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寻物解谜游戏画面“杂乱”的5大原因

发布时间:2012-12-15 15:45:39 Tags:,,,

作者:Jillian Werner

不管你是不是第一次看到像垃圾场般杂乱的墓地,或者需要在上百种厨房用具中寻找自己需要的炊具,还是不小心发现房间里藏着一把电锯,你都会疑惑:为什么寻物解谜游戏会如此杂乱?以下便是5大原因:

1.所有的寻物解谜游戏都是发生在一场暴风后

hogs1_hurricane(from gamezebo)

hogs1_hurricane(from gamezebo)

图片说明:这是任何寻物解谜游戏开始前的基本场景

当然了,并不是所有寻物解谜游戏都是发生在海里。回顾过去,除了《深渊:伊甸园幽灵》,《太平洋上的梦魇》以及《古人之谜:黑水的诅咒》等以水为主题的游戏外,我们发现几乎任何寻物解谜游戏都离不开有水的场景。

不管你是擦洗船板,在壁龛中找鱼还是在闹鬼的木板路上游荡着,你都能够看到各种有水的场景。而这也意味着这里存在着海滨地带,所以会出现暴风便没有什么特别了。尽管这将破坏角色在电子游戏中的住宅的价值,但是寻物解谜游戏的主角却能够利用住宅的紧急备用状态而穿越各种残骸。

2.寻物解谜游戏是现实生活中的凶手,尝试着让我们感到忙碌,并不断提供有关自己罪行的暗示

hogs2_ripper(from gamezebo)

hogs2_ripper(from gamezebo)

图片说明:来自设计实习生的血迹涂鸦,为了混淆Starbucks的订单。

寻物解谜游戏总是倾向于让阴暗,神秘,臭名昭著的连环杀手去暗示自己的行踪以及即将犯下的罪行。结合这两点,我们可以知道寻物解谜游戏是来自开膛手杰克(游戏邦注:英国伦敦系列凶杀案的凶手绰号)的电子信件。

当然了,为了干扰侦探(也就是玩家)的搜查,这些现代的十二宫杀手(开发者)便会在游戏中添加各种不必要的垃圾,让侦探不断找到一些没有帮助的内容。如10支铅笔,6个希腊学家的骨灰盒等。但事实上这却能够帮助我找出凶手。所以你们又赢了,杀人游戏设计师。

3.寻物解谜游戏是《块魂》关卡的前体

hogs3_katamari(from gamezebo)

hogs3_katamari(from gamezebo)

图片说明:《完全隐藏》(左图)与《块魂》(右图)具有明显的联系。

几乎所有人都很熟悉《块魂》系列游戏,因为King of All Cosmos不小心破坏了宇宙里的星星,所以玩家就必须肩负起重建星空的使命。游戏情节非常明确,只存在一个问题:玩家用于重建星空的事物源自哪里?答案便是:寻物解谜游戏。

《块魂》的世界中莫名地充斥着一些随机的事物——这是不符合常理的。但是寻物解谜游戏却赋予了其存在的意义:在你收集一些散落各地的事物去创造小星球前,它们可以用于处理杀人凶手,拯救家庭成员或挫败疯狂的小丑。这就像是一种游戏再循环程序。

除此之外,《块魂》世界中还拥有海洋领域(详见第1点)。

4.寻物解谜游戏类型是由A&E Television所创造的

hogs4_hoardersae(from gamezebo)

hogs4_hoardersae(from gamezebo)

图片说明:教堂边上的小屋以5000美元的价格被拍卖掉了,但其中只包含了报纸而已。

如果你仔细看寻物解谜游戏启动屏幕的右下角,便会发现一个小小的A&E标志。也许它被藏起来了,或者被游戏开发者自己的标志所替换,但是它总是存在着。自从海军开始面向男孩征兵时,A&E对于每一款寻物解谜游戏的赞助便是最有效的市场营销策略。

如果想要推动像《囤积者》,《存储大战》以及《Barter Kings》(游戏邦注:一些关于收集垃圾的电视节目)等节目受欢迎,A&E就需要采取更有效的推广方法,而不只是突出各种垃圾。有什么方法能够帮助他们将全国的潜在观众带进充满收集品的衣柜,房子和城市中?寻物解谜游戏便是一种好方法。还有其它电视节目,如《真人秀:古董考古》和《古董巡展秀》与这类型游戏更加贴切,但不管怎么说,A&E才是真正的幕后策划者。

5.寻物解谜游戏也就是“美女与野兽”版的《Where’s Waldo》

hogs5_waldo(from gamezebo)

hogs5_waldo(from gamezebo)

图片说明:Waldo在哪里?现在他正待在《Love Story: The Beach Cottage》的红白条纹桶中。

但是对于那些从未唱过“Little Town”的人来说,我必须解释一下:这是《美女与野兽》的片头曲:因为女巫的咒语,城堡里的所有人都变成了各种各样的物体。像女仆变成了茶壶,男管家变成了大烛台,狗变成了脚凳等等。很显然,这也是寻物解谜游戏的开始。

这类型游戏是在2009年开始火起来的,而同时,像《Waldo》等冒险游戏却开始走下坡路。因为《Waldo》中的所有人都喜欢像照片似得围绕着他,甚至连Waldo自己也因为神奇的咒语变成了静物。但是好消息则是,它们对于游戏的影响继续存在着,如以布满贝壳的海边,充满食物的视频是以及装满可怕玩偶的房间。而坏消息则是,因为寻物解谜游戏越来越受欢迎,人们便会开始找寻各种方法去揭开诅咒。请一定牢记你真正面对的对象是什么,然后再轻轻点击它。

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

5 Reasons Hidden Object Games Are So Cluttered

By Jillian Werner

We’ve all wondered it at some point, whether it was the first time you saw a graveyard posing as a junkyard, after finding your hundredth kitchen utensil, or upon discovering a chainsaw in a bedroom: why are Hidden Object games so messy?  Besides the obvious response of, “That’s the whole point,” I think we deserve to know the real reason.  Which is definitely one or all of the following five.

#1 – All Hidden Object games take place immediately following a hurricane

Caption: This is the scene that occurs right before you turn on any Hidden Object game.

I know not every Hidden Object game takes place near an ocean.  But is this actually true?  In retrospect, even omitting obviously aquatic-themed games like Abyss: The Wraiths of Eden, Nightmare on the Pacific, Mystery of the Ancients: Curse of the Black Water—and really, there are a lot of those already—it’s hard to come up with a Hidden Object game that doesn’t have at least one watery scene within it.*

Whether you’re scouring a ship dock, finding fishes in an alcove, or wandering a haunted boardwalk, there’s no shortage of water in this genre.  That also means there’s no shortage of oceanfront and hurricane-blasted property.  While this might reduce the value of homes for the average video game character, Hidden Object protagonists make the most of their state-of-emergency hometowns and scouring through each others’ shattered lives.

*If you can think of one, it’s because that specific game takes place following a tornado.

#2 – Hidden Object games are a real life murderer’s attempt to keep us occupied while also giving away hints to his crimes

Caption: Scrawled in the blood of the design intern who keeps getting Starbucks orders wrong.

If there’s two things I know, it’s that Hidden Object games love to skew towards the dark, mysterious, and deadly, and notorious serial killers love to give hints to their whereabouts and upcoming crimes.  Put two-and-two together, and we come to this obvious conclusion.  Hidden Object titles are thus the digital equivalent of letters from Jack the Ripper (who we already know loves the Hidden Object limelight).

Of course, in order to slow detectives (i.e., players) down, these modern-day Zodiac killers clutter up their games with unnecessary junk and searches for items that won’t necessarily aid in solving the crime.  Ten pencils?  Six Grecian urns?  Yeah, that totally helps me figure out who shot her.  You win again, murderous game designer.

#3 – Hidden Object games are precursors to Katamari Damacy levels

Caption: Pure Hidden (left) doesn’t even try to hide its obvious connection to Katamari (right).

Almost everyone is familiar with the Katamari series of games at this point, and their purpose of rolling up everything in the world in order to create stars and repopulate the night sky which was blackened by the King of All Cosmos while he was on a hearty bender.  That plot requires no further clarification, besides one question: where does all the stuff for rolling up come from?  The answer: Hidden Object games.

It’s illogical to think there’s just a bunch of random items lying all over the Katamari world* without some reason for their existence.  Hidden Object games give them that reason and more: before you roll up the loose items to create small planets, they can be used to solve murders, save family members, or foil mad clowns.  It’s like a gaming recycling program.

*You know what else the Katamari world has a lot of?  Oceans.  See point #1.

#4 – The Hidden Object genre was created by A&E Television

Caption: The real twist?  The church shed was auctioned off for $5,000 but only contained newspapers.

If you look at the bottom right-hand corner of any Hidden Object game’s splash screen, you’ll see a small A&E logo.  Maybe it’s invisible, or maybe it’s taken on the appearance of the game’s developer’s logo, but it’s there.  A&E’s sponsorship of every Hidden Object game ever is the greatest marketing ploy to date since the navy began using boy bands for recruitment.

With series like Hoarders, Storage Wars, Barter Kings—really, just an abnormally high number of shows focused on collecting junk—as their claim to fame, A&E needed a better method of promotion than commercials featuring piles of garbage.  Enter the Hidden Object game.  What better way to subliminally acclimate a nation of potential viewers to closets, houses, and cities full of disorganized collectibles?  Other series, like American Pickers and Antiques Roadshow, may be more forthcoming with their relationship to the genre, but A&E is the true mastermind behind them all.

#5 – Hidden Object games are actually Where’s Waldo games that have been Beauty and the Beast’d

Caption:  Where’s Waldo?  He’s now the red-and-white striped drum in Love Story: The Beach Cottage.

Does this one really need any explanation?  You know what I’m talking about.

But, for anyone who didn’t grow up singing “Little Town” basically every day on the way to school: the basic premise behind Beauty and the Beast, besides all the romantic schmoopery, is that an entire castle of people was put under a witch’s spell, turning them into (animate) objects.  The housekeeper became a teapot, the butler a candelabra, the dog a footstool, etc.  Obviously this is also how Hidden Object games came about.

The genre really began to gain steam around 2009, the same year Waldo’s adventures started to decline.  The logical conclusion is that all of the people Waldo loved to surround himself with in photo after photo, and even Waldo himself, were turned into inanimate objects by a mysterious curse.  The good news is that their contribution to games lives on, in the form of beaches bathed in seashells, pantries overflowing with food, and bedrooms infiltrated by creepy dolls.  The bad news is Hidden Object games are so popular, I doubt anyone is searching for a solution to their cursed forms.  Just keep in mind who the objects really are, and click gently.(source:gamezebo)


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