Games Glossary

Achievements: These are ways for the player to “win” that don’t happen when the game is completed, but occur throughout. They tend to be optional and are typically based on a series of challenges for the player to complete.

Agile Development: A way of managing software development that focuses on breaking up the development into chunks and working around smaller time frames. It does not focus on grand design plans at the beginning of the project.

Alpha: An early version of the game during production in which functionality is all included, most of the game content is represented, and is considered finished enough for thorough testing.

Anisotropic Filtering: A filtering technique used in video games that improves the perspective of the image onscreen.

Application Program Interface (API): The routines, tools, and protocols that are used in tandem when building software applications. It specifies how the components should work together and how they will be used when programming GUI components.

ARPU (Average Revenue Per User): It measures, per-user, how effective the game’s monetization is.

Augmented Reality Game (ARG): A type of game that connects reality and the game through some kind of overlap. For example, mobile phones that use cameras  as part of the game, or Kinect/EyeToy that have the players performing actions in reality that translate to actions in the game.

Avatar: A representation of the player in the world of the game; this character usually looks like the player.

Behaviorism: The philosophy that games are seen as nothing more than engines for challenge, anticipation and rewards. Games that follow this model  encourage emotional attachment and use psychological methods to get the player invested in the strategies and outcomes of the game.

Beta: A version of the game during its production in which functionality is included and improved, the content of the game is finished/nearly complete; this is  the representation of what the complete game will look like.

Compiler: A program that is used to translate other programs (written in high level languages) into a machine language for execution.

Decompiler: A program that does the opposite of a compiler. This type of program translates code from a format that is computer readable to one that is  human readable

Demo: A test/sample of a game. Usually these are given away for free so that the people who tests/plays it will be interested in purchasing a copy.

Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment: When a game alters its parameters, scenarios, and behaviors in real-time to match the player’s ability(i.e. increasing challenges if it’s easy for the player or making it easier if the player is struggling).

Economy: A game that focuses on solving puzzles and testing the player’s logistics. Examples of this type of game are poker, Sim games, roleyplaying, strategy games, adventure, and most creative games.

Emergence: A game can be defined as emergent if it allows for a lot of discovery, including things the game designer did not intend. The objective in this type of game is to have a limited set of actions and rules that can produce an almost infinite amount of outcomes.

Experience: A game could be seen as experient if it contains a degree of emotional engagement in the player. The point of this type of game is to create a system that manipulates the players and guides them to outcomes in the game that they find emotionally compelling.

Fantasy Axis: This refers to the creative elements of the game and how they are presented in the game world (abstraction vs fidelity, nakedness vs richness, etc); it helps give an identity to the game. This type of axis determines whether the player has a strong contextual role in the game (is emotionally connected to it, an important part of the game’s creative world, has a clear identity in the game etc.) or if the player has a secondary role in regards to rules of the game (player is not drawn into a “world,” plays as herself, is the “invisible hand,” etc.).

Four Lenses of Game Making: This refers to a quadrant graph system that puts games and game makers into categories based off of a Frame Axis and a Fantasy Axis. The system determines whether the game is designed for emergent or experient play, and whether the intent is to deliver a contextual role in the game or is based on a set of rules.

Frame Axis: This refers to the mechanical/technical elements of the game, without any of the contextual elements (i.e. story, aesthetic). This type of axis determines whether the game is designed towards an emergent (high amount of discovery) or an experient (predictable emotional engagement that is planned in advance) type of play.

Game Engine: A system that’s designated for the creation and development of video games.

Glitching: This occurs when a bug (a fault in the game’s programming) is encounted within the game. Can lead to things such as being stuck in a wall, not being able to progress, sinking into the ground, etc.

Graphical User Interface (GUI): A method that allows people  to interact with computers; this occurs by giving commands to a computer through some sort  of device that manipulates and activates the images onscreen.

GSP (Game Service Provider): A company that offers bandwidth, game servers, and auxiliary services.

GSN Theory: A gaming theory related to the function of role-playing games work; the theory states that those who play these games reinforce each other’s  behavior and can be divided into one of three categories:


 * 1) Gamist: This refers to a player whose goal is to win; they focus on combat and achieving goals without any consideration as to why they are achieving them.


 * 1) Simulationist: This refers to a player that focuese on the recreational aspect of the game; someone who plays as if the game were real life.


 * 1) Narrativist: This refers to a player that cares mostly about the story and characteristics in the process.

HTML5: A language that is the fifth version of the HTML standard and is used to present and configure content for the Internet/World Wide Web. Its main focus has been to improve upon the standard in order to support the newest multimedia while also making sure that it’s easy for people to read and that a majority of computers and devices can understand it. HTML5 is usually combined with Javascript, AJAX, and JSON technologies to make interactive experiences.

HUD: Heads Up Display; this is other  information that’s displayed on the screen during play (i.e. score, time, health, location, etc).

Interactivity: The function that makes the game capable of being altered by action of the player.

Lag: When actions made by the player take a long time to translate to actions onscreen, making a difficult and frustrating game experience.

Learning Management System: A software application this is used for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting and delivery of e-learning  education courses and/or other training programs.

Loop: How a game determines the results of an action by the player and the actions that result from it; the player performs an action, the results of that action are determined according to rules within the game, and the state of the game is updated in alignment with the outcome. The loop ends in either a win or a loss, and the player sometimes has the option to take further actions.

Ludology: The study of games and gaming, especially video games; emphasis is on the action in a game; should concern the analysis of the abstract and formal systems they describe, i.e. the rules and mechanical/technical aspects of the game, not its representational and creative elements.

Lusory Attitude: The psychological attitude required of a player, who is entering into the play of a game, to accept the rules of a game in order to gain the full experience of play.

Magic Circle: A boundary or frame that defines the game where (in time and space) the game takes place. Entering this boundary enacts the reality of the game and the rules of the game are the only ones in place (allows for things the player wouldn’t do in real life, such as shooting someone to accomplish a task or taking property from your mom in Monopoly).

Metagaming:  A term that defines any strategy, action or method used in a game which goes beyond a prescribed ruleset, uses external factors to affect the game, or goes beyond the limits or environment set by the game.

Minimax Theorem: A theorem that states that every fixed, zero-sum, two-person game has optimum mixed strategies; it’s called “minimax” because each player minimizes the maximum payoff possible for the other—since the game is zero-sum, he also minimizes his own maximum loss.

Mixed Strategy: In game theory, this refers to a strategy in which one of the options allowed by the player whose outcome depends not only on the player’s actions but also the action of others.

MUD: A computer-based text or virtual reality game where multiple players can play together and with characters controlled by the computer.

Narrativism: The study of games from a narrative perspective; focuses on the thematic and storytelling elements of a game.

Nonlinear Play: The middle ground between linear and sandbox play. Part of it can be restricted, in regards to geography or puzzles, but it does tend to lend the player a lot of choice and options in how the game can be played.

Open Source Software: Computer software that has its source code made available to the public and has a license that gives the copyright holder the rights to study, change and distribute the software to anyone and for whatever they want.

Platform: This refers to the combination of electronic/computer hardware which, in alliance with software, allows a videogame to operate.

Prototype: An early stage version of a game that intended for testing to see whether it’s workable or not.

Real Time Strategy (RTS): A game that gives the player a high amount of control over armies and individual units, and allows them to build bases, gathering resources, and develop technology. Ex: Age of Empires, Starcraft

Simulationism: This philosophy refers to the belief that accuracy and complexity are the most important; both story and gameplay need to work within the boundaries of reality or as close as they can get.

Tetrism: This philosophy refers to the belief that the game’s frame (levers, environment, dynamics, etc.) is the only important aspect of a game. In accordance with this line of thinking, the fantasy layer/creative elements of a game are only regarded as “marketing”; not necessary or truly important to the game. According to tetrists, the games that focus on the creative elements are not “pure” games; they tend to consider “Tetris” as a gaming ideal, in regards to its fundamental and simple gameplay that is not diluted by graphics, effects, or narrative.

TRC (Technical Requirements Checklist): A set of rules that every game released on the platform must conform to. Those that do not are rejected.

Waterfall Development: A method used in software development where a project is developed through different, select stages: requirements, design, implementation, verification, and maintenance.

WYSIWG (What You See Is What You Get): A type of game creator that allows a developer to see what the end result will look like at the same time as the  game is being created.

Widget: An element of a GUI, such as a text box or button, that displays information or has settings that can be controlled by the user.