Game mission archetypes, version 0.1

[unspeakablevorn]

Here are some archetypical missions found in video games, along with brief examples.

• Kill
  • Assassinate "Kill the ARM Commander."
  • Annihilate "Clear out the Den of Evil."
• Find
  • Collect
    • Farm "Mine 10,000 minerals."
  • Explore "Scout the base."
  • Discover "Find the missing gear."
    • Solve (usually) "Figure out how to start the elevator"
    • Trek "Get to the flag!"
• Defend "Don

Comments

[bladespark]

Defend has another sub-set "drag around bloody useless npc as part of your group and don't let them die."

[unspeakablevorn]

That's "escort" - though I guess there is a difference between bloody useless and Alyx Vance.

[shadesfox]

"armed" escort versus helpless escort? I'm not sure armed is the correct word, since I want to say that not all useful escort has to be armed. I'm thinking the sort of "escort the princess, who happens to be awesome at healing magic" type thing. That might actually be a third category of escort now that I think about it.

Would Retrieve be a mission, or would it be a series of a Find mission then an Escape mission? Or Find/Collect then Find/Discover/Trek?

[derakon]

Handing a weapon to an escortee also does not make them useful; all too often it just makes them suicidal.

[thetommydodd]

Destroy: Reduce the Awesome Superweapon of pure Evil to dust before it fires (which will be in 300, 299, 298....)

[thetommydodd]

...and also.

Forget the plot, just follow orders: In which the objective you complete is not the one you signed up for, and friend becomes enemy and enemies become allies with gay abandon. Don't try to understand it, just follow NPC orders (yours not to reason why)

[gwalla]

I don't think that counts as a separate mission type, it's just a framework for assigning missions.

[ellixis]

3 - more commonly called "fetch quest," I believe.

[unspeakablevorn]

1. trek
2. good one. Hm...
3. that's repeated Discover, usually. Depends on the setup.
4. sandbox really isn't a mission so much as a framework.
5. I keep putting that in Solve but I dislike it there. Gotta think on that.

I'd be obliged if Vorn unscreens this...

[anonymous]

Perhaps have subsets of "solve" - "environment" (look around, sometimes with instructions, until you find the solution - Arkham Asylum's riddles, most FPS secrets) and "deduce" (discover the answer by fiddling with settings, again sometimes with in-game or in-backstory instructions - the classic giant crane setpiece, puzzle bosses, etc)

[kaura_nighthawk]

A subset of Defend would be Endurance - last for x units of time.

From DDR, you also occasionally get inverse-missions. "DON'T do this."

[unspeakablevorn]

That's "Hold Off"

[tyoko]

Race - Get to the finish line before someone else does

Time Trial - Get to the finish line before you did last time

Rhythm - Hit the correct buttons at the right moments

Choose Your Own Adventure - Pick from different options to tell a story

... Though I'm not sure how you would class games that don't have an objective like The Sims ...

[unspeakablevorn]

Oh, duh, races! Man I knew i forgot something huge.