Wraparound (video games)

Wraparound in video games is a method to allow infinite travel across a map. This is used extensively in RPG world maps so that when the player uses something like an airship, the player can literally fly around the game world and it provides realism. It is used in other games as a method to prevent the player from going off the map (see Invisible wall).

Imagine a square playing field, as in "Asteroids". The player's ship may move freely around the square playing field. If the player's ship leaves a third of the way along a horizontal edge, it reappears a third of the way along the opposite horizontal edge. The same is observed for the vertical edges. The map is essentially toric. Using different numbers of edges for the play area, and linking them to each other in different ways (horizontal to vertical, for example) produces different topologies.