Alien Space Bats

Implausible explanations for alternative realities.

Many games describe situations in alternate realities. When the differences between these realities and the real world are created by introducing fantastical or supernatural agents or by letting unrealistic events occur, this is referred to as Alien Space Bats from a use to describe the implausibility of alternate histories.

For more information, see the Wikipedia entry for the concept.

Note: This pattern is mainly a means for gaining freedom in designing the diegesis and narration in a game. However, since this can provide a freedom in what gameplay is possible also it is described as a gameplay design pattern in the collection.

Examples

The role-playing game Call of Cthulhu takes place in an alternate version of the world where incomprehensible intelligences, psychic time travelling races, and chthonian entities trapped under the ocean all threaten mankind's sanity and existence.

The background story of the Doom series is that a catastrophic malfunction during a teleport experiment of Deimos opens the gate to hell.

Command & Conquer: Red Alert uses a time-travelling Albert Einstein to sets up a game where Nazi Germany never existed and a larger Soviet Union battles a united Western Europe in the 1950s.

Using the pattern

Alien Space Bats are ways of creating Alternate Realities and Game Worlds by changing aspects of the real world rather depicting them as fictional ones created from purely out of whole cloth. The pattern can be used either before gameplay starts or during gameplay. For the latter, this means considering Game Element Insertion of new Game Items or Units, or to introduce new Privileged Abilities that are appropriate due to the Alien Space Bats. This can easily be used to differentiate Levels.

Diegetic Aspects

Alien Space Bats is a diegetic pattern.

Consequences

Alien Space Bats is a pattern to create an Alternate Reality while creating Game Worlds by introducing supernatural or improbable events or agents. This may cause breaks in the Diegetic Consistency if not also the likely effects of what is introduced is applied on the diegesis, the Game World, and the gameplay possible within it.

When applied during gameplay, Alien Space Bats are most often Ultra-Powerful Events that can activate new types of Game Element Insertion and make Levels different from each other. This in turn can be used to provide Varied Gameplay throughout the game.

Quite naturally, the introduction of Alien Space Bats during gameplay will likely be a Surprise that unfold Narration Structures. Even if Alien Space Bats could be improvised during gameplay by Game Masters, they are most often created as Predetermined Story Structures. This since it would be difficult for Game Masters to pull off without being perceived as making arbitrary use of their power, and thereby breaking the Diegetic Consistency.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Alternate Reality, Game Element Insertion, Narration Structures, Surprises, Ultra-Powerful Events, Varied Gameplay

Can Modulate

Game Items, Game Worlds, Levels, Privileged Abilities, Units

Potentially Conflicting With

Diegetic Consistency

History

New pattern created in this wiki.

Acknowledgements

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