We Gonna Bring Protoform to Switch

So CIRCLE Entertainment has announced that we gonna bring Protoform to Nintendo Switch in 2019 together. This puzzle solving and story-telling game made by several of our developers began in 2016, they dedicated all their passions. Protoform has been changed a lot comparing with what it looked like in the beginning, but the core doesn’t change a bit.

And we hope you will like it, sorry I can’t tell much about this story right now. Well…I can at least share one new screen capture 😛

click here to see more: http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/08/my_time_at_portia_devs_are_bringing_puzzle-exploration_game_protoform_to_switch?tdsourcetag=s_pctim_aiomsg

和《传送门》的关系

English / 中文

距离我们放出试玩版已经有一个月了,很感谢各位网友在这段时间内关注并试玩我们的游戏,给予我们支持。很多玩家在试玩过demo后反馈说游戏和《传送门》很像。同样是解谜游戏,很干净的画面,都让人想起了《传送门》。于是我们想聊聊《原生体》和《传送门》的不同和相同之处。

 

与《传送门》相似的元素

首先,在我们看来,游戏内有两个元素和《传送门》很像:盒子和守卫。

  • 盒子

游戏内每个关卡的最终目标很简单,都是解开谜题并打开出口处的门,盒子在这里起到的就是钥匙的作用。解谜的过程,就是依次执行各种步骤的过程。盒子的意义就是用来构造这些步骤,形成短期目标,自然地引导玩家一步步地前进。比如,玩家需要找到盒子,再想办法躲开守卫的注意,并将盒子带到出口并过关。这是普遍使用的解谜游戏设计方法。

作为钥匙可以开门

在项目早期,我们就定位这是一个潜行和解谜融合的游戏。我们需要为玩家设计对抗敌人的工具,不是攻击性的对抗,而是受限的、策略性的对抗。很自然的我们想到了声音,利用敌人的听觉对抗它们自身。这是潜行游戏常见的设计。

可以发出声音转移注意力

我们把“制造声音”的功能与“钥匙”的功能合并到同一种实体当中——就是盒子。这里我们的想法类似于“奥卡姆剃刀原理”,即“如无必要,勿增实体”。盒子就是提供不同功能的物件的集合体,与此相比,《传送门》里盒子的功能就很单一。

《传送门》里的盒子

关于盒子的外形,我们也想象过许多不同的形状,根据功能的不同外形也会变化。但我们认为既然盒子的功能已经如此复杂了,外形就应该尽量简洁和纯粹。所以最后还是选择了正方体。

  • 守卫

同样,在设计谜题里,也需要给玩家在到达终点前制作障碍。其中一个很重要的部分就是能够阻断前进路径的类似路障的存在。而我们同样认为可以将各种形式的路障糅合到一起,并且为它选择一个机器人守卫的形象。而《传送门》里的守卫还可以在物理条件允许的情况下被玩家反过来利用。

阻断前进路径的路障

当游戏还在策划阶段的时候,我们就决定了游戏内需要类似盒子和守卫的,具有多种功能和作用的存在。经过多次思考和讨论后,这个想法才逐渐成为现在的样子。我们并没有参考《传送门》的设计,只能说在类似的设计思路下产出了类似的结果。

 

不同的谜题设计理念

除了这两个游戏内的元素看起来相似,实际上很不相同外,谜题设计方面也不同。

《传送门》的谜题设计,绝大部分是在空间范围内,基于物理规则上的解谜。玩家最重要的是对手中传送枪机制的理解,以及自己的想象力。只要能基于物理规则解出过关的方法,就可以过关。

而《原生体》的谜题更多的是与潜行元素相结合,观察守卫的状态,考验玩家对视觉,听觉,速度,及时间的把握。在《原生体》中,守卫的视觉和听觉对玩家既是一种威胁,也是可以被玩家利用来解谜的关键。

当然两个游戏谜题设计上也有一定相同处。在《传送门》的后期,玩家都可以反过来利用不利的条件,来帮助自己过关。

 

各位玩家的看法

不知道大家是希望两个游戏完全不同,还是觉得有一点相似也是很正常的?我们的思路未必是正确的,所以也需要大家帮我们出谋划策。希望各位网友发表自己的想法,我们会感激任何建议。

如果你还没有尝试过《原生体》,可以在http://dl.3dmgame.com/201703/100767.html下载。

如果有解谜游戏爱好者想要和志同道合者一起讨论游戏,可以加入《原生体》玩家QQ群,群号是:517412744。

再一次感谢大家对《原生体》和帕斯亚科技的关注,我们一定会做好这款游戏,不辜负所有正在关注这款游戏的玩家的期待。

Similarities and differences between “Protoform” and ” Portal”

English / 中文

It’s been a month since we released the demo. We really appreciate that you tried the game and support us. Many players told us that the game looks like the “Portal”, as they both are puzzle games with clean and stylish visuals. Then we want to talk about the similarities and differences between them.

 

Similar elements in “Portal”

First of all, the way we see, there are two elements look similar in these two games.

  • Cube

The ultimate objective of each level in “Protoform” is succinct, just solve the puzzle and leave through the exit. In this case, the cube is a “key”. And the process of puzzle solving is, in other words, execution of various steps in order. Therefore the cube is made to construct these steps and form short-term objectives, then naturally guide players to proceed. For example, generally speaking, players need to find the cube, then pass through the sentries, and bring the cube to the exit. It’s the design method commonly used in puzzle games.

Open doors as a key

In the early phase of our project, we knew it’s a combination of puzzle and stealth games. In our designs, players need a tool to confront enemies. Just limited and strategic confrontation, not aggressive. Naturally, “Sound” came to our mind. Sentry’s hearing can be used to fight against itself. It’s common in stealth games too.

Distraction by making sound

After all, we combined the functions of “Sound making” and “Key” into one object, the cube. It’s something similar to the “Ockham’s razor”, which is “Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily.” The cube is an object that provides various functions. In contrast, the cube in “Portal” has fairly singular functions.

Cube in “Portal”

About the appearance of the cube, we’ve designed a lot of different shapes, and they transform according to the enabled function. But we think the appearance should be succinct and pure, since the functions are already so complicated. That’s why we chose the current shape.

  • Sentry

In puzzle design, obstacles are also necessary. One of the most important part is the roadblock-like existence to block the forward path. And likewise, we think we could combine all sorts of “roadblock” into a robot sentry image. In “Portal”, sentry can be used by players against other sentries within the law of physics.

Roadblock

When the game was still in the phase of concept development, we designed certain existences with multiple functions and roles, such as the cube and sentry. They are how they look right now because of countless consideration and discussion. We didn’t take inspirations from “Portal”, the only explanation is that similar designs leads to similar results.

 

Different puzzle design philosophy

Apart from these two similar elements that are different in fact, the puzzle designs are not the same as well.

In “Portal”, most puzzles are designed within the space scale, based on the law of physics. Solving the puzzle takes the player’s understanding of the mechanism of the portal gun, and imagination. As long as the correct method is understood based on the law of physics, the escape is guaranteed.

However, the puzzles in “Protoform” is more combined with stealth element. Players need to observe the sentries, and seize the opportunity in terms of vision, hearing, speed, and time. In the game, sentries’ vision and hearing is not only a threat, but also the key of puzzle solving for players.

To some extent, there are similarities between these two games’ puzzle design. In the later stage of “Portal”, players can make use of the disadvantages instead to pass levels.

 

Positive feedback for Protoform’s demo!

English / 中文

3DM, an influential Chinese media has already published an review for Protoform’s demo, and gave it a higher score.(http://www.3dmgame.com/review/201703/3643886_4.html)

We’ll continue to improve the game according to feedbacks.

Download: http://www.indiedb.com/games/protoform/downloads/protoform

原生体试玩版获得积极反馈!

English / 中文

中国知名游戏媒体3DM对protoform试玩版进行了评测,并且给了我们一个比较高的分数(就demo而言)。(http://www.3dmgame.com/review/201703/3643886_4.html)

我们会继续根据大家的反馈对游戏进行改进。

试玩版下载:http://pan.baidu.com/s/1qXTCBBu 密码:zm5h

Protoform Demo 1 Released

After months of hard work, we’ve reached a point where we want players to try out the game and give us some feedback. We’re at odds internally regarding how hard the puzzles are and how easy the controls are (and how much story to tie everything up). We want people to try out some of the levels and tell us what they think.

Download link: http://www.indiedb.com/games/protoform/downloads/protoform

Please post feedback to http://board.pathea.net/index.php?board=12.0 or email us at protoform@pathea.net, we’d really appreciate it! It will help us make a better game.

A little update about what we’ve been doing lately

Sorry everyone. It’s been long.

We’ve been working on a few things. The first one is about localization. Normally, games are published with complete localization, but it’s different this time. For the sake of the players, we want to support as many languages as possible. We developed a function that players can do the localization themselves, so not even one language will be missed.

Last week, we were programming sound effect for the game. For that, we got two extra team members working on it. And yes, we expanded our team a little bit. So far, it’s just some environmental sounds, and the next phase will be more specific. For example, the sound of operating sentry, cube, footsteps, explosion, and impact.

In addition to that, pause menu is also on our priority list. We were working on primary menu last week. And this week, we just finished secondary menus like loading and option menu.

There is a big change in game we plan to do this week. We want to replace global illumination with environmental light. Therefore we don’t need to bake scenes every time before wrapping up. And at the end of this week, we’ll pack another demo.

An improvement to the controlling

Few weeks ago, we held a testing for the first demo of Protoform internally. It turned out we heard people complaining the controlling was too difficult. Then we decided to improve it.

Originally, to reach a high platform with a cube, players needed to place the cube on the platform first, then climb up it, and pick up the cube in the end. After the testing, most people felt exhausted with it and its simplification seemed inevitable. Then we decided to combine the three-step action into one action.

Now the current version is complete and smooth. We are going to keep monitoring its performance. Further changes will be made to it if necessary, although it’s unlikely to happen.

A comparison between views from different angles

Today I was watching our team members working on scenes, then I found an interesting comparison between views from different angles.

It’s a corridor that connects two certain levels. Through the glass, you can see other buildings in the scene. To give players the sense of endlessness, we made the other end of the building look darker.

Now let’s take a look from the outside.

You can see we only finished a few necessary structures. Just want to show you how different the view is from outside.

A new feature we’ve been working on

Recently we’ve been working on a new feature, it’s something we never showed before.

Here is a gif that shows you how it looks when operating. We want it to be as stylish as other objectives and designs in game. we can’t share much information because it involves spoilers about gameplay.

You can take a wild guess what its function is. I can hint that it sometimes provide invulnerability to players.

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