(META) Pattern Types: Context pattern, game structure pattern...

[droqen]

External Context Problems
Answers questions regarding why someone plays games. Examples:
- "I play this game when I'm bored, until I get tired of it"
- "I play this game during my lunch break"
- "I play this game during my spare time before bed, until I've finished it"
- "I coordinate a time to play this game with a large group of friends, then we all get together and play it"

These are all different contexts and require different high-level context design patterns to serve them.
(Note that these are not patterns, they are just descriptions of a way someone would play a game... patterns would be designed to solve these 'problems'. These are more like fake case studies. Seeds.)

Game Structure Pattern
How is the content of the game laid out?
- There are 16 randomly-generated levels. If you run out of HP, you restart at the beginning. If you quit, you restart at the beginning.
- There are 8 dungeons connected by an overworld. (At any given point in the game, how many places can you go next? How many dead ends are there?) (Do you know where you have to go next? Do you have a choice?)

This is hard to describe, in part because it has so many subpatterns. Also, using exact numbers is not really pattern-y ("8 dungeons"), but these are not patterns, they are again... just seeds.

"several dungeons connected by an overworld" could be a pattern. maybe it could solve the context/problem "i want a game to play during my spare time before bed over the course of a month or two, to chip away at until it's finished, and to come away with a sense of mastery and satisfaction."