作者：John Gaudiosi

Sid Meier已投身游戏制作近30年。这位传奇游戏设计师继续更新策略游戏题材，其中包括《文明V》扩充包和《Gods & Kings》。Meier的E3之行主要忙于两款Firaxis Games新作，即上面提到的《文明V》扩充内容和新版《XCOM: Enemy Unknown》（游戏邦注：游戏就1993年的经典回合策略游戏重新进行构想）。

自MicroProse Software时代以来，很多人就将Meier视作“电脑游戏之父”，如今他依然每天投身于游戏制作之中，目前担任Firaxis的创意开发总监。出自他手中的热门作品有《铁路大亨》、《席德梅尔之新海盗游戏》和《Sid Meier’s Gettysburg》，日前他接受采访，谈论当前的游戏行业态势。

sid meier from industrygamers.com

相比你刚入行时，游戏行业如今有何发展？

随着我们逐步理清要如何制作出更杰出的作品，以及因社交和手机游戏的出现及各种游戏化现象，我们获得更广泛的用户，行业未来将有很大的发展空间。我一直觉得这一阶段早晚都会到来。我们起初主要着眼于硬核用户和策略游戏，但随着我们逐步知晓要如何将游戏变得更通俗，覆盖更广泛的用户，行业就开始日益发展壮大。

这一发展趋势存在的挑战在于，要让玩家持续对游戏感兴趣，还有就是维持这一发展势头。我们需要促使他们持续返回新游戏和新构思中。时间会告诉我们，这一发展趋势是个行业周期，还是个永久现象。

作为元老游戏开发者，你的优势是什么？

作为老一辈设计师，我们曾接触过包含粗糙画面的传统游戏，无疑具备年轻设计师所没有的优势，因为我们竭尽全力让玩家认同除图像外的游戏元素。一个技巧就是，你需要制造悬念。这是你的承诺，也是玩家的期许。

查看当前游戏行业，什么最让你吃惊？

最让我吃惊的是越来越杰出的技术创新，但同时，我们也一直希望行业能够持续发展，引进新内容。这是行业富有趣味及吸引我们的地方。

Civ V Gods and Kings扩充内容 from gamesindustry.biz

你觉得Kickstarter将给游戏行业带来什么影响？

这是除App store、Xbox Live Arcade、PlayStation Network及其他小规模项目推广平台之外的另一新机会。如果你能够在此顺利运作，这将是个很棒的机会。过去几个月来，平台涌现多个成功项目。如果你拥有在故事方面颇具趣味的构思，这将是个非常不错的选择。

在Firaxis工作的每一天，什么最让你兴奋？

我非常喜欢制作游戏，这非常有趣。这就像是将一块粘土变成一个杰出的手工品。每一天都是这一过程的一部分。不清楚未来方向，逐步进行摸索是个挑战。这就像是《文明》当中的“再多一个回合”现象。这就像是探究我们将添加至游戏中的下个内容，看看自己如何将作品变得更杰出。在我看来，这里的趣味性在于，不知道我们每周要添加的是什么内容，而且能够进行体验和调整，经历游戏在你面前逐步成形的持续过程。

你认为5年后，游戏行业将发展至什么阶段？

我想，我们将进入出现不同新技术的阶段，尝试不同的技术运用方式。这曾出现在光驱和网络多人游戏领域，现在这将再次在社交和手机游戏的初期阶段中出现。在未来5年，我们将会看到基于不同题材的社交游戏。行业将呈现不同类型的社交游戏，玩家将把握其中规则和界面。移动平台无疑是项尚未被我们充分利用的技术。

那么手机游戏的机会何在？

目前的手机游戏基于5分钟快速点击模式。查看智能手机的所有技术，连网、GPS和摄像头，你就会发现，其中包含各式各样尚未被我们植入游戏体验中的元素。我觉得，未来我们将深入挖掘行业的可能性空间。没人知道未来技术将发展至什么程度。iPad是个很棒的硬件设备。我们积极探索基于这一平台的游戏设计，希望能够充分发挥设备优点。

在你看来，成功游戏的关键要素是什么？

游戏设计的一个关键原则是把握头15分钟。这些介绍内容需要富有趣味、令人满意及让玩家感到兴奋。你要让玩家知道他们的选择是正确的，你要奖励他们，让他们知道后面将有精彩内容。

在《文明》游戏的初期阶段，我采用即时模式，这意味着所有内容都会即时生成：我的第一个错误就将游戏设置成即时模式。我借鉴《模拟城市》的若干元素（游戏邦注：这是款即时游戏）。这非常有启发意义。但我们发现，在即时游戏中，玩家会变成旁观者。我们的原则是，“成为王者”。当我们将《文明》变成回合游戏时，玩家变成主角，他们是事件的主宰者。

你从游戏开发中积累的经验，有哪些是多年来依然适用的？

游戏就是个心理体验。我将我的游戏建立在铁路、海盗和历史之类的元素上，我极力将游戏变得逼真。内容越基于史实，越逼真，越符合实际就越好。在早期开发生涯中，我并没有将玩家脑中所想的东西思考在内。通过把握这一简单理念——游戏体验是心理过程，你的游戏将变得更杰出。

从Facebook和移动设备领域涌现的新玩家给游戏开发带来什么影响？

我曾在某个演讲中表示，游戏应该划分不同难度等级。我其实错了。《文明V》包含9个难度等级。随着玩家的进展，他们将变得越来越杰出，而且会获得奖励。你希望他们处于普通水平之上。游戏存在一个基本分歧情况：当你因玩家在战争中胜出给予他们100个金币奖励时，他们就不会质疑奖励。如果出现糟糕情况，如果遭遇挫败，他们的反应就大不相同。他们会抱怨称游戏存在漏洞。

在未来的游戏领域中，PC将扮演什么角色？

就历史经验来看，PC将依然是个强大的游戏平台。我们将看到新一代或新二代的掌机设备陆续问世。也许未来你的手表也能够体验游戏，谁也没法预测。游戏将继续跟着技术前进。未来5年将充满趣味。（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）

The Sid Meier Advantage

By John Gaudiosi

The Civ designer talks about the advantage of being a veteran game maker and understanding gameplay as a psychological experience

Sid Meier has been making games for nearly three decades. The legendary game designer continues to evolve the strategy game genre with the Civilization V expansion pack, Gods & Kings. Meier’s E3 was busy with two new Firaxis Games titles, the aforementioned Civ V expansion and the new XCOM: Enemy Unknown, a re-imagining of the classic 1993 turn-based strategy game.

Considered by many to be the “Father of Computer Gaming” from his MicroProse Software days, Meier remains entrenched in game development every day as director of creative development at Firaxis. The man behind hits like Railroad Tycoon, Sid Meier’s Pirates! and Sid Meier’s Gettysburg took a break to talk about the current game industry in this exclusive interview.

Q: What are your thoughts on how far the game industry has grown since you entered the business?

Sid Meier: I always felt that there was a great opportunity for growth as we figured out how to make games better and we’re seeing a larger audience today than ever before with social and mobile gaming and the gamification of everything. It’s something that I actually thought would happen over time. We would start off with our core audience and strategy gaming, but as we figured out how to make games more accessible and reach a wider audience, it would grow.

The challenge with this kind of growth is to keep these new gamers interested in games and sustain this momentum. We need to keep them coming back to new games and fresh ideas. Time will tell whether this growth is one cycle in the industry or if it is something that is permanent.

Q: What are the advantages of being a veteran game developer?

Sid Meier: Having worked on older games that had crude graphics, older designers like me actually have an advantage over younger designers because we have worked hard to make people believe things despite the graphics. Part of the unholy alliance is that you need to create a suspension of disbelief. It’s your part of the bargain, and it’s the gamers’ part, too.

Q: When you look at the game industry today what surprises you?

Sid Meier: I’m constantly surprised by the technology innovation that gets better and better, but on the other hand we always expect the industry to evolve and introduce new things. That’s the part that keeps it fun and really interesting for us.

Q: What impact do you feel Kickstarter will have on the game industry?

Sid Meier: That’s certainly a new opportunity to add to the App store, Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and all those places where the more reasonably sized games can find an outlet. If you can pull it off, then that’s a great opportunity. I think we’ve certainly seen in the last couple of months some successes there. If you have something that is really compelling in terms of a story idea then that is a very interesting way to go.

Q: What keeps you excited about coming to work every day at Firaxis?

Sid Meier: I really enjoy making games, it’s just fun. It’s like taking a lumpy piece of clay and turning it into something very cool. Every day is part of that process. Not knowing exactly where we are going and figuring it out step by step is just a challenge. It’s almost like the “one more turn” phenomenon in Civilization. It’s looking to that next thing we are going to add to the game and seeing how we can just make it better. The fun for me is really not knowing from week to week what cool thing we are going to add and getting a chance to play with it and tweak it and the constant process of seeing a game grow before your eyes.

Q: Where do you see the game industry five years from now?
 
Sid Meier: I imagine we’ll have different technologies to go through a cycle where they’re brand new and you’re experimenting with a lot of different ways of using this technology. That happened with the CD-Rom, with multiplayer on the Internet, and it’s now happening in the early stages with social gaming and mobile gaming. In five years we’ll have social gaming figured out with different genres. We’ll have different kinds of social games and everyone will understand the rules and the interface. Mobile is probably a technology we haven’t gotten the most out of.

Q: So where do you see opportunities for mobile games?

Sid Meier: Mobile games now are five minute quick gaming fixes. When you look at all the technology in a smartphone, the connectivity, the GPS, the camera, there are all sorts of things that could be integrated into a gaming experience that we haven’t thought of yet. I have a feeling that we will start to explore more of what’s possible in the whole space. Who knows what the technology will be. The iPad is a beautiful piece of hardware that does really cool stuff. We’re still trying to catch up in terms of game design and how to take advantage of it.

Q: What do you think is the key to a successful game?

Sid Meier: One of the key rules of game design is the first 15 minutes. These introductory minutes have to be fun, satisfying, and exciting. You are letting players know they’re on the right track, you should reward them, and let them know cool stuff will happen later.

In early Civilization games, I made Civ real-time, which meant everything happened in real-time: My first mistake was to make it real time. I modeled some elements of the game from SimCity, which was real-time. It was inspiring. But what we found was that in real-time gaming the player becomes the observer. Our mantra is that, “it’s good to be king.” When we made Civ a turn-based game, the player became the star, they made things happen.

Q: What’ something you’ve learned about game development that has remained true over the years?

Sid Meier: Gaming is a psychological experience. I base my games on things like railroads, pirates, and history, and I try to make the games I design true and real. The more historical, the more realistic, and the more factual, the better. During the early days of my career, I hadn’t taken into account what was in the player’s head. By acknowledging that simple concept-that gameplay is a psychological experience-it can make your games better.

Q: What impact has the influx of new gamers coming to the space from Facebook and mobile devices had on game development?

Sid Meier: I once gave a talk on how games should be split into four different difficulty levels. I was wrong. Now, Civilization V has nine difficulty levels. As players move on they continually get better and receive rewards. You want to feel they are above average. There is a basic dichotomy in games in that when you reward players for winning a war and give them 100 gold pieces, the player never really questions rewards. If something bad happens, if there is a setback to the player, they react much differently. They complain the game is broken.

Q: What role will PCs play in the future of games?

Sid Meier: If history is any guide, then PC will just continue to be a strong platform for gaming. We’ll see a new generation or two of consoles. Maybe your watch might play a game, I don’t know. I think gaming will continue to go wherever technology goes. It’ll be a fun five years.（Source：gamesindustry）