View source for Alien Space Bats

[[Category:Narration Patterns]]
[[Category:Patterns]]
[[Category:Needs revision]]
[[Category:Needs references]]
[[Category:Patterns created on the Wiki]]
''Implausible explanations for alternative realities.''

Many games describe situations in alternate realities. When the differences between these realities and the real world are created by introducing fantastical or supernatural agents or by letting unrealistic events occur, this is referred to as [[Alien Space Bats]] from a use to describe the implausibility of alternate histories<ref name="ah"/>. 

For more information, see the Wikipedia entry<ref name="wiki"/> for the concept.

''Note: This pattern is mainly a means for gaining freedom in designing the diegesis and narration in a game. However, since this can provide a freedom in what gameplay is possible also it is described as a gameplay design pattern in the collection.''

=== Examples ===
The role-playing game [[Call of Cthulhu]] takes place in an alternate version of the world where incomprehensible intelligences, psychic time travelling races, and chthonian entities trapped under the ocean all threaten mankind's sanity and existence. 

The background story of the [[Doom series]] is that a catastrophic malfunction during a teleport experiment of Deimos opens the gate to hell.

[[Command & Conquer: Red Alert]] uses a time-travelling Albert Einstein to sets up a game where Nazi Germany never existed and a larger Soviet Union battles a united Western Europe in the 1950s.

== Using the pattern ==
[[Alien Space Bats]] are ways of creating [[Alternate Reality|Alternate Realities]] and [[Game Worlds]] by changing aspects of the real world rather depicting them as fictional ones created from purely out of whole cloth. The pattern can be used either before gameplay starts or during gameplay. For the latter, this means considering the introduction of new [[Privileged Abilities]] or [[Environmental Effects]], or the [[Game Element Insertion]] of new [[Enemies]], [[Game Items]], or [[Units]] as appropriate due to the nature of the [[Alien Space Bats]]. These new game elements or abilities can easily be used to differentiate [[Levels]].

While what constitutes the [[Alien Space Bats]] may vary from [[Big Dumb Objects]] and [[Environmental Effects]] to the introduction of new [[Enemies]], [[Game Items]], or [[Units]].

=== Diegetic Aspects ===
[[Alien Space Bats]] is a diegetic pattern.

== Consequences ==
[[Alien Space Bats]] is a pattern to create an [[Alternate Reality]] while creating [[Game Worlds]] by introducing supernatural or improbable events or agents. This may cause breaks in the [[Diegetic Consistency]] if not also the likely effects of what is introduced is applied on the diegesis, the [[Game Worlds|Game World]], and the gameplay possible within it. 

When applied during gameplay, [[Alien Space Bats]] are most often [[Ultra-Powerful Events]] that can activate new types of [[Game Element Insertion]] and make [[Levels]] different from each other. This in turn can be used to provide [[Varied Gameplay]] throughout the game.

Quite naturally, the introduction of [[Alien Space Bats]] during gameplay will likely be a [[Surprises|Surprise]] that unfold [[Narration Structures]]. Even if [[Alien Space Bats]] could be improvised during gameplay by [[Game Masters]], they are most often created as [[Predetermined Story Structures]]. This since it would be difficult for [[Game Masters]] to pull off without being perceived as making arbitrary use of their power, and thereby breaking the [[Diegetic Consistency]].

== Relations ==
=== Can Instantiate ===
[[Alternate Reality]], 
[[Game Element Insertion]], 
[[Narration Structures]], 
[[Surprises]], 
[[Ultra-Powerful Events]], 
[[Varied Gameplay]]

=== Can Modulate ===
[[Enemies]], 
[[Environmental Effects]], 
[[Game Items]], 
[[Game Worlds]], 
[[Levels]], 
[[Privileged Abilities]], 
[[Units]]

=== Can Be Instantiated By ===
[[Environmental Effects]],
[[Big Dumb Objects]]

=== Can Be Modulated By ===
-

=== Possible Closure Effects ===
-

=== Potentially Conflicting With ===
[[Diegetic Consistency]]

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

== References ==
<references>
<ref name="wiki">Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_space_bats entry] for ''Alien Space Bats''.</ref>
<ref name="ah">Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_history entry] for ''Alternative History''.</ref>
</references>

== Acknowledgements ==
-