作者：Lennart Nacke

欢迎来到本课程的第五堂课：关于游戏设计的基本介绍。在阅读本文前请确保你先了解教学大纲和课程信息。今天我们将讨论游戏设计中的机会和技能。本文是遵循我们的教科书《Challenges for Game Designers》的第五章和第八章。我的灵感同时还源自Schell的《The Art of Game Design》（第十章内容）以及Adams和Rollings 的《Fundamentals of Game Design》（第十一章内容）。

突出有意义决策的游戏并不总是要求或会唤醒玩家的技能。有些游戏是完全依靠机会。比起技能更多地依赖于机会的游戏通常是关于儿童游戏或博彩游戏。为什么这一区别这么重要？玩家将一直玩玩玩玩玩。不要太快摆脱机会的概念。机会游戏可以非常吸引人，因为它们让带有不同技能的玩家可以基于公平的竞争率而玩游戏。这样的游戏是面向所有人；是面向那些习惯于掷筛子游戏玩法以及那些喜欢感受敌人眼睛所迸射出的恐惧感的人。有些人甚至认为失败以及伪装很有趣。运气游戏似乎强调了更加容易达到的目标。

另一方面，像一字棋这样的游戏则是纯粹基于技能的游戏，并且一旦玩家想出了主要策略便能够精通这类游戏。

关于我将要说的内容似乎看起来很疯狂，但对于游戏将机会作为一种游戏机制的确存在一些理由：

游戏设计师想要阻止或延迟玩家解决问题。

游戏设计师希望游戏玩法达到平衡并且对于所有不同类型的玩家来说都具有竞争性。

机会将提升你的游戏系统的元素多样性。

机会能够在你的游戏中创造出戏剧性的时刻。

机会能够增强你的游戏的决策性。

游戏平衡

Adams和Rollings将一款平衡的游戏描述为“对玩家来说够公平，不管是太难还是太简单，让玩家技能成为决定胜负的关键元素。”平衡的游戏将具有如下特征：

游戏提供了有意义的选择。一些策略能够帮助玩家获胜。游戏中不存在主要的获胜策略。

机会的角色不如技能重要。带有更厉害技能的玩家比拥有糟糕技能的玩家更有可能获胜。

游戏的难度级别是一致的。玩家会感觉到游戏挑战一点都不唐突，并且是在他们合理的能力范围内。

在玩家对抗玩家的游戏中同样也会出现如下特征：

玩家会认为游戏是公平的。

任何在游戏初期落后的玩家都有可能在游戏结束前获得反超的机会。

游戏不可能出现玩家带有不公平能力的情况。

基于运气和技能平衡的游戏测试

当平衡游戏时，需要考虑的一个重要元素便是游戏中技能和运气元素的平衡。以下是标志着你的游戏缺少技能/运气平衡的情况：

你的玩家感到无聊。这标志着游戏失去了有趣的决策而只剩下过多的运气元素。

你的玩家只会在未轮到自己的时候感到无聊。这说明你的游戏可能缺少一些策略元素，即玩家在自己的回合所做的任何事都不会影响到其他玩家的回合。

你的玩家并不会沉浸于游戏中，并且会对自己要做什么感到困惑。这标志着游戏中存在太多决策或者太多信息需要玩家去接收。

其中一个玩家绝对性地压制住所有其他玩家。这预示着你的游戏太过侧重技能，而其中一个玩家便精通了这一技能。为了确保游戏对于带有不同技能水平的玩家来说是公平的，你就需要在此添加一些运气元素。

通常情况下，添加“运气”到游戏中也就是等于添加随机元素。在桌面游戏中，这通常是由掷筛子或洗牌所决定。如果你发现使用了太多这些随机元素，你便可以使用一些自动前进取代它们（例如在一个回合期间多次移动一个玩家的标记）或添加玩家决策而不是随机元素（游戏邦注：例如玩家可以从特定移动选择范围中做出选择）。玩家决策不只是复杂的思考决策，同时也可能是瞬间发生且基于灵巧性的决策（例如《吉他英雄》中的弹奏技能）。

我们的教科书划分了3种类型的运气/技能游戏：

1.机遇游戏。可以是儿童游戏或博彩有戏。可以通过添加策略元素到游戏中去强化它们。一些关于技能的错觉就足以让这类型游戏变得更有趣了。

2.收缩技能游戏。这类型游戏侧重于灵巧性挑战。它们并不大会使用机会元素，反而更常添加一些策略选择。任何能够保持游戏流的内容都可能被添加到游戏中。

3.策略技能游戏。这些游戏让人觉得更紧张且进展更慢，因为它们需要玩家进行思考。添加收缩元素可以打断这些较长的策略环节。许多冗长的RPG便突出了一些较小的收缩迷你游戏（如《天际》中的撬锁内容）去中断一些较长的内容。

技能类型

Jesse Schell在他的《Art of Game Design》中区分了3种主要的技能类型。需要注意的是许多游戏都需要混合这些不同的技能，而这些策略也只是提供了一个起点：

1.实体技能：像灵巧，协调，力量和耐力等技能。这类型技能经常出现于体育类游戏中。然而有些人可能认为一些电子竞技中正确的键盘按压和控制器系列也应该被归入这一类别中。

心理技能：像观察，记忆和解决谜题等技能。这些技能通常与在游戏中做出有趣的决定相关，而最有趣的决定通常都是策略性决定。

3.社交技能：像了解对手，欺骗对手，与队友协作等等技能。这些技能与玩家交朋友并影响游戏中其他人有关。它们通常与玩家的写作技能相联系。这同样也常出现与基于团队的体育游戏中。

Schell同样也区分了真正的技能（游戏邦注：即你在基于某种方式控制游戏时作为人类的真正技能）以及虚拟技能（及与你的游戏角色在游戏中做某事的技能）。真正的技能只有在你运行时才能得到提高，而即使你的真正技能未能得到提高你的虚拟技能也能够不断完善。实际上，Schell列出了你在游戏中可能会使用的所有技能并将游戏分解成一些技能组件。你可以从中找到最适合你们玩家的技能，从而成为一名更出色的设计师。

机会

机会可以使一款游戏变得更有趣，因为它能够往游戏中添加一些不确定因素。未知的惊喜能够带给那些喜欢惊喜的玩家乐趣。机会同样也与游戏中的概率具有直接联系，Schell列出了游戏设计师将会很熟悉的10大概率规则：

1.派别是小数是百分比。派别，小数，百分比都具有相同作用并且都是一样的：就像1/2=0.5=50。作为人类，我们总是喜欢使用概率。

2.0到1。当然了这也是关于概率，即发生于0到1之间（如100%）。当我们说到游戏中的概率时，像-10%或110%这样的可能性是不存在的。如果你尝试着计算掷筛子的可能性，并且结果高于100，那你可能就需要重新计算了。

3.“渴望”除以“可能结果”等于概率。概率其实是你用你所期待出现的结果数除以可能出现的结果数（这种情况下可能出现任何结果）。

4.列举。让我们假设你尝试着寻找你想要找到的结果，并且这不如D6那么直接；获得你想要的答案的一种有效方法便是列出你所处情境中可能出现的任何结果。这能够帮助你明确模式与组合。

5.在特定情况下，OR意味着ADD。当你尝试着明确x或y发生的可能性时（如绘制桥牌上的特定纸牌），这些事件通常都是互相排斥的，你可以添加概率去获得一个OR事件的所有概率。

6.在特定情况下，AND意味着乘以。当我们正在寻找两种事物同时发生的概率时，我们可以乘以它们发生的概率。这只能作用于两个事件不会互相排斥的情况下。

7.1减去某数可以是“does”也可以是“doesn’t”。当1代表的是某事发生的100%机率时这种情况是符合逻辑的。所以不管何时当你在计算某种情况发生的可能性时，你便可以用1减去这一数字以获得对立面事件发生的可能性。

8.多元线性随机选择的综合并不等于线性随机选择。线性随机选择指的是所有结果都具有同等出现机率的一个随机事件。掷筛子便是一个很好的例子。添加多次掷筛子并不意味着可能结果拥有同等的出现机率。掷两次筛子意味着某一面会出现的机率变得更高。但是这种情况的可能结果都是遵循一个可能性概率分布，即中间数值（6，7，8）拥有更高的出现机率。

9.掷筛子。Schell区分了理论概率和实际概率。理论概率便是我们到目前为止所聊到的内容。这是一般情况下会发生的事。而实际概率则是指代已经发生的事。即你可以反复滚动筛子并记录下你所获得的数字，然后基于此去计算概率。最理想的情况下，这一概率非常接近理论概率。这也是我们所谓的蒙特卡洛法。

10.Gombauld定律。Shcell建议和朋友一起进行计算，不管何时当你面对一个概率问题时总是很难独自解决。这可能包括在邮件列表上刊登与数学和概率相关的问题。

以下是关于机会的一些重要内容（源自Adams和Rollings）：

谨慎地使用机会元素。

基于较小的风险和奖励而频繁地使用机会元素。

让玩家按照自己的情况选择使用机会。

让玩家能够决定风险的概率。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转发，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Chance and Skill in Game Design

Lennart Nacke

Welcome to the fifth week of class in the course: Basic Introduction to Game Design. Make sure to read the syllabus and course information before you continue. Today, we are going to discuss chance and skill in game design. This text follows closely from our textbook (Challenges for Game Designers, Chapter 5 and 8). I also take inspiration from Schell’s The Art of Game Design (Chapter 10, pp.150-170) and Adams’s and Rollings’s Fundamentals of Game Design (Chapter 11). However, this is the part when I break free.

Games, which feature meaningful decisions, do not always have to require or evoke skills from a player. Some games operate entirely by chance. Games that rely more heavily on chance than on skill are often found in the context of children’s games or gambling. Why does this difference matter? The player is going to play, play, play, play, play – are they not? Do not shake off the notion of chance too swiftly. Games of chance can be very engaging, because they can allow players of different skill sets to engage in a balanced competition. Games are for everyone; for people, who are used to rolling the dice and people, who like to feel the fear in their enemy’s eyes. Some people even think it is fun to lose and to pretend. However, games of luck in particular seem to feature more attainable goals and are winnable by more people.

On the other hand, games like Tic-Tac-Toe are entirely skill-based and can be mastered, once a player figures out a dominant strategy. See this example lecture for forming a Tic-Tac-Toe strategy via reasoning.

It might seem crazy what I am about to say, but there are several reasons for games to use chance as a game mechanic:

The game designer wants to prevent or delay the player from solving the game.

The game designer wants the gameplay to be balanced and competitive for all different kinds of players.

Chance can increase the variety of elements in your game system.

Chance can help you create dramatic moments in your game.

Chance can enhance the decision-making in your game.

On Game Balance

Adams and Rollings describe a balanced game as “fair to the player or players, [...] neither too easy nor too hard, and makes the skill of the player the most important factor in determining his success.” A game that is considered well-balanced, therefore, has the following characteristics:

The game provides meaningful choices. Several strategies can allow the player to win. There is no dominant winning strategy in the game.

Chance does not play a role so great that player skill is irrelevant. A player with more skill should be more successful than a poor player.

The game’s level of difficulty should be consistent. The players perceive the challenges in the game as not abrupt and within a reasonable range of their abilities.

In Player-vs-player games, the following characteristics also apply:

The players perceive the game as fair.

Any player, who falls behind early in the game, gets some opportunity to catch up before the end of the game.

The game seldom or never results in a stalemate if the players are of unequal ability.

Playtesting for luck and skill balance

When balancing games, an important factor to consider is the balance of skill and luck elements in the games. Some of the following are signs indicating that your skill/luck balance might be off:

Your players are bored. This is generally a sign of missing interesting decisions in the game and too many luck elements.

Your players are only bored when it is not their turn. Your game is likely lacking some strategic elements as none of the things players do during their turn seem to affect other players’ turns.

Your players do not become engaged in the game and are confused about what to do. This could be a sign of too many decisions or too much information to process for players.

One of your players beats all the other players by a wide margin. This could be an indicator that your game is heavily skill-based and one player has mastered this skill. To keep a game balanced for players with different skill levels, it is important to add some elements of luck to it.

Generally, adding “luck” to a game comes down to adding elements of randomness. In board games, this is often done through dice rolls or shuffling cards. If you find that you are using too many of these random elements, you can replace them by using distinct automated advances (e.g., moving a player token a distinct number of spaces during a turn) or by adding a player decision instead of the random element (e.g., players can choose from a given range of movement options). Player decisions are not just complex thinking decisions at all times, but can also be split-second dexterity-based decisions (twitch skills like hitting notes in Guitar Hero).

Our textbook (Challenges for Game Designers) distinguishes between three types of luck/skill games:

1.Games of chance. This can be either children’s games or gambling games. These games can often be enhanced by adding twitch and strategic elements to them. Often just the illusion of skill in those games is enough to make them more interesting.

2.Games of twitch skill. These are games that are focused on a challenge of dexterity. These games tend not to work too well with chance elements, but adding simple tactical options is quite common. Anything that keeps the flow of the game is a possible addition.

3.Games of strategic skill. These games can feel tense and slow, because they involve a lot of thinking. Adding twitch elements can be a welcome interruption of these long strategic sessions. Many long-winded RPGs feature little twitch mini games (such as lockpicking in Skyrim) to interrupt some of the longer stretches.

Types of Skills

Jesse Schell distinguishes between three main categories of skill in his Art of Game Design book. Keep in mind that many games require a blend of different skills, but these categories provide a starting point:

1.Physical skills: Skills like dexterity, coordination, strength, and physical endurance. These types of skills are most commonly found in sports games. However, some might argue that the correct keypress and controller sequences found in some esports would also fall into this category.

2.Mental skills: Skills like observation, memory, and puzzle solving. Often these relate to making interesting decisions in a game, as most interesting decisions are also tactical decisions.

3.Social skills: Skills like reading an opponent, tricking an opponent, and coordinating with teammates. These relate to a player’s ability to make friends and influence people in a game. They are often tied to a player’s communication skills. This is also commonly seen in team-based sports.

Schell also distinguishes between real skill, which means your actual skill as a human person in controlling the game in a certain way, and virtual skill, which relates to your in-game character’s skill at doing something. Real skills only improve when you work on them, while virtual skills can improve even when your real skill does not improve. In general, Schell suggests making a list of all skills in your game as an exercise to break down your game into skill components. Finding out what skills you require from your players will make you a better designer.

Chance

Chance can make games more fun, because it adds elements of uncertainty to it. Uncertainty equal surprises for players and humans do enjoy surprises. Chance is also related directly to probability in games, and Schell lists ten rules of probability with which game designers should be familiar:

1.Fractions are decimals are percents. Fractions, decimals, and percents essentially all work the same way and are essentially the same thing: 1/2 = 0.5 = 50%. As humans, we like to express probabilities in percentages.

2.Zero to one – and that’s it. This concerns, of course, probabilities, which all happen in the space between 0 and 1 (i.e., 100%). Chances like -10% or 110% do not exist when we speak about probabilities in games. If you are trying to calculate the probabilities of your dice rolls and they come up higher than 100, you know that you will need to run your calculation again.

3.”Looked for” divided by “possible outcomes” equals probability. Probability really means you take the number of times the outcome that you are looking for can (or has) come up and divide this by the number of possible outcomes (in the case that all outcomes are similarly likely) .

4.Enumerate. Let’s say that you are trying to find the outcomes that you are looking for and it is not as straightforward as the numbers on a D6; a good way of getting to your answer is just to list all the possible outcomes in your scenario. This helps you see patterns and combinations.

5.In certain cases, OR means ADD. When trying to determine the chances of x or y happening (like drawing certain cards from a deck) and these events are mutually exclusive, you can add the probabilities to get the overall probability of an OR event.

6.In certain cases, AND means MULTIPLY. When we are looking for the probability of two things happening simultaneously, we can multiply their probabilities. This only works if the two events are NOT mutually exclusive.

7.One minus “does” equals “doesn’t.” This quite logical as 1 represents a 100% chance of something happening. So, whenever you have calculated the probability of something occurring, you can subtract this number from 1 to find the probability of the opposite event occurring.

8.The sum of multiple linear random selections is NOT a linear random selection. By linear random selection, we are referring to a random event where all the outcomes have an equal chance of occurring. A die roll is a great example of this. Adding multiple die rolls does not mean that the possible outcomes have an equal chance of occurring. Rolling a die twice means that you have a higher chance of a seven occurring. The possible outcomes of this scenario follow a probability distribution curve (a normal distribution in this case), where the numbers in the middle (6,7,8) have a higher likelihood of coming up.

9.Roll the die. Schell distinguishes between theoretical probability and practical probability. Theoretical probability is what we have talked about so far. It is what is likely to happen in a general case. However, practical probability accounts for what has already happened. For this you would just roll a die over and over and record the number that you are getting and calculate your probability based on this. Ideally, this probability should approach the theoretical probability with a repeated number of trials. This is also known as the Monte Carlo method.

10.Geeks love showing off (Gombauld’s law). Schell basically recommends to find a math wiz friend, whenever you are facing a probability problem that you cannot solve on your own. This can also include posting math and probability related questions to mailing lists.

Some important things to remember about chance are (from Adams and Rollings):

Use chance sparingly.

Use chance in frequent challenges with small risks and rewards.

Allow the player to choose actions to use the odds to their advantage.

Allow the player to decide how much to risk.(source:gamecareerguide)