作者：Chaz Carter

每一款电子游戏都为玩家设置了奖励。不管是一些可察觉到的功能，如经验值，或隐藏在图像游戏最后的关键信息，这都是推动着玩家继续游戏的重要元素。尽管很多人都认为游戏只需要具有“乐趣”，而不需要任何可激励玩家的元素——但是它也暗示着游戏机制中存在着奖励元素。为了更好地阐述本篇文章的主题，我想在此分析我与Wayne Marsh在极为紧张的时间框架内所创造的最新游戏《Slay With Santa》。

游戏理念

任何开发过游戏的人都清楚，在经历了几周的灵感匮乏后，总是会突然蹦出一个好点子。而当我与Wayne却非常幸运，因为当我们决定创造一款以圣诞节为主题的游戏时便立刻明确了游戏的核心理念，并围绕着这一理念创造出了最终的《Slay With Santa》。

在经历了短暂的头脑风暴后，我们也明确了一个事实，因为摆在眼前的是一个非常紧张的时间框架（再过两周就是圣诞节了），所以我们必须利用奖励游戏循环去发展游戏。也就是说，我们必须尽快在游戏玩法中添加一些特定元素去推动现有游戏玩法的发展。

因为我并不是很善于口头表达，所以让我以下图进行描述：

game loop（from tutsplus）

我们的游戏《Slay With Santa》是围绕着射击僵尸，grubfish，挥舞着双手的姜饼人，以及我最喜欢的恐怖球展开。这些是完成游戏的必要元素。我们知道自己并未拥有太多的时间去制作游戏，所以比起构思一个较长的情节或大范围的地图，我们最终选定了一个简单的双屏幕游戏领域。

为了进一步建立游戏基础，我们还需要包含一些主要的元素，尤其需要确保这些元素相互平衡。现在，我想先说说我们一开始是添加了哪些元素去巩固这一简单的双屏幕射击游戏，并让它更有吸引力。

分析

乐趣机制

因为《Slay With Santa》是一款小游戏，它就需要利用一些额外的元素去吸引玩家的注意。Wayne投入了大量时间去确保游戏的核心（即平台）足够有趣。通过不断优化游戏引擎让玩家能够从平台底端跳到最上方，而不像许多基于浏览器的平台游戏那样，会让玩家在向上跳跃时撞到头部。

Slay With Santa（from tutsplus）

因为游戏是以冬天为背景，所以我创造了一些细节效果，如角色在奔跑，跳跃和降落时会呼出寒气，或掀起雪花等等。在添加敌人之前，我们还需要确保射击效果足够吸引人。这是在添加任何障碍前确保游戏中最重要元素（射击）足够有趣的主要方法。

敌人

我们在游戏中的每个基地设置了4种类型的敌人，基于范围，速度，能力与高度。

僵尸行动较慢，但是数量却很多。

Grufish的速度虽然比僵尸块，但能力却较弱，并且在一定范围内能够发射毒药攻击。

恐怖球将在空中飞行着，当它们看到玩家时便会猛冲下来将其吃掉；但是玩家也可以通过跳到它们身上或将其压扁获得加分。

姜饼人将挥舞着手枪走进我们的视线内。他们速度很快，也非常可怕，并拥有较长的射程。

随着敌人的加入，我们的2D游戏领域便拥有了乐趣机制。同样重要的是，这些敌人的退场也非常有趣；它们看起来就像四处飞散的粒子那般生动，并发出吧嗒吧嗒的响声。

分数与关卡

消灭敌人后玩家将能获得经验值，并且他们可以始终公开自己的进程与当前所在的关卡，而屏幕上方将告诉他们接下来会出现哪种能力。我们也以礼物的形式设置了记分器，并且只有僵尸能够分发这种“礼物”，而这些分数将直接记入在排名内。

当僵尸占据了较低层面时，礼物便是我们用于控制玩家分数的方法，它将让玩家没有理由继续驻守于顶部阶段不断攻击恐怖球：这么做他们不仅不能获得分数，同时还会留着大量僵尸于底部不顾。如此玩家便能在不同关卡中移动着，并收集礼物（在它们消失前），最终达到游戏体验与分数的最佳平衡。

进一步研究

这三个核心元素让我相信“还剩一个”的心态能够鼓励玩家继续游戏。如果我们着眼于其它使用了奖励游戏循环或机制的成功游戏，便会发现这种简单性能够有效吸引玩家不断沉浸于游戏中。

《Toss The Turtle》通过悬挂着胡萝卜向玩家承诺这是他们能够触及的距离；《愤怒的小鸟》未提醒玩家他们将获得一个新角色的做法便暗示着将出现额外的破坏性；《城堡毁灭者》不只拥有可爱的故事，同时还设置了可购买的道具，以及公开的属性增强内容。

所以当你创造了一款游戏的原型，但却不知道接下来该怎么做时，你便可以使用像“货币”等变量。玩家在达成一系列目标（游戏邦注：如完成任务或消灭敌人而获得货币）后便能让角色跑得更快，或跳的更高。随后他们将进入下一轮挑战中，并继续执行相同的行动。

另一方面，让我们着眼于能够提升游戏“粘性”的非间接奖励。就拿《Thomas Was Alone》来说吧，乍看之下这是一款乏味的独立平台游戏，但当我们深入游戏时会发现它比屏幕上看到的有内涵多了。当我们仔细观察游戏的发展时，我们会发现它是逐步引进各种新角色去帮助玩家解决谜题，并呈现出一个非常有趣的故事让玩家沉浸于其中。

《时空幻境》虽然突出的是后者，但却拥有非常独特的时间控制形式能够帮助玩家解决谜题。除此之外，《超级食肉男孩》通过让玩家角色能够在死后立刻在当下位置上复活而吸引玩家不断进行尝试；玩家知道当他们完成关卡后，他们将能够看到自己的进程并获得奖励，即通过实时回放看到所谓的前进层面。

虽然这听起来很平常，但独特的吸引力能够有效区别一款让人上瘾的游戏与容易被忽视，或不能留住玩家吸引力的游戏。

总结

在游戏中添加特定元素，不管是升级还是提供独特的游戏内容或吸引人的故事，都能有效地留住玩家的注意力，并让他们愿意反复游戏；这是区分有趣且上瘾游戏与糟糕且无目的游戏的主要内容。

游戏接下来将开启哪些内容？故事将如何发展？这都是任何游戏必须带给玩家的悬念。反之，如果你不愿意采取这些建议，你就永远只能创造一些肤浅的游戏。

（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）

Slay With Santa: Designing an Addictive Minigame

By Chaz Carter

At the core of every video game lies reward for the player. Whether this is an observable feature like experience points, or a message laying dormant in an art game until the final chapter, as players we need a reason to continue playing. It’s common to argue that a game need only be “fun”, without requiring a driving motivation to continue play – but even this suggests that factors within the game mechanic itself reward the player. In order to unravel the formula of these time sinks, I shall dissect my latest game Slay With Santa, created within a very tight time frame with the brilliant Wayne Marsh.

Conception

Anyone who develops games knows that a good idea can come in an instant after weeks of absent inspiration. When Wayne and I decided we’d like to make a Christmas themed game, we were lucky enough to instantly think of the core idea of what would eventually become Slay With Santa.

What was even clearer, in our short brainstorm, was that because we’d afforded ourselves nothing short of a pressing time frame with which to complete the game in (the two weeks leading up to Christmas) the game had to orbit around a rewarding game loop which basically ‘fed itself’. In real terms, that means that certain elements of the gameplay had to complement what was already happening to propel the gameplay forward.

I’m not a huge fan of rhetoric so allow me to illustrate exactly what I’m talking about:

Our game, Slay With Santa, centres around nothing more than shooting zombies, grubfish, dual wielding gingerbread men, and my personal favourite, Horrorballs. This is essentially the complete game in a nutshell. We knew we had little time to make the game, so rather than come up with a long plot or extensive map to traverse, we settled on a simple two-screen arena.

To further establish the foundations of our game, there were some vital inclusions, not least of which was meticulous balancing. For now, let’s focus on what we included at the start of the development process to enhance a simple two-screen shooter and make it as addictive as we could.

Analysis

Fun Mechanics

It is of course vital that as Slay With Santa is essentially a minigame, it has to be compelling to play prior to the addition of bells and whistles. Wayne spent considerable time making the core of the game – platforming – fun. The engine was completely polished and allowed for situations such as jumping from underneath a platform and landing on top of it, unlike many browser based platform games that make you bump your head if you hit it from underneath.

As it was set in a winter hinterland, I animated small touches such as clouds of cold breath, gun smoke, snow effects for running, jumping and landing, bullet shells that embedded themselves in the snow and some other little details. We also made sure that the shooting felt nice and chunky, prior to adding in any enemies. This was to ensure that the most important part of the game, shooting, was fun even before we added any obstacles.

Enemies

The four types of enemies cover every base to present the player with a challenge: Range, Speed, Power and Height.

Zombies are slow and plentiful.

Grubfish are slightly faster, but are weaker and have a harmful poison puke attack that can be performed at range (sounds lovely, I know).

Horrorballs fly above you and swoop down to chew you up if you get in their eyeline; however, you can also use them to your advantage by bouncing on the top of them or squishing them against platforms for bonus points.

The gingerbread men stride about the landscape while dual wielding pistols. They’re fast, they’re scary, and they have a long range.

With the enemies added in, we had a fun mechanic working in a challenging 2D playing field. What was just as important was how fun it was to take these enemies out; they felt nice and juicy as particles flew around and splat sounds panned between the left and right audio channels.

Scoring and Levelling

Destroying enemies gains experience points for the players, who can spot their progress and current level at all times, as the top of the screen details what the next automatically unlocked ability is. We also included a score counter in the form of presents, which only zombies drop, and directly fed that into a worded ranking upon getting K.O’d to encourage another go.

As zombies occupy the lower tier only, and presents are the method for which we base the player’s score, it provides a reason for the player not to ‘camp’ at the top of the stage, and simply keep attacking the Horrorballs: doing so would leave you scoreless and with a heavily populated zombie occupation down below. This also forces players to move around the level and collect presents before they fade away, once again balancing experience farming and score harvesting at the same time.

A Broader Look

Those three core aspects make up what I believe to be a great formula for encouraging the ‘just one more go’ mentality that makes a game addictive. If we look at other successful games that use rewarding game loops or mechanics we can see the simplicity that compels players to continue.

Toss The Turtle constantly dangles a carrot which promises further reachable distances, Angry Birds doesn’t take long to remind you that you’ll soon get a new character heralding extra destructive possibilities, and Castle Crashers has not only a cute story but also purchasable items, unlockables and attribute enhancements.

So when you have a prototype of a game but aren’t sure where to go with it, one approach is to use some of the variables as “currency”. This basically means allowing the player to make their character faster, or able to jump higher, after completing a set goal such as completing missions or collecting money from the enemies they destroy. They then advance to another round where they continue doing more of the same.

On the other hand, let’s look at an indirect reward which contributes towards what the industry calls a game’s ‘stickiness’. Thomas Was Alone, at first glance an apparently bland indie platformer, reveals itself to be substantially more than what you could glean from screenshots. Look into how the game progresses, and we see the gradual introduction of new characters that can help solve puzzles, married to a charming narrative which sucks the players into its fiction.

Braid features the latter but with a unique hook in the form of time manipulation to assist in puzzle solving. And as frustrating as it is, we can use Super Meat Boy as an example of a game that pushes the player to keep trying thanks to the way it instantly resets the character’s position directly after dying; players know that once they finally complete the level, they will be able to see their progression and are rewarded with the satisfaction of being able to view said progress layered in the unique real time replays.

It sounds obvious, but a unique game hook can make the difference between an addictive game and one that gets overlooked or doesn’t retain the player’s attention as much as is possible.

In Summary

Adding certain elements to your game, from upgrades and levelling up to unique game hooks and a compelling narrative, helps to keep your players’ attention firmly focussed on repeat play; they are the difference between an addictive, fun game and a badly built, aimless one.

What might they unlock next? How will the story unfold? It’s important to keep the aforementioned proverbial ‘carrot-on-a-stick’ well and truly dangling ahead of what is already laid out in your game. Alternatively, should you not wish to take this advice, you could always make an app where you dress up a biscuit.(source:tutsplus)