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如何避免益智游戏让玩家受挫

发布时间:2016-12-12 16:15:13 Tags:,,,,

作者:Sande Chen

有一年在Austin游戏大会中,我真的非常受挫,那并不是因为聚会,而是因为我熬夜想要在《泡泡龙》这款游戏中通关。我注意到游戏的难度上升太快,即发现有个关卡特别复杂时我就觉得事情不对了,特别是后面的关卡反而比它还简单。鉴于玩家会不断熟悉游戏,在关卡间有效提高难度和挑战变得更加重要。

puzzle bobble(from gamasutra)

puzzle bobble(from gamasutra)

除此之外这些益智游戏还拥有一个运气变量,即你会觉得所需要的颜色很少出现。《Candy Crush Saga》就是如此,即当你需要红色糖果时,你便会觉得其它颜色的糖果一直涌现出来。我特别讨厌在一直等待某一特殊颜色的时候进行移动。这或许也是我决定删掉《花朵传奇》的原因。

我的意思是,我有耐心去面对复杂的谜题以及大多数免费游戏中一些不公平的关卡设计,但如果我在解决谜题的努力让我感到受挫而不再是有趣时,我便会选择退出。特别是当我觉得这是和运气相关的元素时。

虽然《Candy Crush Saga》会提供给我免费的礼物,但这却不是我继续玩这款游戏的唯一原因。我发现《Candy Crush Saga》虽然拥有运气元素,但我却还是能从游戏中获得乐趣。基于游戏关卡设计,我总是觉得自己只要进行一个或两个移动便能够解决谜题。所以即使需要花费较长时间我都能够去解决谜题。如果我看不到获胜的几率,我可能就只会摊手说道:“这是不可能的事!”所以我便知道为什么玩家会受到激励去购买额外的移动了。而与我所删掉的另一款游戏《Candy Crush Jelly Saga》不同的是,我在《Candy Crush Saga》中拥有那些推动元素,所以即使我遇到一个不可能完成的关卡我也会想办法将自己带出那里。

我同时也会玩《Candy Crush Soda Saga》,虽然这款游戏没有免费的推动元素,但我还是很喜欢它。我发现当我在《Candy Crush Saga》中长时间面对一个谜题时,像相同颜色的球或炸弹出现在彼此身边的情况也是会发生的。我不知道遇到这种好运需要花费多少时间或者是否是设计师想要帮助我。但如果这是游戏设计的一部分,那也太酷了。

过去我曾负责设计过一款麻将纸牌游戏。在这类型游戏中开发者可能遇到一个没有解决方法的谜题。同时也有些游戏会使用算法去确保游戏谜题存在解决方法。假设在前者中,玩家将能够通过推动元素走出不能解决的谜题中。而我会选择后者便是因为我希望玩家可以不用任何推动元素便能够获得游戏的胜利。而似乎让玩家面对一个没有推动元素便不能解决的谜题是不公平。毕竟我还是希望我们玩家能够继续尝试下一个关卡或游戏。

挑战固然很棒,但要知道过多挑战只会让玩家受挫,并导致你最终失去他们。

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

A Look At Puzzle Games

by Sande Chen

One year, at the Austin Game Conference, I was exhausted, not from partying, but because I had stayed up all night trying to progress through Puzzle Bobble. My college friend had the original arcade machine and since I could use the same quarter over and over, I stayed with it. I noticed almost immediately spikes in difficulty, remarking how I felt that one level was out of place because it was especially hard and the levels after it were easy in comparison. Considering that the player also gains proficiency, gauging the increase in difficulty or challenge between levels must be an interesting exercise.

In addition, there is a luck variable to these puzzles since colors can randomly get scarce on you. It’s the same way with Candy Crush Saga, that when you need red candies, you feel like all the other colors keep on showing up. I especially hate using up moves while waiting for a certain color to show up in a line. This probably contributed to my decision to delete Blossom Blast Saga.

I mean, I do have a certain amount of patience with difficult puzzles and in most free-to-play games, a player may have access to power-ups or boosters that can make uneven level design tolerable, but when my puzzle-solving efforts feel like frustration rather than fun, then I’ll just quit. Especially when I feel like it’s a luck-related factor.

Candy Crush Saga showers me with free gifts, but that’s not the only reason why I still play Candy Crush. I fully realize Candy Crush Saga has that luck component but despite that, I still manage to have fun with it. The way the levels are designed, I always feel like I have a chance at solving the puzzle because I’ll be one or two moves out. That motivates me to keep on playing because sooner or later, I’ll feel like I’ll solve it, even if it takes a long time. If I don’t see that possibility of winning, then I’ll throw my hands figuratively in the air and mutter, “This is impossible!” I can see why players are motivated to buy extra moves because it’s almost … just almost… there. Unlike with Candy Crush Jelly Saga, another I deleted, I did have those boosters in Candy Crush Saga, so if I did feel like I had come across an impossible level, I could help myself out.

I also play Candy Crush Soda Saga, which I like better, even though there aren’t free boosters given out there. I’ve noticed that after I’ve been at a puzzle for a long time on Candy Crush Saga, something remarkable will happen such as a color ball and a color bomb ending up next to each other. I have no idea if that was just the allotted time needed for this lucky occurrence to happen or if the designers were specifically thinking about helping me along. It would be great if this were a matter of design.

In the past, I was in charge of designing a mah jong solitaire game. In those types of games, there are the ones where it’s possible for the player to have a puzzle without a solution. Alternately, there are the ones that use an algorithm to make sure there was always a solution to the puzzle. I suppose in the former, a player would be able to get out of that unsolvable state with a booster. I chose the latter because I always wanted players to be able to win without using boosters. It seems unfair that the player could be presented with a puzzle that couldn’t be solved without a booster. After all, I wanted the player to stick around for the next level or game.

Challenge is great, but too much challenge leads to frustration, which can lose players.(source:gamasutra

 


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