During the fifth episode of the most recent season of “House of Cards”, President Underwood immersed himself in a beautiful mobile game. You may wonder what this colorful creation was. Well, it’s the puzzle game “Monument Valley”.
新一季《纸牌屋》第五集中，一款界面唯美的手机游戏竟让安德伍德总统也沉浸其中。你也许要好奇了，这款色彩丰富的手游到底为何物？没错，它就是益智游戏《纪念碑谷》。
Just five hours after its appearance on the hot TV series, the game’s sales began to spike, according to App Figures, an organization that tracks app sales.
据一家专门监测手机应用销量的机构App Figures统计，这款游戏在热播剧《纸牌屋3》出现仅仅5小时之后，销量就一路飙升。
The app, first released in last April, has won many awards, including taking the best overall game prize at the 11th International Mobile Gaming Awards held in San Francisco, US, and also three accolades at the Game Developers Choice Awards last month, including Best Visual Art, Innovation, and Best Mobile Game.
《纪念碑谷》于去年四月首次发布，已夺得诸多大奖，其中既有在美国旧金山举办的第十一届国际移动游戏大奖中的“最佳游戏奖”， 也有“游戏开发者选择奖”中的 “最佳视觉艺术奖”、“创新奖”和“最佳手游奖” 三大奖项。
The rules of the game are simple. You play as a silent princess named Ida. All you need to do is explore the three-dimensional world through touching where you want to go. But the challenge is you can’t trust your eyes. Many times you will feel stuck in one place, but suddenly after you move one object, the path will be revealed to you.
它的游戏规则却很简单。玩家将以沉默公主“艾达”的身份参与游戏，通过触摸想去之处探索游戏中的三维世界。困难则在于你不能只凭眼见。很多时候你会身陷某地，可当你移动某个物体之后，出路就会出现在你眼前。
More than that, the joy of playing the game comes from its visual design. It builds on concepts from the art of Dutch graphic artist MC Escher, Japanese woodblock prints and temple architecture from around the world, according to cnet.com, a technology news website. Filled with colorful objects, everything appears to pop out of the screen. But no two stages are alike, even within the same world.
这款游戏带给玩家的愉悦体验与其视觉设计息息相关。据科技资讯网报道，这款游戏的设计灵感来源于荷兰平面艺术大师埃舍尔的艺术作品、日本木刻版画以及世界各地的寺庙建筑。在这款游戏中，一切都五彩缤纷，仿佛要跃出屏幕一般。即使在同一个世界里，每个界面也各不相同。
“Every screenshot looks like a little work of art, and seeing how pieces of the levels move is a treat all on its own,” wrote Shaun Musgrave, an editor of gaming website toucharcade.com.
游戏网站toucharcade.com的编辑肖恩•马斯格雷夫写道：“（游戏）的每个截屏都像一个小小的艺术作品，每一步的移动都是一种视觉享受。”
Its eerie soundtrack also wins fans’ hearts. As the gaming website polygon.com commented: “Every interaction you have with the screen is enhanced with a musical sound effect – rotating blocks sound like a wind-up music box, gears like the strings of an acoustic guitar – all adding to the relaxed atmosphere.”
奇异的背景音效也捕获了不少粉丝的心。正如游戏网站polygon.com所评： “富有乐感的声效让玩家更有互动感——旋转木块发出像上了发条的音乐盒，转动齿轮仿佛在拨动吉它琴弦——这一切都让游戏氛围更加轻松。”
Its success revealed that “there was still a place for beautifully-crafted mobile games on the app stores,” said The Guardian.
《卫报》认为，《纪念碑谷》的成功证明了“制作精美的手游在应用商店中仍占得一席之地”。
Ken Wong, the lead designer of the game, believes developers should be true to their games. “Don’t listen to all these marketing, monetization people. Just make the game how you want to make it,” he told polygon.com.
身为《纪念碑谷》的首席设计师，王友健认为，游戏开发者应该真诚地对待自己的游戏。他在接受polygon.com网站采访时表示：“不要在意那些所谓的市场营销人员和一味追求盈利的人的话，把游戏做成你想做的样子就好。”
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