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探讨社交游戏可借鉴的结局设计及其重要性

发布时间:2011-08-29 14:34:50 Tags:,,

作者:jeremyliew

Bioware的Damion Schubert曾在AGDC上讲述了MMO中的游戏结局设计。主要内容概括如下:

游戏结局玩法是题材平衡中引人入胜的部分。事实上,依Damion的观点,复杂的老式玩法会增强大型题材游戏的核心内容。

Schubert表示,事实上MMO通常玩起来都很容易。MMO和单人游戏的学习曲线毫无可比性。这是因为每个阶层和每次构件都以升级为基础。结果,体验就会变得相当平淡。真正的挑战,也就是“有价值的体验”是游戏最后阶段的遭遇。

虽然最后阶段可能看起来很怪或者是个毫无意义的东西,但却对每个玩家都非常重要。甚至连低等级的玩家都会关注那些强大的公会和团队活动进度。Damion提及Kael(游戏邦注:游戏中的BOSS)被杀时的截屏以及由此引发的探索。这对充满生气的社群是至关重要的。

老式游戏玩法中最重要的是,它在大型游戏玩法中占很大比重。大型游戏玩法是这个题材的游戏必须为玩家提供的东西。

IGN报道称Schubert认为游戏最后阶段有两种形式,即PVP和PVE,以下是游戏邦编译的相关内容:

要让玩家能在有时显得枯燥无味的升级过程中投入精力,Schubert认为有必要展示高等级玩家在做的事情。在游戏中,有些最终阶段是玩家对玩家的领地控制战斗。比如,优秀的游戏会让玩家看到领地控制图。比如,在《World War II Online》的站点上,主页面清晰地显示双方的争夺线以及轴心国和同盟国何方正在推进。实际上,这是种宣传多数新玩家可能不一定了解的动态高等级行为。

WWII Online Guide(from ogm.wwiionline.com)

WWII Online Guide(from ogm.wwiionline.com)

他继续具体说明领域控制PVP和PVE团队活动的优势和弊端。对领域控制而言,你需要某些基本要素。你需要组建队伍,无论是通过预设的方式(游戏邦注:如《魔兽世界》和《Warhammer Online》)或者有更高自由度的组队。你还需要在游戏世界中设定可供玩家战斗的地点。一旦地点设立之后,你需要考虑的是战斗的其他层面,比如玩家在死亡后需要跑多远距离才能重新加入战斗以及战斗持续多长时间。Schubert表示,必须用某些方法来规定战斗的时间计划,但你应该也要有方法来定义战斗的结束时间。无论PVP冲突采用何种结构,Schubert认为需要在早期慢慢向玩家灌输这个内容,比如使用领地地图这种方式,让玩家明白游戏世界中最强大的东西是什么。

团队遭遇是最后阶段内容的另一种重要形式,其围绕的中心想法是玩家需要组成队伍才能够解决某个问题。团队遭遇的中心是BOSS战斗。战利品自然就成为了这种形式的驱动力,但是Schubert表示解决BOSS攻击样式谜题也是个驱动力。BOSS可能会有许多不同的攻击方式,包括可预测的攻击、自由随机攻击和召唤宠物等。这些动作类型以许多不同的方式吸引着玩家。它需要参与团队活动的成员必须协调好自己的位置和战斗区域中的移动、控制他们的血量,而且由此还需要除坦克、治疗者和伤害输出者标准组合外的其他类型的玩家参加战斗。

Gamasutra对PVP游戏最后阶段这个形式有些具体的报道,以下是游戏邦编译的相关内容:

Schubert警告称:“如果你的最后阶段是PVP,你就需要思考如何将PVP内容介绍给低等级的角色。如果玩家在此过程中发现他们不喜欢PVP,他们就会认为这个最后阶段并不适合他们。”这表明你应该给予低等级玩家更多的保护,这样他们就会有更积极的PVP体验。

“玩家不会付钱来买挫败感。”这是他在制作《魔剑》时总结的经验。“胜者拥有大量的资源,城市就能够繁荣发展,而败者什么都没有。那么最终,败者就会永远离开游戏,而胜者最终也就失去了战斗对象。”

Schubert说道:“我们游戏中有个服务器的某个公会特别强大,他们严禁某种玩家类型的存在,这样就有了可以攻伐的目标。”有些玩家早上醒来登录游戏后发现,他们处在被通缉的列表中。

他表示,解决方案是让玩家可以点击某个按键,在游戏中显示某个群体的玩家已经获得胜利,这样他们就可以再次开始了。

Facebook和网络上的许多社交游戏完全没有设计最后阶段。无论玩家玩的时间多长,游戏的可玩性并没有发生改变。这便会让游戏长期留存率面临挑战。即便是免费游戏,给你带来最多盈利的也是那些核心用户。所以,你需要创造出某种可以长期盈利的挑战。

对基于网络的游戏而言,好处在于不用刚开始就开发最后阶段。你可以等待至拥有足够数量的最后阶段玩家之后再开始开发最后阶段内容。而且,由于游戏在网页上运行,所以你可以随时改变最后阶段,而不必担心客户端的更新问题。

Fluff Friends(from blog.triggerlappy.com)

Fluff Friends(from blog.triggerlappy.com)

通常,最后阶段玩法会自然从用户中萌生出来。比如,《Fluff Friends》的最后阶段玩法是更加关注制造精心制作的艺术品。《Friends For Sale》最后阶段玩法是收集一整套的好友和诸如成就之类的其他探索,通常挑战是由玩家自行设定的。这些社交游戏的最后阶段既不是PVP也不是PVE,而是深化的社交性。

尽管让游戏自行萌生最后阶段这种想法很棒,但是社交游戏设计师可以预先投入精力开发最后阶段,这样可以提高玩家的参与度,并且让新玩家有某些可以期盼的东西。

游戏邦注:本文发稿于2008年9月22日,所涉时间、事件和数据均以此为准。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Social games need endgames

by jeremyliew

At AGDC last week Bioware’s Damion Schubert spoke about end-game design in MMOs. Massively notes:

Endgame gameplay, elder gameplay, is a mandatory and compelling part of the genre’s equation. In fact, in Damion’s opinion complex elder gameplay exemplifies what makes the massive genre what it is…

In reality, says Schubert, MMOs are generally really easy to play. Comparing the learning curve of an MMO to a single-player game is ludicrous; MMOs are like ‘popping bubble-wrap’ in comparison. This is because of the challenge of tuning leveling to every class and every build. The result is an experience that’s fairly mundane. The real challenge, the ‘worthy experience’ is the endgame encounter.

While endgame may seem like a strange or meaningless thing, it’s actually really important for every player. Even low level players are aware of powerful guilds and raid progression. Damion references the cutscene that happens when Kael is killed and a quest is turned in; this feels, truly, as though the world is advancing and changing. That’s vital for a vibrant community.

The most thing about elder gameplay is that is one of the few things that is actually massive. Massive gameplay is the one thing that this genre of games has to offer.

IGN reports that Schubert considers there to be two forms of endgame, PvP and PvE:

In order to pull players through the sometimes dull leveling process, Schubert says it’s necessary to give an indication of what’s going on at higher levels. In games where the endgame revolves around player versus player territorial control combat, for instance, a good game will let players view a territorial control map. On World War II Online’s site, for instance, the main page prominently displays the line of contest between the two sides and which side, the Axis or the Allies, are pushing forward. It’s, in effect, an advertisement for the dynamic, high level activity that most new players might not necessarily be aware of.

He went on to talk specifically about the advantages and drawbacks of territorial control PvP and PvE raiding. For territorial control, you need a few basics. You need affiliated teams, either pre-set (World of Warcraft, Warhammer Online) or more freeform. You also need a physical location within the game world that players can fight over. Once that’s established, you need to consider the logistics of battle, like far do players need to run to rejoin the battle after death and how long the battles will last. Schubert says that having some way to actually schedule fights is a solid notion, but you should also have a way to specify when that fight will end. Whatever the structure of the PvP conflict, Schubert says it’s a concept that needs to be slowly introduced to players early on, like with the territorial map, to give a player an idea of what the strongest in the game world are up to…

[PvE] Raid encounters are another major form of endgame content, and center around the idea of players working as a team to essentially solve a puzzle. Raid encounters center on boss fights. The draw, naturally, is the loot, but Schubert says there’s also the draw of solving the puzzle of the boss’ attack patterns. Bosses can have a number of different attack routines, from predictable patterns to randomized attacks to the summoning of minions. These types of actions work to engage players in a number of ways. It requires those in the raid to coordinate their positions and movement on the field of battle, manage their health, and also generates different sub-types of player classes outside of the standard tank, healer, and damage dealers.

Gamasutra notes some specific observations about PvP endgames:

“If your endgame is PVP, you need to think about how PVP is introduced to characters at the low levels,” Schubert cautions. “If players decide along the way to the endgame that they don’t like your PVP, they will decide the endgame is not for them.” Argues that you should protect players more at the lower level, so they have a positive PVP experience.

“People don’t pay money to suck. People do not want to pay $15 a month to be the Washington Generals.” This is something he learned when making Shadowbane – “the winners now had lots of resources and the city could thrive, and the losers had nothing. So what happened is eventually the losers stopped logging on, and the winners eventually had nothing to fight.”

“We had one server where one guild was so in control, that they banned a player class so they’d have somebody to fight,” said Schubert. Players woke up in the morning and found that they were “wanted.”

The solution, he says, is to be able to hit a button, in the game (so to speak) to indicate that one group of players have won, and that they can begin again.

Many of the social games on Facebook and on the web today don’t have any endgame at all. The gameplay more or less stays the same no matter how long you play Texas Hold’em, Owned, Lil Green Patch or Bowling Buddies, to name just a few. This is going to create a challenge for long term retention. Even for free to play games, it is your hard core users who pay you the most money. So it will also create a challenge for long term monetization.

The good news for web based games is that there is no need to develop an endgame at launch. You can afford to wait until you have a critical mass of users before developing an endgame as there is no need to solve this problem until you have “elder players”. And since you are a web based game, you can switch on an endgame at any time without having to worry about updating a client.

Often times, endgame play will emerge organically from the users. For example, Fluff Friends endgame play has become more focused on creating elaborate fluff art. Friends For Sale endgame play has become about collecting “sets” of people and other quest like achievements, often challenges set up the players themselves. These social games have developed endgames that are neither PvP nor PvE, but are instead more social in nature.

While it is great when endgame emerges on its own, social game designers can be more proactive in developing endgames to keep their best players engaged, and give their new players something to aspire to. (Source: Lightspeed Venture Partners


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