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阐述游戏玩法测试的作用与要求(1)

发布时间:2014-08-14 20:26:08 Tags:,,

作者:Pascal Luban

在游戏开发过程中询问测试者的反馈并非新鲜事。但是,通过接近科学的协议执行的玩法测试操作,并将它们整合到早期开发周期中却是最近才出现的趋势。(请点击此处阅读本系列第2篇

真正玩法测试在游戏开发周期中的扩展可能就是这种低调革命的一部分,而这个革命却深刻影响了开发环境。

如何影响?玩法测试迫使游戏开发围绕玩家而非开发团队的意志进行。让我们看看这种关注点转移的效果:

*玩法测试可以鉴别出那些令一般测试者转移视线的玩法或关卡设计瑕疵。

毕竟,测试者总是富有经验的玩家,他们未必能够代表目标用户。还有谁会比休闲玩家更合适指出与难度曲线或对游戏的整体理解有关的问题?

*玩法测试扮演了设计团队意见不一致或产生争论时的缓和剂。

一系列玩法测试几乎可以解决任何争论或争端,因此以避免从争论不断转向僵局的意见不一致。玩法测试也是一个管理工具。

*玩法测试和设计之间的伙伴关系可能极具建设性。例如,它可能对游戏极具指导意性,让关卡设计师可以在测试过程中观察玩法,以便他们快速判断自己的设计的特定环节是否像预期一样可行。

*在实物模型上执行的玩法测试可以尽早预测到问题,并及时更正所谓的问题(在开发周期中越早更正问题,成本就越小)。游戏开发也因此变得真正“以玩家为中心”。

*根据玩法测试协议和测试者的选择(硬核、休闲等类型),玩法测试可以用较高的准确性来检查特定游戏的层面:如游戏平衡性,导航、对游戏目标的理解等。

我们都可能玩过那些具有较高产品价值但却具有一些明显瑕疵的游戏,它们存在如游戏早期不稳定的难度曲线,导航问题,过于复杂的界面等问题。

如果早点发现,就有可能避免这些问题的出现了。

playtest(from gamasutra)

playtest(from gamasutra)

行业中的主流公司相当了解这一点,比如育碧这家拥有过硬团队的并在这个游戏开发层面投入许多资源的公司就是如此。

我们通过玩法测试可以解决或避免什么问题呢?这些例子包括:

*通俗性与易用性(界面、游戏中的导航等)

*鉴别出压倒性的战略,例如那些允许玩家轻易克服由设计师创造的任何挑战,并因此导致他们对游戏失去兴趣的战略。这个问题在多人模式地图中表现最为显著。

*微调游戏系统:根据我的经验,玩家对游戏功能(包括武器、装备、操作等)的使用强度会因一系列因素而产生变化。

这些包括玩家资料,玩家用于让自己熟悉游戏的投入时间,当然还有游戏本身的协调性

只有通过具有关联性玩家样本的长期测试,我们才能确定游戏在多个小时后还能维持其平衡性和关联性。

*在早期会话阶段分析不同玩家类型的早期反应。这将指明他们对游戏的初次印象以及初期受挫感。有些游戏样本可能会对他们打算推广的游戏营销产生一定消极影响,因为它存在易用性和协调性问题,这些都是很容易在测试时发现的情况。

*对于多人模式游戏来说,游戏系统的健全性和地图潜力很重要。

我曾有数次机会深入研究玩法测试管理。我在育碧Annecy工作室(游戏邦注:其开发作品包括《Splinter Cell:Pandora Tomorrow》和《混沌理论》)创建了玩法测试框架。

我设置了招募方法,玩法测试协议,以及这个程序所采用的询问方法。我还在育碧Bucarest办公室设置了一个测试格子间,并在那里主导了玩法测试。玩法测试改变了我作为创意总监的工作方式,所以我感觉有必要在此与各位分享自己的经验。

让我们先从定义入手。玩法测试包括分析富有代表性的玩家群体对玩家的反应,以便提升最终游戏,并确保成品与自己的预期一致。

有些人会说游戏测试并没有什么新鲜的。诚然,但真正的玩法测试与开发周期末尾执行的调试测试毫无关系。

传统上,游戏设计师会询问测试者的意见。测试者通常是出色的玩家,并不总能代表由主流玩家组成的目标用户群体。

另外,测试者通常太了解游戏了,他们对游戏长处和弱点的了解会深刻影响他们的玩法。因此,他们并不能代表那种首次发现游戏的群体。

执行完善的玩法测试允许我们以极佳的准确性来评估玩法长处和弱点,它们有赖于两个核心原则:

*仔细筛选玩法测试者

*使用正规的协议

筛选玩法测试者

就像农民需要肥沃的土地才能获得好收成一样,优秀的玩法测试也需要群精挑细先出来的测试者。我认为招募和评估测试候选人的重要性这一点已经无需再强调。

招募标准是什么?当然,这要取决于我们寻找的是哪类测试者。我们可能需要硬核玩家,初学者,只玩主机游戏的用户,多人模式粉丝等。

这些候选者的游戏精通度和整体游戏文化代表了首个标准。其次就是候选者从自己的游戏体验进行分析和总结的能力。

注意,这并不是说玩法测试者在这两个标准上一定要兼具较高水平。此外,测试者类型将决定需求条件。

我很尊重自己曾经共事过的那些测试者。他们极为善良和热情,许多人是从Lyon、Grenoble或Belfort等偏远城市来到Annecy,只是为了参与这种无报酬的半天测试!

这种慷慨和激情正是我们行业的特征,让我们以感激和尊重来对待这些测试者,继续培养这种行业特征。

使用正规协议

协议是玩法测试过程中的一个统一思路,定义了目标,资源分配,尤其是特定测试的收集和分析信息的方法。玩法测试协义必须根据手头上的挑战进行特别调整(游戏系统调整,导航,地图概念等)。

在我所主导的玩法测试过程中,我会针对每次测试准备不同的协议。的确,这些测试的一个重要部分包括框架之下的多人模式地图或游戏系统调整。每次测试都会透露出一些在之后测试将进行分析的特定问题。

我想在此重复一次,玩法测试过程必须以真正科学的准确性来指导,没有人可以简单地带来一些好友享受数小时的乐趣和通过一轮简单的问题而执行玩法测试。

测试的每个层面都要仔细根据手头的目标来执行以便实现预期效果。

管理测试本身也需要持续的注意力,这不但是因为我们可以通过观察测试者的操作过程而掌握经验,还因为有些事情总是计划赶不上变化!

我将在本系列文章第二篇中具体讨论一些测试层面。(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 Silent Revolution Of Playtests, Part 1

by Pascal Luban

[Starting a new series, former Ubisoft designer Luban looks at why regular and detailed playtests are vital to center a game's development around the player.]

There is nothing new about asking testers for their feedback on a game in development. However, the practice of managing playtests by following near-scientific protocols, and of integrating them very early in the development cycle, is a more recent trend.

The spread of real playtests in the game development cycle is probably part of this silent revolution; a revolution profoundly affecting the development environment.

How? Playtests force game development to center around the players instead of the hopes of the development team. Let’s look at the effects of this shifted focus:

- Playtests allow the identification of gameplay or level design flaws that could elude the grasp of normal testers.

After all, testers are always seasoned gamers who are not necessarily representative of the target audience. Who better than a casual gamer to pinpoint issues related to the difficulty curve or the overall understanding of the game?

- Playtests fulfill a moderator role in situations of disagreement or controversy within the design team.

A series of playtests can quickly settle a contested issue by resolving almost any counter-argument or dispute, thereby preventing the disagreement from spiralling into an impasse. Playtesting is also a management tool.

- The partnership between playtesting and design can be very constructive. For example, it can be quite instructive for game and level designers to observe gameplay during playtesting, allowing them to immediately determine whether or not particular aspects of their design work as planned.

- Playtests executed on pre-prod mock-ups allow the anticipation of problems very early on, as well as timely corrections of said problems (the faster a problem is corrected in the development cycle, the less expensive it is). Game development can therefore become truly “player-centric”.

- According to the playtest protocol and the selection of playtesters (hardcore, casual, etc.), playtests allow the examination of a specific aspect of the game with heightened acuity: game balance, navigation, understanding of the game objectives, etc.

We all have the opportunity to play games that display high production values but nonetheless suffer from obvious flaws: erratic difficulty curve early in the game, navigation issues, overly complex interface, and so on.

Such flaws could often have been easily avoided if they had been identified early enough.

Major names in the industry understand this quite well, such as Ubisoft, which possesses qualified teams and invest lot of resources in this aspect of game development.

What kind of problems might we fix or prevent with playtests? Some examples include:

- Accessibility and ease of use (interface, navigation within the game, etc.).

- Identification of sure-fire-wins, i.e. strategies allowing a player to easily overcome any challenge created by the designers and therefore remove any interest in the game or the current mission. This issue is especially sensitive for multiplayer maps.

- Fine-tuning of the game system: experience has shown me that the intensity of use of game features (weapons, equipment, actions, etc.) tends to vary considerably according to a number of factors.

These include player profiles, the time a given player spends on familiarizing himself with the game, and of course the game tuning itself.

Only through long-term playtests with relevant samples of players can we ensure that the game tuning maintains its balance and relevance even after long hours of gaming.

- Analysis of the early reactions of different categories of players during their first session. This will highlight their first impressions and initial frustrations. Some game demos have probably had a negative effect on the marketing of games they were meant to promote because of accessibility and tuning issues that could have easily been spotted during playtesting.

- For multiplayer games, the robustness of the game system and the potential of maps.

I have had several opportunities to delve deeply into playtest management. I built the playtest structure from scratch at the Ubisoft Annecy studio, where the successful multi-player “versus” modes of Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow and Chaos Theory were developed.

I set up the recruiting methods, playtest protocols, and the debriefing methods employed in this program. I also set up a playtest cell at the Ubisoft Bucarest office and led playtests there myself. Playtests have changed the way I perceive my job as creative director, so I feel the need to share my experience with everyone.

Let us start with a definition. Playtests consist in analyzing the reactions of a representative pool of players toward gameplay in order to improve the final game and to make sure it matches their expectations.

Some will argue that game testing is nothing new. True, but real playtests have nothing to do with the debug testing executed at the end of the development cycle.

Traditionally, game designers ask testers for their opinions. Testers are often excellent players and are therefore not always representative of the targeted demographic which is often made up of mainstream gamers.

Moreover, testers generally get to know a game so deeply that their knowledge of it strengths and weaknesses profoundly influences the way they play. Therefore, they do not play as someone who discovers the game for the first time.

Well-executed playtests allow us to evaluate gameplay strengths and weaknesses with great accuracy since they rely on two solid principles:

- The careful selection of playtesters.

- The use of ad-hoc protocols.

The Selection of Playtesters

Just as a peasant needs fertile ground in order to ultimately obtain the best yields, good playtests require a group of carefully-selected playtesters. I could never insist hard enough on the importance of the recruitment and evaluation of the playtest candidates.

What are the recruiting criteria? This depends, of course, on what kind of playtests we are planning. We may need hardened gamers, beginners, console-only gamers, multiplayer fans, and so on.

The candidate’s gaming proficiency and overall game culture represent the first criteria. The second is the candidate’s ability for analyzing and drawing conclusions from their gaming experience.

Note, however, that it is not mandatory that a playtester should possess a high level of competence on both criteria. Again, the type of playtests will determine the requirements.

I have the utmost respect for the playtesters I have worked with. Their good will and enthusiasm are boundless. Many came to Annecy from distant cities like Lyon, Grenoble, or Belfort simply for an unpaid half-day session!

This generosity and enthusiasm are characteristics of our industry; let us nurture these characteristics by treating playtesters with the gratitude and respect that they deserve.

The Use of Ad-hoc Protocols

The protocol is the unifying thread of the playtest session, defining the objectives, allocation of resources, and especially the methods of collecting and parsing information for a given playtest. The playtest protocol needs to adapt to the specifics of the challenge at hand (game system tuning, navigation, map concept, etc.).

During the playtest campaigns that I led, I would prepare a different protocol for each session. Indeed, an important part of those playtests involved multiplayer maps under construction or game system tuning. Each session revealed specific problems to be analyzed in the subsequent session.

I shall conclude this first part by repeating that a playtest campaign must be directed with a true scientific rigor if it is to be of any use; one does not conduct playtests simply by bringing over one’s buddies for a few hours of fun followed by a session of easygoing Q&As.

Each aspect of the session must be carefully tailored in order to best realize the objectives at hand.

Managing the session itself requires constant attention, not only because one can learn much by watching the playtesters in action, but also because things do not always go as planned!

I shall address concrete aspects of playtests in the second part of this article.(source:gamasutra


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