作者：Josh Bycer

在过去几个月，我与Arcen公司的人有过几次交谈，我们最欣赏他们的一点是，他们乐于尝试新东西。在Arcen的游戏中，最让粉丝们津津乐道的就是复杂的策略游戏：《AI Wars》。 Arcen的首席游戏设计师Chris Park在接受采访时曾表示这是他们最热门的游戏。

现在，Arcen携《Skyward Collapse》回归策略游戏，然而，这并不是一款典型的策略游戏—-它颠覆了这个类型。

世界之最

在《Skyward Collapse》中，玩家像神祗一样统治着一个名为Luminith的漂浮大陆。玩家的任务就是，维持两个文明（希腊和挪威）之间的和平，防止他们把对方完全消灭。

作为神祗，玩家拥有改变地貌、建造建筑、召唤特殊单位等力量。与传统的策略游戏不同，在《Skyward Collapse》中，玩家对这两个文明的控制是间接的。

游戏的资源有两种：一般资源和精炼资源。一般资源是基本物资，如石头和木材。而精炼资源则是需要二次加工的东西。

一般资源由文明的所有城邦共享，而只有建造了二级加工建筑的城市才能使用精炼资源。当玩家建筑军事建筑时，AI会根据该城市所拥有的资源决定可生产的单位。

地图上的任何单位都不是由玩家所控制，而是由AI控制—-这是游戏的一大挑战。《Skyward Collapse》可分为三大回合，每个大回合中各有30个小回合（默认）。在一个小回合中，玩家只能对红方操作一次，再对蓝方操作一次。操作之后，玩家将观察各方AI如何控制各自区域上的所有单位。

为了继续玩下去并最终获胜，玩家在各个大回合中必须达到特定的分值（可以在游戏开始前调整）。获得分值的方法是，使地图上的任何单位或建筑被消灭。

Skywardcollapse-3（from game-wisdom）

米诺牛的出现可以迅速终结一场战斗。

然而，玩家不能让一方完全主宰另一方，因为一方完全失败意味着玩家也会输掉游戏。

更复杂的地方是，玩家还必须与野蛮人作战。在游戏过程中，这些野蛮人会从四面八方跑来，破坏玩家的发展大计。

一定程度上，玩家要拆东墙补西墙。因为，玩家一方面要用军事单位抗击野蛮人，另一方面还要提防两个文明之间的战争。但是，玩家也不能让一切保持完全的和平状态，否则就达不到获胜的分值。但是当游戏失控时，作为神祗的玩家可以使用一些小把戏。

例如，玩家可以直接给一方提供资源、强化单位、封锁道路和摧毁建筑等。但如果局面仍然失控，神祗还有最后的杀手锏—-神力。

根据优势和弱势，各方的常规单位被划分成若干等级。但神祗可以召唤出打破等级的神话单位和使用神话物品。

根据两个文明的神话，玩家可以给希腊文明召唤米诺牛，而挪威则是瓦尔基里（游戏邦注：女武神，北欧神话中奥丁神的侍女之一）。如果常规单位形成“石头剪子布”的平衡，那么神话单位的出现就相当于给这个状态增加了一枚“核弹”。

一个神话单位通常能单独抵抗一支人类军队，使局势迅速扭转。如果玩家不想发动武力，那么可以使用神话物品，也就是让最先靠近魔法物品的单位染上负面状态。

这就是《Skyward Collapse》设计得有趣的地方：这款游戏通过不平衡的单位和战术达到平衡。一旦玩家开始使用神力，局势就会变化得非常快。一个神话道具就会让某一方的单位对另一方的人类单位无敌。玩家就相当于神之军队的指挥者，玩弄两方文明，不让任何一方获胜。

甚至在设计中也体现了游戏的不平衡属性。例如，挪威人更弱小，但他们的神话单位更加大。

虽然希腊人和军队更强大，但他们的神话单位比较弱。

SkywardCollapse5（from game-wisdom）

是的，这些数字没有错，我的单位的伤害值是99999点。

当玩家时入第二回合和第三回合时，军队的攻击力更强，野蛮人也更凶悍，各方的大小天神也加入战争。这些角色不会在地图上移动，除非玩家建造其中一个特定的物品，但它们能给自方文明带来巨大优势。

玩家面临的挑战是，通过控制混乱来保持两方的生存，同时增加自己的分值直到获胜。对于资深策略游戏玩家而言，《Skyward Collapse》颠覆了传统的策略游戏的设计，带来了一股新鲜感。

一般来说，策略类游戏的玩法核心就是保持平衡：确保各方势均力敌，不存在绝对压倒性的战术等。而在《Skyward Collapse》中，除了天神，玩家可以直接消灭地图上的任何单位，可以给予一方压倒性优势等。让我们尝试着把这款游戏与《星际争霸》作对比。

为了鼓励玩家继续玩下去，游戏有一个根据获胜情况升级的机制。玩家升级后可以解锁新建筑，从而丰富游戏的战术。游戏中还有一种合作模式，即两名玩家各自管理一个文明，但增加野蛮人的活动。

《Skyward Collapse》还有多重难度级别，有的是以游戏持续时间定胜负，有的是以分值决输赢。在困难级别，野蛮人和常规单位的破坏性会提高，使玩家更难控制局势。

总地来说，我在游戏中遇到了几个问题。第一，很难确切地描述单位之间的战斗情况。当然，游戏中有一个克制系统，当玩家把鼠标放在单位上时就可以在单位描述中看到。

但各方的单位本身看起来相似，使玩家很难一眼就找到要建造的单位是哪个，或者小冲突中哪一方单位会获胜。

在设计方面，我认为《Skyward Collapse》的主要问题是游戏的深度。这款游戏将策略游戏，益智游戏与天神游戏集为一体。有时候，会让人觉得游戏的策略性并不太强。

虽然游戏的随机事件设计得很成功，但实际的单位类型和建筑类型太少，导致玩家的选择很有限。因为游戏的目标就是获得分值，这就制约了玩家能使用的策略，使游戏玩起来更像益智游戏，而策略性就降低了。

例如，一旦玩家达到游戏的获胜分值，局势就确定了。玩家可以抛弃大多数的军事建筑，破坏土地，唯一需要担心的就是野蛮人的进攻罢了。

Skywardcollapse-3（from game-wisdom）

天神可以对游戏产生多种影响，使局势更加难以平衡。

额外的建筑、解锁更高级的功能如单位特权和用天启守护城邦等，虽然丰富了游戏玩法，但仍然被得到足够的分值这一非黑即白的目标限制。

在几个月前与Chris谈话时，他提到这款游戏有副挑战，但似乎被替换成了解锁新内容的升级系统。

我希望能看到更多胜利或失败的条件，甚至只是增加影响游戏世界的选项也好。

对于一款售价5美元的游戏，《Skyward Collapse》已经达到了一款策略游戏能达到的创新程度。考虑到《AI War》随着新内容和拓展不断发展，我希望《Skyward Collapse》也能得到相同的待遇，因为这款游戏的基本概念还是很棒的。毕竟，玩家从把米诺牛放到军队中得到的乐趣是相当有限的。

（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）

Skyward Collapse: Mythical Strategy

by Josh Bycer

I’ve talked about Arcen Games several times in the past few months and the one thing that I appreciate from them is their willingness to keep trying new things. For fans of Arcen, the game that put them on the map was the complex strategy game: AI Wars, which Chris Park talked about on his last guest cast here as their most popular title.

With Skyward Collapse, this is Arcen’s return to the strategy genre, however this is anything but your typical strategy game.  As Skyward Collapse is an interesting subversive take on the genre.

Skywardcollapse 2 560×200 Skyward Collapse: Mythical Strategy
Top of the World Ma:

In Skyward Collapse, you are a God who has been issued the task of ruling over the floating continent of Luminith. Your mission is to keep the peace between two different cultures (Greek and the Norse,) and prevent them from completely killing each other.

As a God you have the power to alter the land, build structures for both sides, summon special units (more on that in a bit) and more. Unlike a traditional strategy game, in Skyward you indirectly control the different sides.

Resources come in two types: global and refined. Global resources represent the basic items needed like stone and wood. While refined items require a secondary building to craft them.

Global resources are shared between all the cities of the specific side, while refined items can only be used in cities with the respective secondary building. When you build any military buildings, the AI will decide what units to build based on the resources available to that city.

Any units on the map are not controlled by the player but by the AI and this is a major part of the challenge of the game. A game of Skyward is split into three rounds with 30 turns (by default) for each round. A turn is made up of you performing actions for the red side, then for the blue. After which you watch the AI take control of each side and command any units on the field.

In order to keep playing and hopefully win, you need to meet specific point thresholds (which can be altered before playing a game) for each round. Points are earned whenever any unit or structure on the map is killed.
Skyward Collapse 300×225 Skyward Collapse: Mythical Strategy

Nothing ends a fight faster then a Minotaur showing up.

However, you can’t let one side completely dominate the other; as if one side completely loses then you lose the game.

Compounding matters further, you’ll also have to fight bandits who will appear during the game and world affecting “woes” that come in a variety of ways to completely mess up your strategy.

In a sense you have to put out fires with fire, as you’ll need military units to fight the bandits, but you also have to watch out for each side fighting each other. Then again, you can’t keep things completely peaceful or you won’t meet your score deadlines. But as a God you do have a few tricks up your sleeve if things get too uncontrollable.

You can aid a side directly by providing resources, strengthening units, blocking off paths, destroying buildings and so on. But if things are still out of control, you have the power of mythology to aid you.

The regular units for each side fall into several classes with strengths and weaknesses defined. But as a God you can summon mythological units and items to the field to throw all that out of whack.

Each side makes use of Mythology from their specific culture allowing you to summons Minotaurs for the Greeks or Valkyries for the Norse for instance. If the regular units fell into a rock-paper-scissors type balance, then the Myth units were like adding “nuclear bomb” to the equation.

A single myth unit can usually handle an entire human army by themselves early on and quickly tilt the balance in the opposite direction. If you want to lend a hand without being as forceful, you can place down magical items that confer buffs to whatever units reach them first.

This is where Skyward Collapse‘s design gets interesting, as the game is balanced in the fact that its units and tactics are imbalanced. Once you start making use of mythological powers things can get pretty crazy fast. One item makes your units literally invulnerable to any other human units on the map. You are in a sense a divine arms dealer playing both sides and don’t want either to win.
SkywardCollapse5 300×225 Skyward Collapse: Mythical Strategy

Yes, those numbers were correct, my units were doing 99,999 points of damage to each other.

Even the sides by design lend into the imbalanced nature of the game. Norse human units are weaker but have stronger myth units.

While the Greek’s human and siege forces are superior, but their myth units aren’t as strong.

When you enter round 2 and 3, the woes become more damaging, bandits become stronger and minor and major Gods from each side join the fight. These figures don’t move around on the map unless you build one of their specific items, but they bestow massive bonuses to their specific side.

You have to take on the challenging task of using controlled chaos to keep everyone alive, while boosting your score to win. As a long standing strategy gamer, Skyward was a breath of fresh air in how completely different it was to traditional strategy design.

Normally the strategy genre was all about balance: making sure every unit has the proper counter, no strategy being completely dominate and so on. With Skyward you have powers that can kill everyone on the map except for Gods instantly, bestow invulnerability and more. Just try to imagine fitting that into a game of Starcraft.

To reward continued play, the game had a leveling up mechanic based on winning games. As you rise in rank, you’ll unlock new buildings that add more potential strategies to the game. There was also co-op in the form of both players managing each side, but with increased bandit activity.

Skyward also featured multiple difficulty levels, along with choosing how long the game will last and what scores to shoot for. Playing on the harder levels, the game will pull out even worse woes for you to deal with, along with making bandits and regular units more dangerous.

With all that said, there were a few issues I ran into during play. First was that it was hard to actually tell how combat would play out between units. There was definitely a counter system at work which you can see from the unit descriptions when you mouse over them.

But units themselves for each side look similar and made it hard to tell what you should be attempting to get built at first glance or which units would win in a skirmish.

In terms of design the main issue I have with Skyward has to do with the depth of the game. Skyward Collapse exists as a combination of strategy, puzzle and God game design. At times it felt like the strategy side of the game wasn’t as big of a factor.

While the game does hit you with randomized events, at this point the actual unit types and building variety were small enough to limit your choices. Since the goal every-time revolves around the score, it does corral your potential strategies and made the game more puzzle-like, and less strategic.

For example, once you hit the winning score threshold in a game, you’re basically done. You can get rid of the majority of military structures, smite the land to create one-path floating sections and only need to worry about bandit attacks.
Skywardcollapse 3 300×225 Skyward Collapse: Mythical Strategy

Gods affect the game in a variety of ways and can make things difficult to balance.

The additional buildings tied into the meta-game, unlock advance features like unit perks and defending your cities with enlightenment, but their use was still limited by the black and white goal of getting enough points.

When we spoke to Chris a few months ago, he mentioned the game having side challenges, which seems to have been replaced by the leveling system to unlock new content.

I would like to see more ways to win and lose and even just more options to affect the world.

For $5, Skyward Collapse is an innovative take on what a strategy game could be. Given AI War’s growth from years of new content and expansions, here’s hoping that Skyward will get a similar treatment as the base concept was great. But you can only get so much enjoyment out of dropping Minotaurs onto armies.(source:game-wisdom)