publish it after the game was released. It turned out that writing a dev journal can be very time consuming, and since I wanted to submit that game for a competition, I had a deadline and tight schedule for all the features. So I cancelled the dev journal, and many features for the game were also left out from the final version. I’ve learned a lot after that release and during the next four years, so I think I’m ready for my next project.

The different approach?

So what’s this different approach anyway? What I had in mind is not really to invent the wheel again. I wanted to have just a simple website where I could write the dev journal for my new game, but this time I wanted to publish posts in real time. Of course, social media is also very important so I set up new accounts for Facebook and Twitter. Since I’ve done quite a few apps in the last couple of years I could also say something about them or post news on updates on my social media channels.

As far as the game that I had in mind, the goal was to build a community from the very beginning of the development. I thought it could be very interesting for many new wannabe developers to see how a product emerges from an idea; how it should be done when you don’t have any deadlines or bosses flying around your head every day. I can’t guarantee that this way is the best way, but with several games and many other apps behind me I’m pretty sure that I’m doing the right thing.

So what’s this new game all about?

I must admit, and repeat that over and over in my life, I’m pretty happy that I had the opportunity to live in the eighties and witness the whole home computer gaming era. I’m also very happy that from the year 2000, many companies in the game industry returned to this retro-old school type of games only with enhanced graphics and sound. Yes, although I like to play an AAA title, I’m a big fan of old school games and the indie scene in general.

With this in mind, I wanted to make a remake of a game that I was playing in my youth like there’s no tomorrow. Since the list of that sort of games was pretty long, I thought about in which direction I would like to go with this game, how to get the community interested and maybe also involved. So, I’ve made a list what I want to achieve:

short game play in single player mode

different ways to complete it (great replay ability)

usage of leader boards and achievements

possibility to easily expand the game

releasing a level editor and allow players to expand the game

possible multiplayer mode

The list is long but it filtered my remake wish list from dozens of games to only a few. And so, I’ve made my choice…

Laser Squad

Laser Squad is a game created by Julian Gollop from Target Games in late eighties originally for the 8 bit home computers. It brought a complete new genre to the game industry – turn based strategy. It was a solid base for several other successful games and franchises like “UFO – Enemy Unknown”, “Jagged Alliance”… etc.

The goal of the game is to lead a squad through a map and complete objectives given for each scenario by using specific tactics and equipment. Each scenario can be also completed simply by eliminating all enemy units. The game introduced Action Points (AP) which are calculated for every unit on every turn taking into account several parameters like unit’s strength, stamina, encumbrance… The AP’s can be then used every turn to move, fire or interact with other objects on the map. Only if you carefully read the game manual, you’ll realize how detailed the game was and which all parameters are used to calculate every action the unit takes in the game.

You can find the screenshots of the Commodore 64 version of the game on lemon64.com, and here you can read the full game manual.

Project started

I’ve started the project on October 1st, and I’m writing down everything I do and most of my thoughts into my dev journal in real time. You are all invited to visit my site and my dev journal, and to follow me on Facebook and Twitter. The journal entries are not long, but you’ll get the picture where the project is heading.

I didn’t wanted to write anything about my new game here on Gamasutra, until I was sure that things are moving in the right direction and that I’m actually have some free time for coding and keeping my dev journal alive. Two months passed, everything is looking good, so I’m publishing my first blog entry here. I hope that in next two months I’ll have a lot more to show and write about.

Thanks for reading… until next time.(source:gamasutra)