Difference between revisions of "Vehicle Sections"

Revision as of 09:14, 30 July 2011

Gameplay areas created for vehicular movement.

Some games let players alternate between self-propelled movement and using vehicles. Vehicle Sections are parts of game worlds specifically designed for the latter.

Examples

The coast region in Half-Life 2 in mainly an area meant to be traversed using a buggy. Crysis has two parts of the game specifically designed to support travelling in vehicles - in one case in a main battle tank and in another a vertical takeoffs and landing aircraft. Halo: Combat Evolved and the other games in the Halo series have several areas designed to using the Warthog and other vehicles.

Using the pattern

Designing Vehicle Sections is concerned with presenting players with a different scale between moving in Vehicles and moving without them; Games where one always is inside vehicles with the same capacities could be said to consist entirely of Vehicle Sections but this also makes talking about the pattern superfluous.

Diegetic Aspects

Interface Aspects

Narrative Aspects

Consequences

Since vehicular travel can be assumed to be quicker than "ordinary" travel, Vehicle Sections can be seen as a halfway alternative between Quick Travel and ordinary Movement.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Strategic Knowledge

Can Modulate

Game Worlds, Levels, Maneuvering, Movement, Vehicles

Can Be Instantiated By

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Can Be Modulated By

Obstacles

Possible Closure Effects

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Potentially Conflicting With

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History

New pattern created in this wiki. However, it was first introduced using another template by Hullett and Whitehead^[1], and a more detailed description in this template is available^[2].

References

1. ↑ Hullett, K. & Whitehead, J. (2010). Design Patterns in FPS Levels, paper presentation at Foundations of Digital Games 2010, June 19-21, Monterey, CA, USA.
2. ↑ Vehicle Section pattern by Kenneth Hullett.

Acknowledgements

Kennart Hullett, Jim Whitehead