Difference between revisions of "Spawn Points"

Revision as of 16:00, 11 July 2011

Locations in game worlds where avatars, units, or enemies appear.

This pattern is a still a stub.

Examples

All game elements that appear in a gamehave a first initial location, their Spawn Point. The Spawn Points are most noticeable in multi-player games since their effect is most apparent to the players already in the game.

Example: the classic arcade game Gauntlet has Spawn Points, which will pour out monsters until the players destroy the monster generators.

Example: many roleplaying games and massively multiplayer online games use Spawn Points for the player Avatars but also have spawn points for Enemies.

Spawn Points are heavily used in multiplayer first-person shooters such as the Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, and the Battlefield, Quake, Team Fortress, and Unreal Tournament series. Some of these games offers additional variations on Spawn Points: Battlefield 2 lets players spawn on their squad leaders while Battlefield Vietnam lets players spawn in vehicles that can be steered around the game area and players can create tunnel exits that function as mobile Spawn Points.

Using the pattern

Almost all games that use Spawning in Game Worlds or Levels make use of Spawn Points, however Converters and Resource Generators in general can be seen as making use of Spawn Points as well. The main design choice to be made about Spawn Points is where to locate them (Spawning concerns what spawns in them). The suitable locations are usually restricted by if the game should have Challenging Gameplay and what they chances for Surprises should be. Introducing whatever game elements are spawned into an unprotected environment makes both likely to occur; Safe Havens are quite often used as Spawn Points, or Spawn Points are surrounded by Safe Havens, to avoid this. Other factors that may influence the location of spawn points include how suitable the surrounding environment is to Camping and if the game makes use of Lives. Battlefield 2 and Battlefield Vietnam show how Spawn Points do not have to be stationary points, instead respectively linking the Spawn Points to the position of Avatars and Vehicles, and this is in the former case a Privileged Ability to certain Avatars.

In Team-based games the placement of Spawn Points is often done so Symmetry between the Teams are achieved, this as a Balancing Effects.

Can Modulate

Death Consequences,

Diegetic Aspects

Spawn Points can challenge Thematic Consistency since there may be no real world equivalents for such locations (magic or technology that supports teleportation is the most common explanation). An exception to this is Spawn Points located near the edge of Game Worlds. This since they can represent access points to other parts of the diegetic Game Worlds even if gameplay cannot occur there, and thereby give an Illusion of Open Space.

Interface Aspects

Narrative Aspects

Consequences

Spawn Points are a form of Producers that define where Spawning occurs in Game Worlds or Levels. Spawn Points are in themselves Strategic Locations as the introduction of new game elements appears there. When they produce the targets for Collecting goals, Spawn Points can encourage Camping or Encouraged Return Visits while they can provide Tension to players whose Avatars spawn there if they are under immediate threat there. Spawn Points can also promote "spawn" Camping in other players if players' Avatars appear unprotected at the Spawn Points.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Camping, Challenging Gameplay, Illusion of Open Space, Producers, Strategic Locations, Surprises, Tension

with Collecting

Encouraged Return Visits

Can Modulate

Converters, Death Consequences, Game Worlds, Levels, Resource Generators, Safe Havens, Spawning

Can Be Instantiated By

Avatars, Privileged Abilities, Vehicles

Game Items together with Converters, Resource Generators, or Spawning

Can Be Modulated By

Safe Havens

Possible Closure Effects

-

Potentially Conflicting With

Thematic Consistency

History

An updated version of the pattern Spawn Points that was part of the original collection in the book Patterns in Game Design^[1].

References

1. ↑ Björk, S. & Holopainen, J. (2004) Patterns in Game Design. Charles River Media. ISBN1-58450-354-8.

Acknowledgements