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游戏设计师该如何合理使用瘾性

发布时间:2014-02-25 17:23:12 Tags:,,,,

作者:Claire Blackshaw

世界各地的游戏设计师们都沉迷于性能增强药物,并且其中的许多人甚至并不认识它。他们只是对进程和升级上瘾了。

作为游戏设计师,我们经常玩转于人类心理学之间,并涉及人类行为的各种触动元素;且我们具有各种不同的理由。我们中的有些人想要提供给玩家坐云霄飞车般的体验,让他们获得感受,推动他们去花钱,彻底地传达我们的信息,并且我们中的大多数人都希望他们能够继续玩游戏。

将糟糕的设计隐藏在进程之后

进程与大多数药剂一样,会让人感觉良好。它将基于大多数内容所做不到的方法而推动我们。就像重口味的酱汁或糖一样,我们可以使用这些药剂去隐藏游戏设计的不足。游戏缺少流动感?创造出更大的爆炸并且怪物还能够改变颜色。

如果每时每刻的游戏不能让人感到满足,我们便会将其隐藏在刷任务或进程后面。尝试无意义的迷你游戏,或为了前进而与同样的boss进行打斗。如果你的玩家做某事的唯一原因只是为了打开其它内容,那么你便算失败了。

使用案例:固定的叙述

为了进行讨论,我想要将游戏划分成两个不同的领域:固定叙述和自由游戏。这两个领域间的界限可以是模糊的,但我将提供一个关于固定叙述是大多数玩家将体验到最后的授权叙述体验(足够短)的定义。关于这点的两个例子是《到家》和《使命的召唤》。

步调,升级和壮观时刻都是与编辑精度一起用于为故事提供结构和高潮的关键性限制工具。在医学领域中,胆固醇是能够合法使用的,但它却只能起到短期的提升作用,这在控制环境和进程中也是如此。在这一设置进程中这是基于聚焦目的和有限的跨度。我们并不想在使用过程中将玩家锁定在一个循环中,相反地我们想推动他们的单一回合的发展。

每一个挑战都必须是可被略过的,例如《侠盗猎车手V》。如果基于失败的唯一有效行动都需要回到叙述的早前部分或冻结叙述,那么你便只会让玩家受挫。你正在传达一个叙述并且你希望他们能够看到结果。

自由游戏?

Spelunky(from giantbomb)

Spelunky(from giantbomb)

象棋,《洞穴探险》,《星际争霸》都是一些免费游戏的典例。每一回合的游戏都是始于一个关卡基础,即作为独立的游戏循环(并未确认之前所花费的游戏时间)。在单一的游戏回合中存在着升级和进程。这是独立的机制并且受到游戏循环的推动。没有任何东西属于刷任务或进程推动。

上瘾的许多借口

我们希望玩家能够看到他们花钱买到的内容

如果你所创造的是基于故事的游戏,那就提供选择让玩家能够在失败后略过某些内容。如果你所创造的是基于技能的游戏,那么你的核心机制和游戏玩法循环将在一开始便呈现出来,并且没有人为控制的内容。你可以销售强大的游戏循环或内容,决定哪一个才是你真正的关注点。

我们需要教授玩家

叙述游戏只要求基本的指示和引导。对于受挑战驱动的游戏来说,教学可以在单独的模式下实现(玩家也可以略过这一内容),或者可以出现在核心体验外部。玩家是基于一个较小但却具有所有相同规则的平台在学习游戏。《星际争霸》便具有一系列训练挑战能够教授玩家多人游戏中所需要的核心技能。

我们想要承认玩家的努力

这可能是最危险且最难否定的借口。如果你奖励的是努力而不是成功,你便是在训练人们不要去获得成功。更糟糕的是你也在威胁他们真正的挑战生活将扑向他们。游戏既是在丰富参与者的生活也是在娱乐他们。而这一行为将阻碍那些离开现实并进入虚幻世界的无尽之夜的人的发展(这是MMO上瘾的一个核心元素)。

停止为玩家设置非现实目标。承认他们获得了某些内容。他们到达了某一关卡,获得了一定的分数,更快速地完成任务或者战胜了基于技能的挑战。

最高类:《洞穴探险》

《洞穴探险》具有纯粹的独立乐趣。不像叙述游戏,它并未期待着大多数玩家能够看到游戏结果。实际上,我并不会对许多玩家只看到第二个区域(丛林)而感到惊讶。它提供了一个独立的威胁升级,即在进程领域以及像幽灵到达或店主暴力行为的机制。尽管大多数回合是在5分钟内,但完整的内容大约是30分钟,不过必须在5分钟内完成。

《洞穴探险》的挑战都是让人熟悉的,但却伴随着全新的游戏玩法。资深玩家将了解关卡生成器是作为怪物模式。技能关卡非常深刻,在几个小时沉浸于PC和XBLA之后我仍未打败最终的Bboss,更别说秘密的boss。对于我来说这几乎就是一个日常仪式,即每天登录游戏并执行着每天的挑战。

我检查了模式想知道自己是否上瘾了,停下几天并觉得自己也不再渴望游戏。就像早上运行游戏成为了我日常生活的一部分,这提供了心智锻炼和健康发泄的方法。在几千次死亡后它仍让像第一次尝试那样对待我,严厉但却公平。

触发器:《桌面地下城》

这是本文的触发器。我高度建议你们能够玩这款让人惊艳的游戏。尽管在80多个小时后我意识到自己讨厌这款游戏,但我也立即承认这是药物上瘾的症状。

我犹豫着要不要写这款游戏,因为这是一款很出色的游戏,而最糟糕的上瘾者是AAA级工作室。我强烈建议你购买这款经典的游戏去支持这一独立开发者,但这却是一个不包含药物和上瘾元素的完美案例研究,也是本文的触发器。

最初的《桌面地下城》是一款免费游戏,游戏中的每个回合都是独立的循环。唯一的进程暗示能够打开更多选择和游戏风格。每个回合的游戏时间是15分钟。

QCF进行了很棒的修改,优化了宝石,添加了中心镇,活动,进程以及直接的药物行为。现在我迫不及待地想添加提示到最初的内容中(以随机冒险的形式)。尽管在80多个小时的任务后,出现在我面前的依然是更加强大的地下城,并伴随着升级后的怪物,道具和难度。

因为看不到尽头,我便将这款游戏丢进不再游戏的列表中。我花了更长时间在玩最初的版本,因为我意识到新版本具有不健康的元素。

最初的瘾性:《龙与地下城》

关于现代游戏《龙与地下城》的最大影响之一可能是作为战利品,经验值和关卡的“经销商”。我为之前的游戏运行过许多活动,编写过独立会议模块等等。而很久以前我所得出的结论是,关卡遭到了破坏。

GM并不同意角色的最有效点,但却赞同5至10关卡间的某些地方。较低关卡的角色显得动力不足,而高关卡的角色则很难包含在内。系统和世界并不只是包含极端元素并按照玩家上瘾的速度去承认相关进程。

当你面对的是长期游戏的玩家时,你会发现《龙与地下城》的真正能力是一个EPIC时刻或者让人惊艳的故事(游戏邦注:在此游戏传达了真正的技能测试或者非常有趣的叙述内容)。按照惯例,这些内容都是作为独立模块进行传达,即出现在不承认之前游戏并伴随着预设角色或在顶点系统生成的内容的4小时回合中,并提供一个战斗技能测试或者呈现于角色与故事中的固定叙述。

我高度鼓励游戏设计师能够着眼于Convention Modules以及他们在早前的上瘾元素中所修改过来的设计问题。

药物上瘾:《Tony Hawk Pro Skater》

《Tony Hawk Pro Skater》系列具有一些出色的游戏玩法,同时还带有让人惊艳的流。但是这一游戏的平衡和寿命却遭到了溜冰者的进程机制的破坏。前面关卡的溜冰者动力稍显不足,而之后的溜冰者却动力过足从而破坏了挑战和游戏流。这一机制的出现使得不管拥有怎样技能的玩家都将最终看到每一个关卡并打败最具挑战性的任务。

这在很多方面打破了关卡设计并将带有较高竞争排行榜的深层次技能进程中的内容整合到伴随着小小的竞争性(排行榜前1%)且更加可笑的内容上。如果不存在进程并且关卡的每一部分都基于狭隘的价值观而进行平衡,那就去思考下游戏到底能有多强大。

另外一个主题:MMO和《天际》

我想要谈谈在较长的角色扮演游戏和MMO中的最大进程瘾性。它们因为在线元素和大规模而被进一步复杂化了。不过这算是另外一篇文章的内容了。我承认这并不适合今天的讨论,但我还是想提下有关《龙与地下城》中的一些元素。

例外:《幽浮》

这些讨论都很复杂,为了承认这点我想谈谈一款看起来像个例外的游戏,即Firaxis的《幽浮:未知敌人》,尽管大多数游戏逻辑都复合最初的经典。

第一个活动可能在几个小时后会遭遇失败

每个活动平均需要20个小时去完成

每个任务都是重要的,并且很少是“简单”或是“刷任务”

并未告知之前的活动

活动是为多人游戏所设计的独立循环

如果做出一个糟糕的选择可能会影响整个进程

最后两点是最重要的,正是它们将这款游戏与固定的叙述或游戏上瘾区分开来。核心系统在一开始便会发挥作用,永久死亡和结果都会让每个行动变得更重要。这款游戏将固定叙述整合到独立循环中,但我更赞同它是一款闭合环路的自由游戏。

结论

不要将进程和升级当成一种依靠,相反地你应该将其作为有限的资源并尊重你的玩家。

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

Game Designers are all on Steroids

By Claire Blackshaw

Game Designers around the world are addicted to performance enhancing drugs and many of them don’t know it. They are addicted to progression and escalation.

As game designers we are often playing with human psychology and tapping into the various triggers and ticks of human behaviour; our reasons are varied. Some of us want to give the player a roller coaster ride, to make them feel, to make them pay, to get our message burned across the heart but almost all of us want them to keep on playing.

Hiding Shitty Design behind Progression

Progression, like most drugs, feels really good. It fuels us in a way few other things do. Like a strong sauce or sugar we can use these drugs to hide our less than adequate game design. The game lacks a sense of flow? Make the explosions get bigger and the monsters change colour.

If the moment to moment play isn’t satisfying then often we hide it in the guise of grinding or progression. Playing pointless mini-games, or fighting the same old bosses for the sake of progression. If the only reason your player is doing something is so they can unlock something else, then you have failed.

Use Case: Fixed Narrative

For the discussion I want to separate play into two distinct areas: fixed narrative and free play. The line can be blurred but I will give the definition that a fixed narrative is a authored narrative experience short enough that most players will experience the ending. Two good examples of this are Gone Home and the Call of Duty Campaign.

Pacing, escalation and moments of spectacle are critical limited tools applied with editorial precision to give structure and climax to the authored story. Medical Steroids have a valid use, but it is always short term boost, in a controlled setting and the same is true of progression. In this setting progression is used with a focused purpose and limited span. We do not want to lock the player into a cycle of drug use but instead fuel their single session.

Every challenge should be skippable upon failure, see GTA V as a great example. If the only valid action upon failure is to revert to an earlier portion of the narrative or freeze the narrative then you are only frustrating the player. You are delivering a narrative and you want them to see the ending.

Free Play?

Chess, Spelunky, Starcraft Multiplayer are some great pure examples of freeplay. Every session starts on a level footing, with as a self contained game loop with no acknowledgement of previous time spent playing. Within a single session of play, always complete in one sitting, there is escalation and progression. It is self contained and fuelled by the game loop. Nothing is a grind or progression fueled.

The Many Excuses of an Addict

We want the player to see the content they paid for

Great! If you are a story based game then give them the option to skip, after failure. If you’re a skill based game then your core mechanics and gameplay loop should be exposed from the start with no artificial gating of content. You’re either selling a strong game loop or content, decide which is your focus.

We need to teach the player

Narrative games require only basic instruction and guidance. For challenge driven games teaching can be done in a separate mode which can be skipped or is outside the core experience. Go players are taught the game on a smaller board, with all the same rules. Starcraft has a series of training challenges to teach the core skills required in multiplayer.

We want to acknowledge the players efforts

This is probably the most dangerous and hardest to invalidate excuse. If you reward effort rather than success you are training people NOT to succeed. Worse you are crippling them for the real challenges life will throw at them. Games are as much about enriching the participants as entertaining them. This behaviour leads to stunted individuals who will retreat from reality into endless nights in a fantasy world that is easy, one core facet of MMO addiction.

Stop setting unrealistic goals for the player. Acknowledge the things they DO achieve. The level they did reach, the score they did get, the faster time or other skill based challenge.

Top of Class: Spelunky

I wanted to give this to Starcraft but the laddering aspect gives it a slight taint. Spelunky is pure self contained joy. Unlike a narrative game it does not expect most players to see the end. In fact I would not be surprised if the bulk of the players only glimpsed the second zone, the jungle. It provides an interesting but self-contained escalation of threat both in zone progress and mechanics such as ghost arrival or shop keeper agro. While most sessions are under 5 minutes, a full clear can be about 30 minutes, but doable in under 5 minutes.

Spelunky is a game of challenge with every new play being a fresh but familiar challenge. Experienced players are as familiar with the level generator as the monster patterns. The skill level is immensely deep, after many hours on PC & XBLA I still have not defeated the end boss, let alone the secret hell boss. It is an almost daily ritual for me to log in and do the daily challenge.

I examined the pattern wondering if I was addicted, stopped for a few days and felt no yearning to play. Much like a morning run it had become part of routine which I immensely enjoy, provided mental workout and healthy outlet. After many thousand deaths it still treats me the same as my first attempt, harsh but fair.

Trigger: Desktop Dungeons

The trigger for this article. I highly recommend you play this frankly amazing game which I can highly recommend. Though after 80+ hours I realised I hated the game, I instantly recognised the symptoms of drug addiction.

I hesitate to write this, because this is an excellent game and the worst drug addicts are AAA studios. I strongly suggest you buy this classic and support this independent developer, but it is a perfect case study having both a drug free and addicted version and is the trigger for this article.

The original desktop dungeons was a freeware game in which each session was a self contained loop. The only hint of progression being the unlocking of more options and play styles. A single session being under 15 minutes typically.

QCF did a wonderful revamp, reskin and general polish of their gem adding a central town, campaign, progression and frankly a drug habit. Now I hasten to add that there is a hat tip to the original in the form of Random Adventures. Though after 80+ hours quests are still dangled in front of me in further ridiculously overpowered dungeon runs with an escalation in monsters, items and complexity.

With no end in sight I’ve now put this game on my no play list. Despite playing the original for much longer because I recognise the unhealthy aspects of the new version.

Original Addict: Dungeons and Dragons

Possible one of the strongest influences on modern gaming DnD has long been a dealer of loot, xp and levels. I’ve ran many a campaign, written self contained convention modules and run many flavours and cousins to the old dragon. A conclusion I reached long ago with many others is that levelling is broken.

GMs will disagree about the sweet spot for characters but most agree somewhere between 5-10 level. Low level characters are underpowered and high level characters are difficulty to contain. The systems and world just cannot contain both extremes sensibly and acknowledge progression at the rate players’ addictions demand it.

The true power of DnD and roleplaying when you speak to long time players though is that one EPIC moment or that amazing story where the game expressed either a true test of skill or a brilliant contained narrative. Both of these are expressed now at conventions as self contained modules which are played in a ~4hr session with no acknowledgement of previous play often with pre-constructed characters or ones generated on a fixed point system, providing either a test of combat skill or a fixed narrative which plays on character and story.

I highly encourage game designers to take a long look at Convention Modules and the design issues they have fixed in the old crack addict that is roleplaying.

Drug Addict: Tony Hawk Pro Skater

Tony Hawk Pro Skater series has some fabulous gameplay which feels great and can have an amazing flow. The balance and longevity of this game is broken by the skater progression mechanic. An entry level skater is woefully underpowered, while a maxed out skater is overpowered negating challenge and breaking the flow. This mechanic is in place so the player regardless of skill will eventually see every level and beat most challenges.

This breaks the level design in many ways and removes what could be a deep skill progression with a highly competitive leaderboard, into something rather absurd with a very thin slice of competition the top 1% of the leaderboard. Think instead how powerful the game could be if there was no progression and every part of the level was balanced for a narrow band of values with skaters providing variety.

Another Topic: MMO & Skyrim

I briefly want to mention the biggest progression addicts in the form of long style roleplaying games and MMOs. They are complicated by the online element and massive scale. This is potentially another article entirely to write. I acknowledge they do not fit well into the current discussion, but I would point to some of the elements discussed in regards to Dungeons and Dragons.

The Exception to the Rule: XCom

These discussion are complex and to acknowledge this I want to talk about one game which seems like an exception Xcom: Enemy Unknown by Firaxis, though most of this logic is valid for the original classic.

First campaign is likely a failure in a few hours

A single campaign averages around 20 hours to completion

Every mission is critical and very few are “easy” or “grinding”

No previous campaigns are acknowledged*

Campaign is self contained loop designed for multiple plays

Progression can be lost with a single bad choice

The last two points are the most critical, and what separates them from a fixed narrative or a game of addiction. The core systems are in play from the start, and the permadeath and consequence make each action significant. This game blends a fixed narrative into its contained loop but I would argue for most players it is a closed loop of free play.

Conclusion

Stop using progression and escalation as a crutch and instead use it as the limited resource it is with respect towards your player. Everything discussed here is guideline, obviously things are complex and multifaceted and I welcome discussion in the comments.(source:altdevblogaday)


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