作者：Ben Serviss

我曾经注意到，人们越来越不愿意使用猜测能力。特别在最近的一些游戏中也是如此。现在的大多数游戏都充斥着过多的教程，弹出窗口以及“按压X去执行某一行动”的要求。

如果你玩过许多现代主机游戏，你便很难想到猜测其实是一款有趣游戏的核心元素。就像《Twenty Questions》便完全是关于猜测的游戏。“纵横文字游戏”是由各种相互联系的猜测所组成，并推动着你去猜出更多答案。但是近几年所出现的游戏却大大忽视了发现的乐趣。

不过幸好我们还有《Starseed Pilgrim》。

starseed-pilgrim（from gamasutra）

这是一款专注于玩家发现理念的游戏，即它将让玩家待在困境中长达好几个小时，并且不提供任何暗示或做出任何解释。《Starseed Pilgrim》因为较迟的说明以及不受弹出窗口和解释的阻碍备受赞许。我们并不能谈论有关该游戏的细节，因为这么做会破坏游戏体验所具有的发现感。

我在网上购买了这款游戏并开始进行体验。但是在15分钟后我却变得无所适从了。我好像一直在反复玩着同一个关卡，并且除了时不时出现的模糊陈述外，游戏中并不存在任何指示能告诉我该怎么做。

sseed-apart（from gamasutra）

核心游戏机制是关于在太空中一个方形“星球”上种植不同颜色的种子，这些种子将会发芽并长成不同的“植物”，并以不同方式表现出来。而对于每个种子会如何成长的期待便是游戏玩法的重要组成部分。

但是这其实很无聊。当我继续尝试时，我最终将能够感受到“啊哈”般惊喜时刻，这确实是种很棒的感受。但不幸的是，这也意味着将反复出现更多种植游戏玩法。

在退出游戏前我又玩了几次，并思考着《Starseed Pilgrim》是否应该多提供些解释。

如果事先已经建立了一个环境，它是否仍会得到赞赏？如果你能够瞄准固定的目标，那么是否会出现更多用户愿意在一开始面对这种强制性的欺骗？机制本身是否就足以支撑这种兴趣？或者发现感能够主导部分吸引力？

发现能力

也许《Starseed Pilgrim》并不适合我，但说实话它的成功很大程度是源自玩家的好奇心。过去的主流游戏更习惯依赖于发现性。是否有人还记得在《超级玛丽兄弟》中跌跌撞撞通过各种关卡的情境？或者在《超级银河战士》和《恶魔城月下夜想曲》中发现能力所具有的不同效能？

但是今天的主流游戏却不再重视玩家的这种发现能力。就像在《生化奇兵》中，当全新Vigor能量出现时，所有行动将暂时中止，玩家将能够观看一个有关新能力如何运作的小短片—-接着也将出现弹出窗口基于不同的描述去解释同一种能力。如果玩家只是获得能力，并能够独自在战争中进行尝试的话会怎样？

当然了，这也是一种冒险，因为他们有可能因此失去生命值，即强调了易用性设计的重要性。但是《Starseed Pilgrim》却忽视了这一理念。不幸的是，这可能会让玩家感到厌烦并选择离开游戏。这是游戏在面向更广泛的用户而整合发现性时所遭遇的失败。

巧妙整合发现性

我们该如何做才能像《Starseed Pilgrim》那样巧妙地将探索意义整合到游戏体验中，并且不会疏远玩家？以下是一些建议：

明确你的目的。在游戏一开始或尽早建立游戏的主要规则：并不是所有内容都能够进行解释。因为每一款游戏都是不同的，尽快且清楚地确定游戏内部规则将能燃起玩家的期待，并相应地决定自己的行为。《合金装备》的CD谜题便是一个典例，即要求玩家到游戏世界外部去解决谜题，这能推动着玩家去推翻第四堵墙（游戏邦注：属于戏剧术语，指一面在传统三壁镜框式舞台中虚构的“墙”），并在面对与boss Pyscho Mantis的战斗时使用控制器端口转换方法。

蒙上玩家的眼睛。即将玩家带到一个环境中，但却不告诉他们原因。就像在《超级银河战士》中，当你与三个能够通过三角跳而到达一个垂直管道上的外星人来到一个房间时，你的目的便是学习如何三角跳。如果玩家是单独一个人来到这个房间的话，他们便很难去学会三角跳。相反地，如果你是通过教程去告诉他们，那么游戏便失去了探索意义。你应该告诉玩家一些可能的事，然后留给他们足够的空间去面对接下来的内容，基于一种结构性方式去整合发现性能够避免让玩家感到沮丧。

基于“意外性”。如果玩家掩饰了能力或互动性，你可以想办法让他们“意外地”执行某一行动，从而诱发他的好奇心，并推动着他进一步探索。这将创造出一种让人惊奇的氛围，能够提高整体的用户粘性并鼓励玩家进行尝试。如果《战争机器》决定不去解释Active Reload能够赋予玩家最后的子弹额外能力的话，他们可以采取其它方式进行传达：当提升攻击力的子弹上膛时，让玩家或枪支闪耀出特殊的光芒；当玩家使用升级后的子弹射击敌人时对方将会爆炸；或者触发特殊的VO或音效。

自我发现具有巨大的潜能。它不仅比遵循别人的指示行动有趣得多，同时也能够推动着你主动学习，并能让各种应用变得更加充实。如果你希望提高游戏的用户粘性，你便可以找机会去创造推动玩家自我发现的时刻。

（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）

Letting the Player Find the Fun

by Ben Serviss

Ever notice how nobody ever wants to add more guesswork? The phrase is always “taking the guesswork out” of something, and lately, games are no exception. More and more games these days come loaded with overdone tutorials, excessive pop-ups and scripted “Press X to Do 1 of 1 Available Actions” sequences.

If you play a lot of modern console games, it can be hard to remember that guessing can be the core of a fun game experience. After all Twenty Questions is nothing but guessing. Crossword puzzles are made up of interlocking guesses, nudging you towards more answers the more you guess.In short, the fun of discovery has been getting the short shrift from major game releases in recent years.

Then, of course, you have Starseed Pilgrim.

“Gain from loss / one does not measure / but broken hearts / yield Starseed treasure” –Starseed Pilgrim

This is a game so dedicated to the concept of player discovery that, after leaving you stranded for hours with no hint about what you’re supposed to be doing, it proceeds to never explain anything. A critical indie darling and IGF nominee, Starseed Pilgrim has been lauded for its slowly unraveling ‘aha!’ moments, wholly unhindered by expository pop-ups or explanatory anything. We simply cannot talk about the specifics of the game, said the reviews. Doing so would spoil the sense of discovery so vital to the experience.

I had to see this underrated gem for myself. Buying it online and starting a new game, I had no expectations and dove in… and fifteen minutes later had no idea what to do. I seemed to be playing the same level over and over again, with no instructions on what to do aside from vague statements occasionally in verse.

Core game mechanics consist of planting different colored seeds on a square ‘planet’ floating in space, with each colored seed sprouting into a different ‘plant’ that behaves in a different way. Anticipating how each plant would grow makes up most of the minute-to-minute gameplay.

Well… this is boring. What if I try – aha! I had finally stumbled onto one of the ‘aha’ moments, and it was a nice feeling. Unfortunately, all it meant was even more planting gameplay, which had quickly started to become repetitive.

I played for a little longer before exiting the game, thinking about the Starseed’s absolute lack of explanation.

If there had been a context established up front, would it have gotten the raves it did? If there were concrete objectives to aim for, would an even larger audience be interested in playing past the mandatory beguilement at the start? Would the mechanics alone be enough to maintain interest – or was the sense of discovery the dominant part of the appeal?

Let Them Figure It Out

Maybe Starseed Pilgrim wasn’t for me, but its critical success derived from a heavy reliance on the player’s curiosity makes an important statement. Mainstream games used to rely far more on discoverability than they do now. Remember the thrill of stumbling across the level warps in Super Mario Bros.? Or discovering the different effects of abilities in Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night?

Today’s mainstream games are much stingier with moments of player discoverability. In Bioshock Infinite, whenever a new Vigor power is introduced, all action halts so the player can watch a short animation explaining how the new ability works – followed immediately by pop-up text explaining the same exact ability in different words. What if players were just given the power, then simply left to try it out on their own in battle?

Of course, this would run the risk of their missing the point, which stresses the importance of careful accessibility design. Starseed is strictly built around ignoring this idea – if the player misses something and never advances, tough. Unfortunately, this will likely lead to the player’s getting bored and leaving, explaining the game’s low profile outside of indie circles (and as anything but a curiosity in itself). This is a failure on the game’s part in incorporating discoverability for the purposes of a greater audience.

Doing Discoverability Well

So how can you combine the magical sense of exploration that Starseed Pilgim does well with an experience that doesn’t alienate players? Here are a few ideas:

Make your intentions clear. At the start of the game, or as soon as possible, establish the game’s overarching rules: that not everything will be explained outright. Because every game is so different, establishing your game’s internal rules as fast and clearly as possible informs players what’s expected of them, and they’ll tailor their behavior accordingly. An example of this is the CD case puzzle in Metal Gear Solid – by requiring players to go outside the game world to solve the puzzle, this prompts the kind of fourth wall-breaking player behavior that leads to the infamous controller port-switching solution to the Psycho Mantis boss battle.

Lead the player blindfolded. What this means is, put the player in the context of a situation she needs to be in, but don’t tell her why. An example of this is in Super Metroid, when you come to the room with the three aliens who wall jump up a vertical passage, with the intention of the player teaching themselves how to wall jump. If the aliens weren’t here and the game relied on pure discoverability, the odds are much lower of the player suddenly teaching herself how to perform a wall jump. Conversely, if this was handled in an obvious tutorial section, any sense of exploration would be erased. Showing the player that something is possible, then leaving them to figure out the rest, incorporates discoverability in a structured way that prevents the player from getting frustrated and fed up.

Build in ‘accidents.’ If the player glosses over an ability or interaction, it can be helpful to include ways for him to ‘accidentally’ perform the action in order to engage his curiosity and prompt further exploration. This can help create an atmosphere of exciting surprises that increases overall engagement and encourages player experimentation. As an example, if Gears of War decided to not explain that executing a perfectly-timed Active Reload makes the player’s last few bullets extra powerful, they could have illustrated this in a multitude of other ways: making the player or his gun glow when a powered-up bullet is in the chamber; making enemies explode when hit with a powered-up bullet; or triggering special VO or sound effects.

There is immense power in discovering things yourself. Not only is it more fun than just executing what somebody else tells you to do, it endorses active learning and is more fulfilling in almost all applications. If your game needs a way to increase player agency and engagement, finding opportunities to increase player-driven moments of discovery may be a strategy worth accommodating.(source:gamasutra)