Movement

The action of moving game elements in game worlds.

Movement of game elements is a common activity in games that have game worlds or game boards. It allows players to try and move game elements into favorable positions as well as control or explore game areas. In computer-based games it can give players feelings of speed and vertigo.

Examples

Racing Games such as the Need for Speed series, the Gran Turismo series, F-Zero GX and the Mario Kart series all have movement as the primary activity in the game.

Formula D, Ricochet Robots, RoboRally, and Sokoban also have this but as the challenges of Movement in these cases are more about problem solving and anticipating other players moves.

Cogs

Example: With the exception of the value of kings and the ability of pawns to become queens, different Movement abilities are what distinguish different types of pieces in Chess.

Example: Spacewar and Asteroids both allow players to move spaceships by rotation and thrust in the spaceships' direction. However, they also allow players to escape dangerous situations by providing a limited number of hyperjumps that place the spaceship in a random location.

Navigating the game worlds in the Super Mario series is a large part of gameplay, and through executing combos additional types of movement can be done. Some of these, e.g. Double Jumping, have found there way into many other games, e.g. Robot Unicorn Attack and being able to be done by scouts in Team Fortress 2.

High Frontier

Visits are similar but used in Massively Single-Player Online Games such as CityVille and Zombie Lane to let players go to each others areas to help with tasks.

Advanced Squad Leader

Rhythm-Based Actions (examples of this can be found in Dragon's Lair series and Another World).

Space Alert

Using the pattern

Movement is introduced into games to allow goals such as Capture, Stealth, Exploration, Herd, Delivery, and Traverse goals as well as activities such as Collecting, Races and making Aim & Shoot easier. However, deciding how game elements can perform Movement depends on how Game Worlds have been created and the intended differences between game elements. Clues, Diegetically Tangible Game Items, Environmental Effects, Inaccessible Areas, Obstacles, Pick-Ups, Traps, and Warp Zones in Game Worlds all modulate Movement and can be used as the starting points for various designs of Privileged Movement and Movement Limitations and thereby create Orthogonal Unit Differentiation. Vehicles are Game Items that also modulate Movement since players can make use of them to get a form of Privileged Movement. Combos can also be used to access Privileged Movement by doing a more or less complex combination of basic actions. Even so, the easiest form of Privileged Movement for one game element compared to other game elements is the ability to move faster as a form of Improved Ability, and game designs can make use of this to provide Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment regarding Movement.

The difficulty of Movement is connected to the complexity of the movement and the different ways one can move. The more degrees of freedom of movement a player has, up to the maximum of six (three absolute and three rotational), the more the complexity of the Movement is increased. Further complications to Movement occur through the introduction of acceleration, deceleration, momentum, turn radii, dislocated centers of gravity, articulated vehicles, fuel Resources, Line of Sight, and vehicles with complex forms of locomotion. These, and the way Game Worlds are constructed, can be used to create both Challenging and Complex Gameplay, but this can be further refined in computer-based games through Player/System Skill Composites in which the computer helps calculating routes or providing Game State Overviews of the relevant factors.

In Turn-Based Games, typical ways of instantiating Movement is having a movement cost to enter an area and using Randomness (most often in the form of Dice), Budgeted Action Points, or a combination of both to determine how many points players have to spend. While simply having a cost of one for each area enter (as e.g. Monopoly does) having other costs can be motivated based on Environmental Effects in the areas. In Real-Time Games, Movement is often directly matches to physical buttons but can also be the diegetic effect of successfully performing Rhythm-Based Actions (examples of this can be found in Another World and the Dragon's Lair series).

Quick Returns and Quick Travel are ways to avoid having to do Movement though parts of Game Worlds one has already traversed and can thereby remove Movement which could be perceived as Excise. While Warp Zones may change Game Worlds by making parts topological neighbors and thereby modulate Movement, when players can create the Warp Zones themselves (as for example when reading a portal scroll in Torchlight) this can instead be viewed as making Movement possible. Visits are similar but used in Massively Single-Player Online Games such as CityVille and Zombie Lane to let players go to each others areas to help with tasks.

Movement can be made to leave Traces to help Capture or Reconnaissance goals through providing Clues. Goal Points can help in goals related to Movement both by aiding Game World Navigation and by being able to double as Save Points.

Consequences

Movement is a basic way of creating Freedom of Choice in games and both affects the Avatars, Units, or Enemies given the ability to move and the Game Worlds they can move within. It is a prerequisite for many actions and goals, e.g. Capture, Collecting, Delivery, Evade, Exploration, Herd, Races, Stealth, and Traverse as as well as modulating how Aim & Shoot can be done. Construction can also be an effect of Movement when this supports other game elements being pushed around. While all intentional Movement in Game Worlds requires Game World Navigation when this is supported through Goal Points showing intermediate target locations, the Movement done to reach these makes them act as Progress Indicators. As soon as players need to consider their own acceleration or speed, or the movement of other game elements, Movement requires Tactical Planning.

Movement does not always offer Spatial Engrossment but is more likely to do so in Real-Time Games since this makes the the Movement into Maneuvering. In contrast, Movement in Turn-Based Games can give rise to Puzzle Solving, e.g. games that require players to move between many interconnected places give rise to Traveling Salesman's problems (see Ricochet Robots and Sokoban for two Turn-Based Games that can create Spatial Engrossment even so due to focusing completely on Movement). Puzzle Solving (and through that also Tactical Planning) regarding Movement can also occur in any game where Movement is used to succeed with goals to Capture something.

Movement of game elements, usually Obstacles, that are not under the control of any players are can be examples of Ultra-Powerful Events that require Movement or Maneuvering from the players in response, for example to avoid Damage or to be able to complete Aim & Shoot actions.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Capture, Challenging Gameplay, Collecting, Complex Gameplay, Construction, Delivery, Evade, Exploration, Freedom of Choice, Herd, Races, Stealth, Traverse, Ultra-Powerful Events

with Capture

Puzzle Solving, Tactical Planning

with Real-Time Games

Maneuvering, Spatial Engrossment

with Turn-Based Games

Puzzle Solving

Can Modulate

Aim & Shoot, Avatars, Capture, Enemies, Game Worlds, Units

Can Be Instantiated By

Quick Returns, Rhythm-Based Actions, Warp Zones

Can Be Modulated By

Combos, Clues, Diegetically Tangible Game Items, Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment, Environmental Effects, Goal Points, Game Worlds, Inaccessible Areas, Line of Sight, Movement Limitations, Obstacles, Pick-Ups, Player/System Skill Composites, Privileged Movement, Quick Travel, Resources, Traces, Traps, Vehicles, Visits, Warp Zones

Possible Closure Effects

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Potentially Conflicting With

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History

A rewrite of the pattern Movement that was part of the original collection in the book Patterns in Game Design.