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Pausable Real time games

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I've recently been having a discussion with a friend regarding pausable real time games, and the impact that choice has on the game's design.  He is of the opinion that this system is a kind of weird half measure, where the developers want to make a real time game but don't want to have to account for the time in takes to observe and react to the game.

 

Ultimately I don't have a question here.  I'm just looking to get some more opinions on how people feel about games that allow them to pause at will vs games that are strictly real time.  Also if you have any suggestions for games that implement this idea in an interesting way, please mention them.

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I've recently been having a discussion with a friend regarding pausable real time games, and the impact that choice has on the game's design.  He is of the opinion that this system is a kind of weird half measure, where the developers want to make a real time game but don't want to have to account for the time in takes to observe and react to the game.

 

Ultimately I don't have a question here.  I'm just looking to get some more opinions on how people feel about games that allow them to pause at will vs games that are strictly real time.  Also if you have any suggestions for games that implement this idea in an interesting way, please mention them.

 

When I think of real-time games with pausing that actually works, I think of the Total War series and the Infinity Engine RPGs. Both games have extremely intricate battle systems that can theoretically controlled in real-time, but include a robust and full-featured pausing mechanic to allow the player to throttle that complexity down to a level they're comfortable with. As a player gets more fluent in the game, they tend to pause less, so the beauty of the real-time systems can grow on them.

 

Honestly, I think a designer ought to plan fully around a useful pausing system that allows the player to stop, assess, and take action, if they intend to include one at all. Nothing's worse to me than a game that allows and expects you to pause, but doesn't allow you to take the full breadth of possible actions while paused. It yanks me out of the game, to the point that I'd rather them not let me pause at all and tune the game accordingly.

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In general, i would say it depends on the game. Speaking more personally though, I think i probably come down on the side of preferring real-time designs that don't require that kind of gameplay pausing. When i'm playing FTL and i'm tapping the pause key to frame-by-frame through a battle so i can carefully micromanage my crew and combo my weapons, i can't help but feel like something with the design has gone a bit wrong. (Make no mistake, you do not play that game without abusing the pause. It makes me wonder why it isn't just turn-based, or step-based, or something.)

I've also always been a big fan of games with inventories that don't pause the action, games like Dead Space/System Shock/Dark Souls. It always seems especially goofy to me when i just can just tell the game "HANG ON A SEC" at the brink of death and then go swap out all of my gear and down twenty potions and just be right back in the fight. A game that doesn't pause for inventory makes you feel like you're scrabbling around in a sack looking for that important item while imminent death surrounds you, i enjoy that tension.

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It's not out just yet and therefore I can't speak knowledgably about it, but Transistor comes to mind.  I've only played a couple PAX demos, but the game involves a time stopping mechanic in which you can move around the combat space and queue up moves that get executed in rapid succession when you return to real time.  Queued actions while time is stopped use up a meter that recharges during real time, so the end result is a semi-turn based experience.  I don't know if the game will allow for all combat to be real time but the impression from the demo was no because many enemies were designed to be vulnerable to the time mechanic (ie the weak spot is behind them or you need a series of rapid attacks).


Another sort of twist that I can think of is Flotilla.  Flotilla is a 3d space combat simulator where each sides' turns take place concurrently in real time.  Both sides plan their actions (such as move, fire, move while firing) and then those actions occur simultaneously over 30 seconds.  Then time stops and you plan again.  It's not quite real time because you don't get control during the moves but it's not totally turn based because of the simultaneous action.

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I think Dragon Age II had an great pause/real-time system. I played the entire game set at a higher difficulty and had to pause constantly throughout each battle to queue up simultaneous attacks and synergies between my party members. Then I found out that a friend had played through the entire game by controlling only one character in real-time at a lower difficulty setting. I think it's amazing that the game can be played in such different ways.

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Generally, they stress me out. However, I would really like to see them in more like traditional RTS single player games. I guess Wargame: Red Dragon has that which is probably the more appealing sounding feature of that game for me.

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Practically speaking, I need to have the ability to pause the game so I can respond to real life events. So while I do enjoy games like the D-Souls series, it's a big pain when I just have to ditch the game and let my character die because life comes calling.

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In Dark Souls, if you quit to the menu, it saves your position and world state exactly as it is.

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Speaking of broader reality interruptions, as far as mobile games go, I prefer turn-based games. My favorite type of game for mobile is actually ones like Backflip Madness and New Star Soccer where the game-play consists on very short moments of real-time interaction.

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Pause us an important element in Paradox games. I mostly play Crusader Kings 2 and often the game involves speeding time up then pausing to twwek stuff or deal with new situations. If the game had only one speed it would be terrible.

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I always had a problem with real-time systems with pause, especially with the standard version found e.g. in Infinity Engine games.

 

These systems often feel inelegant to me, especially when a game simulates real-time reality on a scale people tend to operate on in their everyday lives, e.g. controlling a group of characters. There is something uncanny about observing fluid real-life-like action being paused and resumed repeatedly (Try doing that when watching a video. Sure, not the same situation, but I believe it's relevant.).

 

These systems also require players to rapidly change the way they interact with the game. It's a constant back and forth between "Hm, let's take a sip of hot beverage of my choice and carefuly think about what actions should I take here." and "Everything is happening so much! The goblin missed, should I do something (or pause) now? What about now? Maybe now?" Both extremes are valid gameplay approaches in separation or even when they alternate slowly (e.g. different tactical and strategic phases), but pausing systems tend to change them very rapidly and make the changes hard to anticipate. I personally find it exhausting.

 

I like how Transistor deals with these two problems (read SecretAsianMan's post if you're not familiar with the mechanics). The first "uncanny simulation pausing" problem is solved by the fact the planning phase is clearly presented as a separate gameplay phase both visually and aurally. This prevents my brain from thinking "oh god, time has stopped, reality is breaking". The planning phase is also much more powerful than and qualitatively different to the real time phase which also helps with the paused reality feeling. The second "brain mode oscillation" problem is solved by planning phase having a cooldown, the changes are not that often and it's clear to see/anticipate the right moment to switch.

 

I would also mention Frozen Synapse as an interesting plan-and-observe system superficially similar to Flotilla and Combat Mission. The action itself plays in real time but the players plan moves of their squads by 5-second chunks. The combat is fast and brutal (basically 1 shot = 1 kill) but the plans can be very elaborate and the planning phase is extremely sophisticated including an option to try what-if scenarios programming both the player's and the opponent's squads. The game is about micro-managing the soldiers and predicting the opponent's moves realizing they are doing the same so it leads to balancing between being optimal and unpredictable.

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I always had a problem with real-time systems with pause, especially with the standard version found e.g. in Infinity Engine games.
 
These systems often feel inelegant to me, especially when a game simulates real-time reality on a scale people tend to operate on in their everyday lives, e.g. controlling a group of characters. There is something uncanny about observing fluid real-life-like action being paused and resumed repeatedly (Try doing that when watching a video. Sure, not the same situation, but I believe it's relevant.).
 
These systems also require players to rapidly change the way they interact with the game. It's a constant back and forth between "Hm, let's take a sip of hot beverage of my choice and carefuly think about what actions should I take here." and "Everything is happening so much! The goblin missed, should I do something (or pause) now? What about now? Maybe now?" Both extremes are valid gameplay approaches in separation or even when they alternate slowly (e.g. different tactical and strategic phases), but pausing systems tend to change them very rapidly and make the changes hard to anticipate. I personally find it exhausting.
 
I like how Transistor deals with these two problems (read SecretAsianMan's post if you're not familiar with the mechanics). The first "uncanny simulation pausing" problem is solved by the fact the planning phase is clearly presented as a separate gameplay phase both visually and aurally. This prevents my brain from thinking "oh god, time has stopped, reality is breaking". The planning phase is also much more powerful than and qualitatively different to the real time phase which also helps with the paused reality feeling. The second "brain mode oscillation" problem is solved by planning phase having a cooldown, the changes are not that often and it's clear to see/anticipate the right moment to switch.

 

Totally agree about Infinity games.  They move way too fast when unpaused, and yet feel so slow when you constantly pause.  I could never find a happy balance.

 

I'll add this about Transistor's systems: 

 

Transistor's pause system is advantageous to the player.  I can line up shots, try out combos, position themselves out of harm's way, and then when unleashed, the game stays paused until I've executed all the commands.  There's a cool-down on all abilities, so as not to completely over-power the system, but it does create an uneven playing field.  The enemies all have predictable and singular attacks and movements, and they never get to pause.

 

I absolutely prefer the Transistor implementation, because it requires less strategy.  I don't have to guess what my opponent will do, as as long as I learn each new enemy, they will behave predictably.

 

Genuinely turn-based games stress me out, so that also plays into why I appreciate a pause-mechanic that plays to the player's favor.  I'm not interested in playing real-time (or regular for that matter) chess.

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Generally when I think of pausable real-time games, I think of games like the infinity engine ones (Baldurs Gate (I and II), Planescape Torment, Icewind Dale, etc), which are games in which pausing was a core mechanic, since it was used to queue up actions, and give you time to assess things. 

 

Transistor, of course, does it in a different way. Similar, but the actions it supports during the turn() and the degree of planning are far more akin to a full turn based strategy game, which is another system I really like. Of course, it does also support real time action, and the pause (or Turn()) isn't an infinite resource, it has a cooldown. They also later introduce some enemies that can change how it works or how you observe things, even during the paused state.

 

I don't think either type is at all some kind of half step or forced compromise though, in both cases it feels like very intentional design and greatly informs the mechanics of the game. It could be done sloppily, I suppose, or as a half-measure, but I can't think of an instance where that is the case. I don't think it is a matter of not wanting to account for the time to observe, since pausing the game is exactly accounting for that. If the game was an actual RTS, like starcraft or something, then it is designed differently, so that one can observe and handle things in real time. It is just a difference of intent.

 

In summary, transistor is really good.

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If i recall, Infinity Engine games were actually turn based, but presented without breaks as real time. Each turn was 6s long.

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When playing a pure real-time game, I often wish it had pause. Without pause, they sometimes get to stressful for my tastes and also add a, however small, element of twitchy-ness to games that should, to my mind, be all about careful planning and deliberate choices. I realize that adding that sense of urgency or chaos is often the intention, but it often just isn't to my tastes. I find pure-real time works best in action-y games like Command & Conquer or Diablo that I can still enjoy without pause due to their slick interfaces and relative simplicity, but when it gets more complex I do prefer the system in Supreme Commander to StarCraft and wouldn't want to play the roguelikes that inspired Diablo in real-time. I agree that Crusader Kings and Total War are other examples where pausable real-time works really well: Mostly you can watch the game play out in real-time, but when you're new or something unexpected happens or a lot of things need your attention at the same time, you can pause and assess the situation before issuing new orders.

 

When playing pausable real-time games, however, I sometimes end up wishing they were turn-based instead. Mostly if they are on a smaller sclae. For example in Baldur's Gate or Freedom Force, I feel you have to use the pause function too often, basically after every single action of each of your characters, which ends up losing all the dynamism gained by being a real-time game in the first place and interrupting the gameplay much more often than turns would. Again, that may be down to my personal play style and it's probably not strictly necessary to pause that often and you could probably finish the games without pausing at all, but having the option is still detrimental to my enjoyment. Of course, not having the option would probably mean that games became to stressful and/or difficult for me, e.g. Commandos, so in my mind fully turn-based would be the way to go in these cases. An excellent comparison would be Icewind Dale II and The Temple of Elemental Evil, as they both use D&D 3E-based combat systems but the former is RTwP like Baldur's Gate while the latter is turn-based like the PnP RPG.

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When playing pausable real-time games, however, I sometimes end up wishing they were turn-based instead. Mostly if they are on a smaller sclae. For example in Baldur's Gate or Freedom Force, I feel you have to use the pause function too often, basically after every single action of each of your characters, which ends up losing all the dynamism gained by being a real-time game in the first place and interrupting the gameplay much more often than turns would. Again, that may be down to my personal play style and it's probably not strictly necessary to pause that often and you could probably finish the games without pausing at all, but having the option is still detrimental to my enjoyment. Of course, not having the option would probably mean that games became to stressful and/or difficult for me, e.g. Commandos, so in my mind fully turn-based would be the way to go in these cases. An excellent comparison would be Icewind Dale II and The Temple of Elemental Evil, as they both use D&D 3E-based combat systems but the former is RTwP like Baldur's Gate while the latter is turn-based like the PnP RPG.

 

The Infinity Engine system is hardly perfect, but I have to say that there is an option in the those games to pause automatically every "round" of combat. I tried it the second time I played through Baldur's Gate II, but didn't last until the end of the first-act dungeon before turning it back off. You have no idea how heavily the game's pacing is tuned to let multiple rounds run by until you have to hit spacebar to advance the clock six seconds every time. All told, it's surprising how much better real-time with pause works in the Infinity Engine as opposed to even its contemporaries like, say, Fallout: Tactics, which had an unplayable mess of a "real-time" mode that required you to pause more than if you just set it to "turn-based".

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Just a follow up, is the pausing, for those that like it, more useful for information gathering, or accommodating for mechanical competency of playing the game, or for more aesthetic reasons?  To the point about games allowing multiple modes of play, I just can't see this being a good idea if those two modes are mutually exclusive.  A turn based system and a real time system have very different considerations, and trying to do both seems like a recipe for leaving something to be desired in either state.  I'll have to try out transistor since turning the turn based mode into essentially a mechanic seems like it could be an interesting version of this idea.

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I had forgotten that the infinity engine actually was turn based, but it has the appearance of being realtime. The pausing makes even more sense in that case, at least to me. Playing those games with issuing commands every turn would be incredibly tedious, I think the intention is the characters automatic behaviors would be sufficient for most situations (and they are, usually).

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