Questions tagged [terminology]
Terminology is the vocabulary of technical terms in the game development field.
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Workflow for editing a 2D tiled level with some layers that are whole images?
Context
I'm making a 2.5D game from scratch using C/C++.
Issue/question:
I specifically want a way to edit my levels that lets me enter an image for each layer of the level, like hoodcraft.py in ...
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In platformer video games, what is the term for the size of the character on the screen?
In 2D platformer games, what is the term or word for determining the size of the player character on the screen?
For example, the player character in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is very small ...
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Can 'hotseat multiplayer' refer only to turn-based games?
According to Wikipedia, "hotseat" is a multiplayer mode of only turn-based games. But can one use "hotseat" to describe a one-screen real-time multiplayer game?
E.g., a game ...
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Name for groups of cards in a card game [closed]
What would you call the groups of cards in a card game, including both piles (draw, discard...) and hands?
I'm coding a generic card game engine and I've been unable to find a good name for the base ...
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What terms would describe the art style of Railbound?
I am researching different art styles to find one fit for my game, and want to look for more games in the style of Railbound, but not sure how best to describe its art style - the color palette choice,...
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What is the canonical name of the interaction symbol over NPCs heads?
More often than not, 2D and 3D games markup interactive NPCs (and objects) with the exclamation mark symbol. Typically yellow. But of course, sometimes it's an "i" or a small cloud, or other ...
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Is there a clear distinction between Game Loop and Gameplay Loop?
I'm wondering if Game Loop and Gameplay Loop are equal tho I feel like Game Loop has a larger scope than Gameplay Loop, or Gameplay Loop is called Game Loop for short. Anyone knows the origin of the ...
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What is a 'Mask' in Game development?
What does it mean a 'mask' in 2D (and possibly 3D) Game development?
What would an experience Game Dev understands if I say ´make this Rect a mask´?
I know it could be a very broad term and it may ...
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'Partial data load' terminology
I am writing up my work and I'm trying to think of a word, or phrase, that better describes a 'partial load' of data.
In my case, I have one very large file that is "environment A". To ...
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What's the difference between 'Dynamic' , 'Random', and 'Procedural' generations?
I've been really struggling lately with the difference between dynamically, randomly, and procedurally generated maps/levels, I previously thought they were the same but now I have no clue.
I've seen ...
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What's the difference between post-processing, multi-pass rendering and compositing?
I initially thought that the word "post-processing" referred specifically to the set of techniques aimed at improving a rendered image (like antialiasing, depth of field, bloom and others) ...
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Name & explain shimmering patterns seen when looking at a grid of objects from a distance
If you place a large number of identical elements in a regular pattern, then look at them from a distance, they will make strange warped grid patters that shift as you move your viewpoint, as shown in ...
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What do you call the base class for a weapon?
This is a style question.
I have a 3D game (think Quake) and the OOP design at a very high level has 3 main base classes:
"World"
"Entity" - like "Player", "Grunt&...
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Trying to understand proper naming of transformations and coordinate systems
So far in my code I only dealt with transform matrices that I fed to OpenGL (the 4x4 float matrices), and had a class that was used to do transformations on the CPU side and generate the OpenGL ...
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3D image projected to 2D image
We know real world images are 3D.when we projects image from real world this image projects into 2D image where Z component is constant or zero. But when capture the below image which seems to 3D(z ...
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Is there an "official" term for the "key-door problem"?
The "key-door problem" is a term I've come up with, after playing a number of Metroidvania or Zelda style indie games.
One distinctive feature of these games, is that the player is free to ...
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What kind of math is used by this camera panning script?
I'm not fluent in English so I apologize in advance. I have found a source code in order to pan camera by touch - here it is:
...
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Naming convention for loop modules
Question about game engine object oriented design.
Let’s say I have an engine with a main loop, and many handlers that will be executed by the main loop every time on next iteration of main loop. So ...
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What do you call an image of images? (And how does it get utilized?)
I wondered if anyone knows the terminology in which a Video Game uses an image with sets of ideas such as icons, graphical texts, and/or background images. Essentially, an 'All-In-One' image.
Likewise,...
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What is the difference between "8 bit" and "16 bit" in the context of retro game aesthetics?
I am not a game dev here but have a few queries. I was recently playing a game called "The messenger" where you move from 8bit to 16bit when travelling through time. So whenever we are in ...
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Difference between World matrix and Model matrix?
My current understanding of the Model matrix is that it is per object and stores the transformation, rotation, and scale of the object in local object space.
What I'm not sure about, is that whether ...
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Why does Unity call certain methods "messages"?
I just surprised that the Unity documentation calls methods like Update or Start or Awake "Messages" rather than methods.
Does that mean those methods are used to send a message to ...
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In games physics engines, what is "tunneling", also known as the "bullet through paper problem"?
I have recently had an issue where sometimes a collision would not be detected. Someone told me that maybe I had an tunneling issue.
In the context of game development using physics, what is tunneling?...
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How do you call game mode where the time is running out and player can increase time by collecting coins
I am working on an arcade game and I want to make a game mode, where the player has some time to collect coins. When a coin is collected player gets extra time, so the game can continue infinitely. ...
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What is the name for the technique to use different palettes for different tiles of a screen?
I've found the keywords "subpalette" and "PPU palette", but they seem to be NES-specific. Though the idea of using a small palettes table and use 2 bits per pixel in an image (+ ...
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How do I refer to the two types of loading screen?
I'm troubleshooting some issues beyond the scope of this forum, and I'd like to be able to talk about certain parts of the gaming experience, specifically the two types of loading screen I see in Prey....
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Term for compositing textures according to colors in an index texture mask?
I have utilized a tool for a number of years that uses a "masking" technique to 'texture' a 2D graphic, by which it checks a series of solid colors to specify where to 'draw' textures in a ...
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Looking for the name of the tap handle with four 'spokes'
I am looking for the name of this sort of tap handle. This is a screenshot of it in the game Monument Valley. It has four spokes and can be rotated, behaving as one would expect of a similar design on ...
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What's the term for this illustration style common in MMOs/RPGs?
Often I was asked for the "style", but I am not sure how to describe it. I just say "mix of anime and realism". But what is it actually called, a style like this example:
It's ...
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Is there a name for this kind of mini-game? (cursor moves on a bar, press key in part of the bar to win)
Today I played a game which has a mini-game in it, basically it looks like this:
here's a bar:
----------=====----------
and a cursor moves back and forth on it:
<...
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What is the term for making an object transparent when it blocks the player's view?
In many games if your camera gets too close to certain objects, or the object starts to block your screen, the game turns it transparent so you can still see.
What is the name for this effect? It is ...
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Navmesh awkward path generation with string pulling due to "inner" vertices
I've identified a problem and a possible solution related to navmesh-based pathfinding. Before diving in, I'll preface my post with some questions to keep in mind as you read:
Is this a known problem ...
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Which works best to describe character, item or dungeon properties: Affix or Trait?
I am working on an RPG portion of my game called "The Underground King".
My item generator uses the same properties that also apply to characters, vehicles and racing levels (dungeons for short).
I ...
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What category would this asynchronous production economy game fall under?
I'm thinking of getting into game development and my friend and I have this idea for a game. We want to do some research on similar games, and I have noticed that games seem to fall under certain ...
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Game development equivalent of Movie Director
Is there a job in game development that is equivalent to being a movie director?
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How do you refer to the objects covering the ground?
Newbye here. In the industry lingo, what is the best way to indicate the objects covering the ground (trees, rocks, ...)? Is props OK?
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Is there a generic name for the "layered" dictionary typically used in mod-capable games?
I'm asking here rather than on SO/SE/CS because I'll probably have less to explain what I'm talking about...
I hope a lot of the users here are familiar with how many games implement modding (or ...
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What is a pure ECS?
What is a "pure" ECS? What makes an ECS pure or not?
Although the term appears to have come up since as early as 2013 in this community, it appears that often, a user asking a question feels the need ...
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What does the Node2D transform property do?
Following a Godot tutorial I encountered the transform property, but I'm not sure what it means nor how to use it.
I read the official Godot documentation, but it ...
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What are the "axes of a matrix" exactly?
I am currently learning about game engines, and for the engine math, there are functions called GetXAxis, GetYAxis, and GetZAxis that returned the X, Y and Z axes for a matrix. These functions return ...
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What is a "Projectile"?
I don't know what a Projectile os.
I'm not sure whether a Projectile is a spawn point which spawn a number of object or a number of multiple objects.
I'm referring to this website.
How do I use ...
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Can polishing the GUI be ever considered a part of making the MVP?
I've read and watched about the MVP:
Minimum Viable Product for RTS game?
What should be created first in a video game?
And of course the video everything on the subject links to
I'm trying to apply ...
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What is a Frame and Frame Per Second?
I'm new to the unity Editor, trying to understand Unity scripting.
What is frame? I can't tell from how it's used whether "frame" is a function, or
a measure of time.
I see this term used in ...
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What to call an Object that falls only when it's collided with?
I am currently working on Objects/Blocks for my 2D Jump'n'Run. Now I want to add a new type of block, which falls down only if the player/an actor collides with it. But I don't know what to call this ...
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Scene graph or just plain container?
I'm trying to understand if it makes sense to call what I have a scene graph or not.
Im doing an asteroid-like game, where all objects in the game are described in world space coordinates (an ...
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Is there a name for this technique to put the tiles on the corner of a level?
A very common approach in development of old games is to put the tile set on the corner of a level, to use it as a reference. For example:
On this level, the developers put a set of tiles in the ...
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Is there a name for turn based combat that uses a speed attribute like ATBs but doesn't involve waiting?
I've seen this in a number of games now - for me, I think the first (and one of the better examples) was Blue Dragon - where characters take turns in an order determined by their speed attribute such ...
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What does UA mean?
When reading different articles about gamedev here and here I see the abbreaviation UA. What does UA mean?
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Technical term for the border that appears around the screen, usually in response to low health?
This had a strange term but I can't remember what it's called and it's difficult to search for.
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What does SoC stand for?
… and no, I do not mean System-on-a-Chip.
I stumbled upon this question which was using the acronym in the context of graphics, and found myself wondering about its meaning. Neither the question nor ...
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