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设计师该如何设置游戏中的升级系统

发布时间:2016-09-06 10:42:08 Tags:,,,,

作者:Josh Bycer

如果你看过我的文章便知道我是游戏设计进程系统的铁粉。例如元游戏进程系统,基于玩家的进程系统,抽象进程系统等等。而升级角色便是添加抽象进程的一种广受欢迎模式。而理解如何处理进程系统将决定着你的游戏最终的表现。

创建架构:

首先我们还是先定义我们的主题。游戏中的升级系统是一种抽象进程模式。在这里玩家的核心属性或能力都会比较弱,但也会随着时间的发展而发展。这并非基于机制的进程或“银河恶魔城”的设计案例,因为那些内容都会改变游戏玩法。

升级能让玩家更轻松/更有效地执行游戏中的基本任务,并且随着时间的发展也会出现一些全新选择。关于游戏中的升级存在许许多多例子。通常情况下我们可以看到一些基于技能的游戏将抽象进程层面和技能游戏整合在一起。

就像《丧尸围城》系列便拥有很棒的升级系统,即这款游戏中的每个关卡都能够提升玩家的核心属性。而有关升级的要点便是随着玩家玩越久的游戏,他便能够更轻松地玩游戏。

将升级系统作为进程形式也是设计师工具包中用于留住玩家注意的一种工具。

实际上玩家既能看到也能感受到他们的角色作为一种进程形式的区别。

但是并非每一款游戏都能支持升级系统,一不留意的话升级系统也有可能摧毁一款游戏。

细节:

为了让抽象进程运行起来,它就必须具有意义。设计师必须确保每个选择对于玩家以及他们的游戏方式来说都是有意义的,不应该存在一个优于其它选择的选择。

关于升级设计一个常见的问题便是设计师很容易呈现给玩家过多选择。即游戏中的主要选择可能是这些:生命,破坏,防御;同时还伴随着像这样的奇奇怪怪的选择:弹药容量,加速,换子弹时间等等。

这里的要点便是,这些升级系统呈现给了玩家错误的选择。即如果玩家面对的是提高枪支50%的破坏力以及降低半秒换子弹时间的话,他们会选择什么?虽然有些小小的选择可能帮到玩家,但是你却未能将其与玩家的核心能力维系在一起。

《恶灵附身》的升级系统便是如此。玩家拥有像提高体力,生命值和破坏力等选择,然后还将面对降低武器的影响力或需要更多子弹的选择。

更糟糕的是这有可能为玩家挖下一个陷阱并导致他们之后的游戏越来越困难。

当玩家在面对很难对付的敌人时往往需要额外的体力才能持续下去。所以延长升级会让那些在一开始便投入其它升级的玩家觉得游戏变得更加困难。

关于升级设计师会设定不同的成本,同时也伴随着不同资源。一些聪明的玩家会在一开始保留最重要的升级,绝不会在一开始就消耗掉所有升级。但是也有许多升级是玩家并不能随着游戏的进行而进行的。

《毁灭战士》在这方面便做得很好。游戏中的升级是基于不同类型和不同资源进行划分的,这么做能够确保玩家不会因为自己的过多消费而受到约束。

DOOM(from baidu)

DOOM(from baidu)

下坡路:

如果升级系统并不能有效整合,它便会引出另一个问题。让我们再回到错误的选择点上,玩家有可能因为不能做出正确选择而郁闷不已。如果你能够围绕玩家做出X选择去升级而去平衡游戏,那么即使玩家做出其它选择游戏也不会因此受到影响了。

如果你的升级系统没办法重设选择,玩家便有可能从一开始便走上错误的道路。没有什么会比意识到自己做出了错误的选择并且不得不重新开始更有可能扼杀玩家的用户粘性了。

对此我们所注意到的一个问题是,游戏难度曲线会因为升级系统而颠倒过来。即一开始玩家会因为缺少生命值和能量而艰难地游戏。

随着时间的发展游戏会变得更加简单,因为这时候的玩家已经变得更加强大了。我只遇到一些出现这一问题的游戏,如《神之手》和《忍者龙剑传黑之章》,不过关于这是否是一种糟糕的设计还有待争论。

以下便是我们所采取的解决升级系统问题的一些方法:

有效的升级:

这点非常明显:如果你拥有一个升级系统,那你就必须拥有足够的方法能让玩家随着游戏的发展去获得真正的升级。如果玩家投入了大量时间去搜寻所有内容,游戏就必须奖励他们去升级角色的方法。

如果你拥有可行的主要升级,你也应该让玩家能够通过所有正常方式去获得升级。你必须明确主要和和次要升级路径。主要升级是指那些会直接影响玩家游戏的内容(如破坏力,生命值,防御),而次要升级则是那些可能提高玩家“生活质量”的内容(如弹药容量,行走速度等)。

不管你是否拥有主要升级或次要升级,你都不应该将其整合到同一个系统中。如果你决定设定一些升级资源,你必须确保整合一些替代选择。原因很明显:这能够避免玩家遭受惩罚并能够让他们进行尝试。

不仅如此,这也会导致升级点缺少意义,因为升级点越多,角色在这里能做的事也就会变多。

如果你真正希望玩家能够进行尝试,你就必须确保他们不会深陷糟糕的架构中。

许多设计师会选择让玩家在一款全新游戏中继续升级。

而关于这一方法的问题便在于你不能期待玩家会多次玩你的游戏。通常情况下这种方法可能会破坏你为全新游戏所创造的任何挑战。除非你能够创造一些全新条件,即一个完全升级的角色也不会在此遇到任何问题。

有效的进程:

设计师必须让玩家能够更轻松通过升级系统。而任何不平衡的系统都可能破坏游戏设计。但并非每一款游戏都需要升级系统去支持玩家进程。

如果玩家是基于作用去做出一些特定选择,那么升级系统便毫无意义。而如果每一个选择都很棒,并且设计师只需要去考虑它们的出现顺序,那就是可行的。

就像在《捉鬼敢死队》中,每一个升级都是直接的完善。尽管有些升级优于其它升级,但是这里却没有高于一切的完美选择。拥有技能的玩家会在游戏结束前获得这些升级。即不管玩家的技能水平如何,他们最终都能够获得这些升级。

作为设计师,你需要明确是否需要设置主要或次要升级。通常情况下你可以假设玩家将追逐主要升级,并且也可能抽时间去获取次要升级。而如果你不能设置主要升级,你的进程模式便会出现问题。

设计师必须有效设置进程模式并确保玩家从开始到结束都保持着对游戏的关注。

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

How to Power up Players with Upgrades

by Josh Bycer

If you’ve read my posts, then you know that I’m a huge fan of progression systems in game design. Some examples would be meta-game, player-based, abstraction and so on. Upgrading characters has been a popular means of adding abstracted progression. However, understanding how to handle progression systems correctly can mean the difference of how your game will turn out.

Building Up:

As always, let’s start by defining our topic. Upgrade systems in game design are a form of abstracted progression. Here, the player’s core stats or abilities are weak to begin with, but can grow overtime. This is not an example of mechanic-based progression or Metroidvania design, because those actually change how the game plays.

Upgrades simply make it easier/better for the player to perform the basic tasks of the game, and new options can unlock over time. There are many, many, examples of upgrade systems in games. Typically, we see them in action or skill-based games as a way to tie a layer of abstracted progression to a skill game.

The Dead Rising series makes heavy use of upgrade systems; with each experience level in Dead Rising raising a core stat of the player. The main point about upgrades is that playing the game gets easier the longer you play. At the start, you may have little health, can only hold a few items and move slowly; by the end, you can tank damage, have a closet full of inventory space and can run like a track star.

Using upgrade systems as a form of progression is another tool in the designer’s tool kit to keep the player invested in the game.

The fact that the player can both see and feel the difference in their character works amazingly well as a form of progression.

However, not every game can support upgrade systems, and they can do more harm than good if you’re not careful.

The Power Minutiae:

In order for abstracted progression to work, it has to be meaningful. Every choice should have value to the player and how they play the game, and no one choice should be superior.

An often seen problem of upgrade design is when designers overwhelm the player with choices. You have major ones like: Health, Damage and Defense; paired with odd choices like: Ammo capacity, zoom in speed, reload times and so on.

The point is that these kinds of upgrade systems present false choices to the player. If you had the choice to make your gun do 50% more damage or decreases reloading by half a second, which one would you do? Little choices can help the player, but you don’t pair them with core abilities.

In The Evil Within, the upgrade system is all over the place in this regard. You have major choices like increased stamina, health and damage, next to reducing weapon sway or holding more bullets.

What’s worse is that this can create a trap for the player that makes the game harder in the long run.

When dealing with heavy enemies, you need extra stamina to keep on the move. Prolonging the upgrade will make the game a lot harder for players who invested in the other upgrades first.

The designers have different costs associated with the upgrades, but they’re all tied to the same resource. The smart player would save up for the most important upgrades first, rather than upgrading everything evenly. There are so many upgrades that you literally can’t upgrade them all over the course of playing.

Doom was wise in this regard. The upgrades were split between different types and different resources; making sure the player was never limiting themselves by spending too much.

The Downward Slope:

If the upgrade system is not integrated right, it can cause another problem. Going back to the false choice point, it’s very possible for the player to screw themselves with not making the right choices. If you balance your game around the player choosing X options to upgrade, the game could become unbeatable if they go another way.

Compounding the problem, if your upgrade system has no way to redo choices, the player could go down the wrong path from the very beginning. Nothing kills a player’s engagement more than realizing that they made all the wrong choices and must completely restart the game.

One weird issue we see is when a game’s difficulty curve is inverse because of the upgrade system. At the start, the player will have a hard time playing due to lack of health and power.

Over time, the game becomes easier, because the player is now stronger in terms of abstraction. I’ve only ran into a few games that had this issue, like God Hand and Ninja Gaiden Black, and it’s debatable if this is an example of poor design.

Getting around the problem of upgrade systems requires a fine touch, and there are a few examples we can go over.

Useful Upgrading:

The first point should be obvious: If you have an upgrade system, then there should be enough ways to fully upgrade the player over the course of play. If the discerning player spends their time hunting for everything, they should be rewarded with enough ways to fully upgrade their character.

Even then, if you have major upgrades that are available, the player should be able to get them all through normal play. It’s important to figure out what are your major and minor upgrade paths. Major upgrades are the ones that directly impact playing the game (damage, health, defense), while minor ones are quality of life improvements (ammo capacity, walking speed, snap to zoom).

Either have all major upgrades or all minor upgrades, but don’t mix them into the same system. If you do decide to have a set number of resources for upgrades, make sure to include a respec option. The reason should be obvious: It prevents punishing the player and lets them experiment.

Not only that, but it has the passive effect of making those upgrade points more meaningful, because the more they have, the more they can do with their character.

If you want the player to experiment, then there has to be insurance that they won’t get stuck with a poor build.

Many designers use a new game+ to let the player continue upgrading.

The problem with that approach is you cannot expect someone to play through your game multiple times. Often, this measure will break any kind of challenge you set up for new game +. Unless you create new situations, a fully upgraded character will not have any problems.

Proper Progression:

Making the player better through upgrade systems seems like an easy win for the designer. However, any system not balanced right can lead to trouble and hurting the design. Not every game needs upgrade systems for player progression.

If the player is always going to get specific choices because of their utility, then the upgrade system is moot. If every choice is great, and it’s a matter of deciding the order, that’s not as bad.

In the Ghostbusters ’09 game, every upgrade was a direct improvement. Even though some were better than others, there was no one perfect choice above all else. A skilled player would get them before the end of the game, and that’s fine. Regardless of skill level, you’re going to get them all eventually.

As a designer, you need to figure out whether you have major or minor upgrades set up. Always assume the player is going to go after the major ones, and possibly get around to the minor upgrades. If you can’t get the major upgrades, then there is a problem with your progression model.

Get the progression model right and you can keep the player engaged from start to finish. And if you do your job correctly, the player will feel like a fully-upgraded bad-ass.

Stay tuned for an upcoming post, as we still need to delve deeper into quality of life upgrades.(source:Gamasutra

 


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