Races

Gameplay goals that need to be worked against under pressure, often but not necessarily in competition against others.

In the context of classical board games, David Parlett [Parlett99] classifies Races as being games concerned with being the first to get all pieces back home by traversing a linear track in as few turns as possible, using Ludo and Backgammon as examples. Modern board games, for example RoboRally, show examples of how Races can be expanded to include free movement on two-dimensional game areas. Computer-based racing games such as F-Zero GX or Mario Kart Double Dash!! allow players freedom of movement along the width of the track, and sometimes divide the track into several different tracks that offer different difficulties and advantages.

Although the most common type of Race is the one where players try to reach a specific location or place by moving, a Race does not need to depend on a spatial goal. Other possibilities include being the first to gain a competence or arranging game elements in a certain order. More generally in a Race, the players try to reach, or achieve, a certain game state before other players.

Examples

Example: In Race s using a linear track, 100 meter dash for example, these winning conditions of the race are easy to describe: the goal game state is to be the first person to physically pass a certain distance marker, and this is to be achieved by running.

Example: The winning condition in Pig (a simple dice game) is to be the first one to Score a predefined amount of points.

Example: The collectable card game ShadowRun uses points; each successfully completed mission gives players points, the number depending on the difficulty level of the mission.

Example: Golf can be seen as a kind of Race. The players try to go through the track in as little game time as possible (bearing in mind that game time in Golf is measured by the amount of strokes).

Civilization (video game) series Civilization (video game) series

Left 4 Dead series Racing Games

Using the pattern

Races are high-level goal structures that needs more specific underlying goals to instantiate what game states players are trying to achieve as well as decide how players can act to try any achieve those game states. The most obvious types of underlying goal for Races is to take the term literally and have Traverse goals that can be achieved through Movement (or Maneuvering), but by using Scores most forms of subgoals can be used to form Races (getting Achievements is a more modern and meta form of this). In fact, it has been suggested that Score Tracks where the starting points for games that had Races as themes in them. Other general forms of Races include gaining Area Control (one of the many types of Races found in the Civilization series), gaining access to Game Items such as Loot or Vehicles (which create Races within Teams or groups in Borderlands and World of Warcraft for the former and in the Battlefield series for the latter). Gain Competence goals can be Races, either because they are Excluding Goals or they are Symmetric Goals but reaching them first gives a temporary advantage to the winner. This last case is an example of how Red Queen Dilemmas are Races. Simply adding Time Limits before something must be completed is in fact a way of creating Races. Many of the examples just given show that Races often can serve as Supporting Goals in games.

Races need some factor that put Tension on players to try and achieve the underlying goals. Letting other players have the same goal, i.e. provide them all with Symmetric Goals, is part of the literal type of Races and serves this purpose. If other players are not available, or not enough of them are available, Non-Player Characters can act as (non-violent) Enemies to provide competition. Less common is the use of Ghosts to let players compete against previous game sessions they or other players have had. The above mentioned Time Limits can also provide the required Tension, and here trying to make Speed Runs can be seen as a special case. This being said, the pressure to complete the Races can also be modulated by Time Limits (e.g. making everybody lose if nobody has completed the underlying goal within a certain amount of time) and by providing Imperfect Information about the goals or what is required to complete them.

The end conditions of Races often make them into ordinary goals that are completed when a specific game state is reached. However, when Time Limits or some other sort of Limited Resources is the main factor in determining the end of a Race (as is the case in the Outrun series and the Sega Rally series), this turns the challenge into one of endurance rather than speed. This also makes the Races into Continuous Goals.

The evaluation of who wins a Race when two or more players complete it simultaneously can either be done with a Tiebreaker or allow for Tied Results. Using a Tiebreaker increases the Tension and forces Individual Rewards while Tied Results make Shared Rewards possible.

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The appearance of clear leaders may make Races uninteresting. This can be avoided by introducing Balancing Effects during gameplay or providing access to Handicap Systems before gameplay begin, and both these are most typically created in diegetic Races through giving some of the competitors Movement Limitations.

Diegetic Races can be modified in several other ways: Chargers, Pick-Ups, and other Strategic Locations can introduce Risk/Reward elements (see the Super Mario series for examples of the two first and Formula D for an example of the last) and thereby make it less clear what is the most optimal route, Landmarks can help Game World Navigation, and Vehicles can provide variation in the different attributes related to the Races (e.g. acceleration, top speed, stability, etc.).

Diegetic Aspects

Many Races are literal ones in Game Worlds and in this sense the pattern can be seen as a Level Design Pattern, especially if the Races make designers chance the actual layout of the Game Worlds.

Interface Aspects

Some Race, abstract ones especially, can be difficult for players to experience as actual Races due to them not being aware of how well competitors are doing. This can be avoid by introducing Game State Overviews such as Mini-maps which indicate the others' positions (this can be found in e.g. the Mario Kart series and the Need for Speed series). However, the Game State Overviews or even just Game State Indicators of some of other players' gameplay attributes can create Races where players otherwise would not perceive any.

Narrative Aspects

While all Races can be said to produce narratives of the struggle to reach a goal, this is a narrative produced through gameplay more than a narrative supporting gameplay.

Consequences

Races of any kind put players under Tension to work against explicit goals, and this thereby provides Anticipation for reaching that goal. They give implicit Time Limits to players unless explicit Time Limits have already been added to the gameplay. If the Races are against others, the pattern gives rise to Competitions. Given that many Races are literal Races, the pattern can be used to modify gameplay in Game Worlds and this may make players tackle Game World Navigation differently and can make certain locations into Strategic Locations.

Races are usually Excluding Goals although some Turn-Based Games allow Tied Results for those completing Races on the same turn. Even so, Tiebreakers are often used (even for the Turn-Based Games just mentioned) so that individual winners can be identified.

Races within Teams that lead to Individual Rewards, e.g. gaining control over Loot or Vehicles simply by being first to reach them, can easily create Internal Rivalry.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Anticipation, Continuous Goals, Excluding Goals, Strategic Locations, Supporting Goals, Tension, Time Limits

with Chargers, Pick-Ups, or Strategic Locations

Risk/Reward

with Individual Rewards and Teams

Internal Rivalry

with Movement Limitations

Balancing Effects, Handicap Systems

with Multiplayer Games

Competitions

Can Modulate

Game World Navigation, Game Worlds

Can Be Instantiated By

Achievements, Area Control, Game Items, Game State Indicators, Game State Overviews, Ghosts, Imperfect Information, Loot, Maneuvering, Movement, Red Queen Dilemmas, Score Tracks, Scores, Speed Runs, Time Limits, Traverse, Vehicles

Enemies together with Non-Player Characters

Gain Competence together with Excluding Goals or Symmetric Goals

Can Be Modulated By

Balancing Effects, Chargers, Game State Overviews, Handicap Systems, Landmarks, Limited Resources, Mini-maps, Movement Limitations, Strategic Locations, Tiebreakers, Time Limits, Vehicles

Possible Closure Effects

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Potentially Conflicting With

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History

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