Alien Space Bats
Implausible explanations for alternative realities.
Many games describe situations in alternate realities. When the differences between these realities and the real world are created by introducing fantastical or supernatural agents or by letting unrealistic events occur, this is referred to as Alien Space Bats from a use to describe the implausibility of alternate histories[1].
For more information, see the Wikipedia entry[2] for the concept.
Note: This pattern is mainly a means for gaining freedom in designing the diegesis and narration in a game. However, since this can provide a freedom in what gameplay is possible also it is described as a gameplay design pattern in the collection.
Contents
Examples
The role-playing game Call of Cthulhu takes place in an alternate version of the world where incomprehensible intelligences, psychic time travelling races, and chthonian entities trapped under the ocean all threaten mankind's sanity and existence.
The background story of the Doom series is that a catastrophic malfunction during a teleport experiment of Deimos opens the gate to hell.
Command & Conquer: Red Alert uses a time-travelling Albert Einstein to sets up a game where Nazi Germany never existed and a larger Soviet Union battles a united Western Europe in the 1950s.
Using the pattern
Alien Space Bats are ways of creating Alternate Realities by changing aspects of the real world
Diegetic Aspects
Alien Space Bats is a diegetic pattern.
Consequences
Alien Space Bats is a pattern to create an Alternate Reality while creating Game Worlds by introducing supernatural or improbable events or agents. This may cause breaks in the Diegetic Consistency if not also the likely effects of what is introduced is applied on the diegesis, the Game World, and the gameplay possible within it.
Relations
Can Instantiate
Can Modulate
Can Be Instantiated By
Can Be Modulated By
Possible Closure Effects
Potentially Conflicting With
History
New pattern created in this wiki.
References
Acknowledgements
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