開發者談任務在休閒益智類遊戲中扮演的角色
開發者談任務在休閒益智類遊戲中扮演的角色
原文作者：Christian Karrs 譯者：Megan Shieh
人們通過玩遊戲來完成目標，這一點是很直觀的。在任何時刻，玩家們都在試圖在某種程度上達到一個目標，這個目標可能是遊戲給出的，也可能是玩家為自己設定的。一個相對不那麼直觀的想法是，目標可以在不同的時間線上存在，若想長期保持高留存率和參與度，遊戲通常需要在這些不同的時間點上給出目標。
如上圖所示：左邊的《Candy Crush Soda Saga》顯示，關卡的目標可以很容易地被總結成一小句話或幾個簡短的詞彙；從右側中我們可以看到《Wizard of Oz Match》試圖通過給出多個任務來給單個會話增加目標數量。休閒益智類別的遊戲一般提供簡潔、極具吸引力的短期目標，長期目標往往居於次要地位或根本不存在。儘管長期目標的設定有可能會為遊戲創造更具吸引力的體驗，並提高會話頻率，但這些相對遙遠的目標至今仍處於次要地位。
我們以最著名的休閒益智類三消（match3）遊戲《Candy Crush Saga》作為例子。很明顯，《Candy Crush》系列以及其他的三消遊戲基本上都有明確的短期目標，這些短期目標與三消遊戲的機制一樣，簡單易懂。所有三消遊戲的基礎關卡都要求玩家將3個相同的東西放到一起。將3個方塊連線到一起的玩法容易上手，但是除了簡單地匹配方塊之外，系統的隨機性和內容（除匹配機制外）深度可以達到令人難以置信的地步。這種可訪問性和深度是該類遊戲廣受歡迎的主要原因之一。
Candy Crush Soda Saga(from pocketgamer.biz)
《Candy Crush Saga》中的每個關卡都是圍繞著即時的短期目標而進行的：
1. 找到匹配的方塊
2. 根據當前目標來確定最佳匹配方案
3. 建立匹配並重復以上操作
對於Saga風格的三消遊戲而言，它們的玩家很有可能屬於某種程度上的完美主義者，因此我們可以假設長期目標與這類遊戲的結構相當合拍:
1. 戰勝一個組合裡的所有關卡
2. 戰勝遊戲中的全部關卡
三消手遊基本上需要遵循F2P的模式，因此傳統‘戰勝遊戲’的目標就不能再用了，但‘擊敗每個可玩關卡’的目標可以作為合適的替代方案。將所有關卡分割到地圖上的不同區域，逐步清除區域（組別）中的所有關卡，給玩家帶來一種進步的感覺。一般來說，為了重新整理玩家的興趣曲線，開發者通常會定期引入新的機制，但在遊戲的生命週期中，資金消耗的情況屢見不鮮。因此，如果戰勝每個可玩關卡的目標不足以讓玩家回到遊戲中，或者你想要延長玩家在遊戲中投入的時間（也就是會話長度），再或是想要新增另一個能夠刺激現有收入流的參與機制，作為一個遊戲設計師，你應該採取什麼措施？—— 反覆地推出任務！
上圖摘取自遊戲設計師Stone Librande在《Well Played 2.0: Video Games, Value, and Meaning》一書中發表的一篇文章，該圖呈現了《Resident Evil 4′s Mercenaries》單次遊戲會話的獎勵安排。休閒益智遊戲提供的獎勵通常精確到秒鐘和分鐘，這種做法意義明確，但卻缺乏長期的目標。如果方法對了，‘遊戲任務’就有可能成為一個解決方案，從而在遊戲的核心迴路上疊加額外的長期目標和獎勵。《Candy Crush》，《Cookie Jam》和《Candy Blast Mania》中的任務包括‘在規定時間內到達X關卡’，帶有排行榜的組隊方塊收集，等等。這些任務大部分針對現有的玩家基礎，旨在提高盈利和會話長度。通過使用明確的獎勵來引入次要目標，這些任務多數都能有效地豐富玩家的體驗。
例如，在《Storm8’s Hungry Babies》中出現的“Global Events（全球任務）”推出了圍繞核心機制（消除方塊）的一些次要目標。收集品被指定為任務的重點，收集到的蔬菜將會被新增到收集品的總數中。該作還帶有翻倍器功能，用來大面積地消除方塊並加速過關，這也為玩家的能力提供了另一層面的獎勵。此外，玩家可以通過任務排行榜來追蹤收集品的總數，遊戲還會將玩家們根據任務型別分組，對錶現較好的團隊給予更大的獎勵。在消除方塊的同時，消滅對手！！然而單單只是比賽機制就足夠激勵玩家了？這點很難說；不過，爭取進步的想法肯定會給益智遊戲玩家們打雞血。
重點是，任務可以優化或加強休閒遊戲的關鍵領域，從而提高玩家的遊戲體驗:
1. 時間安排：人類心理學與時間安排存在很強的關聯性。誰不想有個盼頭呢？在不同的日程表上安排不同的任務可以讓玩家有一些期待的東西，而且如果在任務之間出現downtime，玩家的期待也會在這時慢慢建立。
2. 動態性/遊戲深度:不管你的關卡設計得有多好，在為新機制掏腰包後，玩家就可能會對類似的遊戲變得越來越麻木。這些任務可以建立一個額外的進步層面，它們的週期性結構也能對F2P遊戲帶來正面影響。
3. 為現有機制增添價值：在任務中，如果使用特殊方塊所消除的方塊可以得到翻倍的點數，那麼購買助推器（boost）來擊敗關卡的這一做法對玩家來說就會是一筆更好的交易。一則，玩家終於可以戰勝一直沒法兒過的關卡，二則還可以獲得額外的點數來掙得任務獎勵。
三消遊戲已經發展到了一定的程度，許多較新遊戲的都包含了在其核心迴路任務中出現的元結構（meta structure）。
本文由遊戲邦編譯，轉載請註明來源，或諮詢微信zhengjintiao
It’s intuitive that people play games to complete goals. At any given moment, players are trying to satisfy a goal on some level, even if it’s a goal they’ve set for themselves. An idea that may be less intuitive is that goals can exist on different timelines, and that your game will generally need to provide objectives along each of these vectors if you want it to have solid retention and the long-term stickiness indicative of meaningful gameplay.
Pictured above: the left image from Candy Crush Soda Saga shows how a level’s objective can be easily summarized, and on the right we see how Wizard of Oz Match tries to add goals for a play session through quests. While casual puzzle games have traditionally had concise, appealing short term goals, long-term goals have been second priority or nonexistent. Until recently, these further out objectives have taken a back-seat despite their potential for making a more engaging experience for players and increasing the regularity of their sessions.
We can look at the most well known casual puzzle game as an example, the match3 mega-hit Candy Crush Saga. Candy Crush, and match3 games in general, have clear short-term goals tied into their easy to understand mechanics. For every match3 game, on a base level the player is looking to put 3 of the same things together. Matching 3 tiles can easily be communicated to the player, but a surprising amount of depth can come out of the system’s randomness and content layered on top of the matching. This accessibility and depth is a big contributor to the genre’s mass appeal.
In the case of Candy Crush Saga, every level revolves around immediate short term goals:
Find matches
Identify the optimal match for your current goal
Create the match and repeat
With the player base for Saga style Match3 games likely being completionists on some level, we can assume the long term goals align pretty closely with the game’s structure:
Beat every level in a group (e.g. “world”, “island”, etc)
Beat every level in the game
With mobile match3 games essentially being required to follow the F2P model, the traditional “beat the game” goal is out, but “beat every available” level is a suitable enough stand-in. The segmentation of levels into different areas of the map adds a sense of progression from clearing all the levels in a group. To help refresh the interest curve for the player, generally new mechanics are introduced on a regular interval, but it’s not uncommon for funding for these to dissipate over a game’s lifecycle. So, if beating every available level isn’t enough to keep a player logging back in (e.g. you want to broaden your player base), OR you want to extend the amount of time your players spend in game (i.e. session length), OR you want to add another engaging mechanic that incentivizes existing revenue streams, what’s a game designer to do? Recurring in-game events to the rescue!
The image above, taken from an article by game designer Stone Librande in Well Played 2.0: Video Games, Value, and Meaning, visualizes the reward scheduling for a single game session of Resident Evil 4′s Mercenaries. Just as there can be second-to-second, minute-to-minute, day-to-day, etc. rewards in games (described in an excellent article by Librande here) these rewards can correspond to objectives given to players on the same schedule. As mentioned before, casual puzzle games typically have second-to-second and minute-to-minute objectives well defined, but lack the more long-term goals for players to work towards. When implemented correctly, in-game events are a possible solution, superimposing additional long term goals and rewards over the game’s core loop. Present in Candy Crush, Cookie Jam, and Candy Blast Mania to name a few, these events range from “reach level X within the time limit” to team based piece collection with leaderboards. The majority of these events are targeted at the existing player base, meant to increase monetization and session length. Through the introduction of secondary objectives with explicit rewards, a lot of these events meaningfully enrich the player’s’ experience.
For example, the “Global Events” present in Storm8’s Hungry Babies (a game I worked on) introduces any number of secondary goals revolving around the game’s core mechanic: making matches. A piece is designated as the event’s focus, and collecting that piece adds to your event total. Multipliers are added for making larger matches and clearing levels, which adds a layer of rewards for player competency. Additionally, totals are tracked via an event leaderboard and players can be grouped into teams depending on event type, with larger rewards for teams that perform better. Smash tiles while smashing your opponents!! It’s questionable whether competition alone plays a large part in match3 player motivations, but striving for more boosts is sure to get a puzzler’s blood pumping.
The bottom line is that events modify or strengthen key areas of casual games to improve the player experience:
Improved scheduling: Human psychology has a strong relationship with schedules. Who doesn’t like to look forward to something? Having different events on different schedules gives players something to look forward to. If there is downtime between events, then anticipation can build as well.
Dynamism / Gameplay Depth: Regardless of how well designed your levels are, players may become desensitized to similar gameplay after funding for new mechanics is diverted. Events create an additional layer of progression through event resources and their cyclical structure creates discrete moments of closure F2P games
Add value to existing mechanics: If your event gives x2 points for tiles cleared using special tiles, suddenly purchasing a boost to beat a level becomes a better deal for the player. The player gets to beat the level that they have been stuck on and get extra points towards earning event rewards.
Match3 games have evolved to the point that a lot of newer titles include the meta structures present in events in their core loop. （Source: ofollow,noindex" target="_blank">gamasutra.com ）