The Law of Conservation of Detail: Difference between revisions

* Used to create tension in the final battle of ''[[Iron Man (Film)|Iron Man]]''. When Tony creates his original power generator, he observes that it could run "something big for 15 minutes." {{spoiler|When he is forced to use his original generator after Stane steals his improved model, there is a literal deadline for Iron Man -- if he does not beat Ironmonger in less than 15 minutes, he will run out of power ''and'' his heart will stop.}}<br /><br />Also, the "icing problem."

* ''[[Waynes World|Wayne's World]]'' - Chris Farley's unusually knowledgeable security guard.

* ''[[Citizen Kane (Film)|Citizen Kane]]'' - Playing with this trope is arguably the main conceit: it's a movie about the impossibility of finding the right details. "Rosebud" is an example, as is the famous "girl in the white dress" speech.

* ''[[Timecrimes]]''. From the moment Clara appears on-screen, pay attention. Any detail that seems out-of-place will get explained or otherwise become an important plot point.

** This could be [[Subverted Trope|deliberate misdirection]]

* ''[[Seinfeld]]'' did the opposite and focused on silly things(like the parking spots mentioned above), yet it was still funny. ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' after it, however, was completely made up of small details and barely had anything else, which is why it is awesome.

** In the Season Four episode, "Partners in Crime", the taxi that was meant to pick up {{spoiler|Stacy, who died from Adipose conversion}} had an ATMOS sticker on the front, foreshadowing {{spoiler|The Sontaran Stratagem}}.

** It may just be nothing, but in Season One, Mickey Smith finishes one of Captain Jack's anecdotes for him:

* The ''[[Leverage]]'' team needs to create elaborate schemes in order to manipulate their mark. This means that side comments to the mark often end up being important later, and their importance becomes apparent during the "how it was done" flashback scenes. This is a trait shared with it's spiritual predecessor ''[[Hustle]]''.

* On one episode of [[Twenty Four|24]], Jack is captured and forced to give bad tactical information to CTU. He ends the information by declaring he is in a "flank-two position". Given that the series is all about time constraints, it's reasonable for viewers to assume that any apparently-innocuous dialogue that's not [[Techno Babble]] is important. In-character, the terrorists holding Jack just assume its standard tactical talk. Naturally, it turns out to be the duress phrase. Except that CTU ''changed'' the duress phrase since Jack was last part of it, and they barely pick up on it before it's too late.

** In any game without an inventory system (and many with), no matter what is displayed on a vending machine, using or destroying it will cause it to dispense exactly one type of product, usually cans with no discernable logo.

** If you're going through an office, any desk, office or cubicle which contains significantly more objects than normal will belong to a character important to the plot in some way. This also tends to apply to houses in [[Adventure Towns]]. If not, the clutter will be part of a puzzle of some kind.

* All guns use the same types of ammo. If you do get ammo for a gun you don't have, you'll have a chance to acquire it later. Even uncommon types tend to be just lying around in plain sight. Any given type of ammo will be in the same type of box, and any gun cabinets will be unlocked. If it is locked, you'll need a puzzle to find the key, instead of just finding the owner, or their body. Strangely, gun cabinets tend to the same types of problems encountered with barricaded doors above.

* In ''[[Dragon Age Origins]]'', if a party member didn't have an approval bar he wouldn't be a permanent party member.

** Played straight with characters, though. Plot-important NPCs generally get 3D sprites. Generic ones are all 2D sprites, recycled throughout the game.

* [[Lampshaded]] in [[.hack|.hack//]]. Several characters wonder why the graphics in the Hulle Granz Cathedral are so gorgeous when there's absolutely ''nothing'' there. The Cathedral is in fact one of the most important areas in the entire ''franchise'' (every single story has something important happen there), but within the context of the [[Game Within a Game]], there really isn't anything there.

* Many an [[Urban Legend of Zelda]] was started thanks to this trope. Back in the day, when more rudimentary technology meant a much stricter enforcement of this, people took it for granted that only the important stuff would get detailed. So as technology got better and developers started averting this trope for the sake of providing a richer gaming world, gamers payed attention to neat but nonessential details (e.g. the Mario character portraits seen through a window in ''[[Ocarina of Time]]'') and thought that they had some greater significance.

* Modern [[Interactive Fiction]] loves this. One-room games where the player must use everything in the room are common--if there's a wad of gum in the trash can, sooner or later that will be an important wad of gum. From playing these games, audiences come to expect this, too, making it a self-fulfilling cycle: If your game mentions the walls, players will get mad if the walls aren't fully implemented.

'''Villager A:''' Why would you call me that when I have such a glorious name? I'm ''Cervantes!''<br />

'''Alice:''' I don't care. }}

* Averted in ''[[Shenmue]]''. The town is full of buildings you can enter and characters you can talk to, but only a handful of them are important in any way.

* Averted in [[Dreamweb]] - there's plenty of items you can take, but the most of them are useless, and would just clutter your inventory. (things like plates, cups, lighters, and so on)

[[Category:Laws and Formulas]]

[[Category:The Law Of Conservation Of Detail]]