respawns

Respawn refers to the reappearance of a game entity after it has been removed from play, typically due to being defeated, killed, or collected. Respawns are controlled by a spawn system that determines when, where, and what appears again.

Entities that respawn include players after death, non-player characters, enemies, or resources. Respawns can be time-based, occurring after a fixed delay; event-based, triggered by completing objectives; or dynamic, driven by game state or AI to vary the location or timing.

Common implementations include fixed spawn points where objects reappear at known coordinates; spawn waves where multiple units appear in sequence; and random or procedural spawns that pick from a pool of locations or types to reduce predictability. Soft respawns provide a grace period; hard respawns bring the object back as soon as the timer ends.

Design considerations include balancing difficulty, pacing, exploration incentives, and potential annoyances such as spawn killing or resource depletion. Spawn protection or safe zones may prevent immediate danger at spawn locations, while spawn camping is a concern in competitive games.

In different genres, respawn behavior varies. First-person shooters and action games typically permit player respawns to sustain tempo. Survival and open-world games often rely on resource respawns to enable ongoing crafting and progression. In many MMOs, monsters respawn after timers, while some roguelikes disable or limit respawns to preserve challenge.

Technical aspects include ensuring fairness across players, server-side authority to prevent cheating, and data structures for spawn tables and timers. Clear communication of respawn rules helps players anticipate encounters.