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具有凝聚力的开放世界游戏体验的重要性

发布时间:2016-07-19 16:21:19 Tags:,,,

作者:Stanislav Costiuc

我坚信作为游戏开发者的我们需要做的便是为玩家创造游戏体验。而游戏玩法,技术,故事和音频等不同领域的内容都包含于这些体验中。就像当你在《炉石传说》中移动纸牌而发出的声音能够让玩家更真实地感受到这是一款实体纸牌游戏。《求生之路》中基于附近的不同僵尸的不同声音暗示也会影响着玩家在游戏中的团队合作。还有《兄弟:双子传说》中的控制机制同时也是叙述工具。而如果所有的这些元素都能够作为一个整体有效运行,一款游戏的价值便会大大提升。

我们可以通过许多不同的方式去创造具有凝聚力的游戏体验,而该采取怎样的方法是取决于你的游戏基础。就像《炉石传说》是通过添加许多细节而做到这点—-在UI中添加一些小动画让玩家感受到它的实体性,即当玩家使用强大的仆从去攻击敌人时屏幕便会开始摇晃并且人群也会开始欢呼,在《魔兽争霸2》中,当玩家在某一回合中什么都不能做时就会出现“Job’s Done”的声音,当玩家收到咒语攻击奖励时咒语纸牌便会闪闪发光。《炉石传说》是一款规模相对较小的游戏,但这并不是说他们没有什么事可做(事实恰恰相反),从根本上来看当我们打开游戏时它便是围绕着纸牌游戏盒而展开。

在相反的一面则是像《侠盗猎车手》,《刺客信条》,《黑街圣徒》各种MMORPG等开放世界游戏,这里会出现许多广阔的区域,玩家可以在此做各种事。在这类型游戏中你并不能像在《炉石传说》中那样填满各种小细节。这里有包括追逐小鸡,解救人质,抢劫银行等各种各样的活动。所以在游戏中我们很容易觉得内容杂乱无章。即使如此我也想列举一款具有凝聚力的开放世界体验的游戏,即《刺客信条:兄弟会》。

我之所以选择《兄弟会》作为例子是因为,当你仔细观察游戏时虽然会发现渗透在游戏不同领域的种种缺陷,但是这些缺陷却不足以威胁到这款吸引人且具有凝聚力的游戏,所以《刺客信条:兄弟会》足以作为一个优秀的典例。

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood(from gamasutra)

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood(from gamasutra)

当我们着眼于《兄弟会》的不同部分时会发现还是有许多需要提出批评的地方,包括:

–主要的故事情节最多只能说“还可以”(游戏邦注:特别是在于第一款游戏的故事进行比较的时候),Ezio几乎没什么角色进程,恶棍这一角色经过太多渲染,主要情节无非就是善良vs邪恶的内容。

–战斗部分并不怎样,也未有效利用游戏功能。第一款《刺客信条》拥有一个主导性策略:反击。但是其续集却并未延续这一策略,甚至使用了更高级的反武装制裁而让游戏变得更糟糕且大大削弱了反击的作用。而《兄弟会》更是在此基础上又添加了连杀奖励,这点倒是值得称赞。

–许多新元素过分喧宾夺主了。就像全新的石弓既拥有飞刀的作用也拥有袖枪的作用,甚至没有任何缺点。

–《兄弟会》的游戏机制超级强大。即使拥有一些缓冲时间,但是唯一能够阻止玩家一直使用它去完成每个任务的方法便是执行100%同步的目标。

话虽如此,我还是认为《兄弟会》是一款优秀的游戏。因为这款游戏结合了每一部分的内容并提供给了玩家一个明确,吸引人且具有凝结性的游戏体验。

游戏是基于一个核心目标去凝聚所有活动。同时我也想要强调这并非创造吸引人的游戏体验的唯一方式,但这却是适合《兄弟会》的一种方式。

让我们着眼于《兄弟会》所提供的所有内容类型:

–主要任务:围绕着从Borgia手上解救罗马并杀死Cesare。

–Borgia塔防。从具有压制性的Borgia首领那解放区域。摧毁塔防让玩家能够在该区域中购买商店和地标。

–经济。重建商店并从中赚钱去修复罗马。

–Courtesan任务。大多数这些任务都是附加于主要故事中,即将削弱你的主要目标的基础设施。

–盗贼任务。以和Cento Occhi的争执为核心,盗贼团伙是受雇于Borgia(他们会在开放世界中随机向你发动攻击)。

–暗杀任务。以消除不同的Borgia支持者为核心。

–Lair of Romulus关卡。它们就像是《刺客信条2》中的墓穴,当玩家完成所有的这些关卡后便能够获得铠甲装备奖励。但是与《刺客信条2》的墓穴不同的是,它们都是基于次要情节而维系在一起,在这一次要情节中玩家将发现Romulus派间的关系,即他们对人类实施着恐怖统治。

–战争机器。Leonardo da Vinci会派遣你去摧毁他被迫为Borgia所创造的东西。

–Templar Agents。从本质上来看这是更高级的暗杀任务,你需要在此杀死Templars(这是一个多人角色)。

–主要收集对象是Borgia旗帜,你需要将其从城市中移除。

–《兄弟会》游戏机制,即你需要招募城市中那些被镇压的平民,在任务中将其送往世界中的不同部分进行培训并帮助你去对抗Templars及其统治政权。

–Animus wrapper能够解决开放世界外部问题,即“为什么这个人在需要他去拯救世界的时候要去追鸡?”我们会在不同阶段去回顾祖先们的记忆,就像Ezio会在拯救Caterina Sforza之前先和盗贼抗争,而这并不意味着他实际上便是基于这种顺序在执行任务。

就像你所看到的,每一个活动都会基于某种方式去对抗Borgia并拯救罗马。当然了还有一些脱离这一主题的内容。如Ezio关于和Cristina的关系的记忆被封锁了之类。

而这里的要点在于,专注于唯一的目标,并且玩家所做的一切都是带有目的的。我们可以再次将其与《刺客信条2》作比较,即在后者中玩家可以给任何市民送信并暴打出轨的丈夫,因为这便是游戏的任务。

关于第一次玩《刺客信条:兄弟会》,我最印象深刻的地方便是在游戏快接近尾声的时候淹没Castel Sant’Angelo。当我在爬城堡的时候我命令兄弟们在Borgia的守卫注意到我之前先将其拿下。这时候我并不会去考虑像太过极端的机制,设计普通的支线任务等缺陷,因为我已经到达我在游戏中的最高潮,我解放了罗马并培养了兄弟会,现在我身处一个看似不可能完成的任务模式,即将要结束这个城市被镇压的局面。

这便是我为何会认为游戏所提供的具有凝聚力的游戏体验最重要的原因,而这也是随着时间的发展会一直伴随着玩家的内容。当然了,像一流的游戏机制,惊人的故事,优秀的平衡都是有帮助的,但即使这些内容出现了问题,你也仍然能够凭借强大的凝聚力去创造出一款优秀的游戏。反过来看,如果你拥有最佳战斗机制,最佳故事,最佳关卡设计,但如果它们因为某些原因而未能组合在一起,那么这一切也都是一场空。

当然了,并非每一种体验都适合所有人。那些喜欢《欧陆风云》的玩家不一定和那些喜欢《神秘海域》的玩家一样。但不管怎样你都需要拥有明确的定位并围绕着你认为最有效的方式去创造游戏,如此你才能吸引那些对你的游戏所提供的体验感兴趣的玩家。千万不要只是为了耍酷而去添加那些只是看起来很酷的内容。

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

Cohesive open-world experience of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

by Stanislav Costiuc

I firmly believe that what we as game developers do is create experiences for our players. And all the different areas of the game, – cool gameplay, technology, narrative, audio – feeds into those experiences. How the wooshing sound of Hearthstone cards when you move them helps with that feeling of a physical card game. How the different sound cues of Left 4 Dead depending on the special zombie nearby influence the teamwork aspect of the game. How controls themselves are used as a narrative tool in Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. And a game is valued best when it all works as a whole.

There are many different ways we can craft wholesome experiences, it all depends on a game by game basis. Hearthstone does this by adding lots of details – all the little animations in the UI to create a feeling that it’s a physical box, the screen shaking and crowd cheering when you attack an enemy with a very powerful minion, the ‘Job’s Done’ sound from Warcraft 2 when you can’t do anything that turn, the sparkles on your spell cards when they’re affected by spell damage bonuses. But Hearthstone is a game that is of a relatively small scale, not in a sense that developers don’t have a lot of things to do (they do), but that it essentially revolves around that card game box we see when the game opens.

On the opposite part of the spectrum are massive open-world games like Grand Theft Auto, Assassin’s Creed, Saints Row, or a bunch of MMORPGs, where there’s big sprawling areas, lots of activities, lots of things to do. You can’t possible fill every little thing with details like Hearthstone does. And the activities can range from chasing chickens to saving hostages to robbing banks to yoga. It’s very easy to have things feel disjointed and incoherent, and there are many open-world games that do. However, I would like to talk about an example of successful and cohesive open-world experience, – Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood.

Now, one of the reasons I chose Brotherhood for this post, is because the game if you examine it closely has quite a bit of what I consider to be flaws, across many different areas of the game. But, as I discussed in one of my previous posts (Creating Great Experience with Flawed Mechanics), I believe that flaws aren’t a barrier for an amazing, engaging, solid and wholesome game, and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is a very good example of this.

If we look at different Brotherhood parts separately, there’s quite a few things that can be criticized, some of which include:

– The main storyline is ‘alright’ at best (especially when comparing to the story of the first game), with barely to none character progression for Ezio, a villain that was set up as something more than he turned out to be, and a fairly black & white good vs. evil standard plotline.

– The combat is still broken and doesn’t make use of most of its features. The first Assassin’s Creed had one dominant strategy: counter-attacks. The sequel didn’t do anything with it, even made it worse with an even more advanced counter-disarm and making counter-attack windows more lenient. And Brotherhood has added kill streaks on top of all that, which is another dominant move. To its credit, though, it feels very fluid and badass.

– A lot of overpowered new elements that make existing ones redundant. The new crossbow, for example, has all advantages of both throwing knives (silence, high ammo number) and hidden gun (range, possibility to one-hit kill any enemy) with none of the disadvantages.

– The Brotherhood mechanic is ultimate power. Even with cooldowns, the only real thing preventing from utilizing it every minute to complete every mission are the optional objectives for 100% synchronization.

All that said, I would still call Brotherhood a great game. Because a game is a sum of its parts, and as a whole, Brotherhood provides a very clear, engaging and cohesive experience for the player.

The game does it is by centering most of its activities around one core goal: take down the Borgia rule and bring Renaissance to Rome. I want to note right off the bat that it’s not the only way to build a compelling experience, but this is how Brotherhood in particular does it.

Let’s look at all the types of content that Brotherhood provides:

– Main missions. Centered around freeing Rome from the Borgia and killing Cesare.

– Borgia Towers. Liberate districts from the oppressive Borgia captains. Destroying towers allows to buy shops and landmarks in the district.

– Economy. Rebuild shops and get money from them to renovate Rome.

– Courtesan missions. Most of them are additive to the main story, having you weaken the infrastructure of your main targets.

– Thief missions. Revolve around a feud with the Cento Occhi, a rival thief gang paid off by the Borgia (they might randomly attack you in the open world as well).

– Assassination missions. Revolve around eliminating different Borgia supporters.

– Lair of Romulus levels. They are like Tombs from Assassin’s Creed II, rewarding you with an armor set when you complete all of them. However, unlike Assassin’s Creed II Tombs, they are all connected together by a subplot in which you uncover the connection between the fearsome Romulus sect, that terrorizes the population, and the Church.

– War Machines. Leonardo da Vinci sends you to destroy the inventions he was forced to do for the Borgia.

– Templar Agents. Essentially more advanced Assassination missions where you have to kill Templars (who, on a side note, are also multiplayer characters).

– The main collectibles are Borgia flags that you remove from the city.

– The Brotherhood mechanic has you recruit oppressed civilians over the city, as you send them on missions to different parts of the world to train and help you fight against the Templars and their rulership over Rome.

– And as a side-note, the Animus wrapper fixes the eternal open-world question, ‘why does this person goes chasing chickens when he needs to save the world?’ We’re viewing ancestor memories in different succession, so for example just because Ezio went to race with thieves before going to save Caterina Sforza, doesn’t mean he actually did it in that order.

As you can see, pretty much every activity is related in some ways to taking the Borgia and liberating Rome. Of course there are a few things that deviate from that. Like Ezio’s repressed memories of his relationship with Cristina, that unlock at different game completion thresholds, or collecting some feathers in honor of Ezio’s dead brothers. Or chests that are just there. Lots and lots of chests.

The point is, with such focus on a single goal, there’s always purpose to what you do. Compare it even to Assassin’s Creed II, where you deliver letters for random citizens and beat-up cheating husbands because… well, because that’s just what the missions are.

One of my most vivid memories from playing Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood for the first time was infiltrating Castel Sant’Angelo close to the end of the game. As I was climbing the castle I was commanding my brothers to take down Borgia guards on the walls surrounding it before they’d notice me. It felt great. All the flaws, – like overpowered mechanics, quite a few of averagely designed side missions, etc. – I didn’t care about those, as I was participating in what was a culmination of everything I did in the game, how I liberated Rome and trained up my Brotherhood and now we go in Mission Impossible-style to finish off the oppressive rulership.

Which is why I believe a cohesive experience that the game provides is the most important aspect, because, ultimately, that’s what stays with you over time. Of course, things like top-notch mechanics, amazing narrative, great balance all help with that, but even if they have issues, you can get a great game. And it could go the opposite way too. You can have the best combat mechanics in the universe, the best story there ever was, the best level design one has seen, but if it all for some reason doesn’t gel together, for an exaggerated example let’s say we have a game with amazing melee combat but mostly stealth-based, but very well-done, levels and a compelling story that’s about collecting a bunch of animals, then it doesn’t matter because the lasting impression for the player would be that of confusion and uncertainty.

And yes, not every kind of experience is for everybody. People who enjoy games like Europa Universalis might not be the same people who enjoy Uncharted. But it’s still important to have it defined and the game built around it in the way you deem best, so to capture the audience that would be interested in the experience your game provides. And don’t add cool and awesome things just for the sake of them being cool and awesome.(source:Gamasutra

 


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