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如何设计一款有趣的互动故事游戏(四)

发布时间:2016-03-03 14:51:17 Tags:,,,,

作者:Greg Johnson

一些新概念

基于属性和性能的广义行为

一个我们不常使用但却能够作为世界模拟并变得更常见的概念便是基于对广义属性和性能的回应的NPC行为概念。这种方法的一大优势便是它能让NPC行为变得更加灵活并让它们能够对任何带有属性的内容作出反应。这意味着随着PC或其它NPC属性的改变,面向这些角色的NPC行为也会随之发生改变。关于这类系统的另一大优势便是NPC角色将分布在游戏世界的任何地方;同样地,全新NPC角色也能出现于游戏过程中,而现有的NPC将清楚如何对它们做出回应,因为它们能够对性能作回应。假设一个NPC的设定是讨厌一切绿色的事物并且会攻击任何比自己弱的对象,并逃离比自己强大的对象。这都是一些简单的属性,并且会引出一些复杂且多样的行为。作为玩家的你可能会喝掉一瓶药剂并变成绿色,如此原本友善对待你的NPC将会发生态度上的转变。它将开始攻击你,而一旦你拥有一把宝剑,它便会逃离你。这一NPC也会对任何它所遇到的其它NPC做同样的事。这一简单的概念也可以创造出更好的效果。(如《涂鸦冒险家》,《孢子》,《宇宙在我心》)

静态空间里的故事进程

最常见的控制故事流的方法便是在路线上或地图上将其整合到空间元素中,然后控制玩家在这个空间的进程。而这也不是控制故事流的唯一方法。像《消逝》和《灯红酒绿杀人夜》,《小贩人生》或《模拟人生》等实验型游戏便尝试着在一个有限的空间内控制故事。就像我们之前所提到的其它游戏那样,这些游戏仍然拥有一些概念门。这便是玩家推动故事发展必须满足的一些条件。这也可以是在固定顺序中需要开启的一些故事内容,但选择这样路线的设计师也需要采取一种更加模拟的方法并将故事事件分解成一些具有条件的“可能事件”,确保结果并非事先设定好的,即提供给玩家更多控制。《消逝》甚至创造了一个“故事管理者”,即能够基于结果对于故事高潮的影响去划分它们而引导事件的走向。

the sims(from xiami)

the sims(from xiami)

使用NPC目标状态去控制故事

随着NPC的AI越来越复杂,控制故事流的一种方法便是使用一些关键NPC角色的目标状态。在某种意义上,NPC本身会变成所有“门”的持有者。想象一个NPC拥有它想要在游戏世界中实现的目标。而作为玩家的你将与这一NPC的目标连接在一起。即你的目标可能是帮助或阻碍NPC,但不管怎样你的目标都是受到NPC当前目标的影响。随着NPC目标的转变,你的目标也会发生转变。当NPC实现自己的目标时,世界状态(或故事状态)也会发生改变,而你将进入一个全新的故事章节。这一方法非常有组织性并且会让故事进程更加清楚。

PC自主性

另外一个已经出现在不少游戏中的方法便是提高给玩家角色一些自主性的技巧。换句话来说,作为故事主角的你的角色也许拥有自己的意愿。它可能不想做你“命令”它做的事。而这将让你变成影响者而不再只是控制者。也许你是你的角色的上帝般的存在。也许你的角色讨厌你让他/她做的事,也许你拥有某种方法与这一角色进行交谈。这是让你的角色变得更加可信并提供给你与游戏世界另一种情感连接的有效方法。

打破第4堵墙

通常在游戏中我们总是通过那些作为游戏故事组成部分的角色进行互动。也有些游戏尝试让玩家直接与游戏角色进行互动,即与AI角色进行交谈或直接面对它们。而打破第4堵墙并让一个聪明的NPC角色意识到你便是从情感上连接玩家与游戏的一种方法。到目前为止这些直接互动方式都是关于呈现一些全新的外围设备,但在某种情况下这种方法只能基于更深层面的使用,即让玩家能够更直接且更真实地与AI角色相连接。匿名让我们能够保持一定的情感距离,而被“看到”则会带给我们更深的感受。

玩家的个人空间

获得来自玩家的情感回应的一种简单方法便是占领他们的个人空间。因为我们总是认为自己是聪明人,并且作为人类的我们也创造了数百万年的进化,我们的大脑已经变得非常强大了。而这种技巧便是使用黑暗中的恐怖感,并让某些事物突然近距离出现在屏幕上。许多恐怖游戏便是这么做的(游戏邦注:如《玩具熊的午夜后宫》)。但如果你想真正激发玩家情感的话,这种“侵占个人空间”的方法还是很难做到,除非你能让玩家带上VR眼罩或使用触感设备。一款名为《夏日课程》的VR游戏便有效使用了这一技巧并尝试着通过近距离呈现角色并侵占它们的个人空间而让玩家对NPC角色做出发自内心的回应。

交流和自然语言

如果我们一开始便希望能为人们创造有趣的故事体验,那我们遇到的第一个问题便会是如何创造有趣的互动角色。尽管有些故事的确是基于一个单一的“英雄”角色,并且不再存在其他任何角色,但我们也必须承认这么做会限制设计师所传达的故事类型或者细节程度。故事中的语言的重要性也是如此。有些华丽的电影和游戏都只有少量或不带任何语言。这么做会让人觉得更优雅或者在某种程度上会创造出简化感。但是想想你曾经喜欢过的所有故事,这些故事中有多少故事不存在任何谈话内容呢。这也将我们带回一个反复出现的难度问题上。如果我们需要角色,我们便需要使用语言去创造吸引人的故事,而“我们该如何使用语言呢?”之前我们曾讨论过对话树以及玩家如何从菜单中选择固定的选择。但是我们未曾提到过自然语言处理(NLP)。该方法能让玩家输入任何想要输入的内容或按平时那样说话。然后游戏将把他们所说的内容转变成文本,程序也将把他们的输入内容解析成可识别的内容。然后游戏代码将选择一个来自一组预先设定好的短语或交流行为的NPC回应。我们必须清楚交流并不意味着交谈。作为人类的我们有一半有意义的交流是发生在非语言领域,即使用我们的身体或脸。就像转移目标或不回答等简单的方式也是一种有效的交流方式;而行动和表达方式也能够传达出我们的的感受或目的。这是游戏很少触及的一个领域。较早前的Sega Genesis上的《人面鱼》以及最近的《Milo》都尝试了这样的交流方式,即让玩家能够自然讲话并尝试去识别玩家的语气,面部表情和肢体语言。当然了,这里也仍存在许多需要解决的问题。

生成语言领域存在一个完全不同的挑战。生成语言是基于某些含义和环境的内在概念,并按照语法规则从一个单词中创造出短语的过程。当然了,这便是我们大脑的产物。传达“意义”以及创造能够“理解”的系统便是AI一个让人兴奋的新型领域,但显然这也不是一个可以轻松进入的领域。

对于游戏中的自然语言(NL)我们还有最后一点需要说明的。这与在面向其它国家进行产品本土化时所出现的NL难度有关。虽然执行NL并不是一个最难克服的障碍,但是开发者只有做好这一点才能保证成本效率。也就是说随着AI和VR时代的到来,文转声最终将发挥有效作用,我们也将看到越来越多推翻自然语言与充满表现力的非言语交流界限的作品的诞生。

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

Designing Interactive Story (PART FOUR)

by Greg Johnson

A Few Newish Concepts

Generalizing Behavior with Attributes and Properties

One concept that hasn’t been used much, but probably will get applied more as world simulation becomes more commonplace, is the notion of NPC behavior being based on response to generalized attributes and properties.A big advantage to this type of approach is that it makes NPC behavior much more flexible, and allows them to react to anything with attributes.It means that as the PC or other NPC attributes change, the NPC’s behavior towards these characters can change as well.Another advantage of this type of a system is that NPC characters can be picked up and dropped anywhere in the game world; similarly, new NPC characters can be introduced during the game, and existing NPCs will know how to respond to them because they are really responding to the properties. To make this clearer, imagine an NPC that is programmed to hate anything that is green, and programmed to attack anything that is weaker than it is, and run away from anything stronger.These are simple attributes that lead to complex and variable behavior. You, the player may drink a potion and turn green, and now the NPC that was nice to you, hates you.It goes to attack you, and you pick up a sword and now it turns and runs away. This NPC is capable of doing these behaviors with any other NPC it meets depending on their qualities as well.This simple concept can be extended to great effect.(Scribblenauts, Spore, Doki-Doki Universe)

Story progression in a Static Space

The most common way to control the flow of a story is by tying it to spatial elements on paths, or on a map, and then controlling the player’s progress through this space.This is certainly not the only way to control story flow. A few experimental games like Fa?ade and PromNight, Cart Life, or The Sims, have made interesting attempts to control story flow in a single, limited space.Just like the other games we’ve talked about, these games still have conceptual gates.These are conditions that the player meets which trigger story events.These could be story pieces that get unlocked in a fixed sequence, but designers who take this route almost always take a more simulation-esque approach and break their story events into “possible events” that are conditional, and that can lead to other events, making the outcome less certain, and giving players more control.Fa?ade even goes so far as to create a “story manager” that tries to guide events by prioritizing outcomes based on their effect on ‘story beats’ and a story climax etc.

Using NPC Goal States to Control Story

As NPC AI gets more and more sophisticated, one possible approach to controlling story flow might be to use the goal-states of some key NPC character.In a sense, the NPC itself becomes the holder of all of the ‘gates’.Imagine that an NPC has goals that it wants to satisfy in the world and gives it a purpose.You, as the player are allied with this NPC’s goals.Your goals may be to help or to hinder the NPC, but either way, your goals are defined by its current goals.As the NPC’s goals shift, your goals shift.As the NPC achieves its goals, world states (or story states) change and you enter new chapters of the story.This method (which may be getting used already – but I haven’t seen it) would feel very organic and would make the story progression feel less ‘puzzle-y’, and more character based.

PC Autonomy

Another approach that has probably been used already in a few games (but I can’t think of them right now) is the technique of giving the player-character some autonomous qualities.Put another way, your avatar, who is almost certainly the main character in the story, may have a will of its own.It may not always want to do the things you “command” it to do.This puts you more in the role of influencer than controller.Perhaps you are a god, or the conscience of your character.Perhaps your character even addresses you directly; getting pissed off at the things you have asked him or her to do, and perhaps you have a means of conversing with this character.This is an interesting way to make your character have more of a believable presence and gives you yet another possible point of emotional connection to the game world.

Breaking the 4th Wall

Almost always in games we interact via some avatar who is part of the game fiction.There have been a few experiments where players interact with the characters in the game as themselves – essentially talking to or dealing with an AI character on the other side of the glass.Breaking through the 4th wall and being “seen” and recognized by a smart NPC character is one way to get people to connect emotionally.So far these experiments in direct interaction have been more about showing off some new peripheral device, and have felt perhaps a bit gimmicky, but at some point this technique of “breaking the 4th wall” will be used in a deeper way to allow players to make a connection with AI characters that feels extremely immediate and real.Being anonymous allows us to stay at an emotional distance, while being ‘seen’ and vulnerable essentially forces us to feel something.

The Players Personal Space

One very simple way to get an emotional reaction from players is to encroach on their personal space.As much as we like to think of ourselves as intellectual beings, we are also products of millions of years of evolution and our animal brains kick in and take over when certain stimuli-buttons get pushed.This technique is possible to do in a horror setting by using darkness, and then making things suddenly appear very close to the screen.Many horror themed games do this (e.g. Five Nights At Freddies).In evoking gentler emotions, this ‘invasion of personal space’is harder to achieve unless one straps on VR goggles, or perhaps uses tactile, haptic devices. A VR game called Summer Lesson is using this technique to the extreme and trying to make players have a visceral response to NPC characters by having these characters get extremely close and invade their personal space.Given the young male audience they are appealing to, and the fact that it’s a Japanese game, you can probably guess what type of NPC characters they are using to get this reaction. (nudge nudge wink wink).

Communication and Natural Language

If we start from the premise that we want to create great story experiences for people, one of the first issues we run into is creating interesting interactive characters.While it’s true that some stories have been made with a single “hero” character, and no other characters in the world, one has to admit that this is severely limits the type of stories one can tell, or the degree of detail and subtlety one can deliver.The same observation can be made about the importance of language in stories.Some beautiful movies and games have been made with little or no language.There can be a certain grace, and mystery to this extreme level of simplicity.Still, think of all the stories you’ve loved over your life, and how many of these stories had no talking in them.So…that brings us back to the recurring difficult question… if we need characters, and we need language to make compelling stories… “how do we deal with language”? A few pages back we talked about conversation trees and players selecting fixed choices from a menu.We didn’t mention Natural Language Processing (NLP).This is the ability to allow players to type anything they want, or better yet, speak naturally.The game then accurately translates their speech into text, and the program parses their input into something it can recognize.Next, the game code selects an NPC response from a set of pre-made phrases or communicative behaviors.Let’s remember that communicating doesn’t necessarily mean talking.We humans do at least half of our meaningful communication in the non-verbal realm, with our bodies and faces.Something as simple as looking away and not answering is an effective communication; action and expressions convey feelings or intent.This is an area that has rarely been touched on in games.One very old experiment in communication was a product called Seaman on the Sega Genesis.Another product, much more current, called Milo, allows players to speak naturally and it tries to recognize tone, facial expression, and body language.Needless to say, there are many problems being tackled at once here.

An entirely different set of challenges lie in the realm of generative language.This is a whole other ball-o-wax, as it were.Generative language, for anyone who doesn’t already know, is the process of constructing phrases out of individual words based on some internal notion of “meaning” and context, coupled with rules of syntax.This is of course what our brains do (unless you happen to have a set of pre-recorded phrases built into your brain).Representing “meaning” and creating systems that can, in some sense “understand”, is a super exciting emerging area of AI, but obviously, not one to be jumped into lightly.

Here is one last, minor footnote having to do with Natural Language (NL) in games. This has to do with the difficulties NL imposes when dealing with localizing a product for other countries.This is hardly the biggest barrier to implementing NL, but one of many that have kept this from seeming to be cost effective for developers.That said, with our coming age of AI and VR, and with text to speech finally reaching a point where it is reliably usable, we will be seeing products pushing the boundaries with Natural Language and Expressive non-verbal communication.(source:gamasutra)

 


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