提到游戏自始至终都应该遵从的设计建议和规则，适用于整个游戏媒体的原则并不多。我的意思是，在某些游戏中表现很棒的功能，用在其他游戏上却很糟糕。 同一题材的游戏关卡设计和boss设计可能相差无几，但用在其他题材上却会出现截然不同的结果。

但仍然有5个设计原则是所有游戏都需要注意的方向：

1.声音测试/Jukebox

首先，所有游戏都需要声音测试（或者在游戏中播放音乐的类似选项）。

这一点无可争议。严格来说，我并不认为电子游戏设置声音测试这一点有何不妥，也不认为会有人会认为任天堂在Mario & Luigi Dream Team中放置一个Jukebox是个坏主意。

那么声音测试为何如此重要呢？在我看来，主要有以下原因。

与许多游戏一样，你不能没有音效的情况下听到一些很棒的主题，因为游戏中总有一些像boss试图杀死主角，枪击或其他普遍音效问题。

这其中的典型例子包括《Super Mario 3D Land》中的Boom Boom和Pom Pom的boss主题。严格来说，你几乎无法听到这些主题，因为其中混合着音效。

另一个例子是来自Luigi的《Mansion Dark Moon》中的“Stop the Knightmare”主题。更准确地说，它的两个版本均是如此。它是一个很棒的boss主题，在游戏中无论怎么听都非常美妙——只有一次例外，也就是在玩家同一个重装甲武士战斗过程中，这种音乐听起来就像是嘈杂的背景。

这意味着我们没有从游戏ROM听到主题音乐的有效方法，或者只能祈祷任天堂中的人决定发布游戏音频。

声音测试可以完全移除这个问题，可以让音乐迷在不严重受到随机SFX干扰的情况下听到音乐，另外人们也可以用其完善音乐，使其听起来更为清晰。

但声音测试之所以是游戏必具要素的原因还不止如此。例如，如何让大量音乐听起来很体面，同时又不会剥离玩家与敌人战斗的紧迫感？任天堂游戏的特定音乐为何只截取片断播放，从不使用完整的曲子 （游戏邦注：WarioWare中的过场动画音乐，以及《超级马里奥2》中的无敌音乐就是最佳典型），或者说仅在游戏中极简短（你从不会重复的）片段中播放？

任天堂和其他公司极少发布自己的电子游戏音频。所以你如果不在日本，就无法获得任天堂游戏的音乐CD。即使你在日本，也仍然难以找到那些“不是很有名气”的游戏CD，因为任天堂不会为这些游戏发布音频。所以，如果你喜欢《大金刚》、《Wario》、《Yoshi》或者《F-Zero》系列，那就要注意喽，你可能永远也找不到这些游戏的音频CD。

所有游戏都需要声音测试选项，这一点毫无例外。尤其是容易导航的游戏，以及包含所有音乐的游戏。

2.Boss/场景重玩选项

另一项所有游戏都应该具备的要素是无需重启保存文件，即可在任意点重玩游戏场景或boss战役的选项。

例如，在《塞尔达》系列（以及Mario RPG游戏中）就该植入一种在任何情况下都可以重置“地下城”或“区域”的恢复默认值选项。这可以重置所有迷题，让所有boss复活，解琐所有的大门，重新锁上特定区域的道具，将一切恢复成玩家初次进入该区域的样子。

因为这可以解决我在游戏中遇到的许多问题，比如挽回玩家在游戏中错过的美妙时刻。

例如《Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door》中的一些场景和事物。Doopliss窃走你的身份？为何我不能随心所欲再经历一次？还记得Fahr Outpost中的炸弹击中马里奥，将其炸飞到月球的搞笑场景吗？为何我不能再体验一把？还有《塞尔达》系列中的地下城，为何我不能一开始就玩《时之刃》中的Forest/Fire/Water Temples场景？或者在《风之杖》中与Wind Temple中的Wizrobe迷你boss过招？

让我们重玩整个场景/区域能够弥补这个问题，可以让我们重复经历游戏中最棒的环节。所有游戏其实都该具备这一要素。

除此之外，这一要素的存在意义还包括：

它是一种测试不同理论/理念/战略，用于发现哪种做法可行的好方法。在《时之刃》中以不同顺序穿过寺庙，不是很有趣的玩法吗？如果《Paper Mario》系列中的小伙伴在每个过场动画中都陪着你，这主意怎么样？这还有助于玩家看看《Mario & Luigi Dream Team》不同武器、徽章和级别combos的威力。相信这种设置一定会极大增加游戏的重玩价值。

它还有助于粉丝向好友和家人推广游戏。你已经体验过游戏中的所有场景，当然希望向他们展示下你最近买到的新游戏，不是吗？

但现在的游戏只含有“一次性”设置，你就无法正确展示游戏。向某个展示你最近打败的《塞尔达》游戏，那又能怎么样呢？当你解决了所有的问题，杀死所有boss和迷你boss，收获了所有道具，扫荡了所有地下城，游戏中的一切也就“死亡”了。所有RPG和动作冒险游戏最终都沦为一场“漫无目地的奔跑模拟”，因为你结束游戏之时，游戏的保存文件也就没有多大意义了。

（你可以向好友展示这个很棒的时刻，因为你扫荡它的时候，寺庙会变成一个鬼城。）

重玩选项可以解决这个问题，让你向他人展示游戏中的“最佳时刻”。例如在《Luigi’s Mansion 2》或《Super Mario Galaxy》，你可以直接进入最佳任务，让他们自己试试看。

游戏中应该兼有完整的boss rush（游戏邦注：即游戏中的每个boss都具有重新战斗的能力）以及过场动画集（每个过场动画都应该能够重播）。这样玩家就可以在任何时间重玩整个“章节”，重新参与特定的boss战役，或者重新观看“有趣”的时刻。

3.足够的文件保存/保存功能

我还认为游戏必须含有足够的文件保存次数。虽然《口袋妖怪》仅设置一次保存自有其存在原因（考虑到庞大的数据存储问题，以及“每次游戏都是一种冒险”的感觉），但其他游戏的这种保存设计就非常欠妥了。

例如《Mario & Luigi Dream Team》中的“每次游戏保存两次”设置。这不但会让玩家产生与他人共享同一个游戏拷贝的尴尬，还会产生两种不同难度设置的问题。

因此你要是想同时尝试标准和困难模式，你就得删除自己的主要文件（如果你是与他人共享游戏的话），或者删除他人的保存文件（这可能引起共用一个3DS的家庭成员间的争执）。为什么不增加更多文件保存设置呢？

在《Wario Land 4》中，你有两个可能的保存点，三个难度的关卡。你最好不要与他人共享一款游戏，因为这会产生保存次数有限，无法保存数据备份的问题。

此外，当保存文件混淆起来时，游戏应该具有特定设置的“期望”功能。例如拷贝游戏，删除游戏，加载游戏。这有助于玩家备份数据，以免发生最糟糕的情况，例如《Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon》设计师明显忘了植入保存功能。

总而言之，游戏应该为每个难度的关卡/新游戏模式提供足够的文件保存资料，以及基本的保存或删除工具。没有保存功能在我看来就是糟糕的游戏设计。

4.多种控制方案

如果“主要”控制方式是基于麦克风、摇摆动作、陀螺仪、触屏或Kinect时，这种设置就更重要了，因为它们很容易导致非玩家失误所造成的失败。

所以游戏必须拥有最小数量的“标准控制”选项，最好拥有可重新分配的一些选项。这样如果操作有误，玩家就可以选择另一种控制方案。如果他们无法掌握某种控制方式（例如《Mario Galaxy》中的Manta Ray/Fluzzard/Sar Ball控制方式或者《Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon》中的激光交叉控制方式。

任天堂确实应该意识到，游戏和硬件并不一定要绑定在一起。你在NES、SNES、任天堂64、Game Boy或Game Boy Advance并不会出现这些问题，为何要迫使人们在3DS和Wii U中使用那种蹩脚的控制方式？

5.无Demo/禁用帮助功能的模式

最后我认为所有游戏都缺乏的一项选择，就是完全关闭游戏中所有形式的“帮助”功能。

不要跳出一个AI精灵评论到“这个敌人的危险性达99%”，或者“嘿，听着！”，也不要让E Gadd告诉你每橦楼中的最新陷阱和敌人……总之最好设置一个选项，让游戏不要用任何多余的引导形式干扰玩家自身的体验。要设置这种可让玩家移除所有教程的选项（《Dream Team》中的困难模式尤其需要这种设置），在该保存文件中禁用所有超级向导的选项。

这种要求很过份吗？当前的游戏设计师是否太沉迷于将游戏制作成电影般的效果，以致于忘了考虑游戏可玩性（所以需要时不时跳出一个小人告知玩家如何玩游戏）？也不仅仅是任天堂存在这些问题，过去数年的每款主流游戏都没有停用教程、展示和多余的“帮助”功能。

这些游戏其实只需要在一开始就设置一个简单的选项，让玩家自愿选择停用任何教程、帮助功能。这种功能也许可以称为“二次游戏模式”之类的东西，因为玩家第二次玩游戏时，已经了解了整款游戏的情况，不需要任何帮助了。

我们真的很需要这种功能。

这是我对于未来所有游戏必备功能的一点想法，不知各位看法如何？你是否认为上文提到的多数功能有助于任天堂（以及其他公司）游戏更上一层楼？如果它们真植入这些功能，你是不是会更喜欢玩这些游戏？（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）

Opinion: Five Important Game Design Features all Games Need

When it comes to game design advice and rules that games should always follow, there usually aren’t that many things that apply to the entire medium.  I mean, saving wherever is great in some games, overkill in others.  Level design and boss design can be fair in one genre, yet completely ridiculous in yet another and so on.

But here are five things, five game design features that all games need.  No exceptions.   Let the list, begin!

1. A Sound Test/Jukebox

First up, all games need a sound test (or some similar option to play the music in game).

This isn’t something that’s debatable.  Seriously, I don’t think there’s a single reason why a sound test is a bad idea in a video game in existence, and I suspect no one on the planet really does think that say, Nintendo having a Jukebox in Mario & Luigi Dream Team was a bad decision.

So why is a sound test so important (other than the fact that no one disagrees about it being a good thing)?  Well in my opinion, there are a few key reasons.

Like how in many games, you can’t listen to some of the best themes without sound effects because of obvious issues like a boss that’s trying to viciously kill the main characters, gun fire or other common sound effects or simply because the scene it’s played in ends before the song does a full loop.

A great example includes the boss themes for Boom Boom and Pom Pom in Super Mario 3D Land.  Seriously, these themes are nearly impossible to hear properly because you can’t ever get them with sound effects.  To the point even people on Youtube have had trouble ripping said songs at a high level of quality.

Another one is the ‘Stop the Knightmare’ theme from Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon.  Or to be more accurate, both versions of it.  It’s a great boss theme that sounds absolutely fantastic from what you can hear in game… with the catch that the only time it’s played is in battle with an army of heavily armoured knights who happen to make a ridiculous amount of racket in the background:

This means that there’s no practical way to hear the theme short of ripping from a game ROM or praying that someone at Nintendo decides the game is worth a soundtrack release.  And that any attemped videos of the music on Youtube sound like a Doctor Who Cyberman invasion is going on in the background.

A sound test would completely remove this problem for everyone, both letting fans of the music hear it in game without being extremely annoyed by the random SFX and people wanting to use it for other purposes rip the music in a way that sounds somewhat clear.

But there are many other reasons for this being a necessary feature too.  Like how a significant amount of game music sounds pretty decent and would just be nice to listen to without the worry of getting brutally ripped apart by enemies.  Or how certain music from Nintendo games is only played in very short parts of the game where the full song is never use (the cut scene music from WarioWare and the invincibility music from SMB 2 are good examples here) or even just played in a very short part of the game in which you can never repeat.

Or just the fact that Nintendo and other companies barely ever release their video game soundtracks in all regions.  So if you’re not in Japan, good luck getting a CD filled with music from a Nintendo game.  And even if you are in Japan, then you’re still screwed over if it’s one of those ‘slightly less popular’ titles that Nintendo hasn’t bothered to release the soundtrack for.

Have fun people who like the Donkey Kong, Wario, Yoshi or F-Zero series, you’ll probably never find a soundtrack CD based on your more obscure games ever again!

All games need a sound test option, no exceptions.  Especially one that’s easy to navigate (via a traditional menu with no gimmicks like paying in game money) and that has all songs included, regardless of their obscurity.

Above: Although even Dream Team left out some songs…

2. Boss/Scene Replay Option

Yet another thing that all games should have (which unfortunately most don’t) is an option to replay any scene and boss battle of the game again at any one point without having to start a new save file.

For example, in the Zelda series (and the Mario RPGs as well), there should be an option to reset any ‘dungeon’ or ‘location’ to factory default settings at any time.  This would reset all puzzles, revive all bosses and mini bosses, lock all doors and gates, put back any items unlocked in that specific area (while keeping any later things) and treat it as if you’ve only entered said place for the first time.

Because this would solve a lot of problems I have with games at the moment.

Like how there are often many great moments you play that end up being ‘lost forever’ once you beat them.  For instance, look at some of the scenes and things in Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door.  Doopliss steals your identity?  Nice gimmick, so why can’t I experience it any time I want? Those Bob-ombs in Fahr Outpost shoot Mario and co to the moon with a ridiculous cut scene?  That could be cool, why can’t I go through that again?  Or about the dungeons in the Zelda series?  Why can’t I replay the Forest/Fire/Water Temples from Ocarina of Time at the drop of a hat?  Or experience things like the Wizrobe mini boss from the Wind Temple in The Wind Waker again?

Wizzrobe Summons

Above: A fight you can stupidly never experience again.

Letting us replay a whole scene/’area’ again would fix this and let us experience the best parts of a game over and over as much as we want.  That should be a feature of all games ever made.

Additionally, there are other reasons for this feature being a good idea too.

Like how it’d be a nice way to test out different theories/ideas/strategies and see which ones work and which don’t.  Wouldn’t it be interesting to be able to play through the temples in Ocarina of Time in a different order whenever you wanted to?  To see what happens if every partner is with you in every cut scene in the Paper Mario series?  To see how all the different gear, badge and rank combos work in Mario & Luigi Dream Team? Something like this would increase replay value by a billion fold.

It’d also help fans promote these games to their friends and family.  Because let’s face it, you’ve all had situations where people visit and you want to show them the newest game you bought, right?

But with a game with a ‘one time’ set up, you end up not really being able to do the title justice.  Show someone a Zelda game you beat recently, and what can they do?  Nothing.  The world is basically ‘dead’ because you solved everything, killed all the bosses and mini bosses, took all the items, cleared out the dungeons, etc.  All these RPGs and action adventures end up becoming a ‘run around aimlessly simulator’ because once you’ve done with the game once, you can’t really do much else on that save file.

OOT 3D Forest Temple

Above: You can’t show your friends how good this is, because the temple becomes a ghost town when you clear it.  Oh wait, that’d imply there were any ghosts left…

A replay option would fix this, and let you should people the ‘best bits’.  Like how in Luigi’s Mansion 2 or Super Mario Galaxy, you can just cut to the best missions immediately and let them try stuff out for themselves.

There should also always be both a full boss rush (with EVERY BOSS in the game refightable) and a cut scene gallery (with all the cut scene videos rewatchable).  That way, players can either replay a whole ‘chapter’, refight a specific fun boss battle or rewatch a specific ‘funny’ moment at any time.

Giant Boss BIS

Above: This would be a really fun boss to replay… if Bowser’s Inside Story let you refight ANY of Bowser’s opponents.

All games need to have a scene replay option, a boss rush and a way to quickly and easily rewatch cut scenes.  No exceptions.

3. Enough Save Files/Save Functionality to be Practical

I also think games need to have a decent amount of save files.  Because while Pokemon having only one makes at least some sort of sense (high amount of data saved and ‘one adventure per game’ feel in general), some other such save game designs don’t really seem too well thought out.

Such as Mario & Luigi Dream Team’s ‘two save files per game’ scheme.  Not only is it a bit awkward if you ever have to actually share a single copy of the game with absolutely anyone else, but there’s also the minor issue of the game having TWO difficulty settings.

So if you want to try and play both normal and hard mode, then you’re either going to have delete your own main file (assuming you’re sharing the game with anyone)… or delete the other person’s file (which is going to down horribly in families with multiple kids and one 3DS).  Would it really have killed them to add a single extra save file for this sort of thing?  Or maybe four or so overall?

Still, it’s not as questionable a save choice as the save file number in the fantastic Wario Land 4 was.  There, you had two possible save slots… and three difficulty levels.  Better hope you don’t end up sharing that game with someone else (or just happen to grow fond of your Normal/Hard mode save data), because it has the duel issues of both really limited save slots and no possible (official) means of save data backup (the GBA had no digital copies of games).

Additionally, games should stick to a certain set of ‘expected’ functions when it comes to messing with save files.  Namely copying them, deleting them and loading them (for obvious reasons).

This helps players make backups of their save data in case the worst happens, something which the designers of Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon apparently forgot to incorporate in any way whatsoever (it somehow lacks a ‘copy file’ function):

All in all, games should provide enough save files for playthroughs on each difficulty level/new game plus mode, along with the basic tools required to copy or delete them.  To not do this seems to me like plain poor game design.

4. Multiple/Remappable Control Schemes

Especially when the ‘primary’ control scheme is a gimmicky one based on the microphone, ‘waggle’ controls, gyroscope or touch screen.  Or Kinect.  Or heck, just about anything which has a tendency to fail at the worst possible time through no fault of the player.

So games really do need to have at the minimum a ‘standard controls only’ option and ideally some way of remapping them altogether.  This way, if things go wrong (and a control scheme locks up or doesn’t properly), the player can use an alternative.  Same if they just cannot get the hang of an awkward control choice like Mario Galaxy’s Manta Ray/Fluzzard/Sar Ball controls or Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon’s beam crossing.

ZeekeeperBattle

Above: A fun battle… which would have been even more fun if gyro controls were optional

Oh, and Nintendo really needs to realise that games and hardware do not have to be tied together.  You never had these issues with the NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, Game Boy or Game Boy Advance, so why force people to use your gimmicky control schemes with the 3DS and Wii U?

5. No Demo/Disable Help Features Mode

Finally, there’s one last thing I feel pretty much all games ever made should have (that seemingly none actually do incorporat at the moment).  And do you know what that is?

The nice option to completely switch off all forms of in game ‘help’ in any shape or form.

No AI exposition fairies commenting about a ’99% chance that this is enemy is dangerous’, no ‘hey listen!’, no E Gadd calling you about every mansion’s latest traps and enemies… just an option to play the game without the annoying handholding in any form.  All tutorials would then be removed (I was annoyed Dream Team’s hard mode didn’t just do this) and all Super Guide options would be permanently disabled on that save file (and so no annoying pig waving a white flag when you die five times on a level).

E Gadd Interrupt

Above: One of the many, many times this happens.  Has a nice theme tune though (from this video).

Is that too much to ask for?  Are today’s game designers too obsessed with making games into movies to the point they can’t even consider a game playable without someone popping up every four steps with ‘how to play’ information?  It’s not even like it’s just Nintendo that does this, pretty much every major game made in the last few years doesn’t shut up with the tutorials, exposition and unwanted ‘help’.

What these games need is simple; a nice option at the start which lets you say ‘I don’t want any tutorials, help or mercy for the next forty hours’.  Maybe call it ‘second playthrough mode’ or something of the sort, since by the time someone’s playing a whole game again, they don’t really need all this assistance.

We need this feature.  Desperately.

And that’s my thoughts on some features that all future games (Nintendo or otherwise) should have.  There’s not really too much to disagree about here (unless you’re a hardcore game designer/student who thinks that asking for certain save features is somehow not letting the designer do what they want), but what does everyone else think?  Do you all agree that most of these things would make Nintendo games (and those by other companies) much better?  Would you play games more if they were implemented?（source:nintendo3dsdaily）