作者：Ulyana Chernyak

快速玩法

我们将从片断式风格入手，它是专注于少量时间，一天多次甚至是一天一次这种玩法的游戏。它是社交、F2P和手机游戏的热门选择，此类游戏设计师就是以这种方法来保持玩家继续游戏而不对其生厌。

多数F2P缺乏可以让人们持续投入数小时的深度，其玩法设计也是片断式的。此类玩法可以通过付费或等待机制，日常奖励，以及让玩家在数分钟时间内玩一个回合或体验一切内容来实现。

其目标是让玩家每周每天都能返回游戏，每次在游戏中逗留个15分钟，而不是一次性坐着玩上105分钟。这种游戏的设计不足以保持玩家兴趣，这样玩家只会像每天例行公事一样玩游戏。

Farmvill2(from gamasutra)

对于片断式游戏来说，盈利机制十分关键，因为它们便于玩家在游戏中快速取得进展和限制游戏时间。对于每天只有数分钟玩游戏的忙碌人群而言，选择花一美元打通一个关卡或者提升一个等级是个颇具吸引力的选择。

日常比赛或目标很棒，因为它们令玩家每天都重返游戏收获奖励。《Marvel Puzzle Quest》就十分精于此道，并且每天的日常奖励都会越来越好，这样玩家每天得到的就不是相同的东西，而是你玩的天数越多，得到的东西就越好。

片断式玩法是老式及硬核游戏玩家提到F2P或社交游戏时所鄙视的元素之一。对于那些玩80小时RPG或大型战略游戏的人来说，接触这种你并不打算全神贯注融入其中的游戏是个奇怪的理念。但令这种片断式玩法富有吸引力的却是这些游戏快速上手，通俗易懂的设计，这样人们就可以一天只玩15分钟，但却坚持数周甚至数月都在玩游戏。

对于硬核玩家来说，持续性的玩法才是自己的追求，它适合手头上有大量时间的群体。

史诗之旅

持续性玩法来自可让玩家长时间体验，或者拥有较长内容的游戏。战略游戏，RPG，动作游戏等均属于这种类型。

这些游戏像是漫长的马拉松，具有少量或大量重玩性的游戏也可纳入此列。有人可能会连续坐上数小时完成《XCom Enemy Unknown》战役，或者花上数小时在FTL游戏中获胜。

你可能已经猜到，片断式和持续性游戏设计的显著区别就在于，后者设计师并不想让玩家离开。你不可能在长达80小时的RPG游戏中看到付费或等待机制，或者任何阻止玩家持续玩游戏的设计。

而当我们接触拥有深度的F2P游戏时，就会发现片断式和持续性之间的界线开始变得模糊，这其中的典型当属《军团要塞2》。

Team fortress 2(from IGN)

《军团要塞2》中的游戏和竞赛围绕10-30分钟的玩法所设计，其时间长度取决于玩家所选择的游戏模式以及军队技能等级。但该游戏道具和职业的种类之多令游戏获得了远超于传统F2P或社交游戏的深度。它的每个回合持续时间不到半小时，但却可以让你连续玩上数小时。

了解你的用户

老式和硬核玩家偏爱围绕持续性玩法而设计的游戏，而当你有家庭和工作时，玩游戏的时候就会受到限制。因为这一群体的日程安排十分紧凑，他们只能玩特定时长和次数的游戏。

如果你是面向那些休闲群体或者非典型玩家设计游戏，最好选择打发时间和只需投入数分钟的片断式游戏。

但要记住一个重要的事实：片断式和持续性用户是相互排斥的。

不要试图开发一款能够兼容一次只想玩15分钟以及一次想玩2小时的用户的游戏。这两种游戏的玩法风格，设计和游戏动机大相庭径。择其一而行是吸引一个粉丝群体的最佳建议。（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）

Burst vs. Sustained Game Design

by Ulyana Chernyak

With the rise of mobile and social games came a huge increase in consumers of video games. And with them gave birth to two different types of play styles that have become very important when developing any kind of game.

Rapid Play

We’ll start with burst style which is about focusing on a game for small chunks of time, either multiple times a day or even just once a day. This is the popular option for social, F2P and mobile games as a way for designers to keep people playing without becoming bored with the game.

Most F2P games lack the depth that would keep someone engaged for hours on end and are designed with gameplay that can be played in chunks. This could be achieved either by pay or wait mechanics, daily bonuses and letting the player play one match or experience everything in a few minutes of play.

The objective is to get someone to keep coming back to the game say in 15 minute intervals once a day every week, as opposed to playing 105 minutes in one sitting. The design of the game just isn’t engaging enough to keep someone interested and this way the player is only playing enough to make the game like a daily routine.

Monetization is very popular for burst games as they serve the purpose of allowing someone to quickly make progress and keep the playtime down. For people busy with only a few minutes each day to spend playing, the option to spend a dollar and beat a level or get a boost sounds very attractive to them.

Farmville’s basic game play couldn’t be sustained for hours on end and was meant for a few minutes of play a day.

Daily events or goals are great as they condition the person to keep coming back every day to get a reward or bonus. Marvel Puzzle Quest was very crafty with this and made the daily rewards progressively better so that you’re not just getting the same thing every day but the more days you play, the better stuff you’ll get.

Burst play is one of the elements that older and hardcore games look down upon when talking about F2P or social games. As having a game that you’re not meant to get engrossed in seems like an alien concept for people who play 80 hour RPGs or massive strategy games. But what makes burst play engaging is that these games are usually designed for quick accessibility so that someone may only play for 15 minutes a day, but they’ll could play the game for weeks or months on end.

For hardcore gamers however, sustained play is what they prefer and is for people with a lot of time on their hands.

Epic Adventures

Sustained play is where the game is meant to be played for long periods of time or has a lengthy amount of content. Strategy games, RPGs, action games and so much more fit here.

These are the games where epic marathons of play are built around and can happen in games with a little or a lot of replayability. Someone may sit for hours on end to finish an XCom Enemy Unknown campaign, or spend hours trying to win a game of FTL.

Bioshock Infinite’s design was meant to keep players invested in playing until they decideed to stop playing.

As you can probably guess, the big difference between burst and sustained game design is that designers of sustained play don’t want to push people away. You will never see an eighty hour RPG feature pay or wait mechanics or anything designed to stop them from playing for a bit.

When we start getting into F2P games that have depth to them, the line between burst and sustained tends to blur a bit and case in point would be Team Fortress 2.

Team Fortress 2 features games and matches designed around maybe 10-30 minutes of play depending on the game mode chosen and the skill level of the teams. Yet the amount of variety when it comes to items and classes gives the game a lot of depth, far more so than a traditional F2P or social game. It’s an example of a game that consists of matches that last less than a half an hour that you could play for hours on end.

Knowing Your Audience

Older and hardcore games prefer games built around sustained play as when you have a family and a job, you don’t like being told that you have a limit of when you can play a game. Since their schedules are already tight, they can only play for specific durations and times.

Great game design is all about providing for both the people who want to spend a few minutes or a few hours playing your game.

While if you are developing a game for people on the go or those that aren’t typically gamers, burst play is preferable as a way to kill time and be engaged for a few minutes.

But there is one important fact to keep in mind: Burst and Sustained audiences are mutually exclusive.

Trying to develop a game that can be sold both to someone who wants to play for 15 minutes at a time or 2 hours will not work. The play styles, design and motivations for playing are just too far apart. Pick a design and stick with it is the best advice for someone wanting to attract a fan base.（source：gamasutra）