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《The Dark Meadow》开发者谈游戏设计灵感

发布时间:2011-07-26 08:49:37 Tags:,,,,

作者:Damon Brown

iPhone和iPad游戏似乎并不以其恐怖而闻名,但新近用虚幻引擎制作的《The Dark Meadow》似乎确实能够令人感到恐惧。

《The Dark Meadow》的游戏场景是座废弃的医院,其结合了《狂怒》中的FPS元素和《无尽之剑》中的混战。

在Pocket Gamer的独家采访中,Phosphor Games Studios的主机游戏资深设计师分享了设计小屏幕游戏的经验。

公司联合创始人和项目主管Chip Sineni以及工作室艺术总监Jarod Pranno接受了采访,讨论吓人的恐怖故事情节、弩控制和游戏产生的各种影响。以下是游戏邦编译的相关内容:

《The Dark Meadow》的开发花了多长时间?

我们只花了三个月的时间。这个时间安排听起来确实有些疯狂,但是我们有众多有着主机游戏开发经验的虚幻引擎专家,他们无需经过学习就能够投入工作。

与主机引擎相比,你们肯定遇到了些许限制条件。

其实并没有,因为每个工具都与主机版本的引擎差不多。美工是唯一受到限制的层面。如果你处理恰当的话,完全能把它制成主机游戏那样。

在硬件方面,我们确实遇到了一点障碍。但我们也有一定的优势,因为之前我们曾以PS2为平台开发过游戏。与之相比,我们有足够的能力来开发这款游戏。

the-dark-meadow(from iphonegameruk.co.uk)

the-dark-meadow(from iphonegameruk.co.uk)

《The Dark Meadow》以废弃医院为场景显得很狂野。你们的设计灵感来自哪里?

我们从其他iOS游戏处借鉴的内容并不多,我们创造出的时现代背景下的童话故事。剧情与电影《潘神的迷宫》很相像,尽管设计故事的Jared当初并没有看过这部电影。

游戏与《潘神的迷宫》的相似之处在于并非直接提供恐怖的体验,更像是空想出的神话故事。在游戏方面,《无尽之剑》对游戏的影响很深,因为这款游戏确实良好地利用了承载的平台。

《无尽之剑》或许可以算是种新题材游戏。它为玩家营造出一种极具成人化的体验,而且有效地利用了触屏控制。有些开发商尝试模仿主机游戏,也设置八个按键和两个虚拟的操纵杆等。这确实可以实现,但我们不想这么做。

这款游戏从本质上来说是个FPS游戏,你们可曾考虑过多人游戏?

如果我们要制作多人游戏的话,也不会在游戏发布版本中出现。我们只会在玩家有此需求时考虑制作多人游戏,因而我们正等待玩家的反馈信息。

The-Dark-Meadow(from bbs.ewtang.com)

The-Dark-Meadow(from bbs.ewtang.com)

《The Dark Meadow》中的主要武器是弩,这个机制如何发挥作用呢?

我们研究过大量远程战斗游戏,包括《毁灭战士》、《狂怒》和《Time Crisis》。这些游戏中存在一定的问题,要么手指头会挡住目标,要么你就需要滑动进行射击。但是,最好的iOS应该基于手势来射击。

当你使用弩时,你接触屏幕并用手势来将箭矢往后拉,然后朝目标射出,有点像3D版的《愤怒的小鸟》。这种感觉真得很棒!

在游戏前期你还能获得些许援助,有点像《战争机器》中的手榴弹,这样在后期就能够精确控制箭矢的落点。

其他的武器呢?

你还可以使用剑。我们的灵感来自于《水果忍者》,这款游戏确实很不错。事实上,你可以说我们参考了《愤怒的小鸟》和《水果忍者》,当然还有《无尽之剑》中的躲闪、格挡及其他角色移动。

武器组合的灵感来自于恐怖电影。你知道,电影中时常有怪物沿着长长的过道走向角色的场景。角色用枪械射杀怪物,虽然会让你到来的速度变慢,但怪物最终还是会来到角色的面前。这时我们的英雄就需要拔剑把怪物砍翻。

你们制作游戏的时间很紧。但除了时间外,最大的挑战是什么?

我们确实遇到了些许挑战。

首先是对故事意见的统一。制作大型游戏时,我们有8个月的时间来讨论和勾画故事剧情。但是在这款游戏上,我们只有将近两周的时间来决定故事。为此,我们有过多次辩论和争吵!

Jared和我有时候会意见不一,但我们都知道我们想要的是同一种效果,只是实现方向不同而已。最终,我们选择了折中做法,展现出更强大的故事。

从开发立场上看,诸如购买商品等轻型RPG元素让玩法平衡更为艰难。

或许你们会讨厌我接下来提出的这个问题,你们预期玩家能够在多长时间内打通游戏?

这便是作品与《无尽之剑》间的重大区别。我们的游戏更像《丧尸围城》,第一次通关看不到游戏的多数内容。我猜测通关时间在6个小时左右。

我们将这款游戏视为将主机游戏级别的故事转变成手机游戏产品的良机。我们想让手机游戏能有《生化奇兵》或《半条命》那样的质量。

那么可以将这款游戏视为射击游戏和平台游戏的统一体吗?

确切地说应该算是射击游戏,但添加有可供探索的元素。你可以在游戏中找到各种道具,有点像隐藏物品游戏那样。所有这些探索并非强迫玩家进行,但确实能使游戏可玩性更为丰富。

现在已将近8月,你们可曾计划过添加DLC(游戏邦注:即可下载内容)?

我们有大量的《The Dark Meadow》DLC想法。我们不得不舍弃些许内容,使其能够执行得更为恰当,所以我们后续肯定会推出某些很棒的内容。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Exclusive: Unreal-powered iOS FPS The Dark Meadow is inspired by Pan’s Labyrinth and Fruit Ninja

Damon Brown

iPhone and iPad games aren’t known for their frights, but the new Unreal Engine-powered The Dark Meadow is looking to scare your pants off.

Set in an abandoned hospital, The Dark Meadow combines the FPS potency of Rage with the melee combat of Infinity Blade.

In a Pocket Gamer exclusive, we talked with Phosphor Games Studios, a small group of console veterans taking their knowledge to the small screen.

Company co-founder and project lead Chip Sineni as well as studio art director Jarod Pranno chatted with us about the chilling horror storyline, the crossbow controls, and the game’s diverse influences.

Pocket Gamer: How long have you guys been working on The Dark Meadow?

Chip Sineni: Only three months. It’s been a crazy schedule, but we have so many Unreal Engine experts from console development that there was virtually no learning curve.

So you must have come across some limitations compared to the console engine.

Chip: Not really, as every tool is identical to the console version. The only restrictions are in the art. If you do it right, you can make it just like a console game.

Jared Pranno: We ran into a few speed bumps with the hardware, but we have advantages because we’ve worked on PlayStation 2 hardware in the past. And, compared to that, we have lots of power.

So The Dark Meadow takes place in an abandoned hospital gone wild. What was your inspiration?

Chip: We don’t think we borrowed too much from other iOS games, but what we did was create a modern fairytale. In hindsight, [the movie] Pan’s Labyrinth is pretty similar, though Jared, who also developed the story, hadn’t seen it at the time.

Jared: Pan’s Labyrinth is similar in that it wasn’t a direct horror experience, but more of a fantastical fairy tale. On the game front, Infinity Blade was a big influence since it worked out a lot of the kinks with the platform.

Chip: Infinity Blade may have created a new genre. It gave a very adult experience and also mastered the touchscreen controls. Others are trying to emulate console games with eight buttons, two virtual joysticks, and so on. You can do it, but do you want to?

It’s an FPS at heart, so can we expect any multiplayer?

Chip: If we do multiplayer, it won’t be at launch. We will do what people want us to do, so we’ll wait for feedback.

The main weapon in The Dark Meadow is a crossbow – How does the mechanic work?

Chip: We looked at a ton of ranged-combat games, from Doom and Rage to Time Crisis. The problem was that either your finger blocked the target or you had to do a slide move to shoot. However, the best iOS games are gesture-based.

When you use the crossbow, you touch the screen, gesture to pull the arrow back, and let go where you aim – kind of like Angry Birds in 3D. It feels good!

We’re not trying to accurately model a crossbow, but to make quick gestures easier. Early in the game you get a little helping scope, too, kind of like the Gears of War grenades, so you have an idea of where your arrow will land.

And other weapons?

Chip: Your other weapon is a sword. We even looked at Fruit Ninja for inspiration since it was so elegant. In fact, you can say we borrow from Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja, along with, of course, Infinity Blade for the ducking, parrying, and other moves.

Jared: The inspiration for the combo was really from horror movies. You know the scene where the monster is down the long hallway and it’s coming for the hero? He’s unloading all this ammo into the monster and it slows down a bit, but the monster still ends up reaching him. Then the hero needs to pull out an axe to finish it off.

You guys were working with a really tight schedule. Time aside, what was the biggest challenge?

Chip: We had a few.

First, it was all agreeing on the story. With bigger games, we have eight months to debate and craft a story. Here, we had, like two weeks. We were getting mad and arguing!

Jared and I didn’t see eye to eye right away, but we realised we wanted the same thing but were going at it from two different directions. We eventually met in the middle and made an even stronger storyline.

From a development standpoint, the light RPG elements like buying stuff made it more difficult to balance play. We tried to put a ton of replay in the game, and that took time.

You probably will hate this question, but about how much run-through time should we expect?

Chip: That’s actually a key difference between us and Infinity Blade. We’re actually closer to Dead Rising where you don’t see the majority of the game when you play it the first time through. I’m guessing within the six-hour range.

Jared: We see it as a real opportunity here: To have a console-level story and production on the mobile. We’re aiming to bring the quality of BioShock or Half-Life to the mobile.

So is it going to be both shooting and platforming?

Chip: Definitely shooting, but the added element will be exploring. Items can be found, kind of like a hidden object game. All of it is optional, but it adds a richness to the gameplay.

And it’s coming out in August – do you guys already have DLC planned?

Jared: We have a ton of ideas for DLC with The Dark Meadow. We had to cut a few things to execute it well, so there is definitely some cool stuff we can throw in later. (Source: Pocket Gamer)


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