Chargers

Chargers are locations in the Game World that affect the players' resources when they are in the location.

This pattern is a still a stub.

Examples

Example: Speed boosters in Super Monkey Ball II: Monkey Race give, as their names imply, more speed to the player driving on top of the charger.

Example: Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield Vietnam have two categories of chargers: medicine cabinets and ammunition caches that replenish the health and ammunition of the players' Avatars and repair facilities that fix damages to vehicles.

Example: The board game Robo-Rally contains repair areas, which remove damage from the player's robot if it spends time there.

Using the pattern

Selecting the Improved Abilities, the New Abilities, and possibly Privileged Abilities, or Resource gained defines the use of the Charger. The way it produces Resources is similar to Resource Generators except that players usually do not have any choice if they should be affected by the Charger (besides not entering its affect area), and any Privileged Ability granted by the Charger may be activated at once, for example, as in the case of speed boosters in most racing games. Improved Abilities can be handled by simply increasing Skills or increasing the effect of player actions.

Consequences

Chargers provide means for players to get New Abilities or Improved Abilities as well as providing Renewable Resources.

They function as both Resource Locations and Resource Generators but do not produce any Resources unless a player is within the area, which may require Maneuvering to get to. They are typically used to give the player Renewable Resources, which can be used as goals or to set the Right Level of Complexity. Their presence in a Game World creates natural Gain Competence and Traverse goals.

If the Charger provides a bonus beyond the normal limits, i. e., letting players move faster than otherwise possible, it can be seen as a form of Power-Up that gives Privileged Abilities. For Chargers that give a certain effect per time unit spent in its effect area, staying on it is a Risk/Reward Tradeoff for players as their Freedom of Choice is limited. If the area that contains the Charger can be controlled so other players cannot access the Charger, this can give rise to Gain Ownership goals.

Relations

Maneuvering Diegetically Outstanding Features Strategic Knowledge Strategic Locations Location-Fixed Abilities Privileged Abilities Improved Abilities New Abilities

History

An updated version of the pattern Chargers that was part of the original collection in the book Patterns in Game Design.

Acknowledgements

-