在重度手游大行其道的今天，我們很少能看到像T-Rex Games和《胡鬧西游》這樣專注于輕度而且能做出大量有意思創(chuàng)新的塔防游戲了。為了了解更多關于《胡鬧西游》的信息，我們采訪到了T-Rex Games的CEOTim Page和《胡鬧西游》的制作人吳鵬，跟他們聊了聊關于《胡鬧西游》背后的故事。因原采訪為英文采訪，現翻譯如下，英文采訪原文附在翻譯之后。

T-Rex Games全體成員

　　Q：在如此多的題材中，為什么會選擇西游記作為《胡鬧西游》的背景故事

　　有很多原因，但星爺的《西游降魔》是很大的啟發(fā)。我不僅喜歡這部電影的幽默和它不同尋常的演繹手法，更喜歡它用現代的角度詮釋西游這個主題——這是我看過最酷、最有趣，也是最現代的西游電影。我對《西游記》非常熟悉，小的時候在澳大利亞就非常喜歡看一部當時很火的電視劇，叫《猴子》。所以西游對我來說，也是一種懷舊的情節(jié)。在這款游戲的概念早期，我們就在嘗試塔防的新玩法，同時也在尋找好的故事線——既有豐富的故事性，又能創(chuàng)造好的游戲性。一想到西游，我就覺得它具備一款塔防游戲需要的很多元素：唐僧就是那個永遠需要保護的老家；三個徒弟一刻不停地為師傅斬妖除魔，翻山越嶺走遍各地。這整是我們概念的開端。

　　Q：不同于一般的塔防游戲，《胡鬧西游》選擇了2.5D的表現方式，這么做的理由是什么呢？

　　首先，在T-Rex Games，我們喜歡3D所能帶來的角色表現與獨特動畫。我們希望玩家看到生動的角色移動和戰(zhàn)斗，在這一點上3D比2D更有看頭。因此，在《胡鬧西游》中我們使用了全3D角色，搭配2D場景，來塑造出2.5D的視覺表現。每一張關卡地圖不僅是精心手繪的，而且在被整合進游戲后，能夠跟隨手機的移動，呈現視差的動態(tài)效果，特別是在山頂這樣的場景里面。這樣的結合方式非常的酷，這在許多地圖，比如火焰山中，就有很棒的表現。

T-Rex Games CEO Tim Page

　　Q：塔防游戲的游戲模式逐漸固定化，《胡鬧西游》的游戲模式由什么創(chuàng)新的地方呢？

　　這正是我們希望改進的游戲機制所在。在《胡鬧西游》中，操作三位英雄保護唐僧是戰(zhàn)斗的核心。如同西游的情節(jié)一般，幾位英雄是不停移動的，從一個點打到另外一個點。這對我們重塑體驗尤為重要，這也是在其他塔防游戲中不?？吹降摹３Ｒ姷乃栏鄧@造塔與升級，有很多的等待。對我們來說，自由移動的體驗恰是我們希望著力表現的——讓英雄追著怪打的感覺，會讓游戲很不一樣——這種走位與攻防策略的搭配，甚至能帶來RTS的手感，這是一種全新的體驗。

　　　Q：對比與其他的塔防類游戲，您覺得《胡鬧西游》最能吸引玩家的地方是哪里。

　　那一定是英雄了。能夠自由移動英雄走位，使用他們的主動技能的話，相比普通塔防游戲而言，自然有著更強的動作性。比如孫悟空的騰云駕霧，從天而降至一群妖怪中間，這正是我在《西游降魔》電影中找到的感覺；又比如悟空變身為一只大猩猩，碾壓式掃平小怪。這些都是非常好玩的。另一個吸引人的地方是，游戲能夠帶玩家跟隨故事，體驗他們熟悉的取經路。我們繪制了許多著名的故事場景，比如高老莊、火焰山、盤絲洞等等；這些地方又由像牛魔王、蜘蛛精、鐵扇公主這樣的名角鎮(zhèn)守——實際上，我們有超過50個風格迥異的角色，貫穿整個故事。

《胡鬧西游》制作人吳鵬

　　Q：不少玩家反映《胡鬧西游》的難度相對于其他游戲較為困難，這么做的理由是什么呢 

　　我覺得不應該說是難的問題，而是這樣的玩法顯然需要更多時間去熟悉、上手，就像許多玩家第一次玩“植物大戰(zhàn)僵尸”最初的版本一樣?！逗[西游》玩法機制的確有很多不同，這使得玩家需要花更多的時間才能深入體驗到樂趣。不過有一點是肯定的：作為開發(fā)者，我們非常愿意傾聽玩家的反饋，并及時響應。對于《胡鬧西游》，我們已經做了很多優(yōu)化調整，新的版本即將更新在蘋果商店。這里還要再次感謝所有玩家的熱情反饋！

　　　Q：《胡鬧西游》上線之后，是否有后續(xù)的更新計劃呢？

　　肯定有！《西游》如此之博大，還有許多妖怪我們想去制作，像犀牛精、蟒蛇精之類的，當然包括還有新的正在開發(fā)中的游戲模式。歡迎大家關注我們后續(xù)的更新！

　　　Q： 為什么選擇與麒麟狗合作發(fā)行這款游戲？合作的下來覺得怎樣？

　　首先作為一名玩家，我本來就是麒麟狗發(fā)行過的各種好游戲的忠實粉絲。而作為一名從業(yè)很久的開發(fā)者，我認為麒麟狗是我合作過的最專業(yè)的發(fā)行商之一。麒麟狗中國區(qū)的專家團隊，也對游戲的優(yōu)化提供了莫大的幫助。這次合作體驗對于雙方都是極好的。我會向各位想要向中國及全球發(fā)行游戲的開發(fā)商強烈推薦麒麟狗。

T-Rex Games團隊

　　　Q：在其他廠商追逐重度手游的時候，貴司為什么選擇開發(fā)普遍被認為是輕度手游的塔防類游戲。

　　T-Rex Games一向以游戲性和創(chuàng)造好玩的游戲體驗為重。我們的理念是“為了明天的玩家創(chuàng)作游戲”。我們一直都著眼于推進某個游戲類型，并且創(chuàng)造新的東西。坦白說，市面上通過簡單的抄襲，來嘗試迷惑、欺詐玩家的開發(fā)商太多了，在我看來這不是游戲開發(fā)的精神——至少不是我們的精神。對我來說，創(chuàng)意和娛樂性，好玩而又充滿想象力的游戲才是我們追求的。喜歡輕、中度的游戲，是因為在這些比重度游戲更輕量的游戲體驗中，玩家能夠花更多的時間在享受娛樂上，而非冗長的煎熬。塔防游戲這個類型在出現的很多年里，逐漸受到玩家歡迎，尤其是像“植物大戰(zhàn)僵尸”、“王國保衛(wèi)戰(zhàn)”、“保衛(wèi)蘿卜”這樣的優(yōu)秀游戲。在塔防策略這個我們熱愛的類型中，創(chuàng)作《胡鬧西游》，是我們非常享受的。

　　　Q：貴司在《胡鬧西游》之后有沒有什么新游戲的發(fā)行計劃。

　　有的，我們正在開發(fā)一款日漫IP授權的對戰(zhàn)游戲《一騎當千》。這個IP的故事背景里，有著三國歷史的淵源，但更多講述的是日本各個學院女生之間的爭霸戰(zhàn)。以T-Rex Games的風格，你能期待到的一定是創(chuàng)新的玩法，酷炫的動作，優(yōu)秀的視覺表現。這一次，我們將走日漫風！

　　正如采訪中提到，不管游戲是輕度還是重度，為玩家?guī)順啡げ攀怯螒蛑谱魅藨摽紤]的問題。與其追逐游戲概念，不如先踏踏實實的做好游戲，自己去定義一個新的游戲概念。

　　英文采訪原文：

　　Q：Among so many themes， why do you take The Journey to the West as your background story？

　　There are a couple reasons， but it mainly started after watching a film by one of my favorite directors， Stephen Chow， called ‘Conquering the Demons’。 I’ve always enjoyed the humor and unusual twists he puts in his movies， but more importantly I enjoyed how he modernized the theme of Journey to the West in the film。 He made the story cool， funny and much more modern than I had seen in other Journey to the West adaptions。 I’m quite familiar with Journey to the West， as when I was a kid I used to watch a TV show called ‘Monkey’ which was super popular at the time and one of my favorite shows， so I’ve always had a nostalgic feeling towards the story。 At around the same time we were creating game concepts for a new tower defense game and thinking about a storyline， as we wanted a tower defense game that could story tell as much as being fun to play。 When thinking about Journey to the West， essentially it had all the right components to make a new style tower defense game。 Sanzang is a like a castle always needing protection。 Sun Wukong， Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing are constantly trying to protect him from countless enemies， and the story is moving across different places during the journey。 So we started concept drawing and that’s how we got started。

　　　Q：Unlike other TD games， why does the Journey to the West Saga use 2.5D as your display form？

　　Firstly， at T-Rex Games we just love working with 3D as it allows us to make beautiful visual characters， and fun and unique animations。 We wanted our players to see our characters come to life moving and fighting， in much more interesting ways than can be done with 2D。 So for Monkey King Saga， we used 3D for all our characters together with 2D background environments， which gives the game a kind of 2.5D effect。 Each of the backgrounds are beautifully hand painted， but we also cut them in layers so some of the game levels， especially in high mountain scenes， the background slides and moves using the mobile devices’ gyroscope to give the game scene a feeling of being high up。 It creates a really cool effect when putting it all together， especially in some of the higher level maps like in the Flaming Mountains chapter。

　　Q：The play modes of TD games is more and more immobilized。 What are the innovative points in MKS？

　　This is one area we wanted to push some new gameplay ideas and mechanics。 In Monkey King Saga the game is mostly centered on the Heroes – Sun Wukong， Sha Wujing， Zhu Bajie and how they protect Sanzang。 Like the story of Journey to the West， the heroes are constantly moving around， fighting from one spot to another。 So it’s this essence we wanted to bring across to our game， which you do not see in other tower defense games。 Most tower defense games are about placing and upgrade towers， wait and fight type feeling。 But for us， we wanted to recreate the feeling of these moveable heroes and make them the main focus， rather than stationary towers and allow the heroes to freely chase down enemies or take the fight to the enemies so to speak。 Which makes the game feeling very different。 It’s almost RTS game like， in that you constantly move your heroes to strategic positions of attack or defense which makes a new innovation in gameplay。

　　　Q：Compared with other TF games， what’s the most attractive point for the players in MKS。

　　It’s definitely about the heroes。 Being able to move the heroes freely into different positions to attack or defend， and also using their quick skill buttons brings a whole new action feeling compared to normal tower defense games。 Like doing a Monkey King Superman Jump into a bunch of monsters， and yes that was something I liked from the Conquering the Demons film， and then transforming into a giant Gorilla to smash enemies away is simply a lot of fun。 The other attractive area is players are able to follow the story and are taken on the journey they know and remember。 We’ve taken all the favorite places from the story like Gao River Village， Mount Hao， Silk Mountain Cave and more， plus brought to life the main enemies from the story like the Bull Demon King， Spider Demoness， Iron Fan Princes and many more。 In fact there’s more than 50 enemies in total to battle across the journey。

　　Q：Many players think that MKS is more difficult than other games， and what’s the reason for this？

　　I don‘t like to say more difficult， but the gameplay is definitely different so it might take players a little more time to learn the gameplay。 I compare it similar to the first time many people played Plants vs Zombies， the first version。 The gameplay was different enough and took a little more time before players really got hooked。 One thing can say， as a developer we’re very responsive to listening to our players in our games， and for Monkey King Saga， we’ve already done some recent tweaks and just about to release a new update version shortly。 Big thank you to all those players for your feedback！

　　　Q：Are there some update program after the launch of MKS？

　　Most definitely！ The original story is so large， there’s many more scenes and enemies we want to bring to the game like the Single Horned Rhinoceros King and the Python Demon。 Plus also some new special modes we are working on。 Stay tuned in the near future！

　　　Q：Why do you choose Chillingo as your publisher and how’s the cooperation？

　　Firstly， as a player， I’m a fan of the great games Chillingo has published。 As a developer and long time professional in the industry， I can say Chillingo is one of the most professional publishers I’ve worked with and working with their expert team in China has been very helpful to fine-tune our game for Chinese players。 It’s been a great experience for both us and Chillingo and we highly recommend them to developers looking to publish their games in China and globally。

　　Q：The developers are very keen on hard-core games now， why do you still want to launch TF games， which is defined as mid-core game？

　　For us at T-Rex Games it’s always about the gameplay and creating fun new experiences for players。 Our motto is ‘we create games for tomorrow’s players’。 So we’re always interested in evolving game genres and creating something new。 Frankly there are too many copycat developers out there trying to capitalize and trick players， which isn’t the soul of game development。 At least not for us。 For us it’s about creativity and entertaining players with fun and imaginative games。 We like mid core genres because of their lighter game experiences than hardcore， and players can enjoy more the entertainment of the game， rather than the long grinding experiences。 Tower defense games have been around for many years， and are actually more popular today than ever before， thanks to great games like Plants vs Zombies， Kingdom Rush， and Carrot Fantasy， so combined with our love of tower defense and strategy games， Monkey King Saga was something we really enjoyed creating。

　　　Q：Does T-Rex has other new game launch plan after MKS？

　　Yes， we’re also working on a new game， which we licensed the famous Japanese TV anime IP called ‘Ikkitousen’。 It‘s a fun IP which is based on the classic Romance of the Three Kingdoms， but revolves around an all-out turf war in the Kanto region of Japan where high school kids battle from different schools for supremacy。 In T-Rex Games style you can expect innovative gameplay， packed with lots of cool animations， and beautiful visual graphics。 This time in anime style！