Delayed Effects

The effects of actions and events in games do not occur directly after the actions or events have started.

Delayed Effects are those effects that are explicitly dictated by the rules in the game but take place some noticeable time after the actions and events that caused them; effects that are the results of combined actions or are unexpected or unplanned do not qualify as Delayed Effects, even if the effects take place after some actions or events have taken place.

Examples

The effect of placing bets in Poker does not become apparent until a player folds or players show their card hands. The activation of the most powerful weapons in first-person shooters such as the Quake series often takes some time from activation to the time it fires, usually to balance them somewhat against the other weapons in the game.

Building manufactories in the Europa Universalis series take five years in game time where each turn or tick represents a day; in contrast, the amount of time between planting seeds in FarmVille until they can be harvested can take several real world days.

Using the pattern

Irreversible Events (← links) Interruptible Actions (← links) Time Limits (← links) Extended Actions (← links) Betrayal (← links) Randomness (← links) Stimulated Planning (← links) Action Programming (← links) Social Dilemmas (← links) Capture (← links) Ludus Latrunculorum (← links) Encouraged Return Visits (← links) Delayed Reciprocity (← links) Collaborative Actions (← links)

A simple way to create Delayed Effects with Predictable Consequences is to require Development Time for initiated actions.

Others ways to introduce Delayed Effects into games include Delayed Reciprocity, Betting, Ultra-Powerful Events, and Investments.

The primary design choices for Delayed Effects are if players should be aware of when the effects will occur and how the period of delay is determined. Showing when the effects will take place is usually done through Progress Indicators and allows players to perform actions requiring Timing. Not providing information about when Delayed Effects are about to occur increases the sense of Randomness in a game, even if the period of delay is not random. Delayed Effects that are unknown to players lessen the functionality of savingas they may make it difficult to know when to save to be able to avoid Irreversible Actions.

Fixed periods of delay give players the chance to use Memorizing to have a form of Strategic Knowledge. If the periods of delay are random, or if players do not have knowledge of the periods of delay, this can turn the use of other actions into Risk/Reward choices, if their success depends on the Delayed Effects.

Making some actions have Delayed Effects is a way of creating Balancing Effects between different actions when the more powerful actions take a longer time to perform.

When the Delayed Effects are also the cause of Extended Actions, it allows players to detect and try to stop them if they are Interruptible Actions.

Delayed Effects can make people have Anticipation and feel that they have Luck without requiring any other aspects of the game, this makes the pattern useful for modulate Quick Games.

Consequences

The more precise information about the Delayed Effects players have, e.g. by knowing when they take place due to being created through Development Time, the more Predictable Consequences they provide, and this encouraged Stimulated Planning. When Predictable Consequences are absent, it instead provides players the possibility to start feeling Luck before the outcome is shown. The wait for the effects to take place is a form of Hovering Closures once the events or actions that cause the Delayed Effects have been done, and waiting for them can create Anticipation or Tension, especially when combined with Uncertainty of Information or having a possibility of Betrayal due to how the delay is instantiated (e.g. by Delayed Reciprocity).

Relations

Can Instantiate

Anticipation, Hovering Closures, Luck, Tension

with Predictable Consequences

Stimulated Planning

Can Modulate

Quick Games

Can Be Instantiated By

Development Time

Can Be Modulated By

Uncertainty of Information

History

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

Acknowledgements

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