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精通积木拼图游戏需要经历的四个阶段

发布时间:2013-07-15 15:17:03 Tags:,,,,

作者:Ozzie Smith

积木拼图游戏(如《俄罗斯方块》或《音乐方块》)是我最喜欢的一类游戏。因为它们有效地整合了较小的游戏循环,从而让这些循环可以一直持续下去。与三消类游戏不同的是,比起游戏玩法中的策略,积木拼图游戏更强调机制的掌握和快速思考(有时候甚至是一些潜意识)。最近我一直在玩《方块超人豪华版》,并再一次发现自己经历了精通积木拼图游戏的不同阶段。在本篇文章中我想要分享玩家在精通一款积木拼图游戏会经历的4个不同阶段。

Super Puzzle Platformer(from gamasutra)

Super Puzzle Platformer(from gamasutra)

《方块超人》的控制就像是一款平台游戏,但是它却拥有《俄罗斯方块》或《音乐方块》这类的积木拼图游戏基因。

发现

一开始,每个玩家只是尝试着去明确所有游戏规则:当砖块被旋转时会发生什么,如何消除砖块,特别的砖块会做什么等等。精心设计的积木拼图游戏总是能够通过游戏本身教会玩家所有的游戏机制。根据我的经验,这主要涉及一些元素:简单的规则,合理的视觉指标(每个砖块的不同图像,被清除砖块的清晰视觉指示器等等),紧凑的控制,快速且让人满足的再次尝试(游戏邦注:玩家可以立刻开始体验新游戏而无需烦躁地等待游戏漫长的开始时刻)。

《俄罗斯方块》具有较低的发现阶段:这里并不存在特殊的砖块(每个砖块的行动都是一样的),只有一个元素是随机的(即砖块出现的顺序),只存在一种方式去清除砖块(与其它砖块形成一条水平线),贯穿游戏只存在一个全局变量(砖块掉落的速度)。而《音乐方块》则拥有较大的发现阶段:这里存在多种方法去清除砖块(组成同一个颜色的正方形,或结合砖块创造一连串同样的颜色),基于每个外皮会出现多种变量(下降的速度和时间轴速度)。

战术适应

在这部分游戏中,玩家开始为大多数情境创造特定战术:“如果我遇到砖块X,我便会因为Z而将其放置在Y。”这将超越一些简单的优化砖块放置,同时也需要取决于时间和旋转。在《音乐方块》中学习测算砖块掉落的时间便是一个典型的例子,如此你才能根据时间轴去清除整个链条。在这一阶段的另外一个行为便是学习获取高分的技巧:即在《俄罗斯方块》中同时清除多行砖块,在《音乐方块》中创造组合等等。

Lumines(from gamasutra)

Lumines(from gamasutra)

在《音乐方块》中,玩家需要学会测算砖块掉落的时间,从而确保在单一时间轴上消除最多数量的砖块。

“Eureka”的时刻

通常这是积木拼图游戏最让人兴奋的时刻。在不同游戏中,这一阶段的深度与满足感也是不同的,但这却是积木拼图游戏最必要的内容。在游戏中学习了所有机制并创造一种游戏风格去利用它们的知识后,玩家最终便能够拥有这种满足时刻。当玩家面对的是满屏幕的砖块时,他便可能输掉游戏,而如果他足够幸运,能够适当放置一个有效的砖块,便有可能改变一切:屏幕上的所有砖块都会被消除,玩家也会因此掌握游戏秘诀,这也是“Eureka”时刻。这时候玩家就会想:“我就该每次这么做!”

“Eureka”时刻可以总结为:在游戏中获得高分的伟大策略,有关玩家当下游戏时刻的策略。在《俄罗斯方块》中,这一时刻会在玩家意识到他们应该为一个长砖块留出1行空间,而一下子清除4行砖块的时候出现。而在《音乐方块》中则是当玩家意识到他们应该在激活组合砖块前创造长串的砖块时出现。在《方块超人豪华版》中,当我意识到自己应该使用同样颜色的砖块去填补整个屏幕以获得巨大链条时,这种时刻也会出现。

Eureka策略是由玩家将之前学到的战术组合在一起所形成的。在《俄罗斯方块》中,玩家可以通过将砖块放置在屏幕的适当位置(以确保除了最后一行的所有行列都摆满了)而同时清除4行砖块。在《音乐方块》中,玩家可以不立刻销毁组合砖块,而是先想办法获得最大的链条。在《方块超人》中,我可以等到砖块下降速度足以快速填满屏幕时而使用相同颜色的砖块去填满整个屏幕,然后摧毁除特定颜色外的所有砖块。

Euraka strategy(from gamasutra)

Euraka strategy(from gamasutra)

《俄罗斯方块》有效地使用了Euraka策略。

Super Puzzle Platformer(from gamasutra)

Super Puzzle Platformer(from gamasutra)

在《方块超人》中,玩家可以因为获得足以填满屏幕的链条而赚取成倍的分数。

最后的游戏

我认为最后的游戏阶段是积木拼图游戏真正呈现的优势。在这一阶段,玩家可以完善他们的技能,调整策略,并反复尝试获取更高分数。在这里,玩家便不再能够获取全新体验了,这里只有一些游戏规则的随机性和多样性能够维持他们对游戏的兴趣。而对于我来说,这一阶段也是促使我想要长期待在游戏中的重要阶段。

这里存在每款优秀游戏需要掌握的2大重要特征:具有足够挑战性从而导致玩家永远都不可能战胜游戏,但同时也让玩家不会觉得游戏限制着技能的发展。如果玩家觉得自己完全精通游戏了,他们便会因此感到无聊而不再游戏。如果最后的游戏变成是耐力战而不是挑战,那么乐趣元素也会迅速消失。

在高分游戏中,没有什么比撞击一堵密不透风的墙来得糟糕了。最后,作为设计师的我们必须为游戏创造一个最终的状态(也就是停止砖块下降速度的“转动按钮”)。这一最终状态必须具有挑战性,但更重要的是它必须具有可游戏性。如果将掉落砖块从原生位置移到屏幕一侧所花费的时间长于一个新生砖块掉落到最底部的时间,那就说明你的最终状态不具有可游戏性。

《音乐方块》便具有非常棒的最后游戏,即有效平衡了这两个特征。游戏具有很高的技能上限,即不会让玩家感到碰壁,因为比起不断专注于旋转“向上”按钮,它是通过在不同外皮间旋转着而不断改变速度。每种外皮不只会提供不同的视听体验,同时也会改变游戏玩法的速度(游戏邦注:每个外皮拥有不同的砖块掉落速度,以及消除并摧毁砖块的不同时间轴速度)。

Lumines(from gamasutra)

Lumines(from gamasutra)

《音乐方块》拥有很棒的最后游戏阶段。

确保玩家能够认为他们在控制着自己的命运也很重要。也就是说积木拼图游戏必须具有足够的随机性去确保游戏的乐趣,并且也不会让玩家觉得他们的成功是基于这些随机元素。《Drop7》在这方面便做得很好,即每个“回合”都会在屏幕底部出现一行新的空白砖块,而玩家不能控制这些砖块的走向。最后的游戏阶段将会变得像老虎机那样,即玩家可以填充空白砖块,并希望不会出现可怕的数字。

Drop7(from gamasutra)

Drop7(from gamasutra)

《Drop7》中的硬核模式会让玩家感受到最后的游戏是基于机会,因为这里有太多超越玩家控制范围的意外元素。

结论

我认为我们必须在设计积木拼图游戏的同时仔细思考这些阶段,我也希望这篇文章能够给其他设计师带去一些帮助。你希望每个阶段持续多久,你的游戏中每个阶段会出现哪些元素?现在我正在开发自己的积木拼图游戏,我也将策划这样的阶段当成设计过程中非常关键的一部分。在设计期间我不断地思考着不同的阶段,记录下我的游戏风格的每个元素,并将其映射到相关阶段中。如今的积木拼图游戏设计师数量还不多,但是我希望这篇文章能够带给那些想要理解自己游戏中不同机制阶段与策略精通内容的设计师(各种游戏类型)有利的帮助。

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

The Four Stages of Puzzle Game Mastery

by Ozzie Smith

Falling-block puzzle games (in the vein of Tetris or Lumines) are some of my favorite games to play. I think it’s because they greatly encapsulate tiny gameplay loops that can just go on forever. Unlike match-3 puzzle games, falling-block puzzle games emphasize mechanical mastery and quick-thinking (sometimes even sub-conscious thinking) on top of strategy in their gameplay. I recently played quite a bit of the spectacular Super Puzzle Platformer Deluxe and found myself once again going through the different stages of falling-block puzzle game mastery. In this article I want to share my theory on the four different stages that players go through while mastering a falling-block puzzle game.

Super Puzzle Platformer may control like a platformer, but it has the falling-block puzzle DNA of games like Tetris or Lumines.

Discovery

In the beginning, every player is just trying to figure out all of the rules of the game: what happens when a block is rotated, how to clear blocks, what special blocks do, etc. Well-crafted falling-block puzzle games seem to be able to teach players all of their mechanics through play alone. In my experience this is accomplished through several factors: simple rules, great visual indicators (distinctive art for each block, clear visual indicators for cleared blocks, etc), tight controls, and a quick and satisfying retry (players can instantly start a new game and don’t dread the opening moments of a game for being too slow or boring).

Tetris has a very low discovery phase: there are no special pieces (every piece acts the same), only one aspect is randomized (the order in which pieces appear), there’s only one way to clear blocks (forming a horizontal line with blocks), and there is only one global variable that changes throughout a game (the speed at which the pieces fall). Meanwhile Lumines has a pretty large discovery phase: there are multiple ways to clear blocks (forming a square of 1 color OR creating a chain of a single color with a combo block), and multiple variables changing with each skin (falling speed and timeline speed).

Tactical Adaptation

This part of the game is where players start to develop specific tactics for most situations: “if I get piece X I should place it at position Y for reason Z”. This can go beyond simple optimal piece placement and can depend on timing and rotation as well. An example would be learning how to time your drops in Lumines so that you can clear an entire chain with one swipe of the timeline. Another behavior in this stage is learning higher-scoring techniques: clearing multiple lines at once in Tetris, making combos in Lumines, etc.

In Lumines players need to learn how to time their drops to maximize the amount of blocks cleared away in a single timeline swipe.

The Eureka Moment

Oftentimes this is the best, most satisfying moment of falling-block puzzle games. The depth and satisfaction delivered in this stage varies a lot from game to game, but it is essentially the closest one can get to “solving” a falling-block puzzle game. After learning all of the mechanics in the game and creating a play-style to take advantage of their knowledge, players finally have a great moment of satisfaction. Players look at a screen nearly full of blocks, a game about to be lost, and then one perhaps lucky block-placement completely changes everything: the screen is cleared and players learn the secret to mastering the game, a Eureka moment. Players think to themselves “I should do this every time!”

The “Eureka moment” can basically be summed up as this: the grand strategy to getting high scores in the game,  a strategy that will be reached for each and every time the player plays from here on out. In Tetris this is when players realize they should try to clear 4 lines at once by leaving 1 row empty for a long piece to fall into. It’s when players realize in Lumines that they should build up long chains of blocks before activating their combo-blocks. And for me in Super Puzzle Platformer Deluxe it was when I realized I wanted to fill the entire screen up with the same color block to get a massively big chain.

The Eureka strategies are all formed by putting together the tactics that players previously learned. Players can clear 4 lines at once in Tetris by properly placing their pieces on side of the screen to ensure that all the rows except for the end are full. Players in Lumines can get massive chains by not immediately setting off their combo block but instead ensure that the chain is as large as possible first. And in Super Puzzle Platformer I can fill up the entire screen with the same color block by waiting until the blocks fall fast enough to quickly fill the screen with blocks and then destroy all blocks except for a certain color for as long as possible.

A Euraka strategy being used quite well in Tetris.

In Super Puzzle Platformer players earn exponentially more points for giant screen-filling chains like this.

The End Game

In my opinion the end game is where the strength of a falling-block puzzle game really shows. At this stage players are perfecting their skills, streamlining their strategies, and trying again and again to beat their high scores. At this point there is very little “new” to experience for players, and only the randomness and variation of the game rules are there to keep them interested in the game. For me this is the stage that I want to last the longest with games.

There are two crucial characteristics that every great end game needs: to be challenging enough so that a player can never master the game, and also to never have the player feel like the game is capping the amount of skill growth possible. If the player feels like they have completely mastered the game, they will likely get bored and stop playing. If the end game turns into a game of endurance rather than challenge, the fun-factor quickly dissipates.

There’s nothing worse in a high-scoring game than hitting an impenetrable wall on your score. Eventually we as designers must create an ultimate end state for the game (that is, to stop “turning the knob” on block fall speed or what have you). This end state must obviously be challenging but it’s crucial that this state is also playable. If it takes longer to move a fall piece from the spawn position to the side of the screen than it takes for a spawned piece to fall to the bottom, your end state is probably not very playable.

Lumines has a wonderful end game that balances these two characteristics very well. The game has a large skill-ceiling that never feels like a brick wall because instead of focusing on constantly turning the knob “upwards”, it instead relies on constantly changing up the pace by rotating through different skins. Each skin not only offers a different audiovisual experience, but also changes up the tempo of the gameplay (each skin has a different fall speed for blocks and also a different timeline speed that erases cleared blocks).

Lumines has a terrific end game.

It is also important to keep the player feeling like they are in control of their own destiny. That is to say that the randomness in a falling-block puzzle game should be just enough to keep the game interesting and the player should never feel like their success depends on some random factor. I feel like Drop7 could do a better job with this in its hardcore mode, where every “round” a new row of blank blocks appears on the bottom of the screen and the player has no control over where those blocks go.  The end game quickly starts to feel like a slot machine where players hatch blank blocks and hope that they aren’t terrible numbers for their situation.

The hardcore mode in Drop7 can feel too chance-based in the end game because there is so much happening that is out of the player’s control.

Conclusion

I think that it is important while designing falling-block puzzle games to think about these stages, and I hope that this article will be helpful to some other designers out there. How long do you want each stage to last, and what are the elements of each stage for your game? I am currently developing my own falling-block puzzle game and I found mapping out the stages like this to be crucial to my design process. I am constantly thinking about the different stages during design, and I am taking note of each element of my play-style (as the main play-tester at this early stage in developer) as it develops and mapping it to the stages. There probably aren’t too many other falling-block puzzle game designers out there right now, but I hope that this article can be helpful to any designer trying to understand the different stages of mechanical and strategic mastery in their game, regardless of the genre.(souce:gamasutra)


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