Easter Eggs

Surprises in the game that are not related to the game diegesis.

This pattern is a still a stub.

Easter Eggs are surprises put in games that do not necessarily advance the game story or even fit within the reality of the Game World. The design of Easter Eggs started as programmers' and game designers' ways of protesting against management but soon turned into a gameplay value, encouraging exploration and people to replay the games.

Examples

The first documented Easter Egg was the text "Created by Robinett." in the game Adventure. It was put there by its programmer and designer, Warren Robinett. To find it, players had find an object a single pixel large that had the same color as the background of the game and was located in a room that was inaccessible unless you used a special bridge. This object then had to be carried to a specific wall to let the players enter a secret room which contained the message.

Easter Eggs can vary considerably in sizes. The Super Mario Bros. series included entire levels as Easter Eggs, including an underwater world that is seemingly endless. Topping this, the whole game Maniac Mansion is included as an Easter Egg in its sequel Day of the Tentacle.

Game series that repeatedly make use of Easter Eggs include the Dragon Age, Grand Theft Auto, Halo, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl series.

For more examples, see the site GiantBomb which has a listing of games with Easter Eggs.

Using the pattern

Designing Easter Eggs includes choosing where in the Game World they exist, what they contain, creating possible Clues to ease finding them, and making sure they are Optional Goals. Typical contents of Easter Eggs include Games within Games or Resources to modulate the Right Level of Difficulty. The use of Games within Games and other Easter Eggs that effectively change the mode of play may be more suitable in Single-Player Games, since there is no need to try and synchronize and explain changes of play mode in these types of games.

Consequences

Easter Eggs are a way of providing Surprises in games, which are extra-game rewards in addition to any other benefits they give. Knowledge about their existence provides Optional Goals of Exploration and may stimulate Social Interaction between game sessions to pass Trans-Game Information. Easter Eggs may even promote Replayability, since players can have Player Defined Goals to find all Easter Eggs even after completing a game. The Consistent Reality Logic of an Alternative Reality can be negatively affected by Easter Eggs unless they only consist of Resources or purely aesthetic effects.

Relations

Replayability Challenging Gameplay Single-Player Games Game Worlds Minigames Star Trek: The Next Generation Clues Thematic Consistency Secret Areas Game World Exploration

History

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

Acknowledgements

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