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早前游戏至今仍受欢迎的3大原因

发布时间:2014-11-28 15:25:49 Tags:,,,,

作者:Miguel7

作为程序员,每当下班回家后我就不想再编写代码了,但即使在上班时间花了10至12个小时编写代码也不能阻止我连接USB控制器,打开我所编写的keyboard mapper脚本,并前往Virtual NES.com。我从5岁开始便在玩这些游戏了,但直到现在我仍觉得它们很有趣!

现在你可能会好奇这到底是怎么回事?这并不是什么奇怪的事,因为像Virtual NES这样的网站比比皆是。为什么他们会为了早前的NES游戏购买,甚至制作一个定制USB控制器。为什么有人会花这么多时间去编写它们,甚至精细到各种细节,就像原作一般?那时候的游戏的图像和声音大不如现在。我说的是像《超级玛丽兄弟》和《塞尔达传说》等游戏,它们带有非常强烈的怀旧元素。那《Kung-Fu》,《RC Pro-Am》,《10-Yard Fight》呢?谁还记得这些游戏?为什么现在人们还会创造带有同样质量的游戏?我的意思是,今天我们已经拥有3D技术(甚至是3D音频了);我们创造了超现实的体育游戏,惊人的冒险游戏等等,它们也逐不断变得更好。所以这到底是怎么回事?

Super Mario Bros(from gamerevolution)

Super Mario Bros(from gamerevolution)

显然,这不只是为了怀旧。尽管我并不是专家,但我却知道其中的秘密所在,所以我将在此与你们分享。

为什么早前的游戏仍然很受欢迎

1.它们很容易游戏,但却很难打败!

你知道是什么吸引我去创造自己的游戏吗?PS2?并不是你想的那样。对于我来说,那些游戏是非常难玩的。带有3个方向控制,12个按键(甚至不包含开始和选择),并且每个按键在不同情况下会做不同事。忘了这些吧!我认为学习创造自己的游戏比学习如何玩这些游戏还简单!

但NES,Super NES,Sega Genesis等等则是不同的:它们很容易理解,但你必须疯狂地玩游戏才有可能打败游戏。就像Gannon便是一个很难杀死的对象,因为你看不到他,并且他能够从多个方向朝你开枪—-并不是因为我忘记如何使用自己的剑!玩家很难通过King Koopa的城堡,因为那就像是一个充满了坏人,死胡同和陷阱的迷宫—-并不是因为我不知道如何发射一颗火球!它们都非常困难,但却不存在一面垂直的学习曲线墙。

换句话说,游戏中的挑战是存在于关卡中(障碍,AI等等),而不是游戏玩法。这是我认为今天的游戏所欠缺的。我们已经忘记如何KISS(游戏邦注:即保持内容足够简单,甚至愚蠢!)。如果我们能够将今天完美的图像和声音与早前游戏的简单性结合在一起,那么那些早前的游戏可能就会真的成为过去了。但不幸的是,直到现在玩家和游戏成瘾者仍然在玩他们很早以前玩过的内容。

2.它们相对容易创造

第一点是我以玩家的身份想到的;而这一点我是出于程序员的角度。我认为2D游戏是“相对”容易创造的,因为你只需要知道一至三点关于编程的内容。但即使你是一名编程新手,你可能也会想到检测这一部分内容。

让我们以碰撞检测为例。几乎每一款游戏都包含这一元素(游戏邦注:除了像填字游戏或数独游戏外)。在一款2D游戏中,做到这点非常简单:

if (Rectangle1.Intersects(Rectangle2)){
Lives -= 1;
RestartLevel();
}

当然了上面的例子并不是一个真正的代码。如果一个矩形(马里奥)与另一个矩形(如飞鱼之类的)相交,然后马里奥便会死掉,你将重新开始这个关卡。在此你唯一需要做的便是核对一个物体是否与另一个物体相交(我曾在JavaScript做过,并希望再也不要这么做)。但据我所知所有带有一个矩形目标的语言都有核对功能(在Java中是“Intersects”以及C#中的“Contains”),而像椭圆形和多边形等其它物体也带有这些功能。所以这没有什么大不了的(除非这是发生在游戏关卡中)。

但在现代游戏中却有许多需要核对的变量。我们谈论的不再是简单的形状,而是复杂的3维图像,实体,摄像机角度,以及其它我们未想到的内容。就像在图像中,你将获得像纹理,所有3D坐标等等讨厌的元素。真心希望能够找到一些框架或工具包,但根据我的经验这并不能带来多大帮助。特别是对于新手来说,但即使是像我这样的资深程序员,只要你不是一名数学大师,这便是非常让人头疼的难题。我们应该创造的是有趣的游戏不是吗?而这也引出了我的最后一点:

3.它们都带有简单的乐趣!

以前的游戏不会想尽办法去传达一个故事,证实一个要点或尽可能地现实。与说明写在同一份文件中的背景故事很快就会被丢掉(详见第1点)。所以冒险游戏只是关于善良vs邪恶。英雄会探索奇怪的新领域,打败怪物并拯救公主。体育游戏是关于获得分数。有些游戏只是关于将你的名字首字母写在高分列表上。所以不管你在做什么,那都是有趣的。也许只是因为我在不断变老,但对于我来说许多新游戏更注重作用而不是乐趣。但我那伴随着最新技术长大的外甥女喜欢新游戏的成都与我喜欢以前的游戏以样。所以“乐趣”可能还是一个主观的词。

所以我们该如何将其转变成一些更加具体的内容呢?为此我建议你能够问问自己,怎样的游戏才是有趣的?以下是一些我很喜欢的内容:

让人觉得受骗的隐秘场所—-当你只能使用游戏中的特定内容时为什么要想办法去骗人呢?

提供给你新的能力的武器和其它手段(就像《马里奥3》中的青蛙服或《塞尔达:时之笛》中的勾手)

带有简单乐趣的随机事物(就像在《时之笛》中,当你前往Dark World并变成一只兔子—-则是如此滑稽的设定!或者在马里奥世界中,Yoshi几乎可以吃下任何东西,并将其吐向敌人!)

你可以与其他人一起玩任何内容(《马里奥》,《马里奥赛车》等等—-人越多越热闹!这点特别重要,因为今天的多人在线游戏都非常大型)

游戏目标总是非常明显(甚至儿时的我在玩《塞尔达》的时候,我经常能够使用书籍或询问已经通关的朋友而解决一下让人纠结的谜题;有时候我们需要在游戏中添加一些需要费脑的内容,但这并非总是有趣的)

结论

就像你所看到的,有些来自80年代或90年代的电子游戏的功能仍被用于今天的高科技游戏中。实际上,如果我发现一个游戏系统使用了以上3点的其中2点,我便会愿意尝试看看。所以不管怎样,你都应该认可其价值,并根据需求进行使用。

本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转功,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

What Makes Old Games Addictive

By Miguel7

As a programmer by trade, I rarely want to write code when I get home… but even 10-12 hours of coding won’t stop me from hooking up my USB controller, firing up a keyboard mapper script I wrote, and going to Virtual NES.com. Sure I’ve been playing these games since I was five, but they’re still that fun! I kicked… uh, played well… back in the day, and I still rock those games now (and have a great time doin’ it)!

Now you might be wondering, what’s up with that? It can’t just be that weird Miguel guy, because sites like Virtual NES are everywhere. Why do they buy – or even make – a custom USB controller for old NES games? Why would anyone spend so much time programming them, right down to the last detail, to be exactly like the originals? The graphics and sound from back then was so cheesy compared to now. I mean okay, sure, for games like Super Mario Bros. and the Legend of Zelda, the nostalgia-factor is pretty intense. But Kung-Fu? RC Pro-Am? 10-Yard Fight? Who even remembers those (other than me, lol)? And why do people still create (and get hooked to) games with similar quality? I mean, today we have 3D (even 3D audio); we’ve got super-realistic sports games, amazing adventure games, etc. and they keep getting better. So what’s up with that?

Obviously, it’s more than just nostalgia. And although I’m far from an expert, I think I know what the secrets are, and I want to share them with you.

Why Old Games Still Rock

1. They’re easy to play, but hard to beat!

You know what got me interested in making my own games? PS2; But not in the way you think. To me, those games were insanely hard… to play. Three directional controls, 12 buttons (not including start & select) and each one of them does different things in different situations? Forget that! I figured it would be easier to learn to create my own games than to learn how to play theirs.

But NES, Super NES, Sega Genesis etc. were different: they were easy to figure out, but you had to play them like crazy to be able to beat the game. Gannon was hard to kill because he turned invisible and could shoot at you from any direction – not because I forgot how to use my sword! King Koopa’s castle was tough to get through because it was a maze loaded with baddies, dead ends and traps – not because I couldn’t figure out how to shoot a fireball! They were most definitely hard, but there wasn’t a vertical wall of a learning curve just to play the thing!

In other words, the challenge was in the levels (the obstacles, the AI etc.), not the gameplay. This is something that I think we’ve lost in today’s games. We’ve forgotten how to KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid! :) ). If we combined the amazing graphics and sound available today with the simplicity of the OGs, those old games might actually become a thing of the past. But until then, gamers and game addicts everywhere keep on makin’em like they did in the old days – and that’s cool with me! :)

2. They’re relatively easy to create

The first point came from me as a gamer; this point comes from me as a programmer. I say 2D games are “relatively” easy because you do need to know a thing or three about programming to write a game either way. But even if you’re still fairly new to programming, you might want to check this part out.

Let’s take for example collision checking. Just about every game has to have it (the exceptions being stuff like crossword puzzles or Sudoku). In a 2D game, it’s as simple as this:

if (Rectangle1.Intersects(Rectangle2)){
Lives -= 1;
RestartLevel();
}

Granted the example above is not actual code, you get the idea. If one rectangle (say Mario) intersects another (say one of those flying fish things), then Mario loses a life and you restart the level. The only thing that’d make this a bit tricky is how to check if one object intersects another (which I’ve done in JavaScript and hope to never do again). But AFAIK every language with a Rectangle object has a function to check that already (In Java it’s “Intersects”, and I think in C# it’s “Contains”) and other objects like Oval and Polygon may have them as well. So it’s no big deal, not the end of the world (unless that’s what happens in the level :) yeah that was corny).

But in a modern game, there are a gajillion other variables to check for. We’re no longer talking about simple shapes, but complex 3-dimensional figures and physics and camera angles and other stuff I haven’t thought of yet. And on the graphics side you’ve got stuff like texturing, plotting all the 3D coordinates, and other stuff that to me is just annoying. Hopefully, there’s some framework or SDK out there now that abstracts a lot of this away, but in my experience it’s just not worth the aggravation. Especially for newbies, but even for more experienced programmers like me, if you’re not a math guru this can be such a pain. And creating games should be fun, shouldn’t it? And that brings me to my last point:

3. They’re just plain fun!

Games back in the day weren’t trying to tell a story, prove a point, or be as realistic as possible. Back stories were written in the same document as the instructions, which were quickly thrown away (see point #1). So adventure games were simply Good vs. Evil. Heroes explored strange new lands, defeated monsters and rescued princesses. Sports games were about scoring points. And some games were just about getting your initials on a highscore list. So whatever you were doing, it was fun, not work. Maybe I’m just getting old… but to me a lot of the newer games are more work than fun. But my neice, who is growing up with all the latest tech, rocks the new games like I rocked the originals. So “fun” is a subjective term, no doubt about it.

So how do we translate this into something more concrete? To answer that, I would suggest you ask yourself, what makes games fun to you? Back on the topic of the classics, here are some of the things I always enjoyed:

Secret places that feel like cheating (like the whistles in Mario 3) – why try to find ways to actually cheat when you can just use what’s built into the game?

Weapons and other tricks that give you new abilities (like the frog suit in Mario 3 or the hook-shot in Zelda/Link to the Past)

Random stuff that’s just plain funny (like in Link to the Past when you go to the Dark World and turn into a bunny – that was so hilarious! Or in Mario World how Yoshi can eat… well just about anything, and spit it at the enemies! I could go on all night with this one.)

Anything you can play with someone else (sports, Mario, Mario Kart, etc. – the more the merrier! This one is especially important because multiplayer online games are so big nowadays)

Anything where the object of the game is stupidly obvious (even as a kid playing Zelda, I often bypassed the frustrating puzzle-like parts by using a book or bugging a friend who already beat it; not that adding some brain-teasing “figure it out” stuff to games is bad, but it’s not always fun; for me it went from brain-teasing to mind-grinding way too quick)

Conclusion

As you can see, there are definitely some features of 80s/90s-style video games that still apply to today’s world of hi-tech gaming awesomeness. In fact if I ever find a game system that uses even 2 out of the 3, I’ll be first in line to get one. So anyway, take it for what it’s worth, use what you can and pass it on. :) (source:gamedev)

 


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