Temporary Abilities
Abilities only available for limited periods of game time.
While games need to let players have some abilities to affect gameplay, not all abilities need to be present throughout entire game sessions. Those that are not are Temporary Abilities and may be transitory rewards or powerful abilities that players only can use a limited times.
Contents
Examples
Power-Ups in many action games only provide Temporary Abilities for short periods of time, e.g. the Quad Damage in the Quake series gives four times the normal damage but only for a brief period of time while the metal cap in Super Mario 64 temporarily makes Mario sink in water and invincible.
Equipping oneself with a tool in Minecraft lets players perform different sorts of actions, and these actions are available until the tool is destroyed through wear and tear or until it is replace with another tool. More restricted, switching weapons in Torchlight and the Dragon Age series lets players do different types of damage which can be seen as different abilities. Explosive weapons such as rocket launchers in the Quake or Doom series also temporary give the ability to damage several enemies at once (and do rocket jumps) until ammunition runs dry. The gravity gun in Half-Life 2 gives players the ability to attract or repel other objects instead of shooting them - here also as long as one has ammunition.
Casting beneficial spells on others, Buffing them, is a way of giving other players Temporary Abilities in World of Warcraft. While taking damage is not really an ability, being affected with damage-causing diseases in Team Fortress Classic or World of Warcraft are new Temporary Abilities since one can transmit the disease until one's avatar is cured or dies.
Using the pattern
There are two main ways of creating Temporary Abilities: having Time Limits for how long the Abilities can be used or allowing them to only be used a specific number of times. These may be combined so that players may only use the Abilities a limited number of times but needs to do so before the Time Limits run out or forfeit them.
The pattern of Temporary Abilities can be weakly present in
Gameplay may not begin simultaneously for all players. For games with Drop-In/Drop-Out gameplay, Temporary Abilities may be appropriate for newly arrived players to either provide Player Balance or give them an Exaggerated Perception of Influence.
Can Be Instantiated By
Ammunition, Buffs, Equipment, Power-Ups, Tools
New Abilities together with Time Limits
Diegetic Aspects
Interface Aspects
Narrative Aspects
Consequences
Balancing Effects, Varied Gameplay, Resources, Exaggerated Perception of Influence Tension
Can Modulate
Relations
Can Instantiate
Balancing Effects, Exaggerated Perception of Influence, Resources, Tension, Varied Gameplay
Can Modulate
Can Be Instantiated By
Ammunition, Buffs, Equipment, Power-Ups, Tools
New Abilities together with Time Limits
Can Be Modulated By
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Possible Closure Effects
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Potentially Conflicting With
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History
New pattern created in this wiki.
References
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Acknowledgements
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