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创造一款优秀平台游戏的6大诀窍

发布时间:2015-05-18 16:21:40 Tags:,,,,

作者:Playtonic Games team

尽管本周来自Koji Igarashi的《血污:夜之仪式》的发行吸引了一些关注,但《Yooka-Laylee》仍作为2015年最成功的众筹项目之一备受注意。一群Rare的资深开发者所参与的平台游戏吸引了许多支持者的注意并且到目前为止已经筹集了200多万美元。

yooka(from gamasutra)

yooka(from gamasutra)

鉴于Playtonic Games团队的历史,这并不是什么让人惊讶的事:游戏的所有负责人都是来自Rare并且许多人都参与了《小熊托尼大冒险》,即《Yooka-Laylee》所谓的精神上的前篇。鉴于此,Gamasutra向这只团队讨教了平台游戏开发的秘诀。以下是那些想要创造角色行动游戏的团队需要了解的各个学科的重要诀窍。

1.角色设计必须……

“吸引人。如果当人们首次看到角色时发现它与其它事物没有任何联系,那么我就算失败了。表达是吸引力的关键部分,这在游戏内部并不多见,但对于强调外观的图像来说却很重要,所以我花了许多时间去确保角色具有必要的表达能力。吸引力同时也是源自整体的形状和突出的功能,如Yooka的波峰设计以及角色的姿态与动画。有时候吸引力也是一种‘X元素’,如果你能够明确这些内容,你便能够走上正确的轨道!”—-Steve Mayles(角色美术师)

2.角色控制必须……

“具有娱乐性。你希望能在最基本层面上从角色中感受到乐趣,所以你需要让控制器具有乐趣且吸引人。在过去我是先从一个方块开始。如果你能够移动,转向,跳跃,加速并滑动停止,它便能够留住你的吸引力,这便算是一个很好的开始!”

“需要记得游戏玩法比动画更重要—-你首先需要考虑玩家是否会觉得游戏不错,然后再考虑如何让它的外观变得更好。例如从美术师的角度来看你可能会希望在跳跃前角色先蜷缩起来,但对于一款带有延迟性的敏感平台游戏来说这是不合适的。”

“同时你也需要考虑自己正在通过一些数字按键或者操纵杆添加输入内容到游戏角色中,这真的是非常少量的信息,所以你需要尽可能从这些输入内容中提取所有元素并以一种有意义的方式去赋予角色生命力。”

“举个例子来说吧,如果你的角色在游戏世界中朝着一个方向前进,而你的控制器输入将引导他们走向完全不同的道路,你可能需要让角色倾向于输入方向,并衡量两者之间的相对比例。”—-Chris Sutherland(项目主管)

3.世界设计必须……

“让人惊讶。尝试着在游戏中以各种方式让玩家感到惊讶。有可能是情境,boss,机制或对话,并尝试着提供给他们一些能够对游戏回合印象深刻的内容。”—-Gavin Price(创意总监)

4.执行必须……

“有效。线程的引擎和中间件非常有帮助。我们总是想要通过从头编写完美的引擎而开始一个项目,但除非你能够在特定领域中有所创新,否则这就像是在重新创造别人已经做得很棒的东西。”

“你可以将更多时间花费在优化游戏并完善工作流程而不是维护你匆忙所编写的软件。过去我们会针对一款游戏和一个平台编写引擎,而这需要你在任何游戏和任何新平台中投入更多时间于工程工作中。”—-Jens Restemeier(技术总监)

5.世界必须……

“引起好奇并激发探索。没有什么比进入一个全新的世界并能够探索每个角落去寻找那些秘密领域的细微线索更棒的事。”

“同时也需要呈现出一个清楚的平台环境,如此才能让玩家清晰地判断自己要穿越哪里—-没有什么比迷路并漫无目的地转圈圈更让玩家郁闷了。尝试着提供明确的指示牌和路标去帮助玩家轻松地向前进。”—-Steven Hurst(环境美术师)

6.收集品必须……

“足够巧妙。从视觉上看,平台游戏中的收集品需要履行更多功能,不能只是充当一些等待你去收集的闪闪发光的物品。特别是在一款3D平台游戏中,这与创造一些诱导玩家去收集且具有视觉上的吸引力的东西一样,收集品必须凸显于背景中,并且能够在一定距离内轻松被识别出来,甚至在遇到像景深等视觉效果时也需要足够明显。”

“为什么呢?因为与货币或其它游戏道具一样,它们也是一种非常万能且有用的设计工具。想要帮助玩家搞清楚该去哪里?那就在那放置一些收集品。想要诱导玩家去探索?那就在玩家能够看到但却不容易触及的地方放置收集品。想要诱导玩家去测试他们的技能?那就在挑战位置放置收集品。”

“在平台游戏中,一些简单的收集品有可能是最万能且最有用的,所以你需要确保视觉设计能够帮助它们履行所有的这些角色。”—-Mark Stevenson(技术美工)

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

6 musts for a perfect platformer, from the Yooka-Laylee team

By Playtonic Games team

Though this week’s launch of the Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Kickstarter by Koji Igarashi has stolen some attention, Yooka-Laylee stands out as one of 2015′s most robust crowdfunding successes. The Nintendo 64-inflected platformer from a bevy of Rare veterans has captured the attention of a huge number of backers and raised over $2 million so far.

It’s not a surprise, given the pedigree of the team at Playtonic Games: All of the game’s leads worked at Rare and many developed the Banjo-Kazooie games, which Yooka-Laylee stands as a spiritual sequel to. With that in mind, Gamasutra asked for platformer development wisdom from the team. This collection of tips across every discipline is required reading for teams considering making character action games.

1. Character Design Must…

“Appeal. If the first time someone sees the character there isn’t a connection of some sort, then I’ve already lost. Expression is a key part to the appeal, not so much in-game, but for posed artwork, so I spend a good deal of time ensuring that the character is capable of a few necessary expressions. Appeal also comes from the overall shape and stand-out features, such as Yooka’s crest design, and how the character is posed/animated. Sometimes appeal is something of an ‘X-factor,’ but get these things nailed down and you’ll be on the right track!” – Steve Mayles, character artist

2. Character Control Must…

“Be entertaining. You want to have fun with your character at the most basic stage, so just moving something around with the controller should feel fun and engaging. In the past I’ve started with a cube. If you can make that move, turn, jump, accelerate and slide to a stop, and it maintains your interest, then you’re off to a good start!

“Remember that gameplay trumps animation — your priority is to make it feel good first, then make it look good. For example, from an artistic point of view you might want your character to crouch before they jump, but for a responsive platformer having a delay before they leave the ground is usually not desirable.

“Also consider that you are supplying input to a game character via a few digital buttons and maybe an analog stick, that’s actually a tiny bit of information, so you need to extract everything you can from those inputs and use them to bring the character to life in a responsive and meaningful way.

“So for example, if your character is heading one way in the game world and your controller input is directing them a totally different way, you might make the character lean towards the input direction, and scale the lean amount relative to the delta between the two.” – Chris Sutherland, project director

3. World Design Must…

“Surprise. Try and surprise the player in lots of ways across everything the game does. It could be a scenario, a boss, a mechanic or even a cheeky dialog, but try and always give them something that makes every play session memorable.” – Gavin Price, creative lead

4. Implementation Must…

“Be efficient. Off-the-shelf engines and middleware are worth it! There is always the temptation to start a project by writing the perfect engine from scratch, but unless you can really innovate in a specific area it is more likely that you reinvent a wheel that someone else has already perfected.

“You can then spend your time on polishing the game and improving the workflow instead of maintaining the software you wrote in a rush to get everyone started. In the past, we wrote an engine specifically for one game and one platform, which then required more engineering work for any new game and any new platforms.” – Jens Restemeier, technical director

5. Worlds Must…

“Provoke wonder and exploration. There’s nothing better than entering a new world and being able to explore every nook and cranny trying to find those subtle clues to those secret areas that you just know are there somewhere.

“At the same time, a good platform environment also needs clarity so that people can clearly identify where they can traverse — nothing frustrates people more than getting lost and going aimlessly round in circles. Try to give clear signposts and landmarks to help them navigate the level easily. – Steven Hurst, environment artist

6. Collectibles Must…

“Be smart. Visually, collectibles in a platformer fulfill more functions than just being something shiny for you to collect lots of. Particularly in a 3D platformer, it’s important that as well as creating something visually appealing that tempts the player to collect them, that the collectibles stand out from the background and are also easily identifiable at a distance, even when subjected to visual effects like depth of field making them blurry at a distance.

“Why? Because as well as being a currency or a means to an end of 100-percenting the game, they’re also an incredible versatile and useful design tool. Want to help the player know where to be going? Then put down trails of collectibles. Want to tempt the player to explore and experiment? Put collectibles where they can be seen but not necessarily where they can be obviously reached. Want to tempt the player into testing their skills? Put collectibles in challenging positions.

“The humble collectibles are possibly some of the most versatile and useful elements in a platformer, so you need to make sure the visual design helps them fulfill all these possible roles.” – Mark Stevenson, technical artist(source:gamasutra)

 


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