多名资深开发者以实际案例分享卡牌游戏设计经验

原作者：Diego Arguello 译者：Vivian Xue

在电子游戏中，卡牌类游戏的诞生和发展已经有一定年头了，开发者常常把它和众多游戏类型混合起来，创造出新颖而又熟悉的体验。从完全靠系统随机发牌到让玩家自己组牌和测试卡组，开发者们一直在试图玩出新花样。

我们与一群卡牌设计师们进行了交流，他们分享了自己设计经历，并为那些想要将卡牌系统应用到当前或者未来游戏中的开发者们提供了建议。

1. 玩家友好型设计

《蒸汽世界》（SteamWorld）系列开发商Image & Form Games的游戏总监Peter Johansson和首席设计师Robert Olsén认为，集换式卡牌游戏的神秘感和吸引力与传统RPG同理。

“《万智牌》《炉石传说》或者《矩阵潜袭》（Netrunner）这样的游戏其实很类似传统RPG，即你扮演一名英雄，运用法术和武器（或者黑客工具）打败强大的敌人，”他们在邮件中谈到。“卡牌游戏采用了相同的基础体验设计，并用一种不同的方式包装它，改变你对熟悉事物的看法和互动方式。”

《蒸汽世界冒险》（SteamWorld Quest）卡牌的设计理念就是使它们一目了然，即便玩家尚未了解卡牌的完整细节也知道如何使用它们。比如，当玩家看到一张画着一把剑、名为“英雄之击”的卡牌，马上就能明白它的用途。不过正如他们提到的，节奏是这类游戏的关键。要合理安排新卡牌出现的时间，以免玩家过早地被游戏的复杂性压垮。

Hearthstone（from gamesindustry.biz）

“为了使玩家保持兴趣并想要推进游戏，必须及时地增加游戏的复杂度，同时又不能增加得过快，否则玩家会难以承受。尤其是在介绍新角色时，我们想让玩家马上了解角色的吸引力和独特性，同时避免介绍过多的概念。这是一个复杂的平衡问题。”

Johansson和Olsén还遇到了另一个问题，玩家们在游戏过程中很少尝试叠加卡牌，也没有把牌留着以备后用的意识，而是有什么牌就打什么牌。受《命运/冠位指定》（Fate/Grand Order）启发，他们想出了一个连锁效果，即玩家在同一回合内打出了特定牌组将触发额外效果。这个想法后来演变成了英雄连锁（Heroic Chains）： 在同一回合内使用三张同样的英雄牌。

“做好大量试验的准备，”他们补充道。“一定要记住，组合卡牌是玩法的重要部分。玩家会花很多时间对着屏幕，思考他们拥有的卡牌，在头脑中尝试不同的组合，组合出他们认为强大或者有趣的卡组，之后才真正进入战斗。为卡牌设计更多的变量，以便进行后期的平衡，不要把自己限制在无法调整的设计中。”

2. 测试和平衡是关键

Thing Trunk的联合创始人兼首席游戏设计师Maciej Biedrzycki花了大量的时间与团队研究如何简化《恶魔之书》（Book of Demons）的设计，同时又避免游戏变得过分简单。最后他们想出一种方式，将卡牌分为三类：技能牌、神器牌和道具牌。

“这种设计不仅使玩家更容易理解，还为战斗过程提供了更多的策略选择，” Biedrzycki解释说。“在卡槽有限的情况下，玩家要在装备神器还是道具牌之间做抉择。”

但同样，卡牌的平衡是一个漫长而艰难的过程。《恶魔之书》里每个职业都拥有40张卡牌（每张卡牌都能升级，有魔法或传奇的变体）。玩家组合卡牌的方式是如此之多，因此确保所有组合的效果一样强大几乎是不可能的事。“玩家每次可携带10张卡牌，这个数量看似在可控范围之内，但实际计算下来卡牌的组合方式达到了3千万亿种。”

两年半的Early Access对于《恶魔之书》的卡组设计起到了重要作用，开发者在这段期间做的改变没有上千也有数百个，他们甚至重新设计了某些卡牌。除了平衡太强或太弱的卡牌和卡组外，Thing Trunk还致力于为硬核玩家提供更深度的玩法，因此他们加入了卡牌升级系统。

“卡牌系统能够增添游戏的乐趣和抽象性，”Biedrzycki说。“但它绝不是万能药。如果你想在你的游戏里加入一个卡牌系统，我建议你做一个简单的模型，设计几张基础的卡牌，看看效果如何。如果不够有趣，你应该重新设计它们，一味地增加新奇的卡牌是没用的。”

Mega Crit Games的联合创始人兼开发者Anthony Giovannetti在设计《杀戮尖塔》（Slay The Spire）时的灵感来源于他的游戏经历。《万智牌》和《领土》（Dominion）使他深深喜爱上了卡组构筑，此外他还将Roguelike元素引入游戏，比如玩家在每轮战斗结束后从随机掉落的卡牌中选择一张加入卡组。《炉石传说》的轮抽模式也是他的灵感来源之一。

“用卡牌作战是游戏的基本理念，因此，我觉得这方面没有什么特别困难的地方，”Giovannetti说。“如果有的话，并且如果你对比《杀戮尖塔》的战斗与JRPG的战斗——那就是卡牌大大增加了回合制战斗的复杂度和深度。”

在Early Access阶段，很多玩家要求增强某些卡牌，他们在平衡游戏的过程中非常重视这些提议，批判性地听取玩家的意见，并依靠数据做判断。“玩家能使你了解哪些卡牌不太令人满意，但他们并不能准确地判断卡牌的好坏，”Giovannetti说。

3. 做好卡牌数值记录

此外他们还根据玩家反馈对每日挑战进行了大幅调整。一开始，这些挑战只是为了让玩家看看自己能走多远，但玩家们的目的逐渐偏离，他们仍会参加挑战，但目的不再只是尝试完成它，而是赢得胜利，因此开发者对挑战内容和形式做了改变。

“由于卡牌的组合形式是如此多种多样，因此一开始就要做好数值记录和可玩性测试，这是不可或缺的环节，否则游戏平衡将变得一团糟，”Giovannetti补充道。

Defiant Development的公关经理兼设计师Lee May说《命运之手》（Hand of Fate）开发过程中的关键是平衡玩家的操控权（player agency）。这个想法源于他们过去的手游项目《英雄召唤》（Heroes Call），这款游戏的地牢是随机生成的，但开发者巧妙隐藏了这一点，玩家也从未察觉到。May回忆说，如果他们当初采用线性的设计，开发时间将大大缩短。

“我们从这段开发经历中获得了启发，当我们开始探索卡组构筑时，我们想继续采用随机化的设计，同时让玩家从中获得掌控感，”May解释道。“不过我们的游戏和《昆特牌》《炉石传说》或《杀戮尖塔》不太一样，卡组代表的是地牢的Boss，而不是玩家的队伍或战斗动作（该游戏中，Boss从玩家设置的牌库和自己的牌堆里抽牌，组成玩家的遭遇牌，游戏邦注），这意味着我们的经验并不适用于所有卡牌游戏。”

创意总监Morgan Jaffit决定再次走费时费力的道路：所有卡牌都要经过一个真正的洗发牌机制，而不是一般的随机发放。奇妙的是，这一决定源于他过去做魔术师的经历。

“我们把这些卡牌当作实体，真正通过一堆游戏道具把它抽出来……我们本可以作假，这容易多了，但出于魔术师的自尊心，我没有这么做。当然，这让我很抓狂——大家都觉得魔术师会对牌做手脚，所以我想让大家看看。”

《命运之手》的开发经历使他们再次认识到记录卡牌数据的重要性。“并且更新过程中肯定会出现不平衡的问题，尤其是更新大量内容时，因此准备好进行多次修改，”May说。“注意，太多的选择不一定是件好事——让玩家选择5张牌比选择10张牌要有趣得多。”

游戏设计师兼作家Alexis Kennedy分享了《密教模拟器》（Cultist Simulator）的设计窍门，这是一款以抽象深奥的文字叙述为主的卡牌游戏。

在视觉设计方面，游戏致力于打造一种既与众不同又成本低廉的风格。每次往卡片上添加文本时，一定要检查它的显示效果。Kennedy说：“将卡牌信息的显示放在UI设计最重要的位置，把文本塞进提示框里是远远不够的。”

由于游戏需要玩家手动拖拽和放置卡牌，因此必须不断检查这种设计可能引发的问题，比如原先放卡的空栏消失了怎么办，如果卡牌被叠在前一张上面会发生什么。此外，如果大部分卡牌是永久存在的，那么当它们被摧毁时，玩家会产生强烈的触动。

Kennedy还谈到他们在加入对齐到网格（snap-to-grid）功能时遇到的挫折，以及这个功能对提升游戏体验的重要性。“我真不敢相信我们最初发行的版本里没这个功能。我本想让UI师最后把它加进去，但他在忙着处理SFX。我应该让他放下工作，并且我应该早一点加入这个功能。大概第三天就有人通过MOD加入了这个功能。”

“很多玩家在反馈中表示，希望卡牌可以自己回到‘正确的位置’，但是每个玩家对于卡牌的摆放有各自的偏好，这是一个典型的UI设计问题，”他解释道。“我们通过一些简单的方式解决了这个问题，但是在下一款游戏中，我们希望让手动放置卡牌变得有意义也更有趣。”

本文由游戏邦编译，转载请注明来源，或咨询微信zhengjintiao

Card-based games and deck-building elements have been in video games for years now, often mixing with known genres to create new, yet familiar experiences. From completely randomized systems to a deep focus on trial and error, developers have been toying with this sub-genre in different ways.

We spoke with a number of developers about their experiences with deck-building design, and what tips they can share with other developers who want to implement these systems in current or future projects.

Familiarity as a tool

Game director Peter Johansson and lead designer Robert Olsén from SteamWorld house Image & Form Games attribute most of the mystic and appeal from collectible card games to traditional RPGs.

“The experience you get from a game like Magic: the Gathering or Hearthstone or Netrunner is similar to that of a classic RPG, that is, taking on the role of a hero wielding magic spells and weaponry (or cyberspace hacking tools) to defeat a powerful enemy,” the pair said in a jointly-written email. “What card games do is take that same fundamental experience and bundle it up in a different way, changing how you view and interact with something you may already be familiar with on a different level.”

The thinking process behind cards in SteamWorld Quest is to make them easily recognizable, even if the player hasn’t learned the full details yet. Seeing a card called “Heroic Strike” that has a picture of a sword being swung on it is likely to give an idea of what it does. But as they argue, the pacing is key for games like these. It’s important to know when it’s time to introduce new cards to prevent players to feel overwhelmed early on.

“Complexity needs to ramp up fast enough to keep the player constantly interested and wanting to find out more, but not so quickly that it becomes overwhelming. This is especially crucial when we introduce new player characters as we want them to feel appealing and unique right away without inundating the player with new concepts. It’s a tricky balance.”

Johansson and Olsén ran into another issue during development, since players weren’t encouraged to experiment with synergies and stock cards for later, and would just use whatever came from the deck instantly. By taking influences from Fate/Grand Order, they came up with chains, which grant a bonus effect each turn if players use a specific combination of cards. This later evolved into Heroic Chains: Playing three cards from the same hero in the same turn.

“Be prepared to experiment a lot,” they add. “It’s important to remember that deck-building is gameplay. Players will spend a lot of time simply sitting in the UI thinking about the cards in their collection, trying different ideas in their heads, putting together decks they think will be powerful or interesting before they ever come close to fighting an actual encounter. Don’t restrict your ability to balance cards by giving yourself too few variables to adjust, or locking yourself into designs that can’t be tweaked.”

Experimentation is key

Maciej Biedrzycki, co-founder and chief game architect over at Thing Trunk, spent a lot of time with the team finding the right balance to create simple designs for Book of Demons without ending up being too simplistic. That’s how they came up with a core idea, fitting cards into three categories: Skills, Items, and Spells.

“It’s not just simpler to operate and explain to the players, but it also gives them more strategic options to play with,” Biedrzycki explains. “Deciding between an item and a spell when you have limited card slots is an interesting choice.”

But again, balancing the cards was a long and challenging process. In Book of Demons, there are 40 card archetypes (without counting upgrades, magical or legendary variants) for each of the three classes the in game. If you take into account the multiple synergies that players can create between different cards, making sure there are no overpowered builds is virtually impossible. “The player can equip 10 at any given time, and if this sounds like a manageable number, doing the math gives about 3 quadrillion possible builds a player could be using.”

Two-and-a-half years of Early Access was instrumental in the design of decks for Book of Demons, giving the developers time to make hundreds, if not thousands of changes, even redesigning some cards from scratch. Along with finding overpowered or underpowered cards and combinations, Thing Trunk pushed for more depth for hardcore players, leading to the game’s upgrade system.

“Designing a card system into your game can be a lot of fun and it can help you introduce more abstract rules into the game,” Biedrzycki says. “But it’s definitely not a miracle solution that can make every game better. If you think there is a place for a card system in your game, I would recommend doing a fast prototype just to see how it works. The game should already be fun with just a few basic cards. If it’s not, then you should get back to the drawing board, adding more cards with more exotic effects will not make the system work.”

For Mega Crit Games’ co-founder and developer Anthony Giovannetti, the idea of using cards in Slay The Spire came from himself as a player. Games like Magic: The Gathering and Dominion made him into a deck-building fan, whereas roguelike aspects of the game served as a strong mechanical framework for why the player is constantly picking new cards to add to their deck. Draft formats like Hearthstone’s Arena mode were also an inspiration.

“Battling with cards was fundamental to the idea of the game. As a result, I don’t really think there were any particularly hard challenges in this area,” Giovannetti says. “If anything, if you think of combat in Slay the Spire as an analog for a JRPG fight — cards were a huge and easy win in terms of adding complexity and depth to a round of turn-based combat.”

For them, Early Access showcased a tendency for players always requesting buffing for cards, and it was important to be aware of this when implementing any sort of changes to them. Opting for taking these suggestions with a grain of salt and relying on data was key to maintain balance. “Players are better at letting you know when a card is unsatisfying than knowing if the card is actually good or not,” Giovannetti says.

Register cards on a database from day one

Daily challenges also went under heavy changes during development thanks to players’ feedback. In the beginning, they were meant to be challenges to see how far people would make it. But they opted for using weird modifiers in the end. Players would still compete, but the focus was on how they could manage to win daily challenges rather than just trying to finish it.

“Because [cards] can open up such a wide possibility space, it is integral that data collection and playtesting is started on them at a really early stage in the process, otherwise balance is going to be a mess,” Giovannetti adds.

Communications manager and designer Lee May of Defiant says that balancing player agency was key during Hand of Fate’s development process. This started with a past project for mobile, Heroes Call, which used randomization in its dungeon design, but the player never got to see it since it was hidden in the background. Reflecting on it, May says that Defiant would have probably saved a lot of time with a hand-crafted linear experience.

“The wonderful thing we gained when we started exploring deck building was that we could still randomize the player’s experience, but we could bring the player into it and give them a sense of agency and ownership of that randomization,” May explains. “The deck is replacing the dungeon master, rather than representing the player’s troops or combat moves, which means that many of the lessons we learned are rather specific to our own game, and less applicable to something like your Gwents, Hearthstones, or Slay the Spires.”

Creative director Morgan Jaffit, similar to what happened with Heroes Call, made the decision of taking the difficult route once more: All cards are shuffled and taken from an actual internal base, rather than being completely randomized. This decision, curiously, comes from his past as stage magician.

“The cards are all physical objects, as are their decks — and so whenever the game needs to search a deck, we’re actually shuffling through a stack of game objects until we get the card required…It would have been infinitely easier to fake all of that, but we don’t, because of a magician’s pride. This, of course, is madness — if there’s one thing magicians are known for, it’s cheating with cards, but here we are.”

Their experience working in both Hand of Fates taught them, once more, on the importance of keeping track of everything in an up to date database. “Also know that power creep is bound to happen, particularly if you add content in waves, so expect to do multiple balance passes,” May says. “Be aware that there is such a thing as too much choice — asking the player to choose five cards from their deck leads to much more interesting decision-making than asking them to choose 20.”

Game designer and writer Alexis Kennedy also have a few tips to share about Weather Factory’s Cultist Simulator for studios who are looking to focus on verbal-abstract oriented experiences around cards.

From a visual standpoint, finding an art style that is both distinctive and cheap to produce in bulk should be a priority. And whenever you start adding text onto cards, always make sure to do a preview of how it’s gonna look. “Treat the problem of detailed card information as a first-rank UI problem,” says Kennedy. “’Bung that stuff in a tooltip’ isn’t enough.”

Player expectations demand a keen eye to detect all possible issues that stacking could produce, such as what happens when a card returns to a stack that is no longer there, what if a second card returns on top of the previous one, or if the card now has different properties than before. Additionally, if most cards are permanent, players will have strong feelings when they get destroyed.

Kennedy develops on his frustration with the snap-to-grid functionality, and how important it turned out to be for the overall experience. “I can’t believe we launched without snap-to-grid. I wanted to have our UI dev put it in last, but he got hung up on SFX instead. I should have unhung him and I should have put it in the feature list much earlier. Someone modded it on like day three.”

“More generally, the feedback [we gathered] was ‘I want these cards to go to the right place without worrying about it.’ Of course, it’s a typical UI problem: every player has a different preference for what ‘go to the right place’ means,” he explains. “We implemented some simple stuff to deal with this, but next game, I think the answer will be to turn the question around — to make placing the cards something that has explicit value and interest in the game.”（source：Gamasutra）