Time Limited Game Instances
Games that by their design limit the time of any given game instance.
Playing a game is a commitment to participate in an activity. For those games played with other people or controlled by machines this may be a commitment on when to play and how much time will be spent on the game. To make it easier for players to make these commitments it can be good know in advance how long the game instance will be. Games can support this through being designed to have Time Limited Game Instances.
Contents
Examples
Space Alert is a weak example of a board game having Time Limited Game Instances. This since the first phase of the game has a strictly limited duration through the use of an audio track to dictate gameplay. The time needed to complete the second, evaluation, phase can differ but this is pretty much up to the players and they cannot affect the outcome by varying this.
Deathmatch modes in first-person shooters such as the Quake series typically let the game facilitators to choose a time limit or frag (kill) limit to determine the winner. Those using the former of these are examples of Time Limited Game Instances.
The experimental game 4 Minutes and 33 Seconds of Uniqueness is won and finished by being the sole player running the game for 4 minutes and 33 seconds.
Using the pattern
The basic requirement for Time Limited Game Instances is quite easy to achieve, one must simply decide upon a Time Limit for a game instance. If one wishes to provide players with Freedom of Choice, a simple modification is to allow the players to set the Time Limits before gameplay starts. Another alternative is to make use of Speed Runs which encompass the whole game instance.
Meta Games built on games with Time Limited Game Instances can quite easily support Negotiable Game Instance Duration on the meta level by simply letting players decide if they wish to play another round or not. Examples of games having these properties include Poker and Team Fortress 2.
The ability for players to perform Save-Load Cycles can destroy the presence of Time Limited Game Instances since it requires them to not make use of the saving and loading functionality (and thereby quite likely improve their results).
Interface Aspects
It is quite likely that players need or want to know for how long more they can or need to play, and for this reason the time played is likely to be a candidate for being a Game State Indicator in games with Time Limited Game Instances.
Narrative Aspects
Consequences
Quite naturally, Time Limited Game Instances can lead to Time Pressure. Games with Never Ending Stories or those that are Unwinnable Games due to not having an end are not compatible with those having Time Limited Game Instances.
Relations
Can Instantiate
with Meta Games
Negotiable Game Instance Duration
Can Modulate
Can Be Instantiated By
Can Be Modulated By
Possible Closure Effects
Potentially Conflicting With
Never Ending Stories, Save-Load Cycles, Unwinnable Games
History
New pattern created in this wiki.
References
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Acknowledgments
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