God Views

Players are given a view of the game independent of game elements.

This pattern is a still a stub.

Some games do not associate the user's focus of attention in a game with any particular game element. In these games the view the user has of the game is likewise independent of game elements, similar to the omniscience of a God Views.

Examples

Example: SimCity allows players to move around the city without having to consider the locations of any individual game element such as cars or pedestrians.

Example: Populous, as an example of a god game unsurprisingly provides players with God Views.

Europa Universalis series

Hearts of Iron series

Starcraft series

Warcraft series

nearly Asteroids, Centipede, Pac-Man Sokoban

Using the pattern

Similar to Third-Person Views, games with God Views that require Imperfect Information about the terrain in the Game World must either use Fog of War or divide the game area into sections. The use of God Views does not have to be omnipotent; the view of a Game World can easily be restricted by restricting the movement and direction of the Camera use to provide the God View.

does not necessarily mean omniscience

Fog of War

Consequences

God Views provide Game State Overviews which can easily and quickly be moved, making them ideal for Attention Swapping but hinder Spatial Immersion and make Aim & Shoot actions difficult. They do not easily work with Avatars as the link between player attention and the Avatar is weak, and thereby the possibilities of Emotional Immersion are low. Sometimes Public Information uses God Views to provide the Spectators with more information than is given to the players.

History

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

Acknowledgements

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