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新兴手机游戏如何战胜硬核AAA游戏?

发布时间:2013-07-25 16:17:29 Tags:,,,,

作者:Merlock Fairwood

在我进入游戏行业的这几年,我有相当一部分工作与手机游戏有关。是的,我可以毫不犹豫地、诚实地把这些“游戏”形容为“向钱看”,我这么说并不怕侮辱到任何人,因为这类游戏中的捞钱程度太高了,甚至他们的开发者和发行商都不可能反驳这个显然的事实了。

触击屏幕,拿到经验点。再触击,再拿经验点。再触击,你升级了!但你好像没精力了。你可以等待精力自动恢复,或者……

你会看到以下截图。

然而,无论是什么开发者,包括产品相当多的大公司,都在不假思索地发布这种“游戏”,他们这么做当然不是因为没良心。而是,这些公然的捞钱游戏不断获得成功,足以支撑他们的继续存在。

in-app purchase(from gamasutra)

in-app purchase(from gamasutra)

(很难把这些可怕的IAP窗口做得吸引人,对吧?)

到底是什么使这些游戏足以对玩家构成强大的吸引力?这种“庸俗”的产品能给任何人带来什么?讽刺的是,这个秘密就藏在游戏设计中。

显然,手机游戏缺乏现代AAA PC游戏和游戏机大作的华丽外表。手机游戏通常没有任何故事元素。不用说,在品质控制或整体的“游戏感”上,它们也不可能与任何在核心游戏平台上发展了20年的游戏相抗衡,所以,这是什么情况?

答案是,相当一部分手机游戏利用了“沉浸式游戏机制”这一元素——可悲的是,这正是许多发行家用游戏机游戏和PC游戏的现代游戏大开发商所忘记的元素。

或者更准确地说,这是一个特定的游戏机制。显然,如果手机游戏的设计加入各种复杂的机制和奇特的原理,它们就不会变得像现在这样“向钱看”了。然而,手机游戏开发者并不试图挑战现在的硬核游戏市场,而是效仿那些在图像技术得到突破以前一直没有大量目标受众且销量不能保证的老游戏开发者们用过的方法。这个讽刺太明显了。

我影射的一个游戏机制是动态内容生成。通过这种机制,某些手机游戏开发者不仅成功地留住了玩家,还让他们心甘情愿地掏钱。

chance drops(from gamasutra)

chance drops(from gamasutra)

(甚至最简单的游戏也靠概率增加深度。)

这个简单但是天才的机制比任何图像都更有效、比任何故事都更吸引人、比任何DLC都更有重玩价值。所以,虽然这些手机创意确实缺少大量细节(老实说,它们就是缺少任何能把游戏变得值得一玩的东西),但它们仍然能够维持下来,这多亏了这一特别的设计原理。

遍布于各大游戏平台的游戏开发者无视这一特别的方法,把它当成可以忘记的时代残余丢在一边,真是耻辱。也许是因为这一二十年来,这种机制在市面上始终缺少可信的成功榜样,所以他们心怀恐惧。或者,也许是因为他们就是没有意识到这个狡猾但是相当有效的机制,以至于从来没有看到它的精华所在?

无论是什么原因,手机游戏开发者清楚地知道,在静态内容、图像、音响和总体品质上,他们不可能与硬核游戏竞争。

为了弥补劣势,他们不是花更多时间、更多努力去工作。而是,更加聪明地工作。

不是把所有控制权和关于游戏中的一切的知识给玩家,这些手机游戏恰恰是走了相反的路:减少控制权和降低可预测性。借助随机物品掉落、低奖励概率还是意外的NPC出现,这些手机游戏使玩家不仅进入到幻想的世界中,而且被令人惊喜的机制所吸引,进而使玩家产生的愉悦感比图像、音效或动画等能带来的更加深刻。即使游戏的其他部分使《吃豆人》看起来像游戏设计复杂性的小尖峰。

Satoru Iwata(from gamasutra)

Satoru Iwata(from gamasutra)

(任天堂的总裁岩田聪因公然反对游戏简单化而闻名。)

结果,大平台的硬核游戏和手机游戏继续朝相反的方向、朝游戏设计的两个极端发展。前者仍然依靠静态内容,而后者仍然借助动态、能使自身永存的游戏机制。

二者虽各有胜负,但可悲的事实是,它们在顽固地朝着自己选择的方向前进的同时,都缺少对方所具备的优势。现在,它们开始回过头看看自己忘记了什么。

毕竟,没有任何一款“向钱看”的手机会成为年度最佳游戏,但也没有任何一部8小时长的互动电影(AAA游戏)会让玩家如此狂热。那种狂热是过去那些兼顾了游戏开发的两大方面——设计和生产品质的游戏才可能产生的。

那段时期确实是一个属于独创精神的黄金时代。随着3D图像技术的兴起,游戏开发者开掘出新领域,然而因为在电子游戏中使用3D图像技术仍然处于婴儿期,所以开发者仍然更加看重复杂的游戏设计。

tipping point between 2D & 3D(from gamasutra)

tipping point between 2D & 3D(from gamasutra)

(你几乎可以看出2D和3D之间的转折点。)

这导致3D图像通常与2D美术混搭,利用创新的游戏设计,不仅创造一种让玩家从A点到B点的简单机制,而且提供玩家以他们自己的、独有的体验,激发他们的想象力、热情和好奇心。当然,重玩性也仍然是一个大关注点。毕竟,市场还没有饱和到能允许制作一款6小时的简单游戏。为什么?这么做的公司只能破产。

唉,现在这两大游戏开发的支柱分离得这么远了,以至于同时掌握二者的开发者也少得可怜。然而,甚至游戏行业中最杰出的开发者,为了继续专注于统一二者的各方面,如任天堂,也面临着严峻而不可避免的挑战——3D图像战争机器的到来。

别搞错了,它就是一部战争机器!如果不能制服它,那么它将吞噬所有剩下的游戏设计复杂性,除了放在家用游戏机和电脑屏幕上看的交互电影,什么也不留下。

这个症状已经出现了,且越来越明显。但有没有人能大胆地响应这场战争?有没有人意识到有必要平衡设计和生产品质以避免产生交互电影或难看的独立游戏?或者手机游戏的公然捞钱是否会取代一度骄傲而强大的行业标准的最后榜样?

每一次新AAA游戏发布,我都会思考这个问题,为了找到它在商店上架和在平台上做数字推广的方法。每一次,我总是看到隧道尽头的光越来越微弱渺茫……(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

How Mobile Cash Grabs Trumped Core AAA Titles

by Merlock Fairwood

On my ascent into the gaming industry I’ve worked on my fair share of mobile games. And yes, I do mean those very “games” that one can sincerely describe as “money-grubbing” without any hesitation or fear of insulting anyone’s efforts, since the extent of cash grabbing in such titles is so excessive that even their developers and publishers couldn’t possibly argue against it with a straight face.

Tap the screen and receive XP points. Tap it again to receive some more. Tap it a third time, and you’ve leveled up! Oh, but it seems you’ve run out of energy. You could wait for it to regenerate on its own, or…

Well, you get the picture.

However, developers of all sorts, including rather sizeable companies with considerable portfolios, continue releasing these “games” without a single second thought, and they certainly aren’t doing so out of the goodness of their hearts. Quite strangely and against all odds, these blatant cash grabs with the production values of a rhino’s posterior continue to succeed enough to justify their ongoing existence.

Hard to make the dreaded in-app purchase window look appealing, isn’t it?

What is it that makes these sorry excuses for games potent enough to actually attract players? What could such lackluster products possibly offer anyone? Ironically, the secret is in the game design.

Evidently, mobile games lack the magnificent graphics of modern AAA blockbuster titles for the PC and major consoles. More often than not they also completely lack any story to tell. And needless to say, they can’t possibly compete in terms of quality controls or overall “game feel” with anything that’s been out on core gaming platforms for the past two decades. So what gives?

The answer is that quite a few of these mobile games utilize the one element that, sadly, many major modern game developers releasing titles for major home consoles and the PC have all but forgotten: immersive game mechanics.

Or to be more precise, one specific game mechanic. Clearly, were mobile games designed with the use of a variety of sophisticated mechanics and fancy gaming tenets, they wouldn’t be the obvious cash grabs that they are. However, mobile game developers aren’t out to impress the existing core gaming market. They’re treading in the steps of the game developers of old who didn’t have a massive, unrestrained target demographic or guaranteed sales as long as the graphics were cutting edge. The irony is palpable.

Well, that one mechanic I’m alluding to is dynamic content generation. And by harnessing its power, certain mobile game developers are capable of actually convincing people to not only keep playing but even spend real money within the confines of their creations.

The magic of % chance drops brings depth to even the simplest of titles.

This simple yet genius mechanism is more potent than any graphics, more immersive than any story, and generates more play time and replayability potential than any DLC. So while these mobile creations certainly lack a great many important details (let’s be honest, they lack just about everything that makes a game worth playing), they are still capable of staying afloat thanks to one specific design principle. Think about that for a moment.

It’s a shame then that game developers across all major core gaming platforms have turned a blind eye to this particular approach, casting it aside as if some relic of times they wish to forget. Perhaps they were traumatized by the lack of guaranteed success on the market a decade or two ago. Or perhaps they simply aren’t aware of this tricky yet amazingly effective mechanism altogether, never having witnessed it in its prime?

Whatever the case, mobile game developers know full well that they can’t possibly compete with core gaming in terms of sheer amounts of static content, graphics, voiceover work, and production quality in general.

To compensate for this, they don’t work hard, slaving away for hundreds of extra hours. No, instead, they work smart.

Instead of giving the player total control over and knowledge of everything the game has to offer, these mobile games utilize the exact opposite approach: a lack of control and a lack of knowing what to expect next. Be it randomized item drops, low special reward chances, or unexpected NPCs showing up at unpredictable times, these mobile games immerse the player not into an intricate fantasy world with top-of-the-line graphical fidelity, but into a world of mechanics that inspire surprise and awe, which in turn leave a far more deeply rooted sense of enjoyment than any graphics, sound effects or cinematic cutscenes… even if the rest of the game makes Pac-Man look like the pinnacle of game design complexity.

Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata is known for speaking out against the simplification of games.

As a result, core games for major platforms and mobile games continue to move in opposite directions, towards two opposing poles in the game design spectrum. While the former continue to rely on static content, the latter place their bet on dynamic, self-perpetuating game mechanics.

And truly, both have their victories and their losses, but the sad reality is that they both lack vital aspects from the other side of the scales, stubbornly treading further along their chosen paths, too narrow-minded or set in their ways to look back and see what they’ve forgotten.

After all, no mobile cash grab will ever be called Game of the Year, yet neither will an eight-hour interactive movie ever gain the kind of cult following boasted to this day by games of the past, games that were developed in times that embodied the intersection of the two major aspects of game development: design and production quality.

That era was truly a marvel of ingenuity. With the rise of 3D graphics, game developers were pioneering new territory, yet because the use of 3D graphics in video games was still only in its infancy, the pivotal importance of complex game design was still sharp in developers’ minds.

You can almost feel the tipping point between 2D and 3D.

This resulted in 3D graphics often meshing with 2D art, all while utilizing creative game design to not just create a simple mechanism that would carry the player from Point A to Point B, but to provide the player with their own, unique experience, engaging their imagination, passion, and hunger for the unknown. Of course, replayability was also still a major concern. After all, the market wasn’t nearly saturated enough to actually justify creating a six-hour roller coaster ride. Why, a company could go bankrupt doing so.

Alas, today these two pillars of game development have been moved so far apart that developers with a firm grasp on them both are few and far in between. Yet even the most prominent player in the industry today to remain focused on unifying both of these facets, Nintendo, faces the grim inevitability imposed upon the gaming world by the relentless advance of the 3D graphics war machine.

And make no mistake, it is very much a war machine! Left unchallenged, it will devour all remaining game design complexity, leaving nothing but truly shameless interactive films to be watched on home consoles and computer screens alike.

The symptoms are already here and clear as daylight. But will anyone have the courage to answer the call to battle? Will anyone realize the importance of balancing both design and production quality to avoid pushing out either interactive movies or terrible looking and sounding indie games? Or will flagrant cash grabs for mobile devices become the last surviving examples of a once proud and powerful industry standard?

I ponder this question with every new AAA release to find its way to store shelves and digital distribution platforms, and every time the light at the end of the tunnel seems to grow just a little bit dimmer…(source:gamasutra)


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