开发者分享10条关于如何制作更好的游戏的建议

原作者：Chris Taylor 译者：Vivian Xue

克里斯·泰勒（Chris Taylor），经典PC游戏《横扫千军》（Total Annihilation）和《地牢围攻》（Dungeon Siege）的制作人，如今已是业界的“老手”甚至是“传奇”。同时，今年也是他从事游戏设计工作的第三十个年头，这似乎令人惊讶，因为他看起来如此年轻。(我在工作上同他打交道已有18年了，这个男人一点也没变老。)

在为“大男孩们”制作游戏多年后，克里斯辞去了上一份工作——Wargaming公司总经理一职，成立了自己的独立工作室并追求他的陶艺爱好。在今日西雅图举办的“Casual Connect”全球游戏开发者大会上，他分享了关于如何制作更好的游戏（或者更好地生活）的10条经验，这些是他在三十年来的游戏开发经历中学到的。

1. 动用你的情感

克里斯说他希望自己刚开始做游戏时，能够更好地理解游戏对情感的影响力。开发者倾向于关注游戏的技术方面——图像、音频，等等——而不考虑游戏带给玩家的感觉。目前他正在为制作过的每一款游戏创建一个游戏体验记录，据此来设计玩家的情感历程。

2. 给玩家惊喜

克里斯将惊喜形容为娱乐的“基石”，他说惊喜是让玩家保持兴趣的关键因素。不要给玩家他们期待的东西（这很无聊），用意想不到的事情来取悦他们。

Hearthstone（from gamasutra.com）

3. 永远不要惩罚玩家，而是奖励他们

过去，游戏往往会因玩家表现不佳而惩罚他们 (想想当你在游戏里挂了太多次后看到 “游戏结束”字眼时的感觉！这很难受，对吧？)克里斯建议，比起惩罚，一个更好的方案是，在玩家表现得比上一次更好的时候奖励他们。

4. 与优秀的人共事

这一点也许很直观，但克里斯进一步说道，他更愿意和一个正直、有激情的人共事，而不是一个更拼命加班工作的人。克里斯指出这些年来他和不少混蛋一起工作过，他不建议人们为了短期利益同“有毒人格”打交道，让自己陷入内耗和挫败感中。

5. 避免摩擦

克里斯说，游戏界最重大的发现之一是障碍(也称摩擦)会阻止玩家进入游戏。举个例子，你注册在线游戏时收到过多少次“用户名已存在”的提示？仿佛这个游戏不想让你玩一样！玩家要跨越的障碍越多，他们就越不可能开始玩你的游戏。

6. 使用数据驱动引擎

简而言之，给人们他们想要的。举个例子，克里斯说数据驱动游戏引擎可以帮你建立起繁荣的MOD社区（MOD，也称游戏模组，是游戏的一种修改或增强程序），这将延长游戏的生命周期。他指出《横扫千军》发行将近20年了，玩家仍在为它创建MOD。

7. 鼓励玩家坚持

由于玩家的投入随着时间增长，为了让他们继续游戏，游戏必须提供必要的激励。因此，玩家在完成某场比赛、某个关卡、某场战役或某个剧情时所做的每一件事都应该得到奖励或成就。克里斯认为，如果他刚开始做游戏时能更好地明白这个道理，那么他的早期游戏能多卖三成。

8. 机会总是留给胆大的人

你的游戏设计是大胆的还是求稳？打安全牌的设计无法充分发挥游戏的潜力，也就意味着无法向玩家提供最佳的游戏。

9. 不要做梦，要有目标

你梦想过自己变得富有或者成功吗？克里斯说如果你还在做梦，而不是把它变成一个目标，那么你就已经失败了。强迫自己朝着一个目标努力，而不是被动地期盼结果，对于游戏开发者和非开发者来说都是一条宝贵的人生经验。

10. 不要忽视你的健康和家庭

克里斯对游戏开发者的最后一点建议是，如果你健康快乐，你的游戏最终也会更好。如果健康和心情变糟，你的创造力和产出质量无疑会受到影响。保持健康花不了你很多时间——克里斯说他每天只花一分钟锻炼身体。(不过我是不信。那家伙可壮了！)

本文由游戏邦编译，转载请注明来源，或咨询微信zhengjintiao

Chris Taylor, the man behind such PC classics as Total Annihilation and Dungeon Siege, has reached that stage in his career where he’s often referred to as “veteran” or even “legend.” With good reason, too — he’s celebrating 30 years of designing games, which seems surprising given how youthful he looks. (I’ve known him professionally for about 18 years and the man has not aged.)

After a long career making games for the “big boys,” Chris left his last gig as General Manager at Wargaming to start his own indie game studio and pursue his love of pottery. At today’s Casual Connect game conference in Seattle, he shared 10 tips for better games (and maybe a better life) that he’s learned over three decades of game development.

Use emotion

Chris says he wished he understood the emotional potential of games better when he was first starting out. Developers tend to get caught up on the technical aspects of a game — graphics, audio, etc. — without thinking about how a game makes a player feel. He now creates a Game Experience Document for every game he makes to plan the player’s emotional journey.

Surprise!

Describing it as the bedrock of entertainment, Chris says that surprise is a key element to keeping a player’s interest. Don’t give a player what they’re expecting (that’s boring), delight them with the unexpected.

Never punish, always reward

Historically, games tend to punish players for poor performance. (Think about how you feel when you get a “Game Over!” message after dying too many times. It’s a downer, right?) Chris suggests that, instead of punishment, a better solution is to reward the player when they do something “more right.”

Work with great people

This may sound intuitive, but Chris takes it a step further — he says he would rather work with someone who has integrity and passion over someone who works harder or later. Noting that he’s worked with a lot of jerks over the years, Chris advises that the personal drain and frustration from working with toxic personalities isn’t worth any short-term benefit.

Avoid Friction

Chris says that one of the most important discoveries in the world of gaming is that obstacles (aka friction) can keep players from getting into a game. For example, how many times have you tried signing up for an online game only to get a message that your chosen username is already taken? It’s almost like the game doesn’t want you to play it! The more hurdles and hoops you have to jump through, the less likely you’re going to start playing.

Be data driven

In short, give people what they want. As an example, Chris says that data-driven game engines allow you to build thriving mod communities that keep a game alive long after its launch date. He notes that it’s been almost 20 years since the release of Total Annihilation and players are still creating mods for it.

Encourage persistence

Persistence keeps players playing because their investment grows over time. Therefore, everything a player does should earn rewards or achievements to feed their persistence in finishing a match, level, campaign, or story. Chris believes that his early games might’ve been 30 percent more successful if he had understood this concept better when starting out.

Fortune favors boldness

Are you being bold with your game design or are you being safe? Developers who play it safe aren’t reaching their full potential and, therefore, aren’t delivering the best game possible to players.

Don’t dream, have goals

Do you dream that you were rich or successful? Chris opines that if you haven’t flipped the script and made that dream a goal, then you’ve already failed. Forcing yourself to work towards a goal, and not just passively wish for an outcome, is a valuable life lesson for game developers and non-developers alike.

Don’t neglect your health and family

Chris’s final bit of advice to game developers is that your games will ultimately be better if you’re healthy and happy. Screw this up and your creativity and quality of output will undoubtedly suffer. You don’t even have to dedicate a lot of time to keeping yourself fit — Chris says he does one minute of physical exercise a day. (I don’t believe it, though. The guy is jacked!) （source：TechieGamers）