原文作者：James Batchelor 译者：Megan Shieh

电子游戏产业在视觉效果、音频、美术和设计等各方面都取得了重大进展，但是在叙事领域却进展缓慢。

游戏是一种以交互为主的媒介，各大排行榜中的高位都被类似《FIFA》、《GT赛车》和《超级马里奥：奥德赛》等主要以机制为主的游戏盘踞。但是，叙事游戏的体验也可以是非常互动的。

众所周知，EA彻底解散了自家的Visceral Games工作室，因此在过去的几个月里，有些人猜测：“单人3A游戏正在走向消亡”。而另一些人则指出Telltale Games的大面积裁员预示着故事驱动的游戏已经不值得投资了。

但是Imaginati工作室的创始人、《人猿星球:最后边疆(Planet of the Apes: Last Frontier)》背后的主要开发者之一Martin Alltimes告诉我们：“3A游戏领域已经坍塌成了一套数量有限、特征相似的游戏；而独立游戏正在试图打破叙事领域的界限，同时在这个过程中重新定义‘游戏’。因此，虽然目前无法享受与3A游戏同等级别的成功，但是独立游戏对游戏领域的长期发展方向有着更大的影响。”

FlavourWorks的创始人、PlayStation独占游戏《Erica》的创意总监Jack Attridge也同意这样的观点：“在规模方面，独立工作室无疑比不上3A工作室，但是它们更灵活，并且可以提供更为专注和个性化的东西。”

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Alltimes告诉我们，《人猿星球:最后边疆》的叙事设计针对的不只是传统的游戏玩家，开发团队想要吸引伴侣、孩子、父母，甚至爷爷奶奶来一起玩。同样，Attridge的《Erica》更像是为PlayLink设计的一部互动电影，他希望能够透过这种设计来接触到范围更广的受众。（游戏邦注：“PlayLink”是索尼推出的一款专为 PS4 而设的全新互动平台，其最大特点是当中的游戏可供多人同时合作游玩，而且只需利用手机便可进行。其主要目的是：让包含非玩家在内的更多人接触到主机。）

法国Quantic Dream工作室的前创意总监Caroline Marchal上个月刚刚创立了一家名为Interior Night的游戏工作室，该工作室坐落于伦敦，旨在为那些喜欢诸如《绝命毒师》或《冰血暴》等电视剧，但却不怎么玩游戏的人开发“创新且易上手的叙事游戏”。越来越多的工作室认为“叙事元素”是为家庭电子游戏扩大受众的关键，而上面举出的例子仅仅是其中三家。

“比起游戏技巧，叙事游戏通常更关注故事情节，因此这类游戏的门槛也相对较低。”Marchal说：“从《奇异人生（Life is Strange）》到《暴雨（Heavy Rain）》，再到《到家（Gone Home）》，这些出色的（独立或非独立）游戏引领了这条道路，并且证明了：一款游戏可以吸引到不同的受众类型。”

Attridge补充道：“热爱电子游戏，但是却因为传统游戏的门槛太高所以无法与你的朋友和家人分享这份乐趣，这种感觉是很令人沮丧的。因此我们希望在不疏远现有玩家的情况下，引入新的玩家。通过这种方式为现有玩家提供新的、有意义的内容，同时也能透过易懂的设计以及能与人产生共鸣的叙事方式来接触到一大批新的玩家，我们认为这是一个双赢的战略。”

“与传统的游戏体验（追求高分、避免游戏结束）相比，故事体验以一种更为复杂的方式在情感上与观众产生共鸣，并为他们提供价值，交互性的体验使得探索这些情感的过程变得更加有趣。目前我们基本上只为选定的受众设计游戏，但是随着进一步探索，我们可以打破这个泡沫，最终围绕更为广泛的文化关联来设计游戏。”

但是Marchal警告说，接触范围更广的受众是一个“双重挑战”。

她说：“首先，你必须得到‘非玩家’的注意。我们指望每家每户的现有玩家能够为我们传递消息，但是我们也在考虑其他的传播方式。其次，一旦这些‘非玩家’知道并且决定要玩这款游戏，你必须确保他们不会因为游戏的控制系统太复杂而感到气馁。如果你可以提供优秀的故事以及既容易上手又有深度的玩法，那么你就成功了。虽然听起来很简单，但实际上很难做到。除此之外，高质量故事作品的获取‘极其困难’，要想找到合适的人才非常不容易，这也解释了游戏叙事领域进展缓慢的原因。”

Attridge说：“即使是现在，有许多备受赞誉的游戏叙事也都是采用了走过场或按照预先编排走的线性手法，但是迄今为止，能写出一个真正能说服玩家的分支或是非线性游戏故事的人少之又少。要想围绕这么一种技能来构建一款游戏无疑是存在风险的，因为成功过的人实在不多。”

于是，要想开启一个“以叙事为主”的项目就变得很困难，尤其是在3A领域。不过值得高兴的是《Erica》的创意总监说，人们对待这类游戏的态度正在逐渐改变。

他说：“三年前Flavourworks刚刚成立的时候，我们制作了一个原型并且将它在业内到处展示，试图证明我们有一个稳操胜券的想法，而我们得到的反应往往是‘你说服了我们，这是一个可行的、有前途的想法。’在那之前，人们对这一领域极其谨慎，但是现在越来越多的人相信它是可行的。”

Alltimes观察到，尽管着重叙事，玩法较为简单的游戏可以吸引范围更广的新受众，但是也有许多现有玩家正在期待优秀的游戏故事。

他说：“我的看法很简单：我很爱玩主机游戏，但是现在根本就没有时间玩3A级的大型游戏。因此，设计一个只需几个小时就能玩完的故事体验是很自然的事情。”

随着生活习惯的演变，人们能够投入主机游戏的时间也越来越少了。毫无疑问，Alltimes不是唯一一个这么想的人。

或许有人会认为，独立团队开发的小型叙事游戏跟大型工作室的史诗级作品比起来，质量肯定比较差，但是Ninja Theory工作室发行的《地狱之刃（Hellblade）》就稳稳地推翻了这一假设。

这款独立游戏的机制与大型动作冒险游戏相似，它编织了一个关于心理创伤与个人探险的故事，没有几款3A级游戏敢挑战这种体验。商业总监Dominic Matthews强调，并非所有游戏都适合3A结构。

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他说：“人们嫌弃游戏太短，但是像《风之旅人（Journey）》或《Inside》这样的游戏虽然很短却近乎完美，你不会想要把它们变成开放世界之类的大型游戏。”

“人们之所以想要制作大型游戏是因为他们一直都在互相竞争，攀比谁的地图更大，而且还必须得是长达40个小时的体验。”

Marchal补充道：“Dontnod、Telltale、Campo Santo和Fullbright，这些工作室都已经证明，你可以在没有典型3A制作水准的情况下制作出优秀的叙事游戏，而且还能非常成功。真正重要的是故事的质量，以及玩家通过玩法来体验故事的方式。3A级单人动作/冒险游戏的制作成本非常非常高，必须卖出很多份副本才能取得成功，甚至回本，因此其中的风险也很高。尽管如此，我认为它们还是会继续存在，因为在发行商和玩家眼中，他们是游戏中的名牌产品。”

Alltimes告诉我们，尽管发行商们越来越原意投资交互性的叙事游戏，但是他仍然怀疑它们是否会成为此类公司的优先选项。

他说：“当发行商将这类游戏的ROI与明显更能盈利的产品（比如PVP射击游戏或大型开放世界游戏）相比较时，就会面临挑战。这些人大多在寻找能够盈利十亿美元的游戏系列，相比之下，我们的游戏就显得有些微不足道。”

而Matthews则认为，这种情况可能会改变：“拿《教团：1886（Order 1886）》来说：叙事主导，美术效果极佳，然而游戏的长度却受到了严厉的批评。但是如果你把这款游戏放到《地狱之刃》的模型里，然后标价30美元，人们还有什么可批评的？”

“这一点很奇怪，游戏的长度等同于它的价格和价值，其他类型的产品就不是这样的，比如书籍或者电影。这一现象使得人们很难给游戏定价。我做了一些调查，发现人们大多是根据游戏的质量和长度来定价的。”

Interior Night工作室的Marchal绕回了关于电视观众的话题。电视行业正在享受又一个黄金时代，通过出色的人物角色和故事情节，每周都在吸引越来越多的观众，而游戏产业没有理由不能从中受益。

她说：“叙事游戏是一种超级动态的类型，有多家工作室在尝试不同的东西是很好的。除游戏之外的其他行业也一直都在做有趣的实验，你看像Netflix和它的互动式节目，或是电影公司尝试制作VR电影。”

“我不知道所有的这些创新和实验在几年后会产生什么结果（也许是一种全新的媒介），但是我们非常兴奋能够参与其中，并有机会做出贡献。”

本文由游戏邦编译，转载请注明来源，或咨询微信zhengjintiao

The video games industry has made significant advances in almost every aspect of development: visual quality, audio, art and design. But there is one area in which progress has been considerably slower – storytelling.

A casual glance at the charts show the majority of the top 10 best-selling games are primarily built around mechanics more than anything else – FIFA, Gran Turismo, Mario Odyssey, and so on – and perhaps this is as it should be. Games are, after all, a medium centred on interactivity rather than passive consumption, but it can also be argued there’s no reason why the narrative context of players’ actions shouldn’t be just as interactive.

There has been speculation over the past few months about the’death of the single-player adventure’ in the wake of Visceral’s shock closure, while others point to Telltale’s layoffsas signs that story-driven titles are not worth the investment.

But Martin Alltimes – founder of The Imaginati and one of the lead developers behind Planet of the Apes: Last Frontier – is confident plenty of studios are already servicing any demand these two were catering to… just not the ones you might think.

“The AAA space has collapsed into a limited set of games with very similar features – whereas indie games are pushing the boundaries of storytelling and in the process redefining what a game is,” he tellsGamesIndustry.biz. “So while they don’t currently enjoy the level of success of their AAA counterparts, they are having much more of an impact on the long-term direction of gaming.”

Jack Attridge, founder of FlavourWorks and creative director of PlayStation-exclusive Erica, agrees: “Independent studios may not be able to offer the scope and polish of a project by a team with 300 people and a five-year dev cycle, but they can be more agile, and offer something more focused and personal.”

Martin Alltimes, The Imaginati

When we last spoke to Alltimes, he told us how his narrative Planet of the Apes adventure had been designed with partners and parents in mind, rather than just the traditional gamer. Similarly, Attridge’s Erica is best described as an interactive movie for PlayLink – although this doesn’t quite encapsulate the scope of the project – that he hopes will reach a far broader audience.

Last month, ex-Quantic Dream lead Caroline Marchal opened Interior Night, a new studio in London working on “innovative and accessible narrative games” for “people who love shows like Breaking Bad or Fargo but who do not necessarily game”. These are just three of the rising number of studios that believe storytelling is the key to expanding the audience for video games in the home.

“Narrative games are generally focussed on story and less on skills, which creates a lower barrier of entry for players,” says Marchal. “Some great indie and not so indie games – from Life is Strange to Heavy Rain and Gone Home – have led the way and proven you can reach different audiences.”

Attridge adds: “We wanted to bring new people into the medium without alienating existing gamers. This, I think, is due to a mix of the maturing tastes of developers, as well as a growing appetite for stories from players. It’s heart-breaking to love an art form that you cannot share with friends and families who find the barrier to entry with traditional games too high. It seems like a win-win to offer something new and meaningful to existing gamers whilst also reaching a whole bunch of new gamers through accessible design and resonant storytelling.

“Stories are emotionally engaging and rewarding in a way that is more complex than reaching a high score or avoiding a game over, and exploring those feelings becomes far more interesting through the lens of an interactive experience. As we explore that further, we can break out of this bubble where we are only designing for a selective audience, and in the long run will be able to celebrate games within a broader cultural relevance.”

However, Marchal warns that reaching this broader audience is a “double challenge”.

“Firstly, you have to get noticed by non gamers – we count on the gamers in the household to evangelize in our favour, but we are also looking at alternative distribution methods,” she says. “And secondly, once they know about your game and want to play it, you have to make sure they won’t be discouraged by too complicated controls. If you manage to offer great story with accessible but deep gameplay, that’s a win. It sounds simple, but it’s actually really difficult to pull off.”

A further challenge, Attridge observes, is the need for high-quality writing. This craft is “incredibly difficult” which makes it hard to find the right talent for your project, and perhaps explains why storytelling has advanced so much slower than graphical capabilities, for example.

“Even now, many of the greatest examples of storytelling in games are somewhat using linear storytelling within cutscenes or scripted sequences, but writing a rewarding branching or non-linear narrative for instance is still something that is rarely cracked,” says Attridge. “So it’s risky building a game around a central skillset that hasn’t had a great history in the industry.”

This makes it difficult to get a narrative-centric project off the ground, particularly in the AAA space, but fortunately the Erica director says attitudes towards such titles are changing – hence his studio’s exclusive partnership with PlayStation.

“When we were starting Flavourworks three years ago, we built a prototype which we showed around the industry to prove that we had a winning formula, and the reaction we generally got was, ‘You convinced us. This works. There is a future for this’,” he says. “Before that there was a wariness. Now you see a growing belief in the viability of this area.”

Alltimes observes that while focusing more on narrative and less on complicated mechanics should bring in that broader audience, there is plenty of demand for more satisfying stories among established gamers.

Jack Attridge, FlavourWorks

“My take on this is very simple, but not unique: I love console games but simply don’t have the time to play massive AAA games anymore,” he says. “So it felt completely natural to design a narrative experience that I could play in just a few hours.”

As the gamers who fuelled the previous console generations with their abundant spare time and disposable income find themselves able to dedicate less to every new release, Alltimes is unquestionably not alone in his changing tastes.

There is perhaps the perception that shorter, narrative-focused games developed by smaller teams are automatically of a lesser quality than the epic blockbusters put together by the world’s biggest studios – but Ninja Theory has gone some way to disproving this with Hellblade, released earlier this year.

Mechanically similar to full-price action-adventure games, it weaves a tale of trauma and personal exploration that few AAA titles would dare to embark upon, and certainly hasn’t suffered for it. Commercial director Dominic Matthews stresses that not all games suit the AAA structure.

“Games are criticised for being short, but you look at games like Journey or Inside, they are short but for my mind close to perfection,” he says. “You wouldn’t want that game to be longer or open world or any of those things.

“There’s such a high expectation on games to be massive because they are all competing against each other to have the biggest map and it’s got to be 40 hours long.”

Marchal adds: “Dontnod, Telltale, Campo Santo and Fullbright have already proven that you can do brilliant narrative games without typical AAA production values – and be very successful. What really matters is the story and the way players experience it via the gameplay. The AAA single-player action/adventure titles are a risky business as they cost a lot and need to sell a lot to become a success. That said, I doubt they will disappear as they are prestige titles for publishers – and for players.”

While Alltimes acknowledges that publishers are increasingly willing to invest in interactive fiction, he remains skeptical that these will ever become a priority for such firms.

“The challenge comes when they compare the ROI for a game in this genre relative to something more obviously commercial like a PVP shooter or a massive open-world game,” he says. ”Most of these guys are chasing the next billion-dollar franchise, so our games aren’t big enough to move the needle.”

Matthews argues that this could change as more publishers experiment with digital price points: “Take something like The Order 1886: narrative led, artistically incredible, but quite heavily criticised for the length of the game. But if you take that game and put it into the Hellblade model and charge $30, what would the critical reception have been?

“It’s a strange thing in games, that length equates to price and value – which it doesn’t in anything else, like books for films. It makes it very difficult to work out a price point. I did some work looking at how do people decide the value of the game, and I kind of came to the conclusion that it was perceived quality and length. Particularly in the digital space, it seems like people aren’t willing to pay over a certain price point for something like a pixel art game.”

Interior Night’s Marchal circles back to her goal of appealing to the Breaking Bad and Fargo audiences. Television is enjoying a new golden age thanks to such shows drawing viewers in every week with compelling characters and their story arcs, and there’s no reason why the games industry can’t benefit from this.

“Narrative games are a super dynamic genre and having multiple studios trying different things is great,” she says. “Very interesting experiments are also happening outside of the games industry – look at Netflix with their interactive programs or film companies having a go at virtual reality.

“I don’t know what is going to come out of all these experiments and innovations in a few years – maybe a brand new medium – but we are super excited to be part of this and to have a chance to contribute.” (Source: gamesindustry.biz  )