本文原作者:Craig Chapple 译者ciel chen

在2017五月发行了《Battle Bay》以后，Rovio又重新启用了它的旗舰IP，并将其带向了一个全新的方向上Angry Birds Evolution

在新游戏中，你不再是把愤怒的小鸟弹射到由坏猪、猪建造的脆弱堡垒上，尽管你仍旧是在同一个场景里以回合制的形式将基本上是弹珠样子的愤怒小鸟弹出去。

小鸟们看上去也不一样了，现在看上去厉害了——因为游戏的目标之一是收集、训练和进化它们来进行战斗。

这款游戏跟Rovio和Tag Game合作发行与2016年四月的《Angry Birds Action》在某些方面有相似之处，并且和Mixi的畅销热作《怪物弹珠》也有相似之处。

angry birds evolution（from pocketgamer.biz）

《愤怒的小鸟：进化》的产品领队Miika Tams解释道，这主要是受到类似于《弹弓勇士》这样的东方RPG游戏的新兴游戏风格与设计启发而制作的。

Tams说：“总的来说，我们想要把街机游戏机制与深刻的故事情节、大量的角色和gacha的机制相结合。这样游戏中的每样事物就都有了意义和背景。

想法的萌生

2014年1月，我们今天所看到的《愤怒的小鸟：进化》的第一个想法被写成了文字；游戏概念和原型的形成实在2014年3月开始的，这意味着它已经经历了长达3年多的不同发展期。Tams说这是一段“漫长而有趣的旅程”，他对这款游戏最后能实现全球发行感到兴奋不已。
尽管这个新的Rovio工作室重心在于实时运营，但从很多方面来说，这个团队的工作才刚开始。

一个Rovio发布的新闻稿中有一个有趣的细节也说明了该公司的另外一个重点发展领域：RPG——这从《愤怒的小鸟2》、《Battle Bay》以及现在的《愤怒的小鸟：进化》中都可以看得出来。

在欧美游戏工作室的游戏开发中，RPG机制已经成为了一个常见现象，并且它还是日本、中国和韩国等东方国家游戏的主要游戏支柱。

Tam解释说：“RPG提供了非常丰富的游戏机制，它能用于故事叙述并且赋予游戏世界一种真实感。”

“这也适用于《愤怒的小鸟：宇宙》——它的RPG元素为RPG粉丝玩家提供了一个绝佳了解宇宙的机会。我们想要通过《愤怒的小鸟：进化》接触一些更年长的用户——20-40岁的男性，而使用RPG元素就是一个非常好的方式。”

设计的演进

尽管西方游戏在设计上深受西方游戏工作室的影响，然而从东方风格一下子跳到西方风格还是比较困难的。

Tams说，Rovio的一个主要目标就是让东方RPG元素尽可能地让更多西方休闲型玩家接触到。

“东方RPG类型的游戏机制在亚洲已经迭代了很长一段时间了，我们想去学习这种迭代流程并发展我们对机制的随机选择。”

“我们相信，我们在《愤怒的小鸟》这个品牌上采用新的形式，加上更多大人的幽默，大量的角色以及经过无数揣摩测试的玩法，它一定能在西方世界的亚洲风格RPG游戏中成为赢家。”

“还有这款游戏不仅仅只是游戏机制的变化，还有人物、故事、美术等等这些所有的游戏体验在支撑着这个游戏。”

吸睛的画面效果

事实上，RPG设计也影响了游戏的3D图形。

Tams说，是《愤怒的小鸟电影版》的艺术风格给了他们灵感——3D让他们有了很好的机会可以开发制作出游戏所需要的角色、新的世界以及手游现在所能提供的图像质量。

他指出：“简单地说，对于做一个RPG游戏，我们除了3D看不到别的更好的选择。”

为了达成这些期望，Rovio并不是单独靠自己开发了《愤怒的小鸟：进化》，他们还联合了位于慕尼黑的团队——Chimera Entertainment工作室。

这已经不是Chimera工作室和Rovio第一次合作了，他们还一起在2014年开发过另外一部愤怒的小鸟RPG游戏——《愤怒的小鸟：史诗》

Chimera工作室在RPG游戏开发上的经验，再加上它做过比如《Deep Silver Fishlabs Sacred Legends》的3D手游的开发，这让它成为了Rovio的理想合作对象。

“他们的3D技术是我们之所以想和他们合作的关键因素。”Tam解释道。

“总而言之，我们分享这个工作项目，并致力于给予每一个为这个游戏工作的人创作的自由。我们Rovio是拥有品牌和游戏理念的发行商，Chimera工作室是我们的合作发展伙伴。”

本文由游戏邦编译，转载请注明来源，或咨询微信zhengjintiao

Rovio has just launched its second game of the year in the form of Angry Birds Evolution.

Following up on May 2017’s Battle Bay, Rovio is back to its flagship IP and is taking it in a new direction.

You’ll no longer be catapulting the angry birds into flimsy fortresses built by bad piggies, though you’ll still be slinging your angry birds around a small arena in turn-based battle as they brawl it out almost pinball-style in the ring.

The birds also look different, tougher, with one of the game’s goal to collect, train and evolve them for battle.

It’s similar in some ways to Rovio and Tag Games’ Angry Birds Action, launched in April 2016, and to Mixi’s smash hit title Monster Strike.

As Angry Birds Evolution Product Lead Miika Tams explains, the main inspiration for this new gameplay style and the game’s design has been Eastern RPG titles such as Slingshot Braves.

“In general, we wanted to combine arcade gaming mechanics with very deep storytelling, incredible amount of characters and the gacha mechanic,” says Tams.

“As an example, everything in the game has a meaning and a backstory.”

Incubating an idea

The first idea for what would eventually become Angry Birds Evolution was written all the way back in January 2014. Concepting and prototyping on the game then began in March 2014, meaning it’s been in various stages of development for over three years.

Tams says it’s been a “long and interesting ride”, but is excited for the game to finally reach global launch.

Though in this new Rovio that focuses on live operations, in many ways the work has only just begun for the team.

RPGs provide extremely rich gaming mechanics that can be used for storytelling and make the gaming world feel aliveMIIKA TAMS

An interesting detail in Rovio’s press release for the game also states another key focus area for the company: RPG. Elements of this genre can be seen in both Angry Birds 2, Battle Bay and now in Angry Birds Evolution.

RPG mechanics are becoming a regular occurrence in games development by Western studios, and are already a stalwart in Eastern countries like Japan, China and South Korea.

“RPGs provide extremely rich gaming mechanics that can be used for storytelling and make the gaming world feel alive,” explains Tams.

“This applies also for the Angry Birds universe; RPGs provide a great opportunity to introduce the universe for the players who are fans of RPG games. With Angry Birds Evolution, we want to reach to a bit older audience, males 20 to 40 years old, and RPGs are a great way to do so.”

Evolving design

While Eastern games have heavily influenced design by Western studios, it’s still often been difficult for games to make the jump from East to West.

Tams says one of Rovio’s main goals is to make the Eastern RPG as accessible as possible for more casual Western audiences.

“Eastern RPG-type mechanics have been iterated in Asia for a long time,” he says. “We wanted to learn from that iterative process and developed our casual take of the mechanics.

“We believe the new take on the Angry Birds brand combined with more adult humour, amazing amount of characters and polished gameplay could be the winner in the Western world of the Asian-style RPG games.

Simply, for an RPG we did not see any other option but the 3D.MIIKA TAMS

“Also, it is not only about the mechanics, but how the overall gaming experience is supporting the game – characters, story, art, etc.”

Eye-catching visuals

In fact, the RPG design has also influenced the title’s striking 3D graphics.

Taking some inspiration from the art style of The Angry Birds Movie, Tams says 3D creates great opportunities to develop the game’s cast of characters, new worlds and the quality of graphics mobile games can now provide.

“Simply, for an RPG we did not see any other option but the 3D,” he states.

To support those ambitions, Rovio didn’t develop Angry Birds Evolution alone, it tapped the team at Munich-based studio Chimera Entertainment.

It’s not the first time Chimera has worked with Rovio, it developed another Angry Birds RPG released in 2014: Angry Birds Epic.

Its experience in RPG development, combined with its work on 3D mobile titles like Deep Silver Fishlabs’ Sacred Legends, made it an ideal partner for Rovio.

“Their 3D skills have been one of the key factors why we absolutely wanted to work with them,” explains Tams.

“In general, we share the work and aim to have a lot of creative freedom for everybody who is working at the game. Rovio is the publisher and owns the brand and the game idea, and Chimera is our development partner.”（source：pocketgamer.biz  ）