Alignment

The goal of forming a linear alignment of game elements.

Many games make use of the spatial relationship of game elements to cause effects in the game state. When the pieces have to form a line (typically defined by three game elements) for an effect to occur, this can be described as giving players the goal of Alignment. The goal usually requires the aligned elements to be next to each other. There are, however, games where this is not the case and Alignment is instead used to determine the movement paths of game elements, e.g. leaping in Draughts. Using the term Matching Tile Games, Jesper Juul provides an analysis of a group of games using a form of the pattern in the fourth chapter of his book A Casual Revolution: Reinventing Video Games and Their Players

Examples

A well known, and perhaps the simplest, game of Alignment is Tic-Tac-Toe where the winner is the first to have three markers in horizontal, vertical or diagonal Alignment in a three by three board. Hnefatafl and other 'Tafl games' are believed to have rules that allow captures by surrounding a piece on two opposing sides. As mentioned above, Draughts uses Alignment for

'Match 3' games such as Bejeweled, Staries and Zoo Keeper all lets players swap game elements which are neighbors, removing them and rewarding the player with points if three or more game elements become aligned.

Tetris uses the horizontal Alignment of blocks to remove them from the screen and increase the player's score.

Using the pattern

Alignment requires a Game World that allows spatial arrangements and sufficiently large Game State Overview for the alignment to be made. The prime challenges that can be designed for Alignment goals consist of how players can move the necessary game elements into the correct position and how game elements can be removed in order to hinder the completion of the Alignment, which are a type of Puzzle Solving. The difficulty of the goal can easily be increased by making the game elements move on their own or making them moveable by other players and introducing Preventing Goals.

The pattern is used in many ways in board games to create Capture after Alignment has been achieved: Parlett lists Approach, Withdrawal, Intervention, and Custodianship. In approach the piece is captured by moving towards it in a straight line and stopping right next to it - replacement is a specific version of this used in for example Chess. Withdrawal is, obviously, the reverse of approach: the piece is captured by moving an adjacent piece away from it in a straight line. Intervention involves capturing enemy pieces by moving a piece between them to form a line. The captured piece in custodianship is flanked by friendly pieces in such a way that the pieces form a line, as for example is the case in Hnefatafl or Reversi where several pieces can be captured by flanking.

Although not directly related, Alignment has much in common with the use of Line of Sight to detect or attack other game elements.

Consequences

Alignment is a form of Configuration, and offers the possibility of Hovering Closures by offering players clear visual Progress Indicators using the Gestalt Law of Closure. Alignment can be a case of Connection, but does not have to be so, since the game elements involved in the Alignment do not necessarily need to have Connection between each other.

In Real-Time Games where shots move instantaneously to the target, or the target is stationary, the action of Aim & Shoot has Alignment as a goal and typically required Timing. In other cases, Alignment is typically a part of Puzzle Solving.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Configuration Connection Hovering Closures Progress Indicators Puzzle Solving

with Real-Time Games

Aim & Shoot, Timing

Can Be Instantiated By

Game Worlds together with Game State Overview

Can Be Modulated By

Preventing Goals

Possible Closure Effects

Capture

History

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