Mr.Chris Crawford的游戏策划设计文档

乐天灵魂

ufosurfing: Re:Chris Crawford on game design(translate by Letian)

楼。。楼
            楼主



           有机会发到我邮箱一分 我仔细看看  谢谢拉

   楼上的这位朋友，你要明白以下三点：
     
    1 我翻译这篇文章，并不是为了西天取经，拯救世人。穷则独善其身，所以我仅仅是锻炼自

己的表达，并和一些人讨论书中的思想而已。
   
     2 我希望看懂本书的人而不是所有人能和我讨论，所以我绝对不会写一些取悦所有人的帖

子，有些不热爱游戏却进游戏行业的人捞钱的人，他们从来没有经历过反复地玩一个游戏的过程

-----所以他们根本无法体会书中所描述的东西。跟这些人谈游戏理论完全是浪费时间，他们的

谈话，语言中充斥着身份，金钱，规矩等等和游戏无关的东西。

      3 网上这些资料，到处都是，会用www.baidu.com吧？输入Chris Crawford搜索下看看结果吧！
     
      时间是很宝贵的,以后我不会再对类似要资料的帖子回复,请见谅。在这本书翻完以后，

------大概是十月份以后，我会逐渐地把自己关于本书某些章节的一些体会贴上来；或者翻另一

本经典的书，也许是Chris的，也许不是。
      
Chapter 4 Challenge

Oftentimes when I am engaged in a friendly telephone conversation, I will perform light housework: putting things away, sorting socks, that kind of thing. I hate housework because it's so mindless; telephone-time is the ideal time to do this work because I can carry out these almost subconscious tasks while engaging my conscious effort on my conversation with my friend. That's the real value of learning something so well that it takes little mental effort; we can carry out the dumb task while also performing some other more mentally challenging work.

But this is not how kids play videogames. There's always a new skill to master, so the kid devotes his entire mental resource to the learning process. All his mentation is concentrated in that low-level processing. And this causes something most curious to happen: conscious processing shuts down. Parents can readily attest to this phenomenon; calling the kid to dinner yields a muttered acknowledgement and no action. A kid can start playing a videogame at eight in the evening and still be there at midnight, unaware of the passage of time. "Johnny, there's a lion loose in the room" will elicit an "Okay, Mom" and nothing more. Some parents report that only physically interposing themselves between player and screen can break the kid's trance.

Altered States of Consciousness
It's not quite correct to refer to this phenomenon as a loss of consciousness; it's really an altered state of consciousness. And just as the hippies of the 60s were entranced (literally) by drug-induced altered states of consciousness, so too are kids today entranced (literally) by videogame-induced altered states of consciousness.

This alarming analogy gains strength with deeper consideration. There are several particulars in which the analogy between videogame and drugs rings true.

First is the element of pleasure. We are programmed to learn, and successful learning is intrinsically pleasurable. Just as the "runner's high" is triggered by endorphins released by a certain level of exercise, there seems to be some kind of "videogamer's high" attained at a certain level of proficiency. Videogames are carefully designed to provide the player with a steady stream of learning successes; it's called the learning curve of the game. At each point in the game, the player has only to make a small improvement in his performance to earn an explicit and often dramatic reward. It's like eating popcorn; each piece is small but tastes so good that you readily move on to the next piece, until you suddenly realize that you have consumed a gallon of popcorn.

Videogamers have difficulty describing the precise nature of their pleasurable experience, although they will readily confirm just how much they enjoy the game. Perhaps this is due to the inarticulateness intrinsic to kids; perhaps it is because the experience has no parallel in the real world. They describe their state of consciousness in terms frighteningly similar to those used by drug addicts. They are "in tune with the game" or "in the groove of the game." They feel that they are united with the game; they anticipate its behavior so intimately that they almost identify with it.


第四章 挑战

     通常我在和朋友们打电话的时候，我会做一些不费体力的家务事：把东西放起来，把袜子

分类，类似的东西。我讨厌家务活，因为这简直不需要任何思考；打电话的时间是理想的作家务

活的时间，因为我能够在我集中注意力和我的朋友交流的时候，用我的潜意识完成这些事情。这

就是一个例子：用很少的意识去完成一件已经掌握了的事情；我们在做一些消耗较多的精神活动

的时候，“后台”能够处理一些简单的事情。
      
     但是这并不是孩子们玩视频游戏的方式。通常来说，需要有一个新的技能需要掌握，所以

孩子把他的整个精神能力都放在了学习过程上。所有的他的精神作用都集中在大脑低级处理过程

上。这让一些看起来很严重的事情发生了：表面上的意识活动终止了。家长们能够证实这件事情

：叫孩子来吃晚饭，他们咕哝着但是不动弹。孩子从晚上八点玩视频游戏玩到午夜，对时间的流

逝毫无概念。“Johnny，有头狮子闯进房间了！”只会得到这样的回答：“妈妈，我知道了。”一些

家长报告说物理行为比如关掉电视，才能打断孩子们这种恍惚的状态。

意识状态的改变

     把这种情形称作意识丧失并不十分准确；通常来说这是一种意识状态的改变。就像在进入

六十年代的时候，那些吸毒的人意识改变；今天的孩子们玩视频游戏时，意识的改变好像是在吸

毒一样。
     
     这个让人震惊的类推得到很多人的认同。但是，在视频游戏和吸毒之间，有一些不同的特

点：
  
     首先，是娱乐元素。我们在游戏中，有目的地去学习，并且成功的学习让我们快乐。就像“

田径运动员的快感” 会被一系列的跑步练习所触发，“视频游戏玩家的快感”也是被同样的一种掌

握技能的过程所触发。视频游戏的设计者们，十分小心地提供给玩家一个学习------成功的流程

；这成为游戏学习曲线。在游戏中的每个点，玩家只能通过履行这种练习，来获得一点小的进步

和回报------通常是游戏动画。这就像吃爆米花；每一片都很小，但是吃起来味道好极了于是你

不断地吃，直到最后一块，直到你发现你竟然吃了一加仑的爆米花。

    视频游戏玩家通常在表达他们愉悦的经验的时候有困难，他们通常会说，我有多么喜欢这个

游戏。或许这是因为孩子们口齿不清的缘故；或许是因为在现实世界中，并没有类似的经验。他

们描述他们意识的时候，和那些吸毒者令人恐惧地类似。他们“配合游戏” 或者“掉进了游戏”。

他们感到他们和游戏成为了一体；他们能够如此密切地预期它的行为，以至于他们几乎认同了游

戏是自己的一部分。

   

    atian.dpnet.com.cn------welcome!

         

     
      



   

乐天灵魂

   视频游戏玩家通常在表达他们愉悦的经验的时候有困难，他们通常会说，我有多么喜欢这个

游戏。或许这是因为孩子们口齿不清的缘故；或许是因为在现实世界中，并没有类似的经验。他

们描述他们意识的时候，和那些吸毒者令人恐惧地类似。

Chapter 4 Challenge

Second, videogamers report the same sense of power and invulnerability

that drug users experience. Drug users report the feeling that they are

smarter, more creative, and able to see more deeply into the mysteries

of their souls. Videogamers report similar experiences of power and

invulnerability. When they are playing in a videogame high, dangers

rush at them, but they flow along with the game, unwounded, untouched,

and incapable of being injured.

Third is the loss of awareness of the dull, depressing world in which

they live. Just as some people drink to forget, some videogamers slip

out of a world of overbearing parents, demanding teachers, and dismal

failure, to enter a world of simple challenges and frequent glorious

success. Their loss of awareness of the world around them is no

happenstance; it's an important part of the appeal of the experience.

Lastly, there is the addictive nature of videogames. As with drugs,

addiction is not an inevitable outcome of use; some personalities seem

more resistant to addiction, others less so. But there is no question

that some kids become addicted to videogames. They partake of videogame

pleasures to the detriment of other activities in their lives. Their

sense of priorities is distorted in favor of the games. They are unable

to stop. Let's face it: This is addiction.

There are, of course, many differences between the videogame experience

and the drug experience: the absence of any outright chemical influence

the large number of videogamers who do not fall victim to addiction and

the greater subtlety of videogame mental effects. I am not claiming

that all videogamers are no different from drug users; rather, I'm

claiming that some of the more extreme videogamers share some symptoms

with drug users.

It is only a matter of time before some researcher carries out a

detailed study of brain activity in videogamers and compares it with

brain activity in drug users. When that study is published, you do NOT

want to be holding stock in any videogame company!

Social Reasoning

Now here's an underdeveloped source of challenge for computer games!

There's no mystery why social reasoning is so weak in computer games:

Most game designers are socially incompetent geeks whose social

reasoning skills are microscopic. It's pretty hard to design a game

about a challenge you don't understand. Indeed, a number of game

designers have angrily rejected my claims on this matter by denying

that such a thing as social reasoning even exists.

Although I phrase my put-down of game designers in kinder, gentler

terms, the problem at work here is quite serious: autism. Psychologists

are now realizing that autism is not some single-valued disease that

strikes a few unlucky souls; it is instead a broad-spectrum malady that

affects millions of people to greater or lesser degrees. In its most

benign form, autism expresses itself as a general reluctance to

interact with others, a shyness or social clumsiness. Sound like

anybody you know? How about programmers? Although most programmers are

perfectly healthy, the field attracts people with social skill

deficits. This explains why so much of the output of programmers is so

user-intolerant. With most software, such personality traits do no more

damage than to make software difficult to use, costing us billions of

dollars in lost productivity and accidents. But with games, the results

are really serious: It's pretty hard to entertain people when you

simply can't relate to them!

The cluelessness of the game design community with regard to social

reasoning is truly breathtaking. One of the perennial questions among

game designers is this: "How can we entice more female players into our

fold?" Answers to this question have ranged from &quotut a bow on

Pac-Man's head and call him Ms. Pac-Man" (seriously! Midway actually

did this!) to "Give them pink BFGs (Big Guns)" (not so seriously). Game

designers can't seem to come to grips with the fact that social

reasoning fascinates most women. You can see it most easily in the

difference between the typical "guy movie" and the typical "chick

flick." The guy movie sports a hero with a huge torso, bulging arms, a

big gun in one hand, and a girl whose breast measurements exceed her IQ

in the other arm. The chick flick is about social relationships. Chicks

go to guy movies as an act of social cooperation with their guy; guys

refuse to go to chick flicks because such movies bore them out of their

skulls.

Clearly, if we want to appeal to more women, we want to build games

that challenge their social reasoning skills. At the moment, this looks

rather difficult to do; it's so much easier to calculate the trajectory

of a bullet than to figure out why Jane left John. However, I suspect

that, when we do produce games with strong social challenge, we will

use simplified systems of interpersonal relations that will be

iconically represented; when this happens, we will likely think that it

looked obvious all along.






第四章 挑战

     第二，视频游戏玩家和吸毒者同样有一种自己是强大的和刀枪不入的错觉。吸毒者有这

样的幻觉：他们更聪明了，更有创造性，而且能够看到他们自己的灵魂深处的秘密。视频游

戏玩家报告说有同样的强大和刀枪不入的经验。当他们玩视频游戏玩的非常开心的时候，即

使他们身边有危险，但是他们精神都投入在游戏之中，仿佛无知无觉的一个幽灵，甚至感受

不到伤害。

     第三，忘却他们所生活的那个灰暗，让人失望的世界。就像一些人喝酒以忘却，一些视

频玩家为了忘记他们父母对他们粗暴的对待，忘记专制的老师，或者让人沮丧的失败，来到

一个具有简单的挑战和频繁的辉煌成功的世界。他们在真实的世界是那么的不开心；这是经

验的一个重要组成部分。

     最后，视频游戏天生就具有让人上瘾的特性。当用药物上瘾时，上瘾并不是一个不可避

免的行为；一些人看起来更容易上瘾，另一些人不会。但是毫无疑问一些小孩子对于视频游

戏上瘾了。他们用视频游戏的乐趣取代了他们生活中所有的其它活动。他们对于日常事务优

先级的处理也因为对游戏的喜爱而扭曲了。他们无法停下来。面对现实吧：这就是上瘾。

     当然，在视频游戏和药物成瘾的经验之间，还是有些不同。在直接的药物影响之下，仅

有少数人没有上瘾；而大多数视频游戏玩家并没有上瘾。我并不是说视频游戏玩家和吸毒者

毫无区别；而是说一些极端的玩家和吸毒者显示出了某些相同的的征兆。

     有些研究员会去寻找视频游戏玩家和吸毒者的大脑功能之间的细节比较的；这仅仅是一

个时间问题。当研究结果发表的时候，相信你不愿意持有视频游戏公司的股票！

社会原因:

     现在的电脑游戏对于挑战作的还不够!所以在电脑游戏中如此缺乏社会关系的描述一点

也不奇怪:大多数游戏设计师的社交能力不怎么样.你很难设计出来一个关于你不理解的领域

的游戏.还有,一部分游戏设计师根本拒绝接受我的建议,因为他们认为在游戏中的社会关系因

素根本就不存在.

     尽管我认为游戏设计师是心地善良的绅士,但是他们在工作上的问题很严重:孤僻症.心

理学家现在认为很多人都有某种程度的孤僻症,而不是一些简单的极端症状,这是一种困扰着

数百万人健康的疾病.在这种疾病的初级阶段,患者不愿意和别人交流,显得害羞和胆怯.听起

来就像你认识的某个人?而程序员又如何呢?大多数程序员非常健康,这块领域的人天生就在社

交上缺乏技巧.这就解释了为什么大多数程序员所设计出来的杰面对用户一点也不友好.大多

数软件中,这样的个性特点不过是软件难以使用,并且在所造成的事故中消耗我们数十亿美元.
但是关于游戏呢,结果非常严重:在你不和人们联系的时候,你怎么去让他们为你的作品开心呢

?
     游戏设计中关于社交问题的设计弱点是惊人的.有一个普遍困扰游戏设计师的问题是:"

我们如何吸引女性玩家?"关于这个问题的回答,有人这么做了:"在吃豆人游戏中,给小人头上

加一个发卡,并叫她小姐,来让女性也爱上这个游戏(开个玩笑)".游戏设计师并没有学会让大

多数妇女都喜欢上的社会关系处理.你能从典型的"男孩电影"和"女孩电影"中看到这一点,男

孩电影中有一个英雄,他的手里握着枪,粗壮的手臂挽着的那个女孩------她的胸围尺码超过

了她的IQ数字.而女孩电影却是关于社会关系的处理.女孩们去看男孩电影,仅仅是因为她们这

样做能和男孩们一起;男孩们拒绝去看女孩电影,因为这暴露了他们的弱点.

     毫无疑问,如果我们想要吸引更多的女性,我们需要制造出来挑战她们社会关系的游戏.

同时,这相当的困难.比起描述子弹的轨迹,描述Jane为什么离开John要难的多.尽管如此,我

仍然认为当我们在做出来一个带有很多社会关系的游戏的时候,我们将会使用相对简单的系统

来表达复杂的关系;到那时,我们就会认为这是显而易见的道理.

atian.dpnet.com.cn------welcome!



      
      

乐天灵魂

Chapter 5 Conflict

Don't dismiss too quickly my pessimistic assessment of the state of

computer games; the free market is not as free as many designers

realize. Economists have a concept called "barriers to entry"; it

refers to the difficulties that some new product or service encounters

in trying to make its way in the marketplace. Suppose, for example,

that you were to wake up tomorrow morning with a brilliant new idea for

an operating system. Suppose this operating system was clean,

foolproof, perfectly secure…all the things that we want from an ideal

operating system. Suppose that you coded up this operating system over

the next few months, and that when you tested it, it outperformed every

other operating system on the market by large margins. In this

hypothetical universe, your operating system would enter the

marketplace, demonstrate its superiority to customers, and replace all

existing operating systems, making you richer than Bill Gates. Sounds

great, doesn't it? Well, dream on, friend, because it ain't gonna

happen. No matter how much better your operating system is, Windows

will crush it because Windows is the established leader and Microsoft

has erected cosmically high barriers to entry for any competitor.

The situation is even worse with games. With operating systems,

Microsoft is motivated to continually improve its product and will

introduce major innovations if it feels that they are warranted. In the

world of games, there is no Microsoft, just a collection of

competitors. And remember that the "games community" comprises much

more than just the publishers. There are distributors, retailers, and

customers, too. This entire community has developed in the last twenty

years or so, and it has learned what works and what doesn't. This

entrenched community knowledge ensures that computer games remain

trapped in the kiddie corner.

Let's try the superior-product fantasy I used a few paragraphs back.

Let's suppose that you come up with a brilliant new idea for a game.

It's not a candy-game, to be sure; it's more subtle, more mature, less

violent, and so on. You're sure that millions of 36-year-old housewives

will love it. So you design and produce the game on your own dime

(let's assume that you're rich and have lots of dimes). You take your

game to a publisher and show it off. No matter how good your game is,

the publisher will not take it. He knows the marketing numbers inside

and out, and he knows that 36-year-old housewives don't spend much

money on games. Sure, this game would sell to 36-year-old housewives—if

they were buying. But they're not, so your game is dead meat.

But let's assume that you get lucky and find a publisher who's

altruistic enough to publish your game. He's violating his business

sense, but is willing to take a flyer for a good cause. Good for you!

It's not over yet. Now the publisher has to convince the distributors

to stock the game. Distributors all run on razor-thin margins, so

they're some of the most conservative businessmen in the world. They

will not stock a game unless they know that it will sell. You have to

prove the certainty of success by comparing it to other games that have

sold well. They'll all turn your publisher down, and your game will

never be distributed.

But wait! Let's suppose that you get lucky and find a crazy distributor

willing to stock your game. What a stroke of luck! Now all you have to

do is convince the retailers to carry it.

Good luck. Retailers zealously guard their precious shelf space. They

won't let anything onto that shelf space unless they know that it will

move. And how can you prove that your product will sell? It's never

been tried before!

But let's be idiotically optimistic here and assume that you find some

retailers with shelf space to burn. They agree to carry your product.

Success is at last within your grasp, right?

Wrong! The 13-year-olds who patronize the games store aren't interested

in your adult game. "Bor-ring!" they'll exclaim, and walk away. And

what about those 36-year-old housewives for whom the game is designed?

Well, they certainly won't be going into a games store. They know

perfectly well that games are for kids. Why should they go into a store

like that?

Of course, the Internet changes things; with the Internet, you cut out

those obstructionist distributors and retailers. But you still have to

find a way to reach those 36-year-old housewives, and you still have to

find a publisher, and each of these is a killer problem all by itself.

Thus, the games industry is trapped in a hole of its own making. Like

comic books, even the most brilliant of unconventional works will not

be sufficient to batter down the walls of expectations placed on us by

the market. So perhaps reading this book is a complete waste of time.

But I have never been one to shrink from hopeless quests, and I hope

that you are similarly inclined. Recruit a Sancho Panza; the more Don

Quixotes there are attacking this windmill, the better the chance we

have of killing it.


第五章 冲突

     关于我对于电脑游戏的悲观态度,我们不要太快下结论;自由市场并不是像某些设计师

所想象的那么自由.经济学家有个概念叫做:"进入障碍";它涉及到一些新的产品服务提供者

在试图进入市场时候所遇到的困难.举个这样的例子,想象看你明天就能够发明一种优秀的操

作系统.假设这种操作系统界面简洁,功能强大,尽善尽美,是一个理想的操作系统.假设你已

经为这个操作系统完成了最后几个月的代码测试,然后你推出它,想要让市场中其它所有别的

操作系统出局.在这个假设的事件中,你的操作系统会进入市场,展示给用户它的各种优秀特

性,然后取代所有现有的操作系统,你会比比尔盖茨还要富有.听起来不错,对吗?好吧,别做梦

了,我的朋友.因为那不可能发生.不管你的操作系统有多好,Windows将会把它压扁。因为

Windows已经建立起了一整套的市场,并且微软会对所有的竞争者者设置壁垒。

     现在游戏业类似的情况甚至更加糟糕了。在Windows一统天下的时候，微软不断地改

良它的产品，并且如果他们觉得有必要就会有一次大的革命性改良。在游戏业中，没有微软

，只有很多开发者。记住“游戏业团体”包含的不仅仅是出版商。还有发行商，零售商，和顾

客。整个群体在过去的二十年发展了，并且学会了怎样做是可行的，怎么样是不可行的。这

个行业使得游戏停留在那个幼稚的阶段。

      让我们试着用一段超级产品的假设来说明这个问题。想象你有了一个特别特别好的游

戏创意，并不是一个“幼稚游戏”。更加成熟睿智，更少具有暴力，等等。你确信数百万的36

岁的家庭妇女们会喜欢它。所以你设计，制作这个游戏并且向公众展示。不论你的游戏多么

的好，出版商也不会要它的。出版商了解市场，他知道36岁的家庭妇女肯定不会在游戏上花

很多的钱。确实，这个游戏必须卖给36岁的家庭妇女------如果她们买。但是她们不会，于

是你的游戏胎死腹中。

      但是我们假设你那么幸运，并且找到了一个出于公益目的的出版商愿意出版你的游戏

。他违背了他的商业感觉，想要冒个险。这真是好消息！

      但还没完呢。现在出版商想要让发行商来把游戏股票上市。发行商们常常铤而走险，

所以他们中有些这个世界上最棒的商人。他们绝对不会发行他们认为不会赚钱的游戏。你不

得不证明人们肯定在选择游戏的时候会买你的游戏。他们会拒绝出版商，然后你的游戏完了

。
  
     但是仍然我们假定，你找到了一个疯狂的发行商决定让发行你的游戏上市。真是好运

！现在的问题是要让零售商来零售。

     好运。零售商们把他们的前排货架视为黄金地带。他们才不会卖他们认为不会卖掉的

东西呢。那么你怎么能证明这产品一定会卖掉？以前从来可没有这样的游戏！

     让我们保持白痴般的乐观，并且假定你找到了一些零售商有一些准备烧掉的货架。他

们愿意把你的产品放上去。最后你终于成功了，对吗？
   
     不！13岁的孩子们-----他们是购买游戏的主要群体------对你的面向成人的游戏不

感兴趣。“无聊！”他们会喊道，然后走开。那么喜欢这款游戏的36岁的家庭妇女们呢？哦，

她们从来不进游戏商店。她们知道游戏是给孩子们玩的。那么她们为啥要进游戏商店呢？

     当然，网络改变着这个社会；在网络上，你可以绕过发行商和零售商。但是你仍然需

要找到一条能够到达你的顾客群的路，并且你需要找到一个出版商，其中每一个环节都有可

能是致命的。

     于是，游戏行业作茧自缚。就像卡通漫画那样，甚至最为优秀的，不一般的作品仍然

不会被象我们期望的那样被市场接受。所以也许读本书是浪费时间。但是我从来不会逃避那

些让人绝望的问题，我希望你也是。


atian.dpenet.com.cn------welcome     

乐天灵魂

译者的话：
      在阅读这一章Chris给我们的建议之前，请记住他曾经说过的这样一句话：“我的方

法适用于我，而他们的方法适用于他们。你必须从所有的方法中学习，才能找到适用你的方

法。”我们相信大师所说的话，但是不代表我们每个字都会照着去做------那就是尽信书了

.我们有我们自己的情况。我们用书中的理论去在现实中探索，从挫折中定位出我们自

己的界限，然后就形成了我们自己的方法。

       大师们的话是他们自己对事物发自内心的感悟，我们可以学到精妙的表达方式和事

物本身的运作规律。这点和那些试图统治你的思想的老板做的事情完全不同。和你比起来，

他才是门外汉，但是他想要把你变成他的奴隶，追捧他的思想，所以他不惜颠倒黑白------

这正是他擅长的。
Chapter 9 The Education of a Game Designer

Exercises
Reading and watching aren't enough; you must also try your hand at a

variety of active tasks.

BASIC STAMP: This is a computer on a chip that you can program in the

BASIC language. You can hook up LEDs (little red lights), buzzers,

stepper motors, and all sorts of other electronic devices to sense and

control the world. You can purchase a variety of kits that include all

the accoutrements you need to get started. You'll learn a great deal

about digital logic at the hands-on level. Alternatively, you might

consider one of the many robotics kits for students; they are more

expensive and more detailed, but you learn more.

Writing: Join interesting newsgroups and try your hand at writing good

contributions to the newsgroups. Don't just toss together random rants—

compose serious essays on the issues discussed. Do your own writing

offline and make sure that you include in each of your posts at least

one fact that you had to look up. Don't pay any attention to the

foolish flamers and random ranters you'll encounter; concentrate on

engaging the brighter members of the group in serious discussion of

intricate issues. Your objective should be to learn how to express your

thoughts in a clear and convincing manner.

Programming: Keep writing programs after you've learned the basics.

Build micro-games that try out interesting algorithms or systems. Don't

worry about graphics or sound; concentrate on getting an internal

system operational. If you can play with your system using simple

blips, beeps, and clicks, that's good enough for the educational

purpose.

Self-probing: Take up some mildly dangerous hobby: motorcycling,

skateboarding, surfing, skydiving, rock climbing, or skiing. Measure

yourself against your own limits. Can you accurately gauge the limits

of your abilities? How close can you come to those limits and still be

absolutely, positively certain that you are not exceeding them? Can you

calmly assess risk and make sound judgements when your youthful

cockiness goads you to push harder?

Manual creativity: Make things with your hands. Build wooden

structures; make pots; carve wood; polish rocks; build gardens or

fences; make model airplanes or railroads; pour concrete; repair cars

or motorcycles. Get your hands dirty.

Social education: Break out of that suffocating circle of people who

are just like you; all they do is reinforce your false conceptions.

Make friends of people you wouldn't normally make friends with:

fundamentalist Christians, old people, factory workers, artists,

skinheads, leather-clad motorcyclists, gays or straights, waitresses,

people from different ethnic groups, somebody who doesn't speak your

language well. It's especially useful to make friends with a foreigner.

Sure, they're different, and sure they have lots of attitudes you

disagree with. So what? They still have something useful to teach you.

Concentrate on discovering the commonalities you share and

diplomatically pass over your differences. One good tip on getting

started: no matter who they are, no matter what their culture, asking

them about their family will always break the ice. Family is one

absolute universal. Swap family stories.

Observe: The world is full of surprises to one whose eyes are open. I

recently visited a submarine museum. All the other visitors wandered

through the submarine rather quickly, but I took the time to notice and

wonder about details: where did that pipe go? Why were there so many

valves on that pipe? How are the batteries connected together? I had a

lot more fun than the others, I think, because I combined observation

with wonder. When you drive down a street, look at the houses. Why are

they built the way they are? Can you tell which houses are older and

which are newer? What can you tell about the occupants just by looking

at the outside of the house? When you're in the country, can you tell

which way the water flows across the land? Why are the trees spaced the

way they are? Look at the sky. Its color changes from day to day—can

you notice the changes? Watch clouds move, grow, and shrink. Why do

they do that?



第九章 游戏设计师需要的教育

    练习
   
    读和观察并不够；你必须进行一些更加有意义的活动。
   
    基础：
        你需要一台电脑，那么你可以用基本的Basic语言编程。你需要找到LEDs（小的

红色信号灯），蜂鸣器，处理器，感受所有的设备，看看它们是怎么工作的。你可以买你需

要开始所需的工具。你将会学到从动手开始的很多数字逻辑。或者你可以买为学生提供的很

多种机器人中的一个；它们更贵，具有更多细节；但同时你可以学到更多。

    写作：
        参加有趣的论坛，并且尝试着把你的思想发成帖子表达出来。别理那些随机的捣蛋

鬼------把你的注意力集中在那些比较严肃的讨论者身上。在线下写你的文章，并确信你在

你要放上去的每一贴中间至少包含一个事实。别管那些你遇到的随机的灌水者或捣乱的人；

而是要集中精力和那些比较严肃的和你讨论的聪明的人。你的目的是学会如何把你的思想以

一种清晰，有教养的方式表达出来。

    编程：
        在你学会基础之后，别间断编程。做一些小型的游戏，试试看有趣的算法或者系统

。别管图片或者声音；集中注意力在内部的系统协调上面。如果你的游戏使用一些简单的点
，和“噼噼”的声音，但是它能够运行------这对于练习目的已经够用了。

    保持探索：
            尝试一些极限运动：摩托车，滑冰，冲浪，跳伞，攀岩，或者滑雪。看看你

的极限是多少。你能够精确地描述出你在运动中的极限吗？你离极限有多近并且确定自己不

能够超越它们？你能冷静地处理突发危机，并且当你的自大把自己带到困境的时候也能够做

出合理的解决吗？

    创造性手册：
             自己动手做东西。创造木质结构的东西；制作水壶；雕刻木头；石刻；花园

和篱笆；做公路模型或者飞机模型；浇注混凝土；修理汽车或者自行车，即使这样让你满手

脏兮兮。
     社会教育：
            打破那些和你一样的人组成的令人窒息的小圈子；所有他们所做的事情就是

加强你错误的概念。和那些你以前不会交朋友的人交朋友：基督教徒，老人，工人，艺术家

，机车党，同性恋者，女服务生，外国人。有些人不能很好地说你的语言。和外国人交朋友

尤其是有益的。是的，他们和你不一样，并且保证他们有很多观点你不会赞同。但是又如何

呢？他们有一些有用的东西可以教你。在你们的不同的基础上，发现你们的共同点。有个做

法很有帮助：不论他们是谁，不论他们的文化是什么，问问他们的家庭，这就可以打开话题

。家庭是一个没有国界的话题，交换你们家庭的看法吧。

      观察：
          世界对那些保持观察的人来说，充满了惊讶的事情。我参观过一个潜艇博物馆

。所有其他的游客从潜艇模型前很快地走过了，但是我却停下来，花时间来考虑细节：这条

管子通向哪里？为什么这条管子上面有这么多真空管？这些电池是怎么连接起来的？我想我

比别人考虑了很多有趣的问题，因为我把观察和思考结合起来了。当你开车通过一条街的时

候，看看房子。为什么它们是那样建造的？你能不能说出哪个房子是新的，哪个是旧的？你

能不能从看房子的外观就能描述出居住者的身份？当你在乡下的时候，你能说出水是怎样从

泥土上流过的吗？为什么树是那样的排列的？看看天空。它的颜色每天都在改变-----你注

意到这个变化了吗？云彩在移动，产生和消散。为什么？

atian.dpnet.com.cn------welcome!
           

乐天灵魂

Chapter 6 Interactivity

Process Intensity Versus Data Intensity

Closely tied to the concept of interactivity is a concept that I

describe with the phrase process intensity versus data intensity.

Process intensity is the degree to which a program emphasizes processes

instead of data. All programs use a mix of process and data. Process is

reflected in algorithms, equations, and branches. Data is reflected in

data tables, images, sounds, and text. A process-intensive program

spends most of its time crunching numbers; a data-intensive program

spends most of its time moving bytes around.

The difference between data and process constitutes a central construct

around which the universe is built, and it shows up in every field of

human intellectual inquiry. In language, it shows up as nouns and

verbs. In economics, it's goods and services. In physics, it's

particles and waves. In military science, it's assets and operations.

And in computer science, it's bits and cycles. Process is abstract

where data is tangible. Data is direct, where process is indirect. The

difference between data and process is the difference between numbers

and equations, between facts and principles, between events and forces,

between knowledge and ideas.

Processing data is the very essence of what a computer does. There are

many technologies that can store data: magnetic tape, punched cards,

punched tape, paper and ink, microfilm, microfiche, and optical disk,

to name just a few. But there is only one technology that can process

data: the computer. This is its single source of superiority over the

other technologies. Using the computer in a data-intensive mode wastes

its greatest strength.

Because process intensity is so close to the essence of

"computeriness," it provides us with a useful criterion for evaluating

the value of any piece of software. That criterion is a vague

quantification of the desirability of process intensity. It uses the

ratio of operations per datum, which I call the crunch per bit ratio. I

intend here that an operation is any process applied to a datum, such

as an arithmetic operation, logical operation, or a simple Boolean

inclusion or exclusion. A datum in this scheme can be a bit, a byte, a

character, or a floating-point number—it is a small piece of

information.

The "process intensity principle" is grand in implications and global

in sweep. Like any such all-encompassing notion, it is subject to a

variety of minor-league objections and compromising truths.

Objection 1: Substitutability
Experienced programmers know that data can often be substituted for

process. Many algorithms can be replaced by tables of data. This is a

common trick for expending RAM to speed up processing. Because of this,

many programmers see process and data as interchangeable. This

misconception arises from applying low-level considerations to the

higher levels of software design. Sure, you can cook up a table of sine

values with little trouble—but can you imagine a table specifying every

possible behavioral result in a complex game such as Balance of Power?



第六章 交互性

过程密集性和数据密集性
            
    和我介绍交互性概念紧密相连的一个概念就是我想要描述的过程密集性和数据密集性。

过程密集性就是一个程序有多么强调过程而不是数据。所有的程序都使用过程和数据的混合

。过程是算法，平衡性和分至点概念等组成的。数据则由数据表，图片，声音和文本组成。

一个过程密集性的程序把大多数时间花费在运算数字上；一个数据密集性的程序则把大多数

时间花费在了移动比特数据上面了。

    数据和过程之间的不同，围绕着宇宙构成这个中心，在每一个人类思想的创造物上面，

都会表现出来。在语言上，它表现为名词和动词。在经济学上，它表现为物品和服务。在物

理学上，就是物体和运动。在军事学上，是军队和指挥。而在计算机科学上，是比特和周期

。是比特和循环。过程是数据的抽象。数据是直接的，过程是间接的。在数据和过程之间的

不同，就像是数字和公式之间的不同；就像是事实和原则之间的不同；就像是事件和作用力

之间的不同；就像是知识和思想之间的不同。

    用过程处理数据是计算机所做的核心工作。有很多技术能够存储数据；磁带，卡片，磁

盘，光盘，纸盒笔，胶片，硬盘等等。但是只有一种技术可以处理数据；电脑。这就是它唯

一的与众不同之处。使用电脑来做数据密集型的工作就是大材小用。

    因为过程密集性和“电脑特性”如此相近，这个概念给我们了一个有用的标准，来衡量任

何一个软件的价值。标准就是对于过程密集性的大致衡量。它使用每一步操作中每数据的处

理比率这个概念，我称之为“每比特处理比率”。我在这里的过程操作是指任何对于一个数据

所做的操作，比如算术运算，逻辑运算或者是一个简单的布尔或运算，异或运算。而一个数

据就是一个比特，数字或者是一个浮点数，总之，是一小段信息。

    “过程密集原则”在局部和全局都很重要。就像任何中心事物都有环绕它周围的次要事物

，它遵从事物多样性并且受到事实情况的制约。

    异议1：可替代性
   
    有经验的程序员知道，数据通常会被过程所取代。很多算法能够用数据表的方式来实现

，这是一个通常能够把Ram的速度提升的小花招。因此，很多程序员认为数据和过程也是可

替换的。这个误解从底层设计一直到高级软件设计。确实，你能毫无困难地制作一堆表，它

们包含很多数据------但是你能想象一个数据表能够处理像均势这样的游戏的每个动作吗？

（对于这一点，译者表示怀疑，因为微软制作的帝国时代也是用基于数据表的思想来实现的

；维护这张表的时候，甚至不需要程序员。）

   
         


atian.dpnet.com.cn------welcome!

乐天灵魂

Chapter 8 Common Mistakes

Over-Reliance on Tools
Tools are great; tools are wonderful. Some of my best friends are tools. The gargantuan effort required to create a modern game would be impossible to complete without an extensive library of tools. Hurrah for tools!

That said, let me now point out the dark side of tools, for those who are seduced by the dark side become the Darth Vaders of game design—more machine than man.

There are four fundamental properties of all tools:

Capital cost: It takes time to build a tool, time that is not itself productive.

Greater efficiency: A tool permits a task to be completed in less time.

Narrower application: A tool is designed for one specific task.

Learning time: Every tool requires some time to learn to use it properly.

Consider, for example, the simple task of digging a deep, narrow hole for setting a post into the ground. At the simplest and quickest level, you could claw at the soil with your bare hands, moving it out a handful at a time. There's no time wasted on building a tool, but your work proceeds slowly. You could, of course, (1) take the time to build a shovel and (2) enjoy the greater efficiency that this would confer upon your efforts, but (3) unlike your hands, which can be used for a great many tasks, the shovel is good for little more than digging dirt. And of course, (4) it takes a few minutes to get the hang of using a shovel to greatest effect.

Now let's move up a notch. You build a double shovel, a device with two narrow shovel blades, two shovel handles, and a swivel connection. This hand tool (1) costs a little more to make, because it has two shovel blades and some extra mechanical connections, but (2) it is definitely more efficient at digging post holes, so the work goes faster. Of course, (3) this specialized shovel can't be used for general dirt-digging purposes; it can be used only for the narrower task of digging post holes, and (4) this shovel is trickier to use and takes some time to master.

Okay, let's go big time. You're gonna get yourself a post hole auger for your tractor. This baby (1) costs hundreds of dollars, but it (2) wowie zowie—it can punch a post hole into the ground in seconds. Unfortunately, (3) it couldn't possibly be used for anything other than digging post holes, and (4) you better take some time learning how to use this monster or you're gonna punch a hole through your foot.

Now, the greater capital cost of a tool can be offset by the increased efficiency of the work it does—but only if the tool is applied so many times that its cost is offset by the multiple small savings of using it. For any one-shot task, handwork is always faster than using a tool. A shovel is more efficient than using your hands only because, to dig a hole, you must claw at the ground many times. If you wanted to dig a divot-sized hole just once, you couldn't justify the purchase of a shovel for the task; it would be easier, cheaper, and quicker to just claw the divot out of the ground with your hands.

Thus, tool use in game design is only effective when the tool is used many times for a repetitive task.



第八章 常见错误

对工具的过分依赖:

     工具很棒；工具棒极了。有很多我的最好的朋友这样评价工具。现在要创建一个流行的游戏，没有一

个像图书馆一样的工具集，来完成那巨大的工作量的话，你是不可能完成的。工具多棒啊！

      但是，让我来指出使用工具的黑暗一面。那些被工具的黑暗面引诱而变成了一些毫无价值的游戏设

计------那样的游戏更多的是关于机器，而不是人。

      这儿有工具的最基本的四个属性：
           
       研发成本：建立起一个工具需要时间，没有钱可不行。
      
       更高的效率：工具让一个进程能够在更短的时间之间内完成。
  
       狭窄的作用范围：工具被设计成能够在一个特定的范围内使用。

       学习时间：每个工具都需要一些时间来学习以掌握它。

       下面举个例子。最简单的过程就是在平地上挖一口井。在最为简单和最快捷的方式，你可以自己动

手挖坑。在建立工具上，你没有浪费时间，但是你的工作进展的很慢。你能够，当然（1）花时间去制造一

个铲子（2）用这个你创造出来的东西能够高效地挖坑，但是（3）不像你的双手，你的双手除了挖坑还能做

很多别的事情，但是铁铲除了挖掘之外能做的事情很少，当然（4）需要一些时间来练习如何使用铁铲，达

到高效。
      现在我们用一些更高级的工具。你制造一个机械铲，用两个铁铲组成，有两个手柄，还有一个回转

接头的连接装置。这个工具（1）消耗更多的时间来制作，因为它有两个铲还有一些额外的组建但是（2）具

有更好的挖掘效率，所以工作进展的更快。当然，（3）这个特别建造的工具不能做挖坑之外的用途，它只

能用于挖井，而且（4）这个工具需要更长的时间来掌握它。

      好吧，现在来个大家伙。你想要用你自己的打井机来挖一口井。这个宝贝（1）花费了你数百美元，但是（2）它在数秒之内就能挖一口井出来，不幸的是（3）它除了打井不能做任何其它用途，而且（4）你必须用很久的时间来学这个东西，来避免你在自己的脚上打个洞。

      现在，工具的成本能够被它的高效所弥补------但是仅仅只有在工具被使用了很多次的时候，才能有这样的机会。在一次性使用的时候，手动比用工具快的多。一个铁铲币用手更有效时因为，你必须在土地上劳作一段时间。如果你想要挖个高尔夫球洞，你不需要铁铲；只需要用手挖个小坑，它更便宜，容易，而且迅速。

因而，在游戏设计中，工具在使用很多次的时候，才是高效的。

      atian.dpnet.com.cn------welcome!
            

乐天灵魂

Chapter 10

The Self-Modifying Game

What I mean by a self-modifying game is one in which the rules change during play of the game. Of course, we all know that data and process are interchangeable, and since rules are really just processes, rules can also be treated as data, and therefore my claim that parameter-changing games don't count as rules-changing games is not strictly correct. Nevertheless, to convert changeable rules into changeable data requires a degree of abstraction that most people find noisome.

Of course, such abstraction need not be foisted on the players; the program might well change parameter #27 from a 6 to a 7, but the player might experience this change by discovering that his shotgun is now shooting marshmallows.

The trick, of course, is that the changes to the game must be related to the behavior of the player. A simple way to accomplish this would be to set up a series of parallel universes, giving the player the ability to jump between universes that retain the same map, but in which the rules of play are different. Suppose, for example, that we have a standard first-person shooter. The player is stalking through the blue universe when suddenly he is confronted by a hook-nosed warblestomper! Egad! Those things are impervious to all gunfire! Thinking fast, the player hits his Universe Jump button, and finds himself facing the same hook-nosed warblestomper in the orange universe. Here, gunfire is just as useless against warblestompers, but gravity is ten times stronger, and the warblestomper's great mass renders him immobile. With great effort, the player climbs the stairs to a point overlooking the warblestomper and then drops a coin onto the monster, which slices through him like a bullet. But look! Now there's a Muscle-skito flying towards him! Time to change universes!

In general, this kind of environmental change is the easiest way to implement self-modifying games. It makes much more sense than a game in which rules appear to change arbitrarily.


第十章
自我修改游戏

     我所说的自我修改游戏，就是在玩的同时会改变规则的游戏。当然，我们知

道数据和过程是可以交换的，因为规则就是过程，规则可以被像数据一样地对待，

因此我要声明的是，更改参数的游戏并不能够严格地当作自我修改的游戏。不过，

把规则通过数据来改变不能过分，否则大多数人会反感。

     当然，这样的改变不需要强塞给玩家；程序或许仅仅把参数#27从6改成了7

，但是玩家却发现，他的鸟枪现在往外发射蜜饯。

    这种策略，就是游戏必须和玩家的行为相关。一个简单的做法就是建立起一

系列的平行宇宙，给玩家在平行宇宙之间跳跃的能力，这些宇宙的地图时相同的，

但是游戏的规则却不同。比如，我们使用一个标准的第一人称射击游戏的视角。玩

家突然发现她在蓝色宇宙中面临一个长着鹰勾鼻子的怪物！天哪！它刀枪不入！玩

家赶紧按动按钮，跳到了平行的桔黄色宇宙。在这里，枪仍然没什么用，但是重力

却增加到了十倍。那个怪物的巨大质量使它移动很困难。于是玩家努力爬到怪物上

方，投一枚硬币下去，贯穿了怪物。但是看看吧！现在又来了一个飞翔的怪物！是

做宇宙转换的时候啦！

     总的来说，这种环境的改变是表达自我修改游戏最为容易的途径。这比强制

改变规则的游戏要好的多。


    这本书的翻译基本上就到这里，以后有类似比较好的书我想精读的时候，我会继续在这里发帖。如果你偶尔看到了这个帖子，有所感悟，欢迎来下面的地址给我留言。

atian.dpnet.com.cn------welcome!

GAMEer

本人也少许的接触过此类的书籍，我看的也是英文版的．．对于这种翻译，虽然市面上已经不少了，自己翻译的真是厉害了．．　希望版主继续加油．．我关注！

ljt0000

顶