“アナログだからシンプル”は大きな誤解。ペーパープロトタイピングのメリットとデメリットが紹介されたセッションレポート［CEDEC 2024］

　ゲーム開発者会議のCEDEC 2024で，ゲームジャーナリストの徳岡正肇氏によるセッション「ペーパープロトタイピングの現代的価値と弱点」が行われた。

　ペーパープロトタイピングとは，デジタルコンテンツの制作において，あえてアナログ的な手法を用いた試作を行うこと。ゲーム開発でも使われることが多く，近年新たな価値を生んでいるが，そこにはさまざまな問題も潜んでいる。そんなペーパープロトタイピングの今が語られたセッションをレポートしよう。

　ペーパープロトタイピングは，一般的にはWebデザインにおけるユーザーインタフェース（UI）設計で使われることが多いが，ゲーム産業ではUI限定ではなく，ゲームデザイン全体にも使われる傾向が強いそうだ。

　名前に「ペーパー」と付いてはいるが，最近は紙を使わないものも増えてきている。「Tabletop Simulator」を使えば“デジタル空間内でのペーパープロトタイピング”といったことが可能だし，フィギュアを使ってキャラクターの位置関係などを確認するといった手法もあるそうだ。

　現在のゲームにおけるペーパープロトタイピングは，主に教育現場と制作現場で使われている。

　教育現場での使用例としては，スウェーデンにあるシェブデ大学のゲームデザイン学科などが展開しているインキュベーションブログラム「Sweden Game Arena」のものが成功例としてよく知られている。
　
　実際にゲームを開発したことがない大学1年生などは，自分の作りたいゲームが分かっておらず，いざ「どんなゲームを作るか」という話し合いを始めても妄想の域を出ず，実作業に入れないケースが多々見受けられるとのこと。

　ペーパープロトタイピングは，そういった学生たちの情熱のようなものを外に出しやすくし，自分たちのアイデアが挑戦するに足るのかを確認させるために有効であるとのことだ。

Paper prototyping at the production site is used in various ways to formulate game specifications.

　In addition to things like UI, level, and rule verification, there has recently been an increase in the number of games aimed at ``basic design of analog games.'' This seems to be due to the fact that recent game titles increasingly include card games and Goroku-style mini-games.

In addition, the objectives are wide-ranging, including basic design of battle systems, basic design of character motion (sometimes these are done using figures), and economic model verification.

Paper prototyping is sometimes used for debugging purposes rather than pure game development. For example, in a system where the player character grows by acquiring various skills, when checking to see if the player's abilities are improving properly, the only part that is ``combining skills at random'' is an analog method such as cards rather than a program. The method is to use debugging tools for actual verification.

In this way, paper prototyping in current game development is generally used to ``compensate for a lack of engineer resources.''

In this way, the reasons why paper prototyping has come to be used in various situations include, in addition to compensating for the lack of engineering resources,

"good compatibility with indie games"
, and "comparison with analog games." ``match with market interests'' . If you think of an indie game as a game that expresses a certain theme from the unique perspective of the creator, the basics of analog game design, ``exaggeration and omission,'' are very compatible, and paper prototyping is It becomes useful as a means of ``exaggeration and omission''.

4Gamer readers will know that the analog game market has been active in recent years. The popularity of TRPGs is increasing, and ``Baldur's Gate 3'', which is based on the TRPG ``Dungeons & Dragons'', became the 2023 Game of the Year title. Additionally, ``Slay the Spire'' clones have formed something of a genre, and digital trading card games remain popular.
Under these circumstances, paper prototyping has become a method that cannot be overlooked when developing games in popular genres.

Of course, paper prototyping has its weaknesses. Naturally, since it is a method that ``approaches analog games'', it is not compatible with action games, and tends to be drawn in by the ``exaggeration and omission'' mentioned above.
``Thronefall'', which is currently in early access, apparently used a lot of paper prototyping in the early development, but the ``limitations due to being analog'' were greater than expected, and the work in development was once abandoned.

Mr. Tokuoka also mentioned other typical issues such as the ``20% wall'' theory, which states that ``only about 20% of analog games are interesting when converted to digital,'' and the ``20% wall'' theory, which states that ``throwing dice'' and ``drawing cards'' He cited ``physical noise,'' which leads people to believe that the fun of the game itself is due to the game design, and the personal nature of a game, where the fun cannot be realized unless the creator of the prototype is present.




Additionally, paper prototyping does have the advantage of ``simplifying the system,'' but it makes it difficult to take advantage of the advantage of digital games, which is ``reducing the burden on the player by turning complex calculations into a black box and simplifying them.'' There are some aspects to it.

In summary, Mr. Tokuoka said, ``Rolling the dice is fun, so if you're going to roll the dice, be sure to do so in a digital environment,'' recommending the active use of digital support, being aware of the limitations of paper prototyping, and not being too fixated. He called out that it is important. Finally, he said that it is necessary to carefully consider the question ``What is the fun of analog games, and what should be taken away by digitalization?'' .

以上が“アナログだからシンプル”は大きな誤解。ペーパープロトタイピングのメリットとデメリットが紹介されたセッションレポート［CEDEC 2024］の詳細内容です。詳細については、PHP 中国語 Web サイトの他の関連記事を参照してください。