Single-Player Games

Games where each game instance only there is only supports one player.

Some games only requires one player. This because the challenge of winning or finishing it can consist of being able to solve a problem, overcome automated opposition, or to succeed better than others (including oneself) has done in previous game instances. By not requiring any other people, these game design overcomes one of the main problems of being able to play a game - finding a sufficient number of willing participants and time and place to engage in gameplay. One cost for this is that the gaming provided is not a social activity in itself (although the game may support features that allow other types of social interaction during or after game instances). One effect of this is that the activity is not a negotiated social agreement, which means that there are no needs to discuss which house rules to use if any but also that any changes from the official or commonly agreed upon way of gaming can be seen as cheating. Another cost is that the game designers and developers of a Single-Player Game need to construct all the challenges to be part of the game without being able to rely on other players to provide the opposition (and possibly balancing by adjusting their comparativeness to the social situation).

Examples

Example of games where a player's challenge lies in puzzle-solving are Suduko, Continuity, and the Incredible Machine game series. The challenge can be increased by adding time constraints (e.g. Bejeweled], or through requiring dexterity (e.g. Mercury Meltdown or Osmos).

Single-Player Games where the opposition is automated are many. Typically this is through having enemies controlled by the computer (.e.g. God of War series, Need for Speed Series, Thief series, Plant vs. Zombies, and Zombiepox) but simply handling the environment can be challenge enough (e.g. Icy Tower and Sim series). Of course, the two types can be combined and often are (e.g. Assassin's Creed 2, Minecraft, the Legend of Zelda series, and the Super Mario series).

When role-playing games were adopted to be run on computers many of them were Single-Player Games, e.g. the Zork series, the Elder Scroll Series, and the Fallout series, even if the player's character could be part of a group of adventurers. Although massively multiplayer online role-playing games have become very popular after their introduction, single-player version have continued to be popular also, e.g. Fable II and Torchlight.

Many FPS games, such as the Doom series and Quake series, have both single-player and multiplayer versions. Even so, the multiplayer versions can typically be played when alone through the use of computer opponents, and even games designed only as multiplayer games, e.g. the Battlefield series and Left 4 Dead Series, can be played alone in this fashion. In contrast, the Lego Star Wars Series is a Single-Player Game where a second player can join at any point and play for as long as wanted.

The ESP Game is an interesting example because it is presented to players as a two-player game where you do not know whom you are co-operating with. However, one might be playing against the pre-recorded actions of another player, so what seems like a multiplayer game can actually be a Single-Player Game.

While still shows that game designs can confuse players about how many people or players there are in a game, it can also be difficult to control how many are interacting with the game. People can switch places during gameplay so they all have had control over what the game considered to be one player did during gameplay, and in cases of some devices, e.g. multitouch devices many people can at once influence the outcome of Single-Player Games such as Flight Control and Harbor Master. The use of aimbots in FPS games such as the Doom series and the Quake series show how humans and computer programs can share control over what one player in the game does.

High Score Lists Roleplaying Challenging Gameplay Units Algorithmic Agents Private Game Spaces Stimulated Planning Freedom of Choice Multiplayer Games Character Defining Actions Factions

Using the pattern

The amount of the possible Social Interaction can be increased by using, for example, Score to measure the performance of the player. This allows players to compare their performances to one other and to use Highscore Lists to create simple Meta Games with multiple players. A more refined method is to have Ghosts in the game where players can directly compare their performance between each other during the play.

The goals and conflicts, as previously noted, can even in Single-Player Games be structured in similar fashion as in Multiplayer Games. For example, by analyzing Pac-Man as a game between the Pac-Man and the ghosts reveals somewhat surprising similarities with Tag, including the Role Reversals. Even Tetris can be thought of as a conflict between the (computer controlled) player who is trying to fill the screen and the player who is trying to keep the screen clear. The Rewards and Penalties in Single-Player Games are best crafted as Individual Rewards and Individual Penalties.

Single-Player Games are free to have player specific modulations of game time, such as Game Pauses and Cut Scenes. Other game state manipulations, which are outside the game itself, are trivially possible in Single-Player Games. Reversability with Save-Load Cycles is simple, as all that is required is to store the game state for later use.

The ways to modulate Right Level of Difficulty can be done somewhat differently in Single-Player Games compared to Multiplayer Games. First, by having players complete Levels, the game designers can control what sort of challenges the players should meet. Second, it is easier to control what information the player has that can be used to give a player Limited Planning Ability.

By adding Drop-In/Drop-Out functionality, Single-Player Games can become Multiplayer Games whenever players wish so.

Interface Aspects

If one wishes to make it possible for several players to play a Single-Player Game together, Public Interfaces can be an alternative to Drop-In/Drop-Out. This way, co-located can people to share the interface and thereby have a form of common gameplay experience.

Consequences

Single-Player Games cannot have direct Social Interaction between the players of the same game instance, but if the game is played in a social situation, such as an arcade machine in a pub, there is a possibility for spontaneous Social Interaction with the player and the Spectators. Even though the potential players are not sharing the game instance, they do share the Alternative Reality provided by the game, and this can, in games with Narrative Structures and applications of Imperfect Information, especially Easter Eggs and Exploration, lead to another kind of Social Interaction around the game where the players share their experiences and sometimes help each other solve difficult problems and progress in the game.

History

An updated version of the pattern Single-Player Games that was part of the original collection in the book Patterns in Game Design.