末日拾荒者

NEO Scavenger

乍看上去，《末日拾荒者（NEO Scavenger）》不过是 flash 平台上一个单人开发的 roguelike 小游戏。然而，正如拾荒专家一般，游戏知道如何充分利用有限的资源，创造出真正有价值的东西。

游戏从选择角色特性开始，采用角色优势和劣势的系统，熟悉 GURPS 的玩家对此应该并不陌生。玩家可以通过选择选择负面特性（失眠 Insomniac、虚弱 Feeble、近视 Myopia 等）获得点数，用于购买正面特性（坚韧 Tough、黑客 Hacking、跟踪 Tracking、植物学 Botany 等等）。这套系统相较其它一些游戏略显简单，但也能显著影响不同角色的选择和玩法。

做好选择后，玩家就会从冷冻休眠中醒来，发现地球已经差不多毁灭了。角色身处美国密歇根州的末世之中，身上只有一件病号服、一个奇怪的护身符和一条标有“Philip Kindred”的腕带。玩家需要做的就是查明发生了什么，为什么会陷入冷冻休眠，并找到衣服和食物——当然不是按照这个顺序。

《末日拾荒者》相当具有实验性：游戏融合了 roguelike 生存冒险与自选历险体验（CYOA），以独特的表现形式呈现。

From a quick glance, NEO Scavenger is just a Flash-based roguelike developed by a one-man team. However, like an expert scavenger, it knows how to make the most of its limited resources and manages to create something truly valuable.

You start by choosing your character's traits. The game uses an advantage and disadvantage system that should be familiar to GURPS fans, allowing you to gain points by picking negative traits (Insomniac, Feeble, Myopia, etc.) and spend points on positive traits (Tough, Hacking, Tracking, Botany, etc.). While not as complex as other character systems, these will heavily alter each character's choices and playstyle.

Once that's done, you wake up from cryogenic sleep, only to find out that the world went to hell. Now you're in the middle of a post-apocalyptic Michigan, wearing only a medical gown, a weird amulet and a wrist strap labelled “Philip Kindred”, and it's up to you to figure out what happened, why you were frozen and find some clothing and food – but not in that order.

NEO Scavenger's defining feature is being a rather experimental game, mixing a survival roguelike gameplay with Choose Your Own Adventure segments, plus as a unique approach to presentation.

完成《末日拾荒者》的开发后，Blue Bottle Games 开始着手开发 Ostranauts。这部作品将场景设置在太空船中，在原有类似玩法上进行了拓展延伸。

After NEO Scavenger, Blue Bottle Games began working on Ostranauts, which expands the same gameplay approach but now inside a spaceship.

例如，游戏采取回合制战斗，但没有任何一帧动画；相反，玩家选择命令，如“射击”、“踢”或“偷袭”，然后通过战斗记录得知发生了什么。这种形式看似粗糙，但却使得角色可以做出即便 3A 大作都无法完成的复杂动作，例如头部撞击、腿部绊倒乃至擒拿（后者需要打 mod）。而所有这些动作都是角色推着购物车的同时完成的。

这还不是《末日拾荒者》最有趣的部分。游戏从不会告诉玩家角色或敌人具体命中率是多少，武器伤害有多高，以及脑震荡或发烧对角色的影响有多大：一切都取决于玩家自身的判断。你不会因为刚找到的大砍刀物品描述上写了火焰伤害+10% 而换掉现在拿的棒球棍，而是因为你本人觉得这个武器更有安全感。

这些设计非常大胆，在当前画质和 DPS 驱动游戏的时代尤为如此；更重要的是，它们成功传递了一种独特的紧张感，使得玩家真正能够想象出自己在困境当中挣扎，筋疲力尽，伤痕累累，还只能用树枝攻击另一个绝望的幸存者，脑子里想着谁会先倒下。

Combat, for example, is turn-based and doesn't feature a single frame of animation. Instead, you select commands, such as “shoot”, “kick” or “sneak towards”, and the combat log will describe what happened. While this may seem crude, it allows for actions that even triple-A games find too complex to animate, such as head-butting, leg tripping and even grappling (with mods) – all while pushing a shopping cart.

Still, the most interesting aspect of the game is how it obfuscates its stats. NEO Scavenger never tells you how many hit points you or your enemy have, how much damage a weapon does or to what extent a concussion or a fever affects you. Everything is up to your own judgement. You don't replace your baseball bat for that machete you just found because the game says it does +10% fire damage, but rather because you – the player – feel safer with it.

These are some very bold design decisions, especially in this graphics- and DPS-driven era. More importantly, they succeed in transmitting a unique sense of tension, as you mentally visualise yourself rolling in the mud, tired and wounded, attacking another desperate survivor with a tree branch and wondering who will drop dead first.