pattern(s) / matrix / model(s) / resource(s)
Delivery
Delivery consists of moving a certain game element to another specified game element or place within the game space.Games which have goals consisting of moving one game element from one place to another may be complicated by only letting players be able to move the game element through the effect of other game elements. In these cases, the goals may be seen as making a Delivery of a game element by using other game elements.
Example: Football can be described as the task of delivering the ball into the other team's goal.
Example: capture the flag variants of first-person shooters have the goal of gaining access of the other team's flag and carrying it to one's own capture point.
Using the pattern
Delivery is the goal Traverse with the additional requirement that a certain game element must be brought to the Goal Point. The game element can be moved in several different ways: Pick-Ups allow players to concentrate on their own Movement by carrying the game element; making the game element move by performing actions on it allows for Aim & Shoot actions; or that they cannot be moved directly and required players to Herd it through using other game elements. Delivery can be used as a subgoal in Trading.
Game elements that are Pick-Ups give Gain Ownership goals, but also allow the Delivery to be divided between different Units, possibly as different subgoals. This lets players use different Units for different areas in the game space depending on which Privileged Abilities they have and which obstacles are encountered. It also allows Delivery to be done by group of players where it is not important who delivers the game element as long as it is delivered, as for example in Football. This allows for Shared Rewards in Team Play or Dynamic Alliances but also that the Delivery goal of one player can be combined the Gain Ownership goal of another player to create Cooperation. By introducing players with opposing Gain Ownership goals as Preventing Goals, game designers can introduce Conflict and Tension into the game.
Consequences
Delivery can be used to steer players' Movement within the game space and is a classic way of steering a player's progress along a Narrative Structure. Depending on the obstacles and resistances in completing the goal, Delivery can contain subgoals of Evade, Stealth, or Overcome.
Relations
Instantiates: Pick-Ups, Goal Points, Traverse, Movement
Modulates: Narrative Structures, Trading
Instantiated by: Herd
Modulated by: Stealth, Overcome, Evade, Gain Ownership, Aim & Shoot
Potentially conflicting with:
(C) Æliens 04/09/2009
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