Strategic Locations

Areas in game worlds that are advantageous to control or have access to.

This pattern is a still a stub.

Their value can be that they contain game elements that allow certain actions or resources unavailable elsewhere, or that they control the access to other areas of the Game World.

Examples

The player who controls the center of the game board in Chess, especially with officers, has a significant strategic advantage.

Controlling locations that produce valuable resources, such as the cities in Civilization, provide the player a long-term strategic advantage.

Quad Damage spawn points in the Quake series

Goal Points in Quake Wars: Enemy Territories

Using the pattern

Strategic Locations may be created either explicit by the presence of game elements or implicit deriving from the relationship between the location and other locations in the game. Game Elements that can create explicit Strategic Locations include Resource Generators, Resource Locations, Chargers, Power-Ups, Controllers, Safe Havens, Spawn Points, and Goal Points. To ensure players' awareness of Strategic Locations, they can be set to stand out in the visual design of the Game World as Outstanding Features. Implicit Strategic Locations may be intentionally created by the arrangement of explicit Strategic Locations nearby, or they may be emergent features due to Randomness ofResource allocation or due to the combinations of player strategies. In either case, Strategic Locations can affect Player Balance, typically by giving advantages in Combat.

Games using player constructed boards from Tiles allow the players to modify the value of explicit Strategic Locations by placing them in positions where their relationship to other Tiles increase or decrease their usability. Similarly, Tiles with no inherent value can be made Strategic Locations by connecting them to other Tiles in a certain way.

A player might Gain Information about Strategic Locations as a Supporting Goal with Traverse, Guard, or Reconnaissance. It can be the primary subgoal in goals of Exploration. Knowing Strategic Locations can also influence Spawning, if players have control over which Spawn Points to use.

Can Be Instantiated By

Controllers, Game Items, Inaccessible Areas, Installations, Power-Ups, Safe Havens, Self-Service Kiosks, Spawn Points, Strategic Planning, Tools, Vehicles

Can Be Modulated By

Diegetically Outstanding Features, Mini-maps

Consequences

Strategic Locations gives players the possibility of Memorizing valuable locations in Game Worlds and Levels as Strategic Knowledge. This is especially true for Strategic Locations that depend mainly on the topology of the surrounding Game Worlds for their values, rather than on the explicit presence of valuable game elements. An example of how topology dictates that value of a location is the value of the central area of the board in Chess.

Strategic Locations leads to players having Traverse goals to reach the locations and possibly Camping when they have been reached. If the locations can be owned in games, i.e. they support Territories, Strategic Locations also give rise to Gain Ownership goals achievable through Area Control or other actions that provide Ownership of parts of the Game World.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Camping, Gain Ownership, Memorizing, Strategic Knowledge, Traverse

Can Modulate

Game Worlds, Levels, Territories

Can Be Instantiated By

Chargers, Controllers, Game Items, Inaccessible Areas, Installations, Power-Ups, Resource Locations, Resource Generators, Safe Havens, Self-Service Kiosks, Spawn Points, Strategic Planning, Tools, Vehicles

Can Be Modulated By

Diegetically Outstanding Features, Mini-maps

Possible Closure Effects

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Potentially Conflicting With

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History

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

Acknowledgements

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