作者：Caleb Bridge

自从iOS及苹果触屏设备问世以来，许多手机应用开发者都认为在主机上的控制方式并不适用于触屏设备。但捷克工作室Madfinger Games却反其道而行，瞄准那些希望随时随地体验主机游戏的用户。

不只是Madfinger抱有这种想法，Unreal Engine 3开发商Epic Games也是这方面的倡导者，并持续向主机、PC和手机应用开发者提供3D游戏引擎的授权，其子公司Chair Entertainment则已利用该引擎先行推出了iOS大作《无尽之剑》。

Madfinter最新游戏《Shadowgun》是一款第三人称动作游戏，风格类似于Epic作品《战争机器》，玩家要在游戏中扮演一名2350年的赏金猎手角色，追杀遗传学家Edgar Simon博士。但它并非基于Unreal Engine 3，而是采用Unity引擎开发的游戏。

该公司首席执行官及程序设计师Marek Rabas在最近的媒体采访中介绍了团队采用Unity引擎的原因，他们对虚拟摇杆在触屏设备上的看法，以及Madfinger希望向移动设备引进主机游戏体验的原因。

unity_shadowgun(from eurodroid.com)

为何决定使用Unity引擎，而不是你们自创的工具或者其他引擎开发《Shadowgun》？

我们之前为其他多家公司开发游戏时，曾经使用过自己的技术，所以很清楚创建合适的工具、技术，同时做到持续更新、无漏洞、不影响用户体验这些方面有多困难，所以我们就决定使用一款商业引擎。

选择Unity的原因是，我们觉得它是最适合运行于移动设备的技术，而且它支持我们面向不同平台创建同一款游戏（游戏邦注：该公司目前正投入制作这款游戏的Android版本）。

你们针对所有的iOS设备技术标准开发《Shadowgun》时遇到过什么难题？

内存是主要问题。我们得想方设法控制游戏的内存预算，更要优化图像效果和代码，以便它能流畅运行于3GS平台。

另外一个老问题就是手机的多任务处理功能。用户都喜欢在背景运行多款应用，这一点也确实给应用的内存带来了极大挑战。

虽然如此，我们的美术设计人员却并没有抱怨这些局限因素，仍然会努力解决这些问题。

许多人都认为虚拟摇杆和虚拟按钮对于iOS游戏来说是一个劣势，但Madfinger游戏却采用了这种不被看好的控制方式。你们是怎样避免这种缺陷，同时又能让手机游戏不失主机控制方式的游戏体验？

我们其实也不喜欢虚拟游戏手柄，但你真的很难在没有这种控制方式的情况下开发《Shadowgun》这类游戏。我们投入大量时间调整和润色这种控制方式，让它简单又方便操作。

是否认为触屏设备还有其他合适的控制方式，或者你们是否正在寻找其他适用于这种设备的控制方式？

我们的第一款游戏《Samurai: Way of the Warrior》就是采用手势点触控制方式，但这种方法很难向玩家解释游戏的控制机制，所以用户反馈也是喜忧掺半。我认为这款游戏的控制方式确实很棒，但因为我们的游戏很复杂，所以很难掌握它的控制方式。

我们未来的游戏会尝试同时使用两种控制方式。

你们为什么要针对iOS平台开发拥有如此高质量图像的游戏？

我们想让大家知道，手机游戏也可以呈现和大手笔的主机、PC游戏一样的高质量图像，以及碰撞、AI和寻径等强大功能。

在《Shadowgun》问世之前，人们多半只能体验拥有高质量图像，但玩法有限的游戏，或者图像质量平平，但玩法丰富的游戏，总之就是鱼和熊掌不可皆得。但《Shadowgun》兼具这两个要素，我不能保证它的玩法与主机版本丝毫无差，但它的质量确实比一般的手机射击游戏更高。

你们的Madfinger Games网站提到，公司的目标是将高质量视频游戏推向移动设备。你们为何如此重视这一点，为什么不是针对移动平台创造其他不同的游戏体验？

我们每款游戏都是自己喜欢制作的类型，但过去却无法实现这一点。我们希望把从大型游戏项目中获取的经验运用于移动平台，创造不同的游戏体验。

我并不认为要让游戏运行于触屏设备，我们就得创造不同的游戏类型。已经有许多开发者采用和我们一样的做法，而且这一点也让我们也觉得我们是在为自己制作高端游戏。

我们是在自己擅长的领域工作，我们每款游戏都会有所进步，超越前者。另外，还有许多硬核玩家喜欢在外出途中玩主机游戏，他们已经厌倦了手机上大量的休闲游戏。所以我认为，手机、掌上设备、主机这些平台迟早都会融为一体。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Madfinger Courts Core Gamers With Shadowgun For Mobiles

by Caleb Bridge

Since the debut of iOS and Apple’s touch devices, mobile developers have been feeling around for their own niche, with many assuming that what works on consoles can’t work on touch-based devices.

Czech studio Madfinger Games is betting on the opposite, hoping that there is a market for people who want a console experience in the palm of their hand.

The studio isn’t the only one banking on console-style gaming on mobiles. Unreal Engine 3 maker Epic Games continues to license its 3D game engine to console, PC and mobile developers, and that company’s subsidiary, Chair Entertainment, has already seen big iOS success with Infinity Blade.

Madfinger’s latest release, Shadowgun, is looking to appeal to those who want a console experience on the go. Shadowgun is a cover-based, third-person action game — much in the vein of Epic’s Gears of War — in which players take on the role of a bounty hunter in 2350 who’s trying to hunt down geneticist Dr. Edgar Simon. While inspired by Epic’s title, it’s not a UE3 game, rather it runs on Unity.

Madfinger Games CEO and programmer Marek Rabas talked with Gamasutra about his team’s decision to use the Unity engine, the developer’s thoughts on the virtual sticks on touch devices, and why Madfinger wants to bring console-style gaming to mobile devices.

Why did you decide to use Unity for Shadowgun instead of creating your own engine or using another engine?

We used to work with our own technology when we worked for various previous companies, so we know how difficult it can be to create proper tools, technology, keep it updated, bug free, user friendly, etc., so our first decision was to use a commercial engine.

We chose Unity because we feel it’s the best tech available on mobiles and it lets us create a game for multiple platforms [Madfinger Games is currently hard at work on an Android version].

What difficulties did you face scaling Shadowgun for the whole range of iOS devices?

Memory was the main issue. We had to figure out how to shrink it to suit a limited memory budget. We had to come with a new pipeline of how to create our assets, etc. and we especially had to optimize our graphics and code so it could run on the 3GS.

There’s also always a problem because of multitasking. People can have hundreds of apps running in the background, which can really limit the memory for your app.

Having said that, it’s been really great that our artists haven’t been whining about the limitations, but working with them.

Many people look at virtual sticks and buttons as a negative aspect of iOS games, but Madfinger has chosen to use it in its games. How do you avoid this being a problem and make sure your games have the right feel with that control scheme?

We don’t like virtual gamepads either, but it’s hard to create games like Shadowgun without them. We spent a lot of time polishing and changing controls to make them satisfactory and to keep them simple.

Do you think there is, or are you looking into different ways of controlling games that cater better to touch devices?

We did gestures in our first game, Samurai: Way of the Warrior, but we had problems explaining the control scheme to players, so feedback was mixed. I think controlling the player in that game was really cool, but it’s tough because our games are more complex.

I think that in our future games, we will try to mix the two somehow.

Why was it important for you to create a game on iOS with such high-end graphics?

We wanted to show people it’s possible to create a mobile game with high-end graphics and all the bells and whistles of a bigger-budget console or PC game with all features like collision, AI, path-finding, etc.

Before Shadowgun, you had games with high-end graphics and limited gameplay or vice versa. Now you have both. You know, I’m not saying that the gameplay in Shadowgun is exactly the same as on consoles, but it’s definitely better than the average shooter on mobile.

On the Madfinger Games website, you say that you aim to bring console quality games to mobile devices. Why do you feel this is important as opposed to creating something different for those platforms?

Each of our games has been something we thought we’d love to do, but haven’t been able to in the past. We want to create something different and something in which we can apply the experience we gathered from from bigger games.

I don’t think that just because a game is on a touch device, we have to create something special or different. There are already a lot of developers doing that and we feel we’re doing our own thing by making high-end, graphics intensive games.

We are doing what we know and every one of our games is better than the one before it. Also, there are a lot of hardcore players who want to play console games while travelling, and they are already tired with casual games. Mobile, handhelds, consoles; it will all merge sooner or later. （source:gamasutra）