Game Mess Mornings 05/13/24
GrubbSnax
Unprofessional Fridays 05/10/24
Unprofessional Fridays
839: REVENGEANCE
Giant Bombcast
The Community Spotlight 2024.05.11
The Community Spotlight 2024.05.04
The Community Spotlight 2024.04.27
Platform »
The player character is seen at a distance from a number of different possible perspective angles. There is generally a movable camera but it can also be in a fixed position. It most commonly refers to a viewpoint behind the player character.
Game Over originally appeared in pinball machines, and later, arcade machines. When players lose at a game, it is game over.
Homebrew software is a slang term for unofficial software and games for consoles and handhelds which don't generally support it, such as the Wii or Nintendo DS.
The concept of purchasing media and having it delivered over the internet. No physical representation of this content is given, and although the content resides on the user's hard drive they are typically granted a license to the product, rather than ownership of it.
When a certain amount of time is given to the player to reach a goal or finish an objective.
If a person is made of metal and has circuitry instead of a circulatory system, then their game belongs on this list.
Cooperative play in games allows humans to play together as a team to accomplish a task. Instead of playing against a human opponent, the team must defeat an AI. Cooperative Play in some games also means 2 human versus 2 human, this occurs in some Billiards games. (Scotch Doubles / Doubles)
Whether by item or otherwise, temporary invincibility provides the user a brief moment where they are impervious to attack.
A parallel projection technique used in 2D sprite-based games to fake the appearance of 3D depth.
Typically found in fighting games, combos are a series of strung-together moves.
A leaderboard is a way for players of any multi-player game to know where they rank within the game's community.
A style of game that has platforming elements, but with more emphasis placed on fighting enemies than precise maneuvering through the level and its obstacles. Notable examples include Ratchet & Clank and early Ninja Gaiden games.
Whether it's Super Scaler or Mode 7, growing and shrinking sprites/textures is a concept often used in sprite-based games. It was a popular technique used to create three-dimensional games with sprites, mostly during the 16-bit to early 32-bit eras. Sprite-scaling was an early form of 3D texture-mapping.
A boss fight is a culminating challenge that pits the player against one or more enemies representing a greater threat and/or difficulty than those previously faced. These scenarios typically feature unique antagonists.
Third-party developers and publishers occasionally engage in the practice of releasing a title or piece of DLC on only one platform for any number of reasons. Sometimes these are permanent while others are only platform exclusive for a certain window of time.
These games are based off of established licenses, such as movies, comics, or TV shows. Examples are the James Bond 007 and Spider-Man franchises.
Artificial Intelligence, or AI, commonly refers to the programmed behaviors of NPCs in a game, whether it's the fact that a soldier takes cover behind a wall in Gears of War, or that townspeople cheer upon your arrival to their village in Fable.
Trophies are an incentive-based system for the completion of various objective in PS3, Vita, and PS4 titles.
First-Person is a vantage point that attempts to simulate looking through a game character's eyes. It is most commonly found in first-person shooters, racing games, and visual novels, and to a lesser extent in other genres, such as RPGs, 3D platformers, and adventure games.
Potentially deadly in the real world, annoying and funny in the animated world.
Games whose main character is so egotistical that the whole game just HAS to be named after them.
Collectibles are items such as coins, rings, gems, packages etc. that can be gathered, usually for some kind of reward, or sometimes to simply beat a level. Often (almost too often) the source of earning achievements and trophies on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Bats are small, very social flying mammals. They may frequent caves or haunted houses.
A digital distribution service owned by Valve Corporation. Originally created to distribute Valve's own games, Steam has since become the de facto standard for digital distribution of PC games.
Passwords are codes used to save a player's progress, primarily during the 8-bit era and, to a lesser extent, the 16-bit era.
Flat shading is a lighting technique used in 3D computer graphics. Its characteristic look is easily recognized.
Games made for a younger audience, usually between 3-9.
These spooky entities are the spirits of the dead, returned from beyond their graves for generally sinister purposes. There's generally about even odds whether a particular ghost will be helpful or malevolent towards the living, but some ghosts just want to be left alone entirely.
Japanese PC online digital distribution service for emulated retro games, launched on 24 November 2001, years before similar services from Steam, Virtual Console, or XBLA.
The ultimate pressure feature. Players have to complete the task at hand, be it defeating opponents or cutting the right wire, in the allotted time.
This edit will also create new pages on Giant Bomb for:
Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Giant Bomb users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.
Use your keyboard!
Log in to comment
Log in to comment