作者：Alexander Freed

你的游戏中那个臭名昭著的恶棍已经出现一段时间了。他的出现是有原因的，因为你知道一旦他一出现玩家便会想去杀死他，你可以将其设置在许多地方。于此同时你也希望能够提醒玩家他的存在并向玩家展示他的幕后故事。

或许你的游戏参考了《奥德赛》需要一些有关Penelope的场景去强化这样的角色—-Penelope真的非常出色值得你为了与之团聚去对抗各种怪兽。你也想要呈现她是如何处理种种问题去激励玩家。

或者你想要呈现当玩家在外出执行任务时老朋友被谋杀的情境。再或者你想要呈现巨龙在地底下慢慢苏醒。亦或者……

对的，你是想要从玩家视角中切换出来并使用过场动画去呈现玩家角色可能不知道或不会遇到的信息或氛围。如果是换在电影中你便没有重新考虑的余地。

而我的建议是：请再三斟酌。当然这并不是说你不应该在电子游戏中使用过场动画去转变视角。这么做的优点虽然很明显（游戏邦注：因为这与传统非互动媒体一样，所以不值得我们在此做具体讨论），但在你真正这么做之前你需要考虑许多东西。

首先，你必须清楚改变视角的过场动画会降低玩家角色的主导性。你可能会因为破坏了玩家与角色之间的联系而打破了他们的沉浸感；玩家会觉得自己所看到的已经不再是角色所看到的东西了，我们也将不再分享同样的想法与视角。一般说来，紧密的玩家和角色间的联系对你的游戏是有利的，而破坏这种联系的结果很微妙，但同时也很真实，因为你将有意或者无意地暗示玩家这并非纯粹是属于他/她的故事。

其次，你需要考虑过场动画中所传达的信息是否会改变玩家扮演玩家角色的方式。如果我知道故事中的恶棍在我的角色同伴间安插了一名奸细，但是我的角色却还是什么都不知道将对方当成值得信赖的同盟，我便会觉得很无助很受挫。在电影或小说中，隐秘的叛徒总是会带给观众紧张感，观众将会开始担心角色。而在游戏中，这却只会突显我从角色中的抽离并阻挡我完全融入他/她的旅程中。

karateka(from gamasutra)

这种场景的哈哈镜版本包含了玩家角色在过场动画中对于某些场景的情感反应，就好像他/她之前看过它们似得。这能够减少玩家的挫败感，但也仍是一种抽离角色的表现—-如果你在过场动画中呈现了一个充满魅力的市长邪恶地笑着，那么我那调查者角色在第一次见到他时便会怀疑他，我便会觉得为什么自己的角色那么偏执。当然了那是因为我知道这个市长是反派，但我的角色并不知道啊！

这都是一些较极端的例子，只是我很难想到一些比较普通的版本。如果两个NPC在过场动画中神秘地交谈并传递着某种预兆，那么当我在控制玩家角色时我便不能询问他们在说些什么吧？这时候的我并不是好奇，而是受挫！另一方面，如果过场动画并未包含全新信息，如果只是关于玩家角色可能会想到的一些东西，玩家便不会如此受挫。未包含可行动信息（游戏邦注：即与玩具正在体验的情况无关的神秘暗示）的过场动画会“较安全”。

再次，如果你认为改变视角的过场动画的优点大于缺点，你便应该考虑其它潜在的缓解元素：

你是否拥有多个玩家角色并已经在他们之间进行转换？如此的话你的玩家与角色间的联系便已经很脆弱了，而视角转变也已经融入了你的游戏风格中。这或许能够避免玩家角色失去主导性的问题。

你是否能将过场动画整合到互动序列中？如果你已经背离了玩家视角，你或许可以考虑提供给玩家与角色形成情感共鸣的全新方法。

你的游戏具有喜剧性吗？过场动画是否有趣？如果是就会简单许多。

你的玩家角色是否很沉默？（或许他就是一个沉默的主角，或者他的动机非常不明确。）那么通过过场动画去传递信息也就不怎么会让人分心了。

现在你是否还是坚持使用过场动画，并且你是否在较早前便开始使用过场动画？在一款40个小时的游戏中呈现一个30小时的改变视角的过场动画非常有可能吓到玩家。而如果你是从一开始便有规律且具有预见性地只改变其中的一个视角，玩家便能够更轻松地接受。

不过关于最后一点有个例外，即引导性过场动画，这也是在玩家视角真正明确前出现的！基于这种方式，引导性过场动画便能够做到任何游戏中间阶段的过场动画所做不到的事。

你必须明确自己的叙述选择可能引出的所有结果并进行衡量。在电子游戏中改变视角不能是一个草率的决定，你必须经过深思熟虑。

（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）

On Cutscenes and Viewpoint Changes

by Alexander Freed

It’s been a while since your game’s scheming villain has actually shown up. There’s a good reason for that–you know the player will try to kill her as soon as she appears, and there’s only so many times you can place her beyond a uncrossable chasm or behind a force field. But you still want to remind the player she exists and show her behind-the-scenes plotting.

Or maybe your game adaptation of the Odyssey needs some Penelope scenes to reinforce that, yes–Penelope is pretty awesome and worth fighting monsters and gods to return to. You want to show how she’s handling her own troubles back home to inspire the player.

Or maybe you want to show Sidekick Guy getting murdered back at the base while the player is out on a mission. Or maybe you want to show the Great Dragon slowly awakening beneath the earth. Or maybe…

…well, you get the point. You want to switch away from the player’s point of view and use a cutscene to provide information or atmosphere you couldn’t otherwise get across. In a film, you wouldn’t think twice about it.

Here’s my advice: Think twice. That’s not to say you shouldn’t switch viewpoints for a cutscene in a video game. The advantages are obvious (and pretty much the same as they are in traditional, non-interactive media–thus, not worth discussing in great detail here) but there’s a lot to consider before you jump in.

First, be aware that a viewpoint-changing cutscene reduces the primacy of the Player Character. You are quite literally “breaking immersion” (a term I normally avoid, but a relevant one here) by shattering the tie between the player and the Player Character; what I see is no longer what the character sees, and we no longer share a mind and a common viewpoint. Generally speaking, a tight player-Player Character bond is to your benefit and the consequences of violating that bond are subtle but real–you’re signaling the player, intentionally or not, that this is not purely his or her story.

Second, consider whether the information delivered in the cutscene–a cutscene presumably not witnessed by the Player Character–would change how I as the player want to act as the Player Character. If I know that the story’s villain has placed a traitor among my Player Character’s companions, then I’m going to feel helpless and frustrated if the Player Character still treats his or her buddies like trusted allies. In a film or novel, the notion of a secret traitor would generate tension; it arouses concern for the characters on the part of the audience. In a game, it emphasizes my detachment from the Player Character and blocks my full emotional integration into his or her journey.

The funhouse mirror version of this scenario involves the Player Character emotionally reacting to situations shown in cutscenes as if he or she had seen them. This is less frustrating for the player, but it’s still a bizarre and distracting violation of character–if you show, say, the charismatic city mayor cackling evilly in a cutscene, then have my police investigator Player Character treat him with suspicion when they meet for the first time, I’m going to wonder why my character is so surly and paranoid. Sure, I know the mayor’s corrupt, but my character sure shouldn’t!

These are extreme examples, but less over-the-top versions aren’t hard to think up. If two NPCs are chatting enigmatically in a cutscene and delivering foreshadowing, and I can’t ask them about it when I’m in control of the Player Character? I’m not intrigued–I’m frustrated! On the other hand, if a cutscene contains no new information–if it’s essentially something that the Player Character could have imagined (“the captured prince is sad about being captured!” or “my loved one is worried about me!”)–you avoid this particular trap. A cutscene that contains no actionable information–a cryptic hint at something utterly unrelated to what the player is presently experiencing–is similarly “safer.”

Third, if you do think the advantages of a viewpoint-changing cutscene may outweigh the disadvantages, consider other potential mitigating factors:

Do you have multiple Player Characters and switch between them already? Then your player-Player Character bond is already relatively weak and viewpoint changes are already integrated into your game’s style. This might reduce the issues with Player Character primacy.

Can you make the cutscene into an interactive sequence instead? If you’re already violating point of view, you might consider going one step farther and giving the player a new way to emotionally engage with the characters.

Is your game comedic? Is the cutscene funny? Then you can get away with pretty much anything.

Is your Player Character something of a cipher anyway? (Maybe he’s a silent protagonist, or her motivations are intentionally unclear.) Then my choice to act on information only available in a cutscene (if such a choice is available) may be less distracting.

Are you consistent about your use of cutscenes, and do you establish their use early on? Unveiling a single viewpoint-breaking cutscene thirty hours into a forty-hour game is very likely to jar the player. Conversely, if you cut to only one other viewpoint on a regular, predictable basis and start from the beginning (e.g., every time Odysseus leaves an island we get a Penelope cutscene), your player is more likely to become inured to the negative effects.

The big exception to that last point is introductory cutscenes, which of course come before the player’s point of view has been firmly established! In this way, an introductory cutscene can do all sorts of things a mid-game cutscene might have trouble with.

Try to be aware of all the consequences of your narrative choices and weigh them accordingly. Changing viewpoint isn’t a casual decision in a video game, and while it can certainly be employed adeptly, well… if you’re not sure it’s worth it, you’ve got plenty of other tools available.(source:gamasutra)