Playrix开发者谈角色创作和角色形象对游戏的影响

原作者：Maria Ievskaya 译者：Willow Wu

如果你想知道Playrix角色背后的策划者是谁，以及他们是如何将一个点子、概念发展成为趣味十足的游戏角色，这篇文章应该会很对你的胃口。这些可爱、古怪、个性独特而且令人难忘的角色是如何创造出来的？我们马上就会公布这个秘密配方。相信我，这么做绝对很有效果。

好吧，我们吹过头了。创造Playrix游戏角色并没有什么神秘配方。这是全体游戏策划和艺术设计师的合作成果。有时游戏故事还没定下来，我们就先有了角色，他们能够对剧情的进一步塑造起到帮助作用。有时候是故事为角色创作提供了灵感。

一般是这样，我们的“创意思维”小组（游戏策划&2D/3D艺术设计师）人员会一起讨论未来的游戏项目。来一场头脑风暴盛宴，任何想法都可以提出来，没人会反驳。故事的大体结构通常在头脑风暴之前就由首席游戏策划师准备好了。然后小组会继续讨论角色以及他们在故事中的位置：谁是主角，谁是配角等等。在前期制作甚至是正式制作阶段，有时候甚至会出现因为新剧情转折而不得不淘汰掉一些初创角色的情况。

在头脑风暴讨论结束之后，确定下来的角色就会转交给2D设计人员，进行下一步的概念设计。接着就是研究和画草图了。时间周期、真实世界的原型、风格独特性等等，设计师都要考虑到。挑选出最好的阶段性成品，然后在3D动画师的帮助下继续他们的旅程。

管家Austin

《梦幻花园》中的这位管家Austin在各个年龄层的玩家中都很受欢迎。我们在浏览不同的游戏论坛时，可以明显感受到他就是大家的讨论焦点，关于他的主题帖非常多。玩家喜欢他的笑声，愿意在游戏中等待他的下一步行动或者是听他说话。

Dmitry Denisov是负责Austin动画的3D设计师，他回忆说：“我想让他成为一个典型的管家：细心、优雅、善于言辞。”在构想阶段，我们一致认为这个游戏需要(一幢华丽的豪宅附带一个漂亮的花园)配一个管家。那么他的外形是什么样的？

news Austin（from gamezebo.com）

高个子！他的外表和举止应该要能体现他的幽默。毋庸置疑，Austin就是游戏的核心：他推动故事发展，不管你需不需要他的帮助，他都会一直守候在那。管家Austin让花园主题的隐藏找物游戏变成了一个喜剧。

你想知道设计师们是从哪里得到了灵感从而创造出Austin的优雅外表吗？答案并不陌生——披头士。

酷似Jacques Cousteau的水族馆爱好者

《梦幻水族箱H2O》是Playrix的第一个隐藏找物游戏。它是原版三消游戏《梦幻水族箱》的衍生产品，所以游戏理念还是一样的：完成关卡挑战，创造属于你的水族馆。但是核心机制变成了找物。故事在水下世界展开，玩家变成了一位海洋学家&水下世界探险家，寻找一个又一个隐藏物品。

一个关于海洋生物的游戏，我们很快就想到了闻名世界的法国科学家&探险家Jacques Cousteau，他热衷于海洋以及海洋生物的研究。所以《梦幻水族箱H2O》的故事主角就是水族馆爱好者Jennifer和她的爷爷Jack。Jack在故事中是一位著名海洋学家。他的原型就是Jacques-Yves Cousteau。他甚至有一顶Jacques-Yves Cousteau标志性的红帽子。
Jennifer之所以设定成红发并不只是为了和爷爷的帽子相搭。Playrix的艺术总监Svetlana Sablina对她的角色特征做了进一步调整。“我没有把她设定成金发，想说这样可以避免刻板印象”，Svetlana说。“我是个金发女，所以我对这些事情深有体会（人们对金发女生的有‘花瓶’这样的刻板印象，游戏邦注）。我们的角色是一个具有强烈独立精神的优等生。她克服了重重困难，成为一个赢家。我相信你很快就能从文学圈中想到几位符合这个描述的红发名人。还有就是我确实想要通过色彩元素来凸显Jen和爷爷之间的联系。”

皇家特使

Playrix第一款策略游戏《皇家特使》（Royal Envoy）中的国王并不是一直都那么光彩夺目的。所有的个性化细节都是慢慢加入的：亮紫色的头发、华丽的服装、还有略微狂妄自大的性格。我们面试了很多配音员，最终选择了一个真正理解这个角色的人。

Royal Envoy（from gamezebo.com）

总的来说，《皇家使者》中的人物都是在充满幽默和讽刺的故事中诞生的。国王决定派你（玩家）踏上拯救岛屿的光荣之旅的唯一原因是他担心制鞋厂会因为自然灾害而倒闭。

玩家在游戏中的的得力助手Cedric也有经历转变。一开始，我们想把他设计成像《魔戒》甘道夫那样，戴个老旧的尖顶帽。后来我们对这种类似巫师的风格做了修改，Cedric的样子更像是一位法官。旧帽子换成了旧假发，巫师变成了一个善意的冒牌工程师。

酷似马里奥的农场主

Playrix在2010年秋季发行的《写意农场》（Farmscapes，原定游戏名为Rustic Manor）主角是一对祖孙：老农场主Joe和她的孙子Tom。

Playrix的产品部副总裁Igor Elovikov根据自己童年的记忆定下了新游戏的主要情节。

在游戏中，因为Tom沉迷于电脑游戏，他的父母就把他送到了乡下爷爷的家中。在真实世界中，有人可以利用对游戏的热爱成就一番事业，就像是我们的副总。而Tom则被丰富多彩的大自然、夏天和各种冒险所吸引，在农场度过了他一生中最美好的时光。

Joe是一位非常典型的农民爷爷。心地善良，但是有自己的小怪癖。我们的设计师对他的装扮风格非常坚持：经典蓝色牛仔连衣裤、红色T恤和草帽，接着加上小胡子。一些想搞事请的人可能会说我们的Joe像马里奥，但这仅仅只是巧合。毕竟马里奥还只是一个水管工，而且年纪也不大。另外Joe的原型参考资料中也没有马里奥。但是不得不承认，这两个角色确实有相似之处。

本文由游戏邦编译，转载请注明来源，或咨询微信zhengjintiao

In case you ever wondered who the mastermind behind the Playrix characters is, and how these characters take shape out of ideas and concepts to the actual game, this article will be of interest to you. We are about to unveil our magical recipe of creating charming, quirky and most importantly, memorable and unique characters. Trust us, it works.

Well, okay. We’re bluffing. There really isn’t a magical recipe for creating our characters. It takes all Playrix game designers and artists to do the job. Sometimes the characters

are born before the story is set in stone, and they shape it. Sometimes it’s the story that suggests ideas for characters.

This is how it normally happens. Our “Creative Minds” unit (game designers, 2D and 3D artists) gathers together to discuss a future game. It’s a brainstorming feast: all ideas are welcomed and none are dismissed. The preliminary outline of a story is usually ready by the time of this brainstorm, prepared by the lead game designer. Then the group talks about characters and their place in the story: who will be in the spotlight, who will be supporting the main characters, etc. There were even instances when during preproduction and even production, the story received a totally new twist and some initial characters had to go away.

After the brainstorm, the agreed-upon characters are given to the 2D artists for further developing the concepts. It’s time for research and sketching. Time period, real world prototypes, stylistic peculiarities, etc — everything is taken into account by the artists. The best choices are picked up, and continue their journey when they come alive with the help of 3D animators.

Do you know Austin the Butler?

Austin the Butler from Gardenscapes proved to be very popular among players of all ages. When we were going through the user reviews on various game forums, he certainly seemed to be the leitmotif, giving people “chuckles along the way” and making them wait what he will do or say next.

Dmitry Denisov, Playrix’s 3D artist responsible for Austin’s animation, recalls: “I wanted him to be a typical butler: unobtrusive, refined, well-spoken.” On the stage of a concept,

everybody agreed that the game’s setting (a beautiful mansion and formerly stunning garden) “asks” for a butler. How would he look like?

The tall guy clicked. His appearance and manners laid out the grounds for his humor. He definitely became the centerpiece of the whole game: he moves the story forward, he’s there for you if you need him and even if you don’t. That’s how a garden-design HOG became an entertaining comedy with Austin the Butler.

Oh, do you want to know what artists used as their inspiration for crafting Austin’s chic look? See below. Do you recognize these guys? We bet you do.

Jacques Cousteau’s secret granddaughter

Fishdom H2O was Playrix’s first ever hidden object game. It’s a spin-off of the original match-3 puzzler Fishdom, so the underlying concept was the same: playing levels to be able to create the aquarium of your own design. However, the core mechanics changed to Hidden Object. The story unfolds in an underwater environment, and players turn into oceanologists and explorers of the sea world on a constant look-out of the hidden items.

Think underwater, think Jacques Cousteau. This world famous French scientist and explorer who studied the sea and all forms of life in water came to mind right away with the idea of the game about sea life, which is what all our Fishdoms are. So the main characters of the story in Fishdom H2O are the young aquarist Jennifer and her grandpa Jack. Jack is the well-known oceanographer in the story. Jack is Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Jack even wears the like of Cousteau’s signature red hat.

Now, Jennifer’s red hair weren’t necessarily to match her grandpa’s hat. It just happened. Her character was polished by Playrix’s Art Director Svetlana Sablina. “I didn’t make her blond to avoid stereotypes”, says Svetlana. “I mean, I’m a blond so I know what I’m talking about. Our character is an overachiever with strong independent spirit.

She comes out of all difficult situations as a winner. I’m pretty sure you could name a few types from the world literature who match this description and have red hair. And yes, I did want a color element to support the connection between Jen and her Cousteau-looking grandfather.”

Save Islandshire because I fear for my shoes! Will you be my Royal Envoy?

The glamorous King from Playrix’s first strategy game Royal Envoy, didn’t always look this glamorous. All the quirky details were being added gradually: the bright violet hair, the outfit, his light megalomania. Later, we auditioned tens of voice talents until we picked the one who exactly understood the character.

In general, Royal Envoy characters were born out of the story which is filled with humor and irony. The only reason why the King decided to send you, the player, on a glorious

voyage of saving Islandshire is because he is concerned about the shoe-making business going down after the natural disaster.

Cedric, the player’s right hand in the game went through his own transformations, too. At first he was meant to look like Tolkien’s Gandalf wearing an old pointy hat. Then we moved away from the wizard-inspired look and turned to the King’s court style. Cedric’s old hat became Cedric’s old wig, and a wizard became a pseudo-engineer with good intentions.

“If you tell me once again I look like Mario, I won’t sell you any veggies!”

Playrix’s next project Rustic Manor scheduled for launch in early fall 2010, features two main characters, old farmer Joe and his grandson Tom. These two are proverbial types.

Playrix’s VP of Production Igor Elovikov, nailed down the new game’s main plot basing on his own childhood memories.

In the game, Tom is send to his grandpa’s old rustic house as his parents’ desperate attempt to fight Tom’s addiction to playing computer games all the time. In real life, some people turn this into a profession, like our VP. Tom, however, gets carried away by the colorful world of nature, summer and adventures, and eventually ends up spending the best time of his life on the ranch.

Joe is a personification of a farmer grandpa. Kind-hearted but with his own eccentricities. Our artists stayed loyal to the classical jeans overall, red shirt and a straw hat. Added the mustache, too. Some evil tongues may say that our Joe resembles Mario. Well, that is nothing else but a mere coincidence. Mario was a plumber after all, and not old either. And definitely he’s not the one who was used as Joe’s prototype. But you have to admit, these guys do have something in common.（source：gamezebo.com ）