Difference between revisions of "Shrinking Game Worlds"

Revision as of 08:15, 2 September 2011

Game worlds that become smaller as gameplay progresses.

This pattern is a still a stub.

The game world shrinks and thus restricts players' movement in the game. Some games, primarily those where player compete against each other, decrease the size of the game world as game play progresses. This imposes an outside influence that forces the players together and thereby into conflict.

Examples

Example: The game area shrinks in Bomber Man after players have failed to eliminate each other in a certain period of time to increase the tension of the game.

Example: One of the multiplayer levels in Half-Life allowed players to activate an air strike. All those not in a bunker complex when the air strike hit was killed, in effect reducing the Game World to the bunker for parts of the game play.

Hey! That's My Fish!

Greed Corp

Go

Using the pattern

Shrinking Game Worlds have two prime characteristics: in what way Game Worlds shrink and what activates the shrinkage. Having Tiles as Destructible Objects even if the "destruction" can simply be its removal, it one way of creating Shrinking Game Worlds and can do this with clear units for the shrinkage.

a unit of the shrinkage, and how this is activated, most commonly simple a Time Limit, allows player to have Strategic Knowledge and make increases Conflict if potential for it existed to begin with. If players can control the shrinkage this allows Player Defined Goals anda form of Player Constructed World. The ability to control Shrinking Game Worlds can be used as an offensive ability as being caught in a shrinking area is often a Deadly Trap.

Can Be Instantiated By

Irreversible Events

Diegetic Aspects

Interface Aspects

Narrative Aspects

Consequences

Shrinking Game Worlds are Ultra-Powerful Events that instantiate The Show Must Go On but successively making Game Worlds smaller as gameplay takes place. They increase Tension by creating Movement Limitations which in turn can limit players' Freedom of Choice. That Game Worlds shrink can be seen as an Environmental Effect in these worlds, and these can effectively become Traps for players - especially if other players can affect which parts of Game Worlds are removed (as in Hey! That's My Fish!. By definition, Game Worlds that are to shrink need to be Reconfigurable Game Worlds and the actual shrinkage is a reconfiguration.

As the actual shrinking are Irreversible Events, Shrinking Game Worlds can both guarantee Time Limited Game Instances and Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses since players are force to share a more limited space and outcomes of struggles become more and more vital for the final outcome of the game instances.

Relations

Can Instantiate

Environmental Effects, Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses, Movement Limitations, Reconfigurable Game Worlds, Tension, The Show Must Go On, Time Limited Game Instances, Traps, Ultra-Powerful Events

Can Modulate

Game Worlds

Can Be Instantiated By

Irreversible Events

Destructible Objects together with Tiles

Can Be Modulated By

Irreversible Events

Possible Closure Effects

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Potentially Conflicting With

Freedom of Choice

History

An updated version of the pattern Shrinking Game World that was part of the original collection in the book Patterns in Game Design^[1].

References

1. ↑ Björk, S. & Holopainen, J. (2004) Patterns in Game Design. Charles River Media. ISBN1-58450-354-8.

Acknowledgements

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