"Prune[1]" is the hottest game in Apple's App Store right now. And it's unlike any game you've ever played.
修剪藝術(shù)“Prune”現(xiàn)在是蘋(píng)果應(yīng)用商店里最火的一款游戲，而它極具特色，與你之前玩過(guò)的任何一款游戲都不一樣。
Your objective is to help shape your tree as it grows closer to the sun, pruning away branches with simple swipes to avoid obstacles. It's a simple premise, but with gorgeous visuals and a zen[2] soundtrack, it's an extremely addictive experience.
玩家的目標(biāo)是在樹(shù)木越發(fā)向日生長(zhǎng)時(shí)，為它塑形。玩家可以通過(guò)（在屏幕上的）輕松劃動(dòng)來(lái)修剪樹(shù)枝，避開(kāi)障礙物。這款游戲的設(shè)想很簡(jiǎn)單。不過(guò)唯美的視覺(jué)效果搭配上充滿禪意的背景樂(lè)，能讓玩家極其愛(ài)不釋手。
Prune was created by Joel McDonald, a 31-year-old developer based in Madison, Wisconsin. In an interview with Tech Insider, McDonald said he was inspired by a tweet, which described how people could generate realistic-looking trees in the multiplatform game engine called Unity. But he said it "clicked when I saw a half-fallen tree in a field, its branches splayed out in all directions."
住在威斯康星州麥迪遜31歲喬爾·麥克唐納是一位游戲開(kāi)發(fā)者，修剪藝術(shù)Prune便是他的作品。在接受Tech Insider的采訪時(shí)，麥克唐納表示他的靈感來(lái)源于一條推特。那條推特描述了人們?nèi)绾卧谝粋€(gè)名叫協(xié)作（Unity）的多平臺(tái)游戲引擎上生成現(xiàn)實(shí)感十足的樹(shù)木。然而麥克唐納說(shuō)“當(dāng)我點(diǎn)擊界面中一棵半彎的樹(shù)時(shí)，它的樹(shù)枝會(huì)向四面八方伸展開(kāi)去?！?/div>
"At the time, I had been an?
indie[3] game developer for about six months and had been prototyping a bunch of ideas," McDonald said. "I had a few promising leads but I was looking for a nice, short project that could help me get my feet wet[4]. I thought 'Prune' was the perfect project for me to complete in a month or two and release on the App Store to?test out the waters."他回憶道：“那時(shí)我已經(jīng)做了六個(gè)月的獨(dú)立游戲開(kāi)發(fā)，并產(chǎn)生一大堆初步的想法。”麥克唐納說(shuō)，“我感覺(jué)到它們未來(lái)有很大的發(fā)展空間，可我所找尋的是一個(gè)不錯(cuò)的簡(jiǎn)短項(xiàng)目，讓我能在一個(gè)新的游戲領(lǐng)域做點(diǎn)嘗試。我認(rèn)為Prune這個(gè)項(xiàng)目很適合我。我能在一到兩個(gè)月將其完成，然后在軟件商店中發(fā)布，試試水。”
"Prune" took longer than a couple of months. In total, McDonald spent 15 months to finish the project. But he said he just wasn't happy with it. “'Prune' was still missing its soul at that point," he said.
修剪藝術(shù)花費(fèi)了麥克唐納好幾個(gè)月。這個(gè)項(xiàng)目共歷時(shí)15個(gè)月。但是他還對(duì)此不夠滿意，他說(shuō)：“‘修剪藝術(shù)’那時(shí)仍缺乏靈魂。”
About 10 months into development, McDonald
tapped[5] Kyle Preston, a composer and sound designer, to do the music and sounds for "Prune." And he personally refocused his efforts to create a game that was simple and more minimalist.在游戲開(kāi)發(fā)大概十個(gè)月時(shí)，麥克唐納請(qǐng)來(lái)了作曲家和音效設(shè)計(jì)師凱爾·普勒斯頓，專(zhuān)為修剪藝術(shù)Prune制作音樂(lè)和音效。而他自己則再次調(diào)整游戲開(kāi)發(fā)的方向，努力打造一款簡(jiǎn)易且更加具有極簡(jiǎn)抽象派藝術(shù)特色的游戲。
重點(diǎn)詞匯解說(shuō)：
1. prune: 這一動(dòng)詞的本意（包括在此文中的運(yùn)用）指園藝家剪去長(zhǎng)勢(shì)較弱或枯死的枝椏，使得植株能繁茂生長(zhǎng)。其引申義可指削減（開(kāi)支）：It might make more sense for the company to prune down its dividend；除去不必要的部分：When was the last time you pruned your To Do list?
2. zen：日文外來(lái)語(yǔ)，意為“禪”、 “禪宗”，屬于佛教的一個(gè)分支。在此文中zen作形容詞，表示游戲背景音樂(lè)具有禪深遠(yuǎn)清幽之意鏡。
3. indie：通?？梢?jiàn)的搭配有indie musicians/ movies，前者意指音樂(lè)人不屬于經(jīng)紀(jì)公司，作歌譜曲和推廣業(yè)務(wù)基本自己一手操辦；而后者指新人（或名氣不大的演員）出演、制作成本小的電影。
4. get one’s feet wet: to start a new activity or job，指的是接觸一個(gè)新的領(lǐng)域/做一份全新的工作，通過(guò)實(shí)踐積累經(jīng)驗(yàn)。這一表達(dá)恰好與后文出現(xiàn)的“test out the waters"相呼應(yīng)，表明Prune是McDonald進(jìn)軍一個(gè)新游戲市場(chǎng)的作品。
5. tap: 意指懇切地/不斷地請(qǐng)求某人
聲明：雙語(yǔ)文章中，中文翻譯僅代表譯者個(gè)人觀點(diǎn)，詞匯解說(shuō)系滬江英語(yǔ)原創(chuàng)，僅供參考。如有不妥之處，歡迎指正。
