作者：Hamish Todd

昨天我去了当地的健身馆，想练一下前空翻（在软垫子上）。令人不快的是，我周围的人进步得都比我快很多。

一个教练（后来我得知他培养了两名奥运冠军）很同情我，就帮了我一把。他把三张软垫子叠在一起，让我在垫子上做一个前滚翻。

幸好这是我做得来的事。也就是把手撑在垫子边缘上，然后俯身滚过去。因为是从垫子的宽边开始滚的，所以马上就能滚到另一边，这与一般的前滚翻相比，有些奇怪。所以我做完后就绊倒了。

他让我再做一次。这次当我脚着地时我没有绊倒。然后他又拉了一张垫子叠在原来的三张垫子上。

CrashMat(from gamasutra)

他叫我再前滚翻。我个子不高，所以这次我得先跳上去才能滚。我第一次就成功了。他又加了一张垫子。你应该知道他想干嘛了吧。

最后，垫子已经快到我的肩膀了。面对这么高的垫子，我自然显得笨手笨脚。但他叫我在那个垫子堆上滚了不下九次。滚了几次后，我感觉容易了一点。只是有无聊。

过了一会儿，他抽掉了两张垫子。垫子的高度现在到我的肚脐，也就是第一次加垫子的高度，他又叫我前滚翻。

我试了一下，这一次我的翻滚很奇怪。我的脖子不用碰到垫子就翻过去了。

教练点关，把另外两张垫子也抽走了。现在垫子的高度只到我的膝盖了。我又做前滚翻。

这次我做了一个翻筋斗。我虽然我做得还是不够好，但我学到了可能变成好的前空翻的东西。持之以恒。

10a(from-gamasutra)

我希望游戏尽可能以清楚简明的方式教玩家复杂的东西。因此，我想到了电子游戏的“教学技巧”是多么重要。我很高兴这种东西有很多，且有些设计师运用得非常好。（我很生气居然还有一些设计师仍然不肯用能更形象的方式介绍游戏概念，而是依赖文本弹出框等东西）。

有很多游戏通过微妙而流畅的方式引入新的机制/策略。比如《洛克人X》的墙跳、《传送门》的空翻、《The Mighty JillOff》的“严厉惩罚”。

但我还没有看到像我的老师使用的那样流畅的引入方法。他教授复杂的东西的技术是：把类似的、简单的东西慢慢成修改成这个东西的怪异版本。让学生适应这个怪异的版本。然后撤销修改，确保学生意识到这些修改的存在。这让学生产生一种做复杂的事需要的心态。撤销更多修改，现在可能学生就做成了复杂的事情。

这个基本原理还有很多内容没有完善，也许你现在在做的游戏就可能填补那些空白！（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）

What can game designers learn from gymnastics teachers?

by Hamish Todd

I was at a local gymnasium yesterday, trying to do a front flip (onto a crash mat). Annoyingly, people around me were progressing much faster than I was.

An elderly tutor (whom I later found out had trained two Olympic champions) took pity on me, and brought me aside. He made a pile of three crash mats, and positioned me facing them sideways “Do a forward roll onto there” he said.

That, at least, was something I could do. You put your hands on the edge, and roll onto it. Since you’re going on width-wise, you immediately come off the other side, which feels weirder than a normal roll. So I stumble when I come off.

He got me to do it again, this time I didn’t stumble when my feet hit the ground. “Ok” he said, and puts another crash mat on the pile.

I do the same thing. I’m a short guy; this time I had to jump onto it to roll over. I did it ok first time. He added another mat. You may be able to see where this is going.

Eventually the pile reached my armpits. With it that way I was shakey, but he asks me to roll maybe nine more times over this pile. It’s gets easy after a few. Kinda bored of it really.

“Right now…” he says after a while, and pulls two of the crash mats away. The top is now at my navel, about where it was after he had heightened the pile once. “Do that”.

I try it – and this time my roll is weird. I turn over without the back of my neck touching the surface.

The old man nods, and takes another two mats off the pile. It’s barely above my knee. “Again”.

This time I do a flip, onto my heels, rather than my arse. I fall out of it, and I’ve done it lopsided, but I have something that can be turned into a good flip. Wax on, wax off, motherfucker.

What I want out of games is to be taught sophisticated things as clearly and concisely as possible. Therefore I think video game “teaching techniques” are a huge deal. I’m happy that there are a bunch of them around, and that some designers are using them well. (I’m angered that there are some degenerates in our industry who still don’t bother about introducing game concepts elegantly, instead relying on text pop-ups, but whatever).

There are lots of games that introduce new mechanics/strategies in subtle, smooth ways. Mega Man X does it with the walljump, Portal does it with the fling, The Mighty JillOff does it in a level described here.

But I’ve yet to see smooth introduction done in quite the way that my sensei did it (I might have come closest with my game). His technique for teaching a sophisticated thing is: take a similar, simple thing. Modify this simple thing slowly into a strange version of itself. Get the student used to this strange version. Then take away some of the modifications, and make sure the student is noticing their absence. This gets them into the mindset they need to be in to do the sophisticated thing. Take away the modifications more, and now, potentially, the student is doing the sophisticated thing.

There are a lot of blanks in that description to be filled in on a case-by-case basis. Maybe the things in the game you are currently making could fit in those blanks!(source:gamasutra)