作者：Josh Bycer

我已经在Game-Wisdom上进行了一些播客讨论；我与来自Arcen Games的Chris Park谈及了有关开放游戏设计内容，他也在我与Ernest Adams的交谈中分享了自己的一些思维过程。在每次交谈中我们都对游戏设计展开了讨论，即关于为了进一步吸引人们去了解设计而需要探索的内容。

这一次我们将讨论为游戏创造基础的有效方法以及如何创造可以依赖的游戏基础。

游戏基础：

如果要说创造游戏所经历的步骤，这是很困难的，因为每个人都有自己的看法和哲理。当我在访问来自Spiderweb Software的Jeff Vogel时，他说到自己会先想出一些故事然后围绕着这些故事去设计游戏。但也有许多设计师是先想出机制或系统然后再明确如何从中去创造游戏。

当我们需要开始规划游戏时，Chris认为我们需要做的第一件事是：明确游戏的核心体验。换句话说，也就是你希望玩家能够从第一分钟的游戏过程中体验到什么？

这听起来好像一个很简单的问题，但是明确你的体验却很重要，因为这将从始至终去定义你的游戏。许多开发者是通过创造原型并判断游戏的运行去识别这一问题。

我们必须清楚一款优秀的游戏应该在一开始就足够吸引人，而不是在玩家玩了10个小时或观看了3个小时的教程后才开始展现魅力。如果你的游戏的基本关卡并不怎样，那么你就摊上大事了。

“不怎样”可能指代许多内容：也许控制太过繁琐，游戏玩法很无聊或让人困惑，机制出现矛盾等等。

如果你的游戏拥有更出色的基础，它便能够更好地进行发展。但这并不意味着带有基础问题的游戏是一开始就注定好的，因为并不是每一款游戏都拥有出色的基础。

立基体验：

作为最佳主流的热门游戏也是那些带有优秀基础的游戏，创造出这些游戏的开发者往往会为此投入巨大的成本。当我谈到《暗黑破坏神3》并将其与《Cookie Cliker》进行比较时，《暗黑破坏神3》的基本体验是关于杀戮，获得战利品，再进行更多的杀戮。而游戏的所有图像，影像，系统以及进程都是围绕着这一基础而来。

即使一款游戏在一开始并不吸引人，并且未提供给玩家待解决的问题，它也有可能成为一款优秀的游戏，只是开发者需要为此投入更多努力。像《全面战争》系列，《矮人要塞》，《X-Com》， Paradox Software的游戏等等都被认为是出色的游戏，而它们的基本游戏体验其实都不是特别吸引人。

Diablo3(from gamasutra)

你需要在真正喜欢上游戏前先致力于了解每一款游戏的“怪癖”，并将其与《暗黑破坏神3》或《马里奥银河》等带有吸引人的基础游戏体验的游戏进行比较。

虽然这么说，但并不是每一款游戏都能像我们在播客上所说的那样具有吸引力。像《十字军之王2》便很难做到，因为它带有多个互联系统。就像Arcen的最新热门游戏《最后的联盟》便限制了系统并随着玩家的不断游戏逐渐打开它们，从而让玩家更容易去了解这些内容。

但如果你提供给玩家错误的体验而不是真正的游戏体验，这种方法就不可能发挥功效。如果游戏教程并不能提供给玩家关于游戏是关于什么的明确解释，那么他们便不可能了解游戏是如何运行的。尽管拥有与《暗黑破坏神》或《马里奥》一样吸引人的游戏很棒，但是如果你选择从较高的复杂度开始，那么你便要做好不是所有人都会喜欢并了解你的游戏的心理准备。

建造：

对于新游戏开发者来说，本文的关键在于明确创造一款优秀电子游戏的第一步便是清楚自己希望游戏是关于什么内容—-这是由具有挑战性的跳跃动作所组成的平台游戏？还是与幽灵相抗衡的第一人称射击游戏？或者是管理一家公司的策略游戏？等等。

为此你需要基于游戏体验核心去决定之后玩家需要做什么。如果在没有图像，音乐以及其它游戏系统的辅助下你的游戏核心也具有吸引力，那么你便清楚自己已经拥有一些出色的内容。这也是为何创造系统原型是判断机制是否有趣并帮助你创造出一款优秀游戏的有效方法。

我第一个遭遇失败的群组项目便是因为未能吸取这一经验教训。我们在项目坍塌后花了好几个月时间不短修改主要的游戏玩法，但是最终还是一无所成。

就像Kickstarter项目意义，我们不能在开发和计划过程中匆匆了事。只有拥有更棒的游戏基础，你最终才能创造出一款真正让人惊艳的游戏。

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

The Importance of Creating a Gameplay Foundation

by Josh Bycer

I’ve had some great podcast discussions on Game-Wisdom; I spoke with Chris Park from Arcen Games about open ended game design and he shared his thought process along with my cast with Ernest Adams. On each cast we had a great discussion on game design that needs to be explored further for people interested in learning about design.

This time we’re going to talk about a useful way of creating a baseline for your game and establish a foundation to build on.

The Basic Game:

Talking about the steps it takes to make a game can be tough as everyone has their own opinions and philosophies on the matter. When I interviewed Jeff Vogel from Spiderweb Software, he said that he comes up with the stories first and then designs the game around them. But there are many cases of designers coming up with a cool mechanic or system and then figuring out how to build the game from there.

But when it’s time to start planning out your game, speaking with Chris he talked about what he felt was the first thing you need to do: Figure out the core experience. In other words: What do you want someone to experience from the first minute of play?

It sounds like a simple question but nailing down your experience is a big deal as this is what’s going to define your game from start to finish. Many developers figure this out by developing a prototype and seeing how the game plays.

What’s important to understand is that a great game should be engaging from the very start, not after 10 hours of play or watching 3 hours of tutorials. There is a problem if your game at its basic fundamental level is not good.

” Not good” can mean many things: Maybe the controls are finicky, the gameplay is boring or confusing, the mechanics aren’t meshing right and so on.

The better the foundation of your game is, the easier it will be to expand upon it and make it amazing. But that doesn’t mean that a game with foundation problems is doomed from the start, as not every game can have a great foundation.

Niche Experiences:

The games that are the best mainstream hits are the ones with a great foundation and developers spend millions to figure that out. When I talked about Diablo 3 and compared it to Cookie Clicker, the base experience of Diablo 3 really is kill, loot and kill some more. From there, all the art, movies, systems and progression grow from that basic foundation.

But when a game isn’t engaging from the start and does have issues for the player to work around, that can still lead to great games, it just takes more work. Titles like the Total War series, Dwarf Fortress, X-Com, Paradox Software’s lineup and more are all considered great games, but their basic experience is not something that is easily engaging.

You need to work at each of those games to learn their quirks before you can really begin to enjoy them, compared to titles like Diablo 3 or Mario Galaxy where the basic experience easily pulls you in.

However with that said, not every game can be engaging right out of the box as we talked about on the podcast. A game like Crusader Kings 2 is very hard to distill down due to the multiple interconnected systems. Much like Arcen’s latest hit The Last Federation where the game limits systems and unlocks them over time to try and make it easier to learn.

But that doesn’t work as you’re giving a player a false experience and not what the game is. If a tutorial doesn’t give the player an adequate explanation of what the game is about, then they won’t learn anything about how the game works. While it may be great to have every video game be as appealing as Diablo, Mario etc, if you’re approaching things from a level of complexity you sometimes have to bite the bullet and realize that not everyone is going to like or be able to figure out your game.

Building Up:

The key take away for this post for new game developers reading this is that the first step to making a great video game is figuring out what exactly you want your game to be about — Is it a platformer made up of challenging jumps? A first person shooter fighting ghosts? A strategy game of managing a company? And so on.

From there you need to establish at the very core of your experience what the player is going to be doing for the extent of their playtime. If that core is engaging without the need of art, music, graphics engine and other game systems, then you know that you have something great there. It’s why being able to prototype systems is such a useful skill as being able to see your mechanics beyond just visualizing them is vital to making a great game.

One of my first failed group projects was not learning this lesson. We spent so many months constantly changing the main gameplay after making some headway that the project just fell over on itself and nothing was accomplished.

Just like with kickstarter projects it’s never good to rush through development and planning. The better the foundation of your game is, the easier it will be to make an amazing game.(source:gamasutra)