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论述3类游戏进程激励机制及其平衡关系

发布时间:2012-07-05 20:49:54 Tags:,,

作者:Josh Bycer

进程是游戏设计中的重要组成要素,它的目的是让玩家保持持续体验游戏的积极性。各题材处理进程的方式各不相同。例如,在策略游戏中击败地图,或是在城建游戏中取得正面发展。进程主要有两种类型:基于玩家和基于游戏。基于玩家是指玩家在游戏中逐步提升,基于游戏是指设计师植入诱惑,促使玩家持续消费。本文中,我们将忽略基于玩家的类型,因为我想要着眼于设计师促使玩家持续体验游戏的方式。

在不同题材中,设计师可以通过不同方式促使玩家持续体验游戏,要罗列所有机制需耗费很长时间。相反,我们可以基于频率将它们分成3种类型。

短期机制:

短期机制是指经常发生的事件。通常是几秒钟到一分钟,发生非常迅速,以致玩家通常没时间处理各单独事件。在RPG游戏中获得经验和金钱或是在动作游戏中同一波“饲料”敌人作战就属于这种类型。

设置这些事件存在两种目的。首先,这对玩家来说是基本刺激因素,让玩家知晓自己有在游戏中取得一定进步。虽然各独立事件会被玩家忽略(游戏邦注:由于其发生频率),但玩家会发现,机制逐步出现稳定发展。第二个用途就是充当下个进程形式的通道:中期机制。

中期机制:

中期机制是指会在单个回合进程中发生的事件。这里的“回合”和具体游戏有关,会因题材而发生变化。例如,在动作游戏中,回合会延续到关卡结束,这是个难以达到的节点,或者持续20分钟左右。而在MMO游戏中,玩家能够在电脑前进行数小时的游戏体验,完成一个关卡链条、PvP内容或是操作突袭事件。

中期机制带给游戏世界持久影响,这取决于具体机制。例如:RPG游戏中的升级,战胜关卡,解锁新技能等。重点是和短期机制不同,玩家将记住及期待中期机制。

和短期机制一样,植入中期机制的目的是,它是最终进程类型中的组成部分:长期机制。多数玩家将自己的游戏体验和成就建立在中期目标基础上,这主要由于中期目标的解锁频率及对玩法的重要性。

长期机制:

最后是长期机制,这是出现在若干体验回合过程中的机制或目标。这些机制从某种意义上来说是中期机制的延伸,因为玩家需要通过完成多个中期机制方能实现一个长期机制。具体例子包括:在MMO游戏中晋升至最高关卡,战胜一个单人游戏,完成多部分的成就及实现一个后游戏目标。

长期机制对于完成游戏,或是作为一个供玩家实现的单独目标来说非常重要。由于长期机制是中期机制的延伸,多数玩家直到游戏结尾或完成若干中期机制后才开始思考长期机制。这里的例外情况是硬核玩家,他们能够以最优方式体验游戏,进而以最快速度完成游戏。

进程的平衡做法:

在处理进程问题时,有若干要点需要平衡(游戏邦注:有些是各类型特有的,有1个是3种类型共有的)。

就短期机制来说,虽然玩家最常经历这些内容,但你不能将整款游戏都建立在这些元素之上。原因是这种类型的机制就像糖果一样。它们味道很好,但没有人能够一直吃糖,因为他们最终会厌倦。没有任何创建内容,短期机制的交互作用将太过微不足道,无法吸引玩家的注意。

有些设计师掉入的陷阱是,试图延长短期机制的持续时间,将它们变得更有意义。例如玩家淹没在商店中的设备选择中,或是提高敌人属性,延长战斗。短期机制必须非常快速,玩家不应需要花费几分钟组织库存,或是查看商店,进而找出他们想要的东西。若设计师想要将玩家和敌人之间的战斗变得更富挑战性,给予他们新的技能,但不要将其变成和饲料敌人的10分钟战斗。

延伸短期机制持续时间的另一点内容和加载屏幕或笨拙UI有关。在需要玩家通过众多菜单或机制的RPG或策略游戏中,这些过渡应尽量快速。若切换菜单或访问机制花费超过10秒钟的时间,那么时间就会开始累加,将游戏变得冗长乏味。

中期机制存在的问题是,由于它们给游戏世界带来的影响,因此它们的数量非常有限。最后玩家会达到这样的阶段:中期机制不再适用(游戏邦注:在RPG游戏中达到最高关卡)。当出现这种情况时,玩家不仅会丧失中期机制的进程,同时还有它所附着的短期机制。

Demon's Souls from gamervision.com

Demon's Souls from gamervision.com

一个变通方案就是,让短期机制影响各种中期机制。例如,赚取以升级情况和货币进行衡量的经验值,如《Demon’s Souls》。即便玩家晋升至最高关卡,获得经验值依然对购买道具有益。

由于短期机制和中期机制所存在的关系,如果玩家无法在从短期机制中得到任何东西,那么他们就不会再积极效力于中期机制。例如,没有短期机制充当进程元素, 玩家投入1个小时体验游戏可能只有20分钟获得实际进展。因为只有中期机制能够给玩家带来进展。

相同过程同样适用于中期机制和长期机制之间的关系,但情况会更糟糕,因为相比短期和中期,二者的时间间隔更长。通过后游戏内容激励玩家所存在的一个问题是,待到出现这一内容时,短期和中期机制已经消耗殆尽。投入数小时时间以晋升至能够接触到特别困难的挑战的阶段,而这些挑战只需几分钟就攻克,在很多玩家看来并不有趣。

最后是一个适用于3类机制的原则。要将机制运用至进程中,无论是何种类型,玩家必须清楚知晓其运作形式及何时生效。换而言之:随机事件无法用作进程形式。要激励玩家,开发者需要知晓玩家是否获得能够带来有利结果的X数量金子,或是让他们跳过Y,顺利完成关卡。

随机事件由于没有预先设定,缺乏导出内容的积累或操作元素。但如果玩家知道在特定阶段,随机事件会出现,情况就截然不同。典型例子就是,在游戏的X阶段,玩家会得到随机升级,这就是《以撒的结合》中贵重物品保管是的运作模式。

The Binding of Isaac from gamasutra.com

The Binding of Isaac from gamasutra.com

在《暗黑破坏神3》中,在游戏世界中找出战利品不是进程形式,因为设计存在随机性。有些玩家非常幸运,体验5分钟后就得到他们需要的装置,而其他玩家可能体验6小时还没有找到任何升级道具。从拍卖行购买道具就是个例子,因为它包含收集金子的短期机制,还有以此购买物品的中期或者甚至是长期机制。

继续以《暗黑破坏神3》为例,我发现要激励自己持续完成终结游戏或是所谓的Inferno难度非常困难,因为围绕进程的很多机制都消失了。晋升至最高关卡后,玩家就不再需要经验值(短期机制),因为角色已解锁所有可能的升级技能(中期机制)。加工制作(中期机制)不会带来令人惊讶的成果,因为最佳设备来自于精英分子的投掷物。这低估寻找金子(短期机制)的重要性,因为最佳装置不会来自于加工制作或商店(游戏邦注:例外情况是拍卖行)。

最终结果是,只剩下一种进程方式:击败精英分子(中期,或者可能是长期机制)和boss(长期机制)。当回到之前的内容,如果玩家投入数小时体验游戏,但只得到几分钟的进程,他们将产生厌倦情绪。

这类问题存在于许多MMO游戏中,在此终结游戏只由Raid或PvP内容构成,不存在短期或中期进程。相反,玩家只需要通过长期机制让角色取得进展。

在《DC漫画英雄OL》采用免费模式后,我试验了这款游戏,发现游戏在此表现得非常糟糕。要争取进行终结突袭的资格,玩家需要每天重复相同任务,获得足够的特殊货币,让角色配备基本的终结游戏装置。这一装置可能被突袭活动中的装置赶超,而要获得他们的这些装置,玩家需要进行更多的繁琐操作。

让玩家在游戏中持续投入资金是项挑战。由于越来越多设计师转而通过DLC形式促使玩家持续体验,因此玩家需记住,游戏包含不止一种前进方式。没有人想要永久体验游戏,但如果玩家在30分后就产生厌倦情绪,那这就存在问题。(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

Motivating Mechanics in Game Design.

by Josh Bycer

Progression is an important part of a game’s design and its purpose is to keep people motivated to continue playing. Each genre handles progression differently, for example beating a map in a strategy game or achieving positive growth in a city builder. There are two categories of progression: player based and game based. Player based is the player improving at the title while game based is the designer providing hooks to keep the player invested. For this post, we’re going to ignore player based as I want to focus on the ways designers can keep someone playing.

With every genre, there are different ways that designers can keep people playing and it would be too long to list every mechanic. Instead we can break them down into three categories based on how often they occur.

Short Term Mechanics:

Short Term Mechanics are events designed to occur constantly. Usually every few seconds to a minute and happen so fast that most often the player doesn’t even have time to process each individual event. Getting experience and money in a RPG or fighting a wave of “fodder” enemies in an action game are examples of this.

There are two purposes for these events to happen. First is that they act as a basic motivator to the player and show them that they are making some progress within the game. While each individual event may go unnoticed by the player, due to the rate they occur, the player will see a steady rate of growth with the mechanic over time. The second use is that they act as gateways to the next form of progression: midterm mechanics.

Mid Term Mechanics:

Midterm mechanics are those that the player expects to happen over the course of one session. The term “session” is relative to the specific game and can be different based on the genre. For example, playing an action game, a session could be until the end of the level, a hard to reach checkpoint, or about 20 minutes. While in an MMO it could be sitting in front of the computer for several hours of normal play, finishing a quest chain, PvP content or doing a raid event.

Mid term mechanics have a sense of permanence to the world depending on what the mechanic is. For example: leveling up in a RPG, beating a level, unlocking a new power and so on. The important point is that unlike a short term mechanic, the player will remember and look forward to a midterm mechanic.

As with short term mechanics, one reason to have midterm mechanics is that it is part of the process for the final type: long term mechanics. Most gamers base their play-time and accomplishments on achieving midterm goals due to the rate that they are unlocked and their importance to the gameplay.

Long Term Mechanics:

Lastly are long term mechanics, which are mechanics or goals that will happen over the course of several play sessions. These mechanics are in a sense, an extension of mid term mechanics as the player will have to complete multiple midterm mechanics to complete a long term mechanic. Some examples are: reaching max level in a MMO, beating a single-player game, completing a multi-part achievement and achieving a post game goal.

Long term mechanics are important for completing a game, or as a personal goal for the player to achieve. Since long term mechanics are an extension of midterm mechanics, most players will not be thinking about long term mechanics until the end of the game or after completing several midterm mechanics. There is an exception for hardcore gamers who could play the game in the most optimized fashion to get through the game the fastest way possible.

The Balancing Act of Progression:

There are several important points that need to be balance when dealing with progression, some unique to each category and one for all three.

For short term mechanics even though the player will experience them the most, you can’t base the entire game off of them. The reason is that mechanics of this type are like candy. They may taste good, but no one can eat candy all the time, as they’ll eventually get tired of it. The interaction of short term mechanics is too insignificant to hold the player’s attention without having something to build to.

A pitfall some designers fall into is trying to extend the duration of short term mechanics to make them more meaningful. Such as overwhelming players with equipment choices in shops or increasing enemy attributes to prolong fights. Short term mechanics are meant to be quick, a player should not have to spend several minutes organizing an inventory or thumbing through a shop to find what they want. If the designer wants to make a fight between the player and enemy more challenging, give them new abilities but don’t make it just a ten minute fight with a fodder enemy.

Another part about extending the duration of short term mechanics has to do with loading screens or clunky UIs. Playing RPGs or strategy titles where the player has to go through multiple menus or systems, these transitions should be as quick as possible. If it takes more than ten seconds to go between menus or access systems which the player will be going through constantly, that time begins to add up and can make the game tedious to play.

With midterm mechanics, the problem with them is that because of the effect they have on the game world, there can only be a limited # of them possible. Eventually the player will reach a point where a midterm mechanic will no longer be applicable such as reaching the max level in a RPG. When that happens, not only does the player lose the progression of the midterm mechanic, but also the short term mechanic that it was attached to.

One workaround is to give short term mechanics ways to effect multiple midterm mechanics. Such as earning experience counting both towards leveling and currency, like in Demon’s Souls . Even if the player reaches max level, the act of gaining experience can still be use to purchase items.

Because of the relationship between short and midterm mechanics, if the player can no longer gain anything from a short term mechanic, they may not be motivated enough to continue playing for midterm. For instance, without a short term mechanic to act as progression, the player could play for an hour but may only spend 20 minutes actually progressing in the game. As only the midterm mechanics would be providing any progression to the player.

That same process also applies to the relationship between mid and long term mechanics, but worse as the length of time between the two is far greater compared to short to mid. One of the problems with motivating people with post game content is that by the point that it becomes available, short and midterm mechanics are already used up. Spending hours to get to the point that you may be able to complete an extra hard challenge that may only take a few minutes isn’t fun for a lot of people.

Lastly there is one rule that applies to all three groups. In order for a mechanic to be used for progression, regardless of its group, the player must know explicitly how it works and when it takes affect. In other words: randomized events cannot be used as a form of progression. In order to motivate the player they need to know that if they get X amount of gold that something good will happen, or made it past Y to beat a level.

Randomized events due to them not being set have no build up or actions leading to them. However if the player knows that at a specific point, a randomize event is set to happen that would be different. An example would be playing a game where every time at point X, the player would be given a random upgrade which is how the treasure rooms work in The Binding of Isaac.

Playing Diablo 3, the act of finding loot in the world is not a form of progression because of the randomness of the design. Someone could get lucky and get a piece of gear they need after five minutes of playing, or someone could go 6 or more hours without finding any new upgrades. The act of buying items from the auction house is an example as it has the short term mechanic of collecting gold, coupled with the mid or even long term mechanic of purchasing something off of it.

Continuing with Diablo 3, I’m finding it very hard to stay motivated to play through the end game or known as Inferno difficulty, due to how a lot of the mechanics around progression disappear. Once you reach max level, there is no need for experience (short-term) as the character has unlocked all possible skill upgrades (mid-term). Crafting (mid-term) will not yield anything amazing as the best equipment comes from elite drops. This downplays the need to find gold (short-term) as the best gear will not come from crafting or from the stores (with the exception being the auction house.)

The consequence is that there is only one form of progression left: defeating elites (mid or possibly long term) and bosses (long-term.) But going back to an earlier point, if the player is spending hours playing the game, but only making a few minutes of progress, they’re going to get tired of playing.

This kind of problem can also be seen in a lot of MMOs, where the end game just consists of Raid or PvP content with no short or midterm progression. Instead the player will just have to look forward to long term mechanics for their character to show any signs of improving.

DC Universe Online was especially bad in this regard during the time I played after it went Free-To-Play. In order to qualify for end game raids, players had to repeat missions daily to get enough special currency to fully outfit their character with basic end game gear. This gear would be outclassed by what they find in the raids which would require even more grinding to get.

Keeping someone invested through gameplay is a challenge. As more designers look to DLC to keep people going, they need to remember that there is more than one way to progress in a game. No one expects to play a game forever, but if people are getting tired after 30 minutes, then there is a problem.(Source:gamasutra


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