View source for Split-Screen Views

[[Category:Staffan's current workpage]]
[[Category:Patterns]]
[[Category:Interface Patterns]]
[[Category:Information Patterns]]
[[Category:Needs revision]]
[[Category:Needs examples]]
[[Category:Needs references]]
[[Category:Patterns created on the Wiki]]
''Division of the screen space into distinct areas which display different information about a game.''

Film-making introduce the concept of dividing the area available on screens to show several different views simultaneously by dividing the screen into several different areas. This idea of [[Split-Screen Views]] have been used to give each player in a multiplayer game his or her own part, and thereby making real-time games possible on one screen where players can move around independently of each other. Although this use is more static that they use in film-making, some games that have changing numbers of players introduce views in a way similar to their use in movies and some games have made use of the cinematic techniques in single-player games.

=== Examples ===
[[Borderlands]] and the [[Call of Duty series|Call of Duty]], [[Halo series|Halo]], and [[Left 4 Dead series]] are examples of games allowing [[Split-Screen Views]], at least on console versions of the games. Other examples - which are not [[:Category:FPS Games|First-Person Shooters]] - include the [[Mario Kart series|Mario Kart]], [[Guitar Hero series|Guitar Hero]], and [[Super Monkey Ball series]]. Later installments in the [[Lego Star Wars series]], which supports players joining and dropping out of the game without stopping game sessions, introduces split-screens dynamically as they are needed.

[[XIII]] and [[Heavy Rain]]  are single-player games that make use of various forms of [[Split-Screen Views]] for narration purposes. [[Arcadia]] is a single-player game that uses a [[Split-Screen Views|Split-Screen View]] to make players play four mini-games simultaneously.

The Giant Bomb web site has a page for the concept of split-screen multiplayer which includes several more examples<ref name="gb"/>, and another one for ''dynamic split-screen''<ref name="gb2"/>.

== Using the pattern ==
The options when designing [[Split-Screen Views]] are mainly how to screen space. For two views this is a basically a question of split the screen horizontally or vertically. Four views are easily achieved by splitting both ways. This is typically also done for three views, but then the "spare" view is often used to provide some form of [[Game State Overviews|Game State Overview]]. More views that four are rarely used (see the Wikipedia page for split screen for examples<ref name="wiki"/>. Games with [[Drop-In/Drop-Out]] game require designers either to sacrifice some screen real estate when not all players are present or to introduce dynamically additional views as players join.

The above has assumed that the [[Split-Screen Views]] have been to support [[Real-Time Games]] to be [[Multiplayer Games]]. This is because other types of [[Multiplayer Games]] can make use of [[Hotseating]] and [[Single-Player Games]]] rarely seem to need to show multiple perspectives at once. This is however something that is used in movies and the game [[XIII]] and [[Heavy Rain]] shows how this can be used in a [[Single-Player Games|Single-Player Game]] to insert additional perspective into players' displays (a form of [[Game State Overviews]]).

=== Diegetic Aspects ===
Although [[Split-Screen Views]] does not per se break [[Diegetic Consistency]], it does make it difficult to maintain [[Detective Structures]] in the revealing of information in games.

=== Interface Aspects ===
Dealing with how to present information to several players on one screen, [[Split-Screen Views]] is an [[:Category:Information Patterns|Information]] and [[:Category:Interface Patterns|Interface Pattern]].

== Consequences ==
[[Split-Screen Views]] allow for computer-based [[Real-Time Games]] to be [[Multiplayer Games]] where players can be in different parts of a [[Game Worlds|Game World]] and look in different directions, even if they are only using one screen. When [[Multiplayer Games]] support several screens, the pattern provides players with an alternative where they can have better overview of each other's actions. That player can see what the others are doing even if their [[Focus Loci]] are not co-present in a [[Game Worlds|Game World]] make [[Cooperation]] easier in both cases. However, this pattern can make it difficult to have [[Asymmetric Information]] in a games since all players co-located and viewing the same [[Split-Screen Views|Split-Screen View]] can see what the others sees.

== Relations ==
=== Can Instantiate ===
[[Multiplayer Games]]

=== Can Modulate ===
[[Cooperation]], 
[[Multiplayer Games]], 
[[Real-Time Games]]

=== Can Be Instantiated By ===
[[Mini-maps]]

=== Can Be Modulated By ===
[[Drop-In/Drop-Out]], 
[[Game State Overviews]]

=== Possible Closure Effects ===
-

=== Potentially Conflicting With ===
[[Asymmetric Information]], 
[[Detective Structures]]

== History ==
New pattern created in this wiki.

== References ==
<references>
<ref name="gb">Giant bomb's [http://www.giantbomb.com/split-screen-multiplayer/92-322/ page] for ''Split-Screen Multiplayer''.</ref>
<ref name="gb2">Giant bomb's [http://www.giantbomb.com/dynamic-split-screen/92-6795/ page] for ''Dynamic Split-Screen''.</ref>
<ref name="wiki">Wikipedia's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_screen_(computer_graphics) page] for ''Split Screen''.</ref>
</references>

== Acknowledgements ==
Kelvin Autenrieth,
Jonathan Osbourne