Talks Scott Kim takes apart the art of puzzles

翻译人员: 兴学 刘 校对人员: Xu Jiang

For the last 20 years I've been designing puzzles.

过去的20年中，我一直致力于设计益智游戏。

And I'm here today to give you

我今天来这儿，是带领大家

a little tour, starting from the very first puzzle I designed,

一起来回顾这20年的旅程， 从我的第一件作品开始

through what I'm doing now.

一直到我正在设计的作品。

I've designed puzzles for books, printed things.

我为各种书籍，印刷品设计游戏。

I'm the puzzle columnist for Discover Magazine.

我为《发现》杂志，撰写游戏专栏

I've been doing that for about 10 years.

已近10年。

I have a monthly puzzle calendar.

我还设计游戏月历。

I do toys. The bulk of my work is in computer games.

我也做玩具。我的一大部分工作是设计计算机游戏。

I did puzzles for "Bejeweled."

我为宝石迷阵做设计。

(Applause)

（掌声）

I didn't invent "Bejeweled." I can't take credit for that.

我没有发明宝石迷阵， 我不能以此自夸。

So, very first puzzle,

那么， 我的第一个发明，

sixth grade, my teacher said,

那是在六年级， 我的老师说，

"Oh, let's see, that guy, he likes to make stuff.

“额， 让我们瞧瞧， 这位同学，他喜欢动手做小发明。

I'll have him cut out letters out of construction paper

我们来让他用一张白纸剪出一个字母来

for the board."

帖到黑板上。“

I thought this was a great assignment.

我感到这个作业很棒。

And so here is what I came up with. I start fiddling with it.

这就是我的成果。 我开始折纸。

I came up with this letter. This is a letter of the alphabet

我做了这个， 它是一个字母，

that's been folded just once.

但被折叠了一次。

The question is, which letter is it if I unfold it?

我的问题是，如果我把它展开的话， 会是哪个字母呢？

One hint: It's not "L."

提示： 它不是字母L。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

It could be an "L," of course.

它可能是“L”。

So, what else could it be?

那么， 这到底是哪个字母呢？

Yeah, a lot of you got it.

哈哈， 还是有很多人猜出来啦。

Oh yeah. So, clever thing.

是的， 一个调皮的小玩意儿。

Now, that was my first puzzle. I got hooked.

这就是我的第一个设计。 我从此迷上了设计游戏。

I created something new, I was very excited

我创作了新的东西，我为此而兴奋。

because, you know, I'd made crossword puzzles,

因为， 你们知道， 我也设计过填字游戏，

but that's sort of like filling in somebody else's matrix.

但设计填字游戏让我感觉循规蹈矩。

This was something really original. I got hooked.

而这个让我觉得我真的在创造些什么。 这让我着迷。

I read Martin Gardner's columns in Scientific American.

我开始阅读《科学美国人》杂志中 Martin Gardner的专栏。

Went on, and eventually decided to devote myself, full time, to that.

我一直坚持并且最后决定将此作为自己的事业。

Now, I should pause and say, what do I mean by puzzle?

现在， 让我稍作停顿， 并且解释一下， 到底什么是游戏呢？

A puzzle is a problem that is fun to solve

益智游戏是一种有问题，有正确答案

and has a right answer.

而且，我们会从探索解决方法的过程中，获得乐趣的游戏。

"Fun to solve," as opposed to everyday problems,

这样的“有乐趣的解决问题”与我们日常生活中遇到的“问题”不同，

which, frankly, are not very well-designed puzzles.

我们生活中碰到的那些问题， 坦率的讲，“设计”的太“粗糙”啦。

You know, they might have a solution.

那些生活问题， 或许会有个解决方案。

It might take a long time. Nobody wrote down the rules clearly.

但找到那个方法或许很费时间， 也没人能清楚的告诉我们应该怎么做。

Who designed this?

到底是谁给我们“设计”了那么多生活难题？

It's like, you know, life is not a very well-written story

这就像我们说的， 生活是一个蹩脚的小说，

so we have to hire writers to make movies.

所以，我们得雇人写电影剧本。

Well, I take everyday problems, and I make puzzles out of them.

我所做的，就是从日常生活的那些问题中获得灵感，再将他们设计成小游戏。

And "right answer," of course there might be more than one right answer;

这些小游戏， 有正确答案， 而且可能还不止一个。

many puzzles have more than one.

许多小游戏， 都不止一个答案。

But as opposed to a couple other forms of play,

但相对于其他形式的娱乐

toys and games --

比如玩具和竞赛，

by toy I mean, something you play with that doesn't have a particular goal.

玩玩具，我的意思是，你在玩玩具时并不抱有任何特别的目的。

You can create one out of Legos.

你可以用乐高创造你自己的玩具。

You know, you can do anything you want.

你可以用乐高做出任何你想做的造型。

Or competitive games like chess where,

我们也玩竞赛类游戏， 比方下棋。

well, you're not trying to solve ... You can make a chess puzzle,

我们下棋并不是解决某个问题。 当然， 我们可以搞个棋类游戏。

but the goal really is to beat another player.

但下棋终归是要把你的对手打败。

I consider that puzzles are an art form.

我觉得益智游戏是一种艺术。

They're very ancient. It goes back as long as there is written history.

这种古老的艺术， 从人类有书写史的时候就开始有了。

It's a very small form, like a joke,

游戏可以很短小， 比方一个小玩笑

a poem, a magic trick or a song, very compact form.

也可以是一句诗歌，一个小魔术，一首诗，结构紧凑。

At worst, they're throwaways, they're for amusement.

最差的游戏，也不过是被扔掉了，他们就是为了娱乐而生的。

But at best they can reach for something more

但最好的游戏却能深入人心，

and create a memorable impression.

让人难以忘怀。

The progression of my career that you'll see

我的职业发展，你们可以看到

is looking for creating puzzles that have a memorable impact.

就是设计出让人难以忘怀的游戏来。

So, one thing I found early on, when I started doing computer games,

早期我就发现，在我刚开始做电脑游戏的时候，

is that I could create puzzles that will alter your perception.

我能创造出一些能够改变我们感观的游戏。

I'll show you how. Here is a famous one.

我来告诉你们怎么做。 下面这个很有名。

So, it's two profiles in black, or a white vase in the middle.

看，这是两个黑色的人像剖面，或者说中间是一个白色的花瓶。

This is called a figure-ground illusion.

这叫图像背景幻象。

The artist M.C. Escher exploited that

艺术家M.C. 埃舍尔在

in some of his wonderful prints.

他的一些精美画作中创造了这种艺术。

Here we have "Day and Night."

这个是白天和夜晚。

Here is what I did with figure and ground.

下面是我利用图像和背景所做的。

So, here we have "figure" in black.

所以，我们这里有黑色的“图像”。

Here we have "figure" in white.

我们有白色的“图像”。

And it's all part of the same design.

而它们都是同一个图像的一部分。

The background to one is the other.

背景对于一个前景来说是背景但本身又是一个前景。

Originally I tried to do the words "figure" and "ground."

起初我想用“图像”和“背景”的单词。

But I couldn't do that, I realized. I changed the problem.

但我承认我做不到。我就把问题变通了一下。

It's all "figure."

于是都成了“图像”。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

A few other things. Here is my name.

再看其他的一些。这个是我的名字。

And that turns into the title of my first book, "Inversions."

而它变成了我第一本书的名字，“Inversions”。

These sorts of designs now go by the word "ambigram."

这种图案现在有个新词叫做“双向图”。

I'll show you just a couple others. Here we have

我再给你们看几个其他的。这个是

the numbers one through 10, the digits zero through nine, actually.

数字从一到十，实际上是从零到九。

Each letter here is one of these digits.

这儿每个字母都是其中一个数字。

Not strictly an ambigram in the conventional sense.

不是传统意义上严格的双向图。

I like pushing on what an ambigram can mean.

我喜欢推进到双向图的意义。

Here's the word "mirror." No, it's not the same upside-down.

下面这个单词是“mirror”。不，上下颠倒过来不行。

It's the same this way.

左右颠倒，才是一样的。

And a marvelous fellow from the Media Lab

一个来自Media Lab优秀的家伙

who just got appointed head of RISD, is John Maeda.

他刚被任命为RISD的头儿，叫约翰前田。

And so I did this for him. It's sort of a visual canon.

我给他设计了这个，有点像视觉艺术作品。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And recently in Magic magazine

最近在《魔术》杂志上

I've done a number of ambigrams on magician's names.

我设计了很多魔术师名字的双向图。

So here we have Penn and Teller, same upside-down.

这个是Penn and Teller，上下颠倒过来一样。

This appears in my puzzle calendar.

这个也出现在我的游戏月历上。

Okay, let's go back to the slides.

好，让我们回到幻灯片上来。

Thank you very much.

非常感谢。

Now, those are fun to look at.

这些都是看起来好玩的东西。

Now how would you do it interactively?

但是你怎么做成互动的呢？

For a while I was an interface designer.

有段时间我是一名互动界面的设计师。

And so I think a lot about interaction.

因此我思考了很多关于互动的问题。

Well, let's first of all simplify the vases illusion,

好，首先让我们简化一下花瓶幻象，

make the thing on the right.

作出右边的东西来。

Now, if you could pick up the black vase,

所以，如果你捡起黑色的花瓶，

it would look like the figure on top.

它看起来就像是在表层的图案。

If you could pick up the white area,

如果你捡起白色的区域呢

it would look like the figure on the bottom.

它看起来就像是底层的图案。

Well, you can't do that physically,

额，按自然道理来说你做不到，

but on a computer you can do it. Let's switch over to the P.C.

但是在电脑上你能做到。让我们转到电脑上来。

And here it is, figure-ground.

就是这个，图案背景。

The goal here is to take the pieces on the left

目标是移动左边的图案

and make them so they look like the shape on the right.

重组它们从而使它们看起来像右边的形状。

And this follows the rules I just said:

而且这些符合我刚才所说的规则，

any black area that is surrounded by white can be picked up.

被白色围着的任何黑色区域都可以被捡起来。

But that is also true of any white area.

但是任何白色区域也可以。

So, here we got the white area in the middle,

所以，中间有块儿白色区域，

and you can pick it up.

你可以将它捡起来。

I'll just go one step further.

进一步地说。

So, here is --

所以，这个--

here is a couple pieces. Move them together,

这是两块儿图案。把他们移到一起，

and now this is an active piece.

现在这块儿变成了活动的了。

You can really get inside somebody's perception

你可以真正地深入人心

and have them experience something.

让他们体会到一些东西。

It's like the old maxim of

就像古老的格言所说的

"you can tell somebody something

“你可以把事情告诉一个人

and show them, but if they do it they really learn it."

展示给他们，但是只有他们去做了才能真正的学到。”

Here is another thing you can do.

这个是另一个你可以做的事。

There is a game called Rush Hour.

有个游戏叫尖峰时刻。

This is one of the true masterpieces in puzzle design

这个在游戏设计上是真正的一个杰作

besides Rubik's cube.

仅次于魔方。

So, here we have a crowded parking lot

现在，我们这儿有一个拥挤的停车场

with cars all over the place.

挤满了汽车。

The goal is to get the red car out. It's a sliding block puzzle.

目标是把红色的汽车开出来。这是一个物体移动游戏。

It's made by the company Think Fun.

它是由Think Fun公司做的。

It's done very well. I love this puzzle.

做得非常好。我非常喜欢这个游戏。

Well, let's play one. Here. So, here is a very simple puzzle.

好，让我们玩一个。这个是一个非常简单的游戏。

Well, that's too simple, let's add another piece.

哎，这个太简单了，让我们再加上一块。

Okay, so how would you solve this one?

好，那么你们怎么解决这一个？

Well, move the blue one out of the way.

额，把那个蓝色的移走。

Here, let's make it a little harder. Still pretty easy.

好，让我们再把它变难一点。仍然很简单。

Now we'll make it harder, a little harder.

现在我们把它变得难一点，稍微难一点。

Now, this one is a little bit trickier.

现在，这个有点难对付了。

You know? What do you do here?

你知道么？你们会怎么做？

The first move is going to be what?

第一步该做什么?

You're going to move the blue one up in order to get the lavender one to the right.

你会把蓝色的向上移来使淡紫色的移到右边。

And you can make puzzles like this one that aren't solvable at all.

而且你可以设计像这一个的游戏，根本没有答案。

Those four are locked in a pinwheel; you can't get them apart.

这四个串在一起；你不能把它们分开。

I wanted to make a sequel.

我想做一个后续。

I didn't come up with the original idea. But this is another way

原始的想法不是我想出来的。但是

I work as an inventor is to create a sequel.

我作为一名发明家也创作后续。

I came up with this. This is Railroad Rush Hour.

我创作了这个。这是铁路尖峰时刻。

It's the same basic game except I introduced a new piece,

基本上是同样的游戏，除了我引入了一块的新的方块儿，

a square piece that can move both horizontally and vertically.

一个既可以水平移动也可以垂直移动的方块儿。

In the other game the cars can only move forward and back.

在其他游戏中汽车只能前后移动。

Created a whole bunch of levels for it.

有很多的不同的等级。

Now I'm making it available to schools.

现在我正在把它推广到学校。

And it includes exercises that show you

它还有习题，不仅告诉你

not just how to solve these puzzles,

怎样解决这些益智游戏，

but how to extract the principles that will let you solve

而且也告诉你怎样从中提取出原理，从而让你解决

mathematical puzzles or problems in science, other areas.

数学问题或在科学或其他领域的问题。

So, I'm really interested in you learning how to make your own puzzles

因此，我对于你们正在学习怎样设计你们自己的游戏非常感兴趣

as well as just me creating them.

就如同我自己设计一样。

Garry Trudeau calls himself an investigative cartoonist.

加里特鲁多称他自己是调查研究漫画家。

You know, he does a lot of research before he writes a cartoon.

你们知道，在他创作一个漫画之前，他做大量的调查研究。

In Discover Magazine, I'm an investigative puzzle maker.

在《发现》杂志上，我是一个调查研究型的游戏设计者。

I got interested in gene sequencing.

我对基因排序很感兴趣。

And I said, "Well, how on Earth can you come up with a sequence

并且我说，“啊，你们到底是怎么想出的

of the base pairs in DNA?"

DNA碱基对的排序的？

Cut up the DNA, you sequence individual pieces,

把DNA切开，你给独立的部分排序，

and then you look for overlaps,

然后你再找出重叠部分，

and you basically match them at the edges. And I said,

而且你再把他们的边连起来。我看，

"This is kind of like a jigsaw puzzle, except the pieces overlap."

“这有点像拼图游戏，除了重叠的部分。”

So, here is what I created for Discover Magazine.

这就是我给《发现》杂志创作的。

And it has to be solvable in a magazine.

而且恰好它在杂志里被解决了。

You know, you can't cut out the pieces and move them around.

你们知道你们不能把它们切碎再移动它们。

So, here is the nine pieces. And you're supposed to put them into this grid.

这里是九个部分而你要把它们放在这个框中。

And you have to choose pieces that overlap on the edge.

而且你必须选择那些在边缘上重叠的。

There is only one solution. It's not that hard.

只有一个答案。没有那么难。

But it takes some persistence.

但是需要一些耐心。

And when you're done, it makes this design,

当你完成了，它就是这个图案，

which, if you squint, is the word "helix."

如果你眯眼看的话就是“hilix”这个词。

So, that's the form of the puzzle coming out of the content,

所以，这种形式的益智游戏源于内容，

rather than the other way around.

而不是颠倒过来的那样。

Here is a couple more. Here is a physics-based puzzle.

这儿还有更多的。这是一个基于物理的游戏。

Which way will these fall?

它们会以哪种方式掉下来？

One of these weighs 50 pounds, 30 pounds and 10 pounds.

它们每个分别是50磅，30磅和10磅。

And depending on which one weighs which amount,

而且根据它们的重量

they'll fall different directions.

他们会落向不同的方向。

And here is a puzzle based on color mixing.

这儿还有一个基于混合颜色的游戏。

I separated this image into cyan, magenta, yellow, black,

我把这个图像分成青色，品红色，黄色，黑色，

the basic printing colors, and then mixed up the separations,

这些最基本的印刷色彩然后把它们混合起来，

and you get these peculiar pictures.

你就得到这些奇特的图片。

Which separations were mixed up to make those pictures?

这些图片是由哪些颜色混合起来组成的？

Gets you thinking about color.

让你们思考起颜色来了。

Finally, what I'm doing now. So, ShuffleBrain.com,

最后，我现在正在做的，是ShuffleBrain.com，

website you can go visit, I joined up with my wife, Amy-Jo Kim.

这个网站，你可以访问，是我和我的妻子艾米乔金创立的。

She could easily be up here giving a talk about her work.

如果她到台上来，也会告诉你她的工作

So, we're making smart games for social media.

所以，我们正在为社会媒体设计益智游戏。

I'll explain what that means. We're looking at three trends.

我会给你们解释什么意思。我们正在关注着三个潮流。

This is what's going on in the games industry right now.

这是游戏产业正在进行着的。

First of all, you know, for a long time

首先，你知道，在很长一段时间

computer games meant things like "Doom,"

电脑游戏就意味着毁灭，

where you're going around shooting things, very violent games, very fast,

你到那里去射击，是非常暴力，节奏非常快的游戏，

aimed at teenage boys. Right? That's who plays computer games.

目标是青少年男孩子。是吧？只有男孩子们才玩电脑游戏。

Well, guess what? That's changing.

可是你猜怎么着？情况变了。

"Bejeweled" is a big hit. It was the game that really broke open

宝石迷阵游戏获得了巨大成功。就是这个游戏真正地开启了

what's called casual games.

所谓的休闲游戏。

And the main players are over 35, and are female.

而且主要玩家年龄在35岁以上，而且是女性。

Then recently "Rock Band" has been a big hit.

最近摇滚乐队又获得了巨大成功。

And it's a game you play with other people.

而且这是一个与其他人一起玩的多人游戏。

It's very physical. It looks nothing like a traditional game.

非常新潮，看起来一点也不像传统游戏。

This is what's becoming the dominant form of electronic gaming.

这就是现在正变成电子游戏主流的游戏。

Now, within that there is some interesting things happening.

现在，这内部又发生了一些有趣的事情。

There is also a trend towards games that are good for you.

又一种潮流就是有益性。

Why? Well, we aging Boomers,

为什么?我们年老了，

Baby Boomers, we're eating our healthy food,

我们是婴儿潮时出生的，我们吃保健品，

we're exercising. What about our minds?

我们在锻炼身体。可是我们的智力呢？

Oh no, our parents are getting Alzheimer's. We better do something.

不，我们的父母开始患上阿尔茨海默氏症。我们最好做点什么。

Turns out doing crossword puzzles can stave off some of the effects of Alzheimer's.

结果是做填字游戏能避开阿尔茨海默氏症的一些影响。

So, we got games like "Brain Age" coming out for the Nintendo DS, huge hit.

所以，我们为任天堂做的大脑时代游戏，是个巨大成功。

A lot of people do Sudoku. In fact some doctors prescribe it.

很多人玩数独。实际上一些医生要求病人玩。

And then there is social media, and what's happening on the Internet.

然后是社会媒体，还有现在互联网上发生的一切。

Everybody now considers themselves a creator,

现在每个人都认为自己是个创造者，

and not just a viewer.

而不仅仅是一个旁观者。

And what does this add up to?

而这些意味着什么呢？

Here is what we see coming.

接下来就是我们能看到的将要发生的事。

It's games that fit into a healthy lifestyle.

适合健康的生活方式的游戏。

They're part of your life. They're not necessarily a separate thing.

它们是我们生活的一部分。它们不一定非得是一个独立的东西。

And they are both, something that is good for you, and they're fun.

而且它们既是对你有益的东西，又很有趣。

I'm a puzzle guy. My wife is an expert in social media.

我是个游戏迷。我妻子是社会媒体方面的专家。

And we decided to combine our skills.

我们决定将我们的技能结合起来。

Our first game is called "Photo Grab." The game takes about a minute and 20 seconds.

我们的第一个游戏叫“抓图”。这个游戏花费大约一分钟二十秒。

This is your first time playing my game. Okay.

这是你们第一次玩我的游戏。好。

Let's see how well we can do. There are three images.

让我们看看我们能玩到什么程度。这儿有三张图。

And we have 24 seconds each.

而我们每张图都有二十四秒。

Where is that?

这个在哪儿？

I'll play as fast as I can.

我会尽我最快的速度来玩。

But if you can see it, shout out the answer.

如果你们能看出来，喊出答案。

You get more -- Down, okay, yeah where is that?

你们还有--下面，好的，这个在哪儿？

Oh, yeah. There, okay. J-O and --

啊，好。那儿，好的。J-O还有--

I guess that's that part. We got the bow. That bow helps.

我猜这是那一部分。我们看到弓形了。这个弓形有帮助作用。

That's his hair. You get a lot of figure-ground problems.

这个是头发。你们看到有很多图案背景问题。

Yeah, that one is easy. Okay. So, ahhh! Okay on to the next one.

啊，这个简单。好，那，啊-！好，看下一个。

Okay, so that's the lens.

好的，这个是镜头。

Anybody?

谁知道？

Looks like a black shape. So, where is that?

看起来像黑色的形状。那，这个在哪儿？

That's the corner of the whole thing.

这个是整个东西的角儿。

Yeah, I've played this image before,

是，我以前玩过这张图。

but even when I make up my own puzzles --

但是即使我设计我自己的游戏--

and you can put your own images in here.

而你们可以把你们自己的图案放在这儿。

And we have people all over the world doing that now.

现在全世界的人都在玩儿这个。

There we are. Visit ShuffleBrain.com

就到这里。访问ShuffleBrain.com

if you want to try it yourself. Thank you.

如果你想亲自尝试的话。谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）