Do You Speak Game?
Hardware
Game Design
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Game Culture
Hardware
Console: n. An electronic game device that plugs into one’s television. As distinct from personal computers. Though computers and consoles are theoretically capable of running the same games, their actual uses are conditioned by their input devices, and where in the home they are located. Consoles tend to be plugged into TVs in family rooms. Their more elaborate controllers enable games that depend on faster eye-hand coordination and more complex character movements. By contrast, computers are usually on desktops, and their input device (the mouse) works better for simple point and click operations that depend more on thinking or planning. Many children who don’t have access to personal computers at home do own game consoles.
Currently three major competing systems are on the market: Nintendo’s Gamecube, Sony’s Playstation II and Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Each console has a different type of game style, and as such, players of games often claim fealty to a single system. Others choose to own every console system.
Controller: n. Similar to a computer mouse, a controller is the device one uses to control one’s interaction within a console game. Often the controller has many colorful and pleasantly shaped buttons
Gameboy: n. A handheld mobile game platform produced by Nintendo. Iterations of the Gameboy have been in production since 1989. Every GameBoy device boasts an LCD display, numerous buttons and a battery.
Gamecube: n. Nintendo’s Game Console. It is shaped like a cube and comes in many colors.
Nintendo DS (dual-screen): n. The current iteration of the Gameboy platform by Nintendo.. The system boasts voice recognition, WI-FI connectivity (for both multiplayer games and chatting), and is notable for its dual touch screens, which allow games to be played by touch or stylus.
Playstation: n. Sony’s Game Console. See “Console. “
PSP (Playstation Portable): n. Sony’s Mobile Game Console. It is a sleek, black palm-sized device that boasts a large LCD display and plays both games and DVD’s.
Xbox: n. Microsoft’s game console. See “Console.”
Game Design
2D: adj. Two-dimensional (in reference to graphics). 2D graphics typically resemble traditional drawing and animation. It is easier to create lively art in 2D, but technically more difficult to use 2D art in games where images must be created or composited on the fly as users move through environments in unpredictable ways. For that reason 2D art is used more in linear arcade-style games than in other genres.
3D: adj. Three-dimensional (in reference to graphics). Similar to the technology behind Pixar films like Toy Story or Finding Nemo, 3D graphics typically consist of elaborate polygonal models that are defined mathematically, and rendered in real-time on the computer. At this stage of development, 3D animation in games tends to look more robotic than well-done 2D, but it is easier to create whole environments that players can explore in random fashion (rather than following fixed paths). Nowadays, most big-budget games use 3D.
AI: n. Artificial Intelligence. The rule sets that determine how computer-controlled characters act, and react to the player’s actions. Good AI makes the computer a more life-like and unpredictable game opponent.
Avatar: n. The character(s) that the player controls within the game, and with whom the player is invited to identify. This term is particularly relevant in multi-player games, where the avatar is the identity the player presents to fellow players.
Cinematic: n. Movie-like animations in a game that serve to advance the game story between bouts of actual game-play.
Cut scene: n. See “Cinematic.”
Easter Egg: n. A hidden feature or secret found through intuition, online help or luck. Easter Eggs have no direct bearing on the game’s outcome. They are simply random bits of fun information. Example: In the game WARCRAFT II there are sheep spread across the game-space. The sheep exist only to make the world pretty, they have no direct bearing on the game. If you click on a sheep fifty times it will explode. The explosion is an Easter Egg.
GUI (Graphical User Interface): n. The on-screen controls used in any software. Successful GUIs feature well-positioned control objects, functions whose purposes are easy to grasp, and a minimum of visual distraction.
HUD (Heads Up Display): n. On-screen elements of a game’s interface (typically text, charts, or meters) that communicate something about the game’s state. For example, life bars tell you how healthy your avatar is, while ammunition meters tell you how much firepower you have left.
Isometric View: n. A particular style of 2D graphics which mimics 3D by taking a slightly elevated view of the scene. It is also called “2.5D”.
Level: n. A geographically discrete section of a game environment. “Level” and “Area” are often used interchangeably.
NPC (Non Player Character): n. The term used to describe any character not controlled by the player in a game.
PC game: n. Games played on a computer (as opposed to a console). For a discussion of the difference between the two, see “Console.”
Power-up: n. An item or event that gives the player’s avatar new in-game abilities, or improves existing abilities.
Secret: n. A privileged piece of information imparted to a player who plays a game for mastery. Game secrets are found by exploring every inch of a game space. Usually a secret helps a player by divulging information, fleshing out a game plotline or making one’s avatar more powerful. See “Easter Egg” or “Cheat.”
Turn-based Game: n. A game in which players alternate taking turns with their opponents, whether they be software or other players. Most traditional board games (Chess, Checkers, etc.) are turn-based games.
UI (User Interface): n. While UI is typically used to describe the visual elements of interface design (see GUI and HUD, above), it can also include sound design, force feedback, and a variety of other elements.
Game Genres (these often overlap or blur into one another)
Action: Action games are games in which success depends on player reflexes. The action category contains many other genres (such as Fighting, First-Person Shooters, and Platformers), and is often used to describe a particular subset of another genre (e.g. Action Adventure, Action RPG). Most arcade games are action games.
Adventure: A genre in which the player’s avatar navigates through puzzle-filled environments, participating in a story as they go. Early adventure games were text based, though many graphical adventure games have been made. ZORK (text) and MYST (graphical) are well-known examples of this genre.
Board/Card Games: Electronic versions of pre-existing board and card games are common. Examples include endless variations on SOLITAIRE and ONLINE POKER.
Fighting: Fighting games consist of martial arts duels between avatars, one of which is controlled by the player. Most fighting games involve two combatants, though some allow four avatars to engage in combat at once. One’s opponents may be controlled by the software or by other players. STREET FIGHTER and MORTAL KOMBAT are well-known fighting game series.
FPS (First Person Shooter): This genre consists primarily of games in which the player takes the role of a single character gunning down a horde of enemies. FPS games are often more popular for their multiplayer modes than their single player versions. Well known FPS series include DOOM, QUAKE, and HALO.
MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Games): Games in which hundreds or thousands of players are logged into a single server to play with or against one another in real time. Most MMOGs are role-playing games, such as EVERQUEST or WORLD OF WARCRAFT, leading to the prevalence of the acronym MMORPG (for Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game), but other game genres also have MMO versions. For instance, PLANETSIDE and HUXLEY are MMO First Person Shooters.
Platformer: A platformer is a game in which a significant portion of the game’s challenge comes from traversing the environment, typically through well-timed acrobatics and button presses. SUPER MARIO BROTHERS is the classic 2D platformer, while the recent PRINCE OF PERSIA games are well-known 3D platformers.
Puzzle: While other genres often include puzzles, the Puzzle genre generally consists of nothing but puzzles. The best known puzzle game (by far) is TETRIS.
RPG (Role-playing Games): RPG’s are descended from pen-and-paper role playing games such as DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS, and typically emphasize improving the numerical statistics (and thus competence) of one’s avatar(s). While not all RPG’s require players to engage in combat, most depend upon defeating opponents as the primary means of advancement.
RTS (Real Time Strategy): RTS games combine the planning and construction/organization elements of strategy games with the fast game-play of action games. Instead of being turn-based (as is typically of the strategy genre), in the RTS, action continues as players enter their commands. COMMAND AND CONQUER and WARCRAFT are well-known RTS series.
Simulation: Simulation games attempt to model events or experiences that exist in the real world. Sports games are a major subgenre or the Simulation field. Other well-known simulations include THE SIMS, SIM CITY, and MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIMULATOR.
Strategy: Strategy games often overlap with the simulation genre, in that they usually contain strong resource management components. Most strategy games allow players to manage real or imagined military conflicts, though such conflicts are often not the whole of the game. Strategy games can also involve managing businesses (RAILROAD TYCOON, ZOO TYCOON). Traditional strategy games are turn-based, though the RTS subgenre (see above) is not.
Game Culture
Beat the game: v. When one has played the game from beginning to end one has beat the game. The game, at this point treats the player to a roll of credits and a congratulatory message.
Boss: n. The largest and most challenging opponent encountered in an given level or area. The Boss is usually encountered at the end of the level. The toughest encounter in a given sub-section of a level might be referred to as a “mini-boss”.
Cheat: n. An element of game-play outside the intention of the game designer. Cheats often enable the player to advance or otherwise manipulate the game without fulfilling the requirements defined by the designer. Cheats are often created by programmers as a means of moving quickly to different parts of the game during the development phase. Sometimes cheats are left in by accident, sometimes intentionally.
Players often learn about cheats from websites or fellow players. Sharing information about cheats is part of the culture of gaming that springs up spontaneously around popular games.
Clear the Game: v. To beat the game, and in the process to accomplish every possible task, vanquish every possible foe, and discover every possible secret. Players can beat a game without clearing it, but if a game is particularly engrossing, the player may replay it several times until it has been “cleared.”
Deathmatch: n. A typical multiplayer mode in which players compete head to head in attempts to destroy each others’ avatars.
Gamer: n. One who chooses to play games frequently for entertainment, a videogame fan. There are varying degrees of fandom. Gamers who play infrequently are considered “casual” gamers”. Gamers that consider themselves more dedicated to games than others will refer to themselves as “hard-core gamers.” The term can also be used interchangeably with “player.”
133t (Pronounced “Leet”): adj., n. 133t can be used to mean “elite”, or as an abbreviation for 133t-speak, an online idiom in which certain letters are replaced by numbers so the number pad can be used to type more quickly. In 133t common spelling mistakes are adopted as correct use. “j00 4r3 t3h 5uxx0r” would translate to “you are teh suxxor”, in which “teh suxxor” is idiomatic for “the suckiest” or “the worst”.
Master the game: v. See “Clear the Game.”
MOD: n. A player-modified version of a game. Modding depends on the player’s ability to “get under the hood” and alter the game code. Mods can consist of minor modifications, such as adding extra levels, or major, “total conversions”, which take the control scheme and graphics engine from an existing game and reuse them in an entirely new game.
n00b (Pronounced “Noob”): n. 133t for a newbie, or inexperienced player. It is usually pejorative.
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