耻辱2 前期潜行行为培养分析
Abstract:
如今，尽管有很多游戏具有潜行元素，以潜行作为核心且唯一玩法的游戏仍然十分小众。让潜行游戏如此独特的原因之一是游戏需要培养玩家“观察敌人路径/环境 - 悄悄行动 - 潜行制动”的行为模式。因此，对于不熟悉潜行游戏的玩家而言，上手该品类游戏的学习成本较高。本文通过观察玩家在潜行游戏“耻辱2”中的游玩体验，分析该游戏在如何在前期培养玩家潜行的行为模式，以及有哪些机制令阻碍了这种行为。
Today, although there are many games with stealth elements, the numbers of game that takes stealth as the core and only gameplay are still very limited. One of the things that make stealth games so unique is that the game requires the player to develop a behavioral pattern of "observe enemy paths/environment - move quietly - brake on stealth". Therefore, for players who are not familiar with stealth games, the learning cost of getting started with this category of games is relatively high. By observing the player's experience in the stealth game "Dishonored 2", this article analyzes how the game cultivates the player's stealth behavior pattern in the early stage, and what mechanisms hinder this behavior.
Participant’s basic info:
没有特别偏向类型的游戏，喜欢游戏中的探索（可以根据玩家四类型定义）。 较少尝试第一视角游戏，有3D晕眩，不了解“潜行”游戏的概念，没有玩过潜行游戏，但玩过有潜行元素的游戏（刺客信条）。
My playtester is Yalin. She does not particularly prefer specific genre games and likes exploration in games. I position her as an “Explorer” according to Bartle’s player type. She rarely plays first-person perspective games, has 3D dizziness, and never tries stealth games.
Testing game info:
耻辱是一款以潜行作为核心玩法的游戏，玩家需要观察地形和敌人的行动路线，到达指定地点，完成某个目标。玩家可以通过不同途径完成目标，包括：使用技能、直接击杀敌人、潜行后勒晕敌人、利用地形躲避敌人或快速奔跑到达目的地（很大概率会被敌人追上并击败）。游戏有两个判定条件：被发现数与杀死敌人数，当两个值均为峰值时，游戏将引向坏结局。
此次测试的游戏片段是第一个任务中的前半部分，包含两个小关卡。我认为这部分的作用是让玩家习惯潜行玩法，了解基本的互动机制，熟悉游戏环境。
“Dishonored 2” is a stealth game. Players need to observe the terrain and the enemy's action route, reach the destination, and complete a certain goal. The game provides players with different ways to accomplish goals, including using skills, directly killing the enemy, keeping down the enemy (while sneaking or fighting back), using the terrain to avoid the enemy, or running fast to reach the destination (there is a high probability that the enemy will catch up and defeat players). The game has two judgment conditions: the number of detected enemies and the number of killed enemies. When both values are peak, the game will lead to a bad ending.
The gameplay clip for this test is the first half of the first mission, consisting of two small levels. I think the role of this part is to get players used to stealth gameplay, understand the basic interaction mechanics, and become familiar with the game environment.
In-Game Testing Note:
第一个小关卡的任务是利用地形逃离房间。玩家花费了大量的时间在与房间内物品的互动上。我认为游戏开发者设置这些可互动物品是为了增强玩家的沉浸感，比如当玩家转动地球仪时，会触发主角描述这个世界的话。但是参与者向我表示，当她转动地球仪时，会有明显的停顿，并且由于与当前任务并无任何联系，让她感到十分疑惑。我认为玩家的疑惑感的原因在于在第一个封闭房间内并不是所有物品都是可互动的。因此这将会给玩家一个明确的引导性，认为这种互动性与当前目标有直接联系。其次，对于没有接触过潜行类游戏的玩家而言，当他们处于一个封闭环境内，很容易将其设想为一个密室逃脱类的游戏——寻找迷题 / 物品，而不是观察地形。 这种无关主线任务的互动产品在第一个小关卡中有4个，并且处于空间中比较明显的位置，我认为这种对世界观推动的设置在游戏初期并不胜过帮助玩家熟悉玩法。
The task of the first mini-level is to use the architecture structure to escape the room. The playtester spends a lot of time interacting with items in the room. I think game developers set up these interactive items to enhance the player's immersion, such as when the player turns the globe, it will trigger the protagonist to tell something about the game world. But the participant told me that when she turned around the globe, there was a noticeable pause, and she was puzzled by the lack of any connection to the current mission. I think the reason for the player's confusion is that not all items are interactable in the first closed room. So this will give the player a clear lead to think that this interactivity is directly related to the current goal. Second, for players who have never played stealth games, when they are in a closed space, it is easy to imagine it as an escape room game - finding puzzles/objects, rather than observing the environment. There are two globes unrelated to the main task in the first small level, and they are located in a relatively obvious position in space. Personally, I do not think this kind of setting to promote the worldview is more important than helping players get familiar with the gameplay in the early stage of the game.
另一个让玩家难以理解的体验是门锁互动。由于第一个小关卡是密室，因此房间的门是上锁的。但是玩家可以通过锁孔观察敌人位置，而这个位置将会帮助玩家在第二个小关卡的潜行。参与者向我表示，即使在完成两个关卡的任务后，她仍然不知道锁孔观察到的信息具体有什么用，因为她不知道在哪个位置偷袭敌人。尽管如此，我认为这并不是游戏设计上的失误。锁孔的作用在于提示玩家有敌人，渲染紧张气氛。当玩家具有一定熟练度之后，可能会将锁孔中观察到的敌人位置与建筑结构联系，并作为游戏策略的一部分。参与者也表示，她在游戏中的紧张感主要来源于面对卫兵的恐惧。
Another experience that is difficult for players to understand is the door lock interaction. Since the first mini level is the locked room, players can observe the outdoor enemy's position through the keyhole, and this position will help the player to stealth in the second small level. The participant told me that even after completing two levels, she still had no idea that the information observed in the keyhole was useful because she didn't know where to keep down the enemy. Still, I don't think it's a game design blunder. The role of the keyhole is to remind the player that there are enemies and to render the tension (The playtester said that her nervousness in the game was mainly due to her fear of facing guards.). When the player has a certain level of proficiency in the game, the enemy position that is observed by the keyhole may be associated with the building structure, and players may use this info in their game strategy.
总的来说，第一个小关卡中，参与者首先会探索密室内所有能够互动的物品，之后再观察房间环境，发现逃脱窗口，完成关卡。
In general, in the first mini level, the playtester first explored all the interactive objects in the secret room, and then observed the room environment, found the escape window, and completed the level.
[Figure 1. The Key hole to
observe enemy]
[Figure 2. O-shaped corridor
& diamond-shaped task indicator]
在第二个小关卡中，玩家会接触到敌人。在这一阶段，参与者仍不具有观察地形、利用地形的习惯。但是敌人动线与0形走廊的设计，让玩家在进入走廊后如果不注意观察环境，很容易被楼下的守卫发现，这将提醒玩家下次需要相似状况时需要制定策略，观察地形。
在躲避敌人的过程中，参与者在选择躲避处上纠结了很久。她表示在之前接触过的含有潜行因素的游戏中（例如刺客信条）潜行的提示元素十分标准化，比如如果出现草垛，就是在提示玩家需要躲避在草垛后边。但是耻辱中地形的变化是核心玩法之一，这是需要玩家适应的，也可能是初期劝退玩家的因素。
In the second mini-level, players will first get in touch with enemies. At this stage, the playertester still did not have the habit of observing and using the terrain. However, the design of the enemy's moving line and the O-shaped corridor makes it easy for players to be found by the guards downstairs if they do not pay attention to the environment after entering the corridor. This will remind the player to formulate a strategy and observe the environment next time when they meet similar situations.
During the process of avoiding enemies, the participant struggled for a long time in choosing where to hide. She said that in some games with stealth elements (such as Assassin's Creed), the elements of stealth are very standardized. For example, if a haystack appears, it hints that players should hide behind the haystack. But the change of terrain and indoor environment in Dishonored 2 is one of the core gameplay, which requires players to adapt. On the other hand, it may discourage players in the early stage.
在潜行过程中，玩家对于可互动物品的关注度明显降低了。这可能是受到了第一个密室关卡的影响。但是，第二关卡开始，很多物品都是对游戏任务有推动作用的，比如说水果能够增加血量，杯子可以摔碎来吸引敌人。所以，我认为应该尽量减少第一个密室关卡中与任务无关的互动点，提高玩家对有意义的物品的关注。在玩家熟悉基础玩法后，增加辅助叙事的互动物品。
In the second level, the participant paid less attention to interactable items. This may have been influenced by the first mini level. However, many items are helpful for game missions, such as fruits that can increase blood volume, and glass cups that can be broken to attract enemies. So, I think maybe game developers could minimize the interaction points that are not related to the mission in the first level to increase the player's attention to meaningful items. After players are familiar with the basic gameplay, then we could add interactive items that assist the narrative.
What did the playtester learn from failure?
失败为玩家带来了什么？
第一次，由于参与者不熟悉按键操作，被敌人发现后，她选择直接攻击，但是被敌人击杀。在这次失败后，参与者开始避免与敌人进行直接接触，开始寻找躲藏处。但是由于前面所说对躲避处的不确定性，参与者很难寻找到一个安全的地方并仔细观察敌人动线。我们可以得出的结论是，玩家从第一次失败后，开始观察地形，并将地形作为策略的一部分。在接到击杀小boss的任务后，菱形任务指示标开始跟随小Boss的行动路线，一定程度上辅助了玩家追踪敌人动线。参与者也表达了对菱形指示的依赖，认为它能够帮助路痴的玩家构建空间关系。小boss的路线是从会议室到安全室（小关卡的终点） ，参与者首先在门前被发现后，开始尝试躲避在门口置物架后，但是由于不清楚小boss整体的行动路线，会躲藏很久。当其发现小boss会在最终地点停留后，参与者十分顺畅地从躲藏处前往了安全室（也就是最终地点），并顺利地从背后击晕了小boss。我认为这部分的关卡鼓励了玩家观察敌人的行动路线，引导躲藏、跟踪及反制的行为模式。
For the first time, because the playtester was not familiar with operations, after being discovered by the enemy, she chose to attack directly but was killed by the enemy. After this failure, the participant began to avoid direct contact with the enemy and began to look for hiding places. However, due to the uncertainty of the shelter mentioned above, it is difficult for the participants to find a safe place and carefully observe the enemy's movement. What we can conclude is that after the first failure, the player started to observe the architecture’s structure and use the terrain as part of the strategy. After receiving the task of killing the small boss, the diamond-shaped task indicator began to follow the action route of the small boss, which helped the player to track the enemy's movement. The participant also expressed her reliance on the diamond-shaped indication, believing that it could help her build spatial relationships. The route of the small boss is from the reception room to the safe room. After the playtester was first discovered in front of the reception room door, she began to try to hide behind the shelf nearby the door, but because she did not know the overall action route of the small boss and was afraid that walking a distance would be discovered by enemies, she hid there for a long time. When she found that the small boss would stay at the final location, the participant went from the hiding place to the safe room which is the final location smoothly and kept down the small boss from behind. I think this part of the level encourages the player to observe the enemy's path of action, and guide their behavior patterns of hiding, tracking, and keeping enemies down.
总的来讲，潜行游戏中失败起到了很重要的作用。失败是一个对于玩家是一种学习，告诉玩家敌人的行动路线及探测范围；同时失败也是一种指示，尽管游戏存在多种途径完成目标，某种路径的失败概率及操作难度会高于其他路径（例如选择直击敌人，敌人对玩家的伤害是很高的），因此失败会促使玩家在前期养成自己的策略；此外，失败也会培养玩家的操作熟练度。
In general, failure plays an important role in stealth games. Failure is a kind of learning for the player, telling the player the enemy's action route and detection range; at the same time, failure is also an indication. Although the game has multiple ways to complete the goal, the failure probability and operation difficulty of a certain path will be higher than other paths. (For example, if you choose to hit the enemy directly, the damage of the enemy to the player is very high), so failure will prompt the player to develop his strategy in the early stage; in addition, failure will also cultivate the player's operational proficiency.
Stealth Mode
对于不适应第一视角的玩家而言，潜行模式与直立模式的切换对于他们而言很难分清。其区别在于，潜行模式的UI界面四角会变暗（但是如果屏幕处于亮光环境，或游戏中是暗光环境，很难被发现），以及主角手中小刀的持握方向。我虽然个人认为小刀持握方向的设计即巧妙又酷，但是确实不容易被不习惯第一视角的玩家发现。
For players who are not used to the first perspective, the switch between stealth mode and upright mode is difficult for them to distinguish. The difference is that the four corners of the UI interface in stealth mode will be darkened (but if the screen is in a bright light environment, or the game is in a dark light environment, it is difficult to find), and the direction of the knife in the protagonist's hand. Although I personally think that the design of the holding direction of the knife is ingenious and cool, it is indeed not easy to be found by players who are not used to the first perspective.
潜行模式在游戏中起到了至关重要的作用，因为在该模式下，玩家更不容易被敌人发现。但是游戏中似乎没有在一开始着重强调这一区别。参与者在游戏测试中没有蹲下进入潜行模式的意识（也有可能是因为我没有让参与者体验教程），大部分时间都是保持站立，被敌人发现然后直击。这并不是参与者的策略，因为在测试后的访谈中，她表示自己更倾向于降低游戏操作难度。我认为游戏设计者试图通过设立两种警告标志，来提醒玩家进入潜行模式或者寻找躲避处。但是似乎在测试中，参与者并没有意识到两级警告的区别，当触发了一级警告后，参与者往往选择直击敌人。原因可能是参与者在操作不熟练和面对敌人产生心理压力的情况下，很难再区分两级标志。
Stealth mode plays a vital role in the game, because in this mode, players are less likely to be spotted by enemies. But the game doesn't seem to emphasize this distinction in the first place. The participants did not crouch to enter stealth mode in the playtest (possibly because I didn't let the participants experience the tutorial), and most of the time she stayed standing, being spotted by the enemy and hitting directly. This was not the participant's strategy, as in the post-test interview, she said she preferred to make the game less difficult. I think the game designers tried to have two warning signs to remind the player to enter stealth mode or seek shelter. But it seems that in the test, the participants did not realize the difference between the two-level warnings. The reason may be that it is difficult for the participant to distinguish the two-level signs when they are unskilled in operation and psychological pressure in the face of the enemy.
Conclusion
《耻辱2》中三维空间的关卡设计十分优秀，在前期这有多重作用以培养玩家的潜行行为：设立多个躲避处或特殊结构（钥匙孔），以便玩家观察敌人动线；将敌人设置在不易观察的角落，通过玩家的失败，提醒玩家观察地形和环境。
但对于不熟悉潜行游戏的玩家而言，仍有一些操作对于他们而言是不习惯的。一个是按C进入潜行模式，这种模式在前期并没有被鼓励的原因是玩家很难得知在潜行模式下更不易被发掘。除了教程部份外，也没有提示强调玩家进入潜行模式。原因可能是游戏设计者更希望玩家自己选择完成任务的方式。但我认为，可以在游戏初期的关卡中，通过UI元素来提醒玩家潜行模式的存在。此外，在游戏初期设立一些与任务无关的可互动物品可能对玩家产生一定误导，甚至影响玩家理解对任务有意义的物品的作用。
The level design of the three-dimensional space in Dishonored 2 is brilliant. In the early stage, it has multiple functions to cultivate the player's stealth behavior: set up multiple shelters or special structures (keyholes) so that players can observe the enemy's movement; set the enemy in the corners that are not easy to observe, through the player's failure, remind the player to observe the terrain and environment.
But for players who are not familiar with stealth games, there are still some operations that they are not used to. One is to press C to enter stealth mode. The reason why this mode is not encouraged in the early stage is that it is difficult for players to know that it has less chance to be discovered by enemies in stealth mode. Apart from the tutorial section, there is no prompt for players to enter stealth mode. The reason may be that game designers prefer the player to choose how to complete the task themselves. But I think it could remind players of the existence of stealth mode through UI elements in the early stages of the game. In addition, setting up some interactive items that are not related to the task at the beginning of the game may be misleading to the player, and even affect the player's understanding of the items that are meaningful to the task.