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游戏开发是求稳还是创新?走平庸路线亦有风险

发布时间:2018-12-12 08:53:30 Tags:,,

游戏开发是求稳还是创新?走平庸路线亦有风险

原作者:Josh Bycer 译者:Vivian Xue

最近我有机会试玩了Yooka-Laylee,据宣传这款游戏的设计和制作将玩家带回了90年代的3D平台时代。游戏不错,但它在设计上没什么出彩的地方。在由热门类型主导的游戏开发环境下,打安全牌不起作用了吗?

热门游戏不断出现

过去的十年间,电子游戏打破流行文化泡沫。像《侠盗猎车手》《神秘海域》《合金装备》这样的热门系列把3A游戏的质量推到了电影级水准。

随着游戏设计日益标准化,开发者们可以选择通过打磨剧情或者创新玩法使游戏与众不同。像任天堂和Valve这样更加注重玩法的开发商开始尝试开发《超级马里奥银河》以及《传送门》这样的游戏。

3A游戏开发成本和水平在提升,过去的八年来我们见证了一些令人惊叹(并且成本高昂)的游戏诞生——《荒野大镖客 2》的开发成本刷新了游戏史的纪录。

最近发行的《刺客信条:奥德赛》和《地平线:黎明时分》同样令人惊叹。我们还没谈到手游呢;一些开发商通过有效的盈利策略和品牌营销赚取了巨额收入。

warlords of drakendor(from gamesindustry)

warlords of drakendor(from gamesindustry)

随着越来越多的资金被投入到3A游戏里,我们很难不产生质疑:为什么许多3A游戏都大同小异呢?

3A游戏之争

要回答这个问题,我们得回到行业的焦点上——热门的游戏类型一直是行业关注的重点。在不同的主机时代(有时在同一个时代内),我们见证了那些使开发者的设计或风格走向单一化的趋势。从平台游戏时代、开放世界沙盒、生存恐怖游戏、第一人称射击游戏到自由选择人生道路的RPG,如今我们似乎进入了吃鸡游戏时代。

我们之前就谈论过这一点,但大型工作室喜欢制作流行的类型和品牌游戏是因为这可以保障他们在市场竞争中的安全。为何要去设计一个未经验证过的模型,你完全可以开发一款多人射击游戏、或者开放世界游戏等等,至少它们的销量是有保障的。

这些游戏成功的关键因素是每一个工作室都为它们创造了一种独特的进入市场的方式——可能是从美学或者玩法的角度。然而,这无法改变一个事实:如果你不是当前热门游戏的粉丝,那么3A市场对你来说毫无价值。

实验性的独立游戏

当3A游戏无法满足人们的期待,这个任务就落到了独立游戏头上,并且它们中的大部分确实做到了。在过去的八年间,一些最能引起人们触动、最具创新性的并且最独特的游戏是那些独立团队制作出来的。

独立游戏市场一向注重游戏的独特体验,而不是精细的制作。当我玩一款由独立游戏开发者发给我的游戏时,我一般不会去期待3A级的画面效果,并且觉得它可能有很多bug。

有趣的是独立游戏开发在过去的十年间技术进步了,选择面也更加宽广。多亏了Unity和虚幻引擎的出现,一些小团队也能够制作体验独特的高水准的游戏。一些热门的独立游戏的质量和积极评价甚至可以与3A游戏匹敌。

然而,游戏制作的标准越来越高,使每个人都陷入一种尴尬的境地。

走中庸的路线怎么样?

在你阅读这篇文章的同时,至少20个游戏在不同的平台上发行了。我们一直在谈论着小型独立游戏永远没有出头之日,只有一个简单核心循环的游戏引起不了多少关注。

随着独立团队和大型工作室之间的界限越来越模糊,那些没什么影响力的游戏将何去何从呢?回到游戏Yooka-Laylee上,它和《超级马里奥银河》以及《时光之帽》——两款风格迥异,设计重点不同的3D平台游戏同一年发行。玩YL的时候,我感觉这游戏没有什么问题,但也没有任何令我特别感兴趣的东西。

如今,许多银河恶魔城粉丝都在期待《血污:夜之仪式》,试玩片段还可以;没什么令人惊奇的地方,只是还不错。我想它应该不会成为一部烂作,毕竟它的创作背景和资源摆在那里,但就今日的市场而言,“还不错”足够吗?

游戏已经多到不稀罕了

在我坐下打这段文字时候,我的Steam账户里有1500多项产品,GOG里也有几百个,还有好几百个零售的游戏。很显然,我不是一名普通的消费者,但如今专注于一款游戏变得越来越困难,更别提20个。

这些日子,我对《使命召唤》《战地风云》《刺客信条》或者其他照搬旧公式的3A系列已不怎么感兴趣了。过去,每当更好的游戏出现,那些烂游戏都会很快被人们忘却,但是我觉得如今这是大部分游戏的命运。

在射击和平台这样的游戏类型中,你几乎看不到什么设计创新,人们对它们设计的评价大多是“太短了”或者“重复性太高”。由于游戏网站大多喜爱报道知名的游戏,我们的市场总是在寻找下一部创新的作品。

追求梦想的游戏

我们之前多次谈到了这一点:独立游戏市场之所以能壮大是由于开发者有能力制作他们梦想的项目。我在过去的几年间和一些独立开发者聊过,他们表示自己更希望在一个项目上投入三五年的时间来做出一个独一无二的游戏。

我们见证了许多游戏记者、Youtuber和主播们玩着这些稀奇古怪的游戏,你所需要做的就是引起这些人的注意,利用他们的影响力来增加游戏的知名度以促进销售。从另一方面来看,如果这不起作用呢?我之前提到过许多次,把一切压在一款游戏上是有风险的。

仅仅因为某样事物很特别,并不意味着它一定会成功。我知道,这个结论和这篇文章的前面的部分是相矛盾的。一款过于老套的游戏无法出彩,同样的,一款游戏如果过于独特也不太容易为消费者所接受。如何保持独特和精致之间的平衡很关键,这是一个很大的话题,不太适合在这篇已经很冗长的文章中讨论。

脱颖而出

无论在3A游戏还是独立游戏市场,新游戏想要脱颖而出都不是件容易的事情。随着那些知名大厂不断生产成功的产品,对于希望制作第一款游戏的新开发者来说,一切都还有待观察。在这个充斥着大型系列和热门作品的行业中,寻找适合你的游戏的市场是关键的第一步。

本文由游戏邦编译,转载请注明来源,或咨询微信zhengjintiao

Recently I had a chance to play through Yooka-Laylee: A game pitched, designed, and executed as a throwback to 90’s 3D platforming. The game wasn’t bad, but it didn’t do anything to stand out in terms of design. With how hit-driven game development is, does playing it safe not work anymore?

The Hits Keep On Coming:

The last decade of the game industry stood out as the time where video games broke through the pop culture bubble. Franchises like Grand Theft Auto, Uncharted, and Metal Gear Solid pushed the AAA industry towards more cinematic experiences.

As game design became more standardized among releases and genres, it freed developers to either focus more on storytelling, or make gameplay changes to differentiate themselves. Gameplay-focused developers like Nintendo and Valve began to experiment and branch out with games like Super Mario Galaxy and Portal.

Part and parcel to the increased costs and power of the AAA side, we have seen some of the most amazing-looking (and expensive) titles released in the last eight years — Red Dead Redemption 2 will probably break records for its development cost once they’ve been revealed.

Both the recent Assassin’s Creed games and Horizon Zero Dawn were incredible to look at. We haven’t even mentioned mobile yet; with developers earning huge amounts of money using established monetization tactics and branding.

With all that money being put into AAA releases, it does beg the cynical question: Why are so many AAA games largely the same?

The AAA Arms Race:

Trying to answer that question takes us to the heart of the hit-driven focus of the industry. With each console cycle (and sometimes within the same one), we see the trends push developers to focus on a single design or style. There was the mascot platformer era, the open world sandbox, survival horror, FPS, choose your own path RPG, and it looks like we’re entering the Battle Royale phase.

We’ve talked about this before, but major studios like to work with established genres and brands due to the safety net they provide in the market. Why develop an untested design, when you can at least try to guarantee sales with a multiplayer shooter, or open world game, and etc.

The X factor of these titles is that each studio tries to put a unique spin on their respective entry — This could be from an aesthetic or gameplay point of view. However, that doesn’t change the fact that if you’re not a fan of what’s hot at the moment, then the AAA market will hold no value to you.

Experimental Indie:

When AAA games aren’t delivering, it’s up to the Indie space to deliver, and they most certainly have. Over the last eight years, some of the most touching, innovative, and unique games I’ve played have come from indie teams.

The indie market has always gotten by on focusing on unique experiences as opposed to refined ones. When I play a title that was sent to me from and indie developer, I know not to expect AAA graphics and that there may be some bugs.

What’s interesting is how Indie development has grown over this decade in terms of the technology and options available. Thanks to engines like Unity and Unreal, it is possible for smaller teams to go for higher production values in their games while still making a unique experience. Some of the more popular indie teams have game resumes that rival AAA studios in terms of quality and praise.

The bar is always being raised higher and higher, and that puts everyone in an awkward position.

What about the Middle?

Right now as you’re reading this, there are most like likely at least 20 games being released across every platform combined this day. We’ve been talking about how smaller indie games are not standing out anymore, and the days of releasing a game with a simple gameplay loop will not get much attention.

The best indie games tend to push into different directions compared to their peers
As the line between indie and major studios continues to blur, what about games that aren’t meant to make waves? Going back to Yooka-Laylee, it came out in the year of Super Mario Odyssey and A Hat in Time — Two very different 3D platformers with different focuses on design. Playing YL, nothing in the game was bad, but there wasn’t anything holding my interest either.

Right now, a lot of metroidvania fans are waiting for Bloodstained Ritual of the Night, and early footage of the game looked okay; not amazing, but just okay. I’m hoping that Bloodstained is not going to be a bad game considering the pedigree behind it, but with that said it raises one big question: Is “okay” good enough in today’s market?

A Dime a Dozen:

As I sit here typing this part, I have over 1,500 steam games in my library, several hundred on GOG, and a few hundred more in terms of retail games. Obviously, I’m not your normal consumer, but every day it gets harder to focus on a single title, let alone 20.

These days, I don’t care about Call of Duties, Battlefields, Assassin’s Creeds, or any AAA franchise that follows the same formula each new game. In the past, bad games were quickly forgotten in light of better games coming out, but I feel that we’re now seeing average games befalling the same fate.

Genres like shmups or simple platformers, where you don’t see a lot of evolving the design are often cited in reviews as being “too short” or “gets repetitive.” Given how game sites love to talk about the big name titles, it creates a market always looking for the next innovative thing.

Chasing that Dream Game:

We have talked about this many times before: the indie space has grown tremendously thanks to developers being able to work on their dream games. I have spoken to indie developers over the years that were more than happy to spend three years or more working on a single title if it means making their one-of-a-kind game.

It’s getting harder for average games, let alone good ones to stand out

We’ve seen game journalists and youtubers/streamers play those wacky games, and all it can take is one big influencer to notice your game to make it start selling. On the other hand, what happens if it doesn’t? I’ve talked many times before about the risks of doubling down and putting everything into a single title.

Just because something is unique, doesn’t mean it’s going to sell, and yes, I know that contradicts the earlier part of this post. A game being too similar to everything will not be able to stand out; just as a game that stands out too much may not be accessible to consumers. Getting the balance right between uniqueness and refinement is way too big to talk about in this already lengthy post.

Standing Out:

It continues to be hard for new games to stand out in both the AAA and indie spaces. With established names in both areas continuing to put out successful products, it remains to be seen where things stand for new developers wanting to make their first game. In a world of massive franchises and unique hits, figuring out where your game fits in is an important first step.(source:Gamasutra

 


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