One-Way Travel
Movement from one part of a game world to another which cannot be reserved.
When movement for a game element in a game cannot be undone this movement is a One-Way Travel.
Contents
Examples
The pawns in Chess can only move forward, although also diagonally so when doing normal or en passant capturing.
Arcade Games such as Pac-Man and Donkey Kong that consist of levels have One-Way Travel between these, and so does the First-Person Shooter games in the Doom and Quake series (the Hexen series was the first to not have this). Scrolling Computer Games such as 1942 and Zaxxon forces players into a One-Way Travel at a certain speed although players may have some leeway in both horizontal and vertical position on the gameplay area. For those games that loop back to the first level at some point (instead of generating new levels indefinitely) still provide a One-Way Travel since the lack of effect players have on the revisited levels make them effectively new ones.
Leaving the city of Kirkwall to join the Deep Roads expedition in Dragon Age II is effectively a One-Way Travel even if one later returns to the city. This since the return will start a cutscene progressing the storyline and changing what quests are possible there.
Using the pattern
The Show Must Go On Real Time Games
Diegetic Aspects
Interface Aspects
Narrative Aspects
Since One-Way Travel can be used to create Irreversible Events, they can be tools for ensuring that Predetermined Story Structures are unfolded in a certain way as long as they depend on changes in physical location.
Travelling back to areas previous visited to not have to be incompatible with One-Way Travel. The pattern concerns gameplay, so if players can return to a part of the Game World but the gameplay has changed even if only being distinctly close to some high-level closure the pattern still holds. Diegetic changes probably need to be made in these cases to uphold Thematic Consistency but these can be motivated even after a brief period of gameplay through use of Cut Scenes.
Consequences
Can Instantiate
Irreversible Events, Predetermined Story Structures, Ultra-Powerful Events
Can Modulate
Game Worlds, Levels, Movement, Quick Travel, Warp Zones
Potentially Conflicting With
Relations
Can Instantiate
Irreversible Events, Leaps of Faith, Predetermined Story Structures, Ultra-Powerful Events
Can Modulate
Game Worlds, Levels, Movement, Quick Travel, Warp Zones
Can Be Instantiated By
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Can Be Modulated By
Possible Closure Effects
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Potentially Conflicting With
History
New pattern created in this wiki.
References
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Acknowledgements
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