{"schemaVersion":1,"record":{"key":"mechanic/game-mechanics--gm-eating-to-heal","type":"mechanic","id":"game-mechanics--gm-eating-to-heal","lang":"en","title":"Eating to heal","summary":"Eating restores some health. Food in the environment becomes a useful resource as well as part of the scene.","updatedAt":"2026-10-22","status":"active","url":"https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/mechanic/game-mechanics--gm-eating-to-heal/","jsonUrl":"https://gamemechanics.pro/api/v1/knowledge/en/mechanic/game-mechanics--gm-eating-to-heal.json","markdownUrl":"https://gamemechanics.pro/content/knowledge/en/mechanic/game-mechanics--gm-eating-to-heal.md","aliases":["Eat to heal"],"tags":["Game design techniques","Health","Damage"],"sourceIds":["source-7d6170c4ef658963","source-911c69048d582587"],"sources":[{"id":"source-7d6170c4ef658963","title":"Game Mechanics: Eating to heal","url":"https://gamemechanics.org/patterns/eating-to-heal","verifiedAt":null},{"id":"source-911c69048d582587","title":"Return to Castle Wolfenstein (2001)","url":"https://gamemechanics.org/patterns/eating-to-heal/game/return-to-castle-wolfenstein","verifiedAt":null}],"sections":[{"id":"principle","title":"How it works","body":"Eating food replenishes health."},{"id":"variants","title":"Variants","body":"### How the technique works\n\n<a id=\"gm-eating-to-heal-rule\"></a>\n\n- Eating food replenishes health. <a id=\"gm-eating-to-heal-definition\"></a>"},{"id":"context","title":"Context and limits","body":"All 199 Game Mechanics entries at the check date: player actions, systems, presentation techniques and contested patterns. Entries are grouped by their first source-card category; all categories appear in their descriptions. Definitions use original wording. References link to game-specific galleries; images and videos remain at the source."}],"relations":[],"placements":[{"catalogId":"game-mechanics","id":"gm-eating-to-heal","title":"Game design techniques","url":"https://gamemechanics.pro/en/mechanics/game-mechanics/#gm-eating-to-heal","categoryIds":["gm-category-health","gm-category-damage"]}],"supersededBy":[],"attributes":{"preview":{"updatedAt":"2026-10-22","title":"Eat to heal","description":"Eating restores some health. Food in the environment becomes a useful resource as well as part of the scene.","image":{"src":"images/mechanics/combat-eating-to-heal.webp","width":600,"height":478,"game":"Return to Castle Wolfenstein (2001)","sourceUrl":"https://gamemechanics.org/patterns/eating-to-heal","originalUrl":"https://cdn.gamemechanics.org/webm/rtcw_meal.webm","sourceFrameSeconds":1.82,"credit":"Gray Matter Interactive / id Software; frame from clip via GameMechanics.org","rights":"Game imagery © its respective rights holders. Source host: GameMechanics.org. All rights reserved; excluded from the portal’s MIT and CC BY 4.0 licenses.","caption":"Food on a table restores health","alt":"A plate of food sits ahead of the player in Return to Castle Wolfenstein, with health shown at the lower left.","markers":[{"x":55,"y":49,"label":"A serving of food on the table"},{"x":5,"y":92,"label":"Current health"}]},"tips":["Communicate which food can be consumed.","Balance recovery against how much food the level supplies."],"examples":[{"title":"Return to Castle Wolfenstein (2001)","url":"https://gamemechanics.org/patterns/eating-to-heal"}]}},"endsAt":null,"provenance":"Editorial reference index based on the 199 public Game Mechanics pattern pages checked on 2026-10-20. Original concise RU/EN definitions by gamemechanics.pro; pattern names, category associations and game-reference URLs retained from gamemechanics.org. The source gallery includes a film analogy. Linked materials retain their original rights; references are upstream attributions, not independent verification.","license":"CC-BY-4.0","codeLicense":"MIT","attribution":"gamemechanics.pro contributors","catalogKey":"catalog/game-mechanics"}}