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恐怖游戏仍然具有可行性 推陈出新是关键

发布时间:2012-07-25 15:52:50 Tags:,,,

作者:Josh Bycer

最近我的脑海中一直回荡着一个关于全新恐怖游戏的想法。虽然现在也许是恐怖游戏复苏绝佳时机,但是最新的《生化危机》制作人却表示恐怖游戏不再可行了。

当我仔细思考了他的陈述以及我自己的想法后,我最终意识到:恐怖游戏的基本原理已经过时,但是不断发展的技术却能推动恐怖游戏以一种全新的方式再次进军市场。

1.图像优化:早前的恐怖游戏所面临的一大问题便是受限于当时的图像引擎。如此便导致设计师不得不在设计环境时抄近路,如复制并粘帖空间设计,或反复使用相同的图像。

而对于今天的游戏引擎,我们已经没有理由再在图像上偷工减料了。良好的氛围是一款优秀的恐怖游戏的标志。《寂静岭2》中建筑物的木纹状外观和破旧风格便是一大典例。最初的《生化危机》以及重新制作的Gamecube版之间的区别便能说明图像引擎深刻影响着游戏氛围。

silent-hill-2(from gamingbolt.com)

silent-hill-2(from gamingbolt.com)

2.敌人的设计:图像能够将游戏氛围徐徐灌输到玩家心中,而优秀的敌人设计则必须能够灌输恐惧感。我玩过的恐怖游戏在敌人AI设置中都存在着一定的缺陷。也就是几乎每个敌人的运行方式都是相同的,而最复杂的调遣也只是远程攻击而已。

我希望看到敌人穷追玩家并最后抓住他们,而不只是埋伏在四周,就像《生化危机3》中复仇女神的游戏理念便有效地突出了这种游戏玩法。我早前玩过的一些恐怖游戏都很少围绕这一理念展开,反而更像一些躲躲藏藏的致命游戏,即玩家必须想办法逃离或躲避那些想要致他们于死地的生物。

3.随机选择:不管是对于我的想法还是游戏类型来说这点都非常重要。因为恐怖游戏类型来源于冒险游戏,并且主要采用线性元素。但是线性也有可能造成千篇一律的结果从而破坏了整个游戏体验。不管是基于我的想法还是游戏类型,我真正想要做的便是通过随机选择将所有内容混合在一起。换句话说也就是迫使玩家去适应每个新游戏中的情境。

4.环境互动:这是战斗和谜题解决中的另一大要点。我观察了一些早前的冒险游戏并发现其中大多数游戏都有一个堆满各种道具的房间,但却只有一两个道具能够为玩家所用。而对于我自己的恐怖游戏,我则希望玩家拾起的任何道具都能够给予他们一定的帮助。

为了让游戏环境更有互动性我们就需要保持探索和解决谜题的现实感。就像当玩家明明能够击破一扇门为何却还要去费尽力气寻找钥匙?因为这能让游戏中的战斗变得更加混乱,让玩家将需要四处抓取能够击败敌人的道具。我想要设置一个战斗之后就像被飓风袭击过的混乱房间。

5.开放世界:随着游戏技术的进步,越来越多拥有开放世界的游戏出现在我们的面前。所以为什么我们不能在恐怖游戏中设置开放世界呢?让玩家在一个巨大的环境中慌乱地寻找出路,并且同时被他人追捕这个理念很可能制作出一款有趣的恐怖游戏。

我并不认为恐怖游戏是一种已经没有生命的游戏类型。但是许多设计师却总是在制作一些大同小异的游戏,只不过是使用了当前平台的新工具而已。与此同时其它游戏类型却不断涌现出能够改变我们对原有游戏类型看法的新作,如《忍者龙剑传》,《神秘海域》等。但是恐怖游戏类型却未出现明显的发展。开发者只是在现有的游戏中添加一些新机制,从而让我们有种盲目地硬塞新内容的感觉(游戏邦注:如在《寂静岭》中添加更多战斗或在《生化危机5》中植入合作伙伴等元素)。

为了能够继续推动恐怖游戏的发展,设计师便需要抛弃那些过时的游戏机制。他们应该留意那些新出现的内容,并做出选择,然后围绕着这些新元素创造出与时俱进的恐怖游戏,从而摆脱笨拙的游戏控制方式。

游戏邦注:原文发表于2012年3月26日,所涉事件及数据以当时为准。(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

Why Survival Horror is Still Viable.

Josh Bycer

Recently I’ve had an idea buzzing around my head for a new kind of survival horror game. And with what seems like perfect timing, there was this news piece on Gamasutra where the producer behind the latest Resident Evil says that survival horror is no longer viable.

As I thought about his statement and my own idea, I came to a realization. The basic formula for survival horror is outdated, and today’s market is actually the best time to do horror thanks to a number of points involving technology.

1.Graphical Enhancements: One of the problems with older horror games was that they were limited by the graphical engine of the time. Because of this, designers had to cut corners when designing the environment such as copying and pasting room design, or reusing the same art assets.

With today’s game engines, there’s no reason not to skimp on the art side of a horror game. An excellent atmosphere is one of the hallmarks of a great horror game. A great example would be Silent Hill 2′s grainy look and decrepit style for the buildings and other world. The difference between the original Resident Evil and the Gamecube remake was almost night and day with how much the new graphics engine affected the mood.

2.Enemies With Bite: Graphics can go a long way to instill a mood in the minds of the audience, but good enemy design is needed to instill fear. Every horror game I’ve ever played has always had limited enemy AI. Every enemy operates the same exact way and the most complex maneuver is a long range attack.

I want to see enemies that hunt the player down, and not just in the immediate surroundings, essentially the concept of Nemesis in Resident Evil 3 taken to the extreme. A few of my earlier horror concepts were based on this concept alone. Almost like a deadly game of hide and seek where the player must escape or avoid a creature wanting to kill them.

3.Randomization: This is the big one both for my idea and for the genre as a whole. Because of the horror genre’s roots in the adventure genre, linearity has always been a major component. However, linearity breeds monotony which can ruin a horror game. What I want to see developed both from my idea and from the genre is a greater use of randomization to mix things up. In other words sort of like a horror rogue-like: forcing the player to adapt to the situations with each new play.

4.Environment Interaction: Another important point as it plays both into combat and puzzle solving. One of the oldest troupes of the adventure genre is having a room full of items, and only a one or two of those items can be interacted with. For my horror game, I want anything the player can pick up to be usable to some extent.

By having more interaction with the environment it will preserve a sense of realism to the exploration and puzzle solving. Why search for a key to a door, when you can just break it down Shining style? This will also help make combat chaotic, as the player scrambles around the area to find anything they can use to bring down the enemy. I want a room to look like a hurricane hit it after a fight.

5.Open World: Lastly, with advances in game technology we’ve seen open world games come into their own. So why haven’t we seen an open world horror game? The concept of exploring a huge environment with no right way, while being tracked and hunted would make for an interesting horror game.

I don’t believe that survival horror is a dead genre. But designers are trying to create the same games, using the new tools of today’s platforms. Other genres have had major games come out that changed how we viewed the genre: Ninja Gaiden, Uncharted and many more. With the Survival Horror genre there has been very little growth. Any new mechanics are tacked on to the previously established ones and feels like a square peg in a round hole. Such as adding more combat to Silent Hill, or the involvement of a co-op partner in Resident Evil 5.

For survival horror to continue to exist, designers need to stop repeating the past with outdated mechanics. There are plenty of things that go bump in the night, just pick one and run with it and by run with it means without clunky controls.(source:chronicgamedesigner)


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