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A game that uses a mixture of 2D & 3D techniques. Commonly used to describe the use of either 3D graphics restricted to a 2D perceptive, or 2D graphics used to fake the appearance of a 3D perceptive.
Sure, these days have almost every game sporting the newfangled 3D, but way back when, everyone had to live with plain old 2D. 2D, or two dimensions, limit the game to scrolling backgrounds, but some games even now make use of this basic concept.
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.
Levels that progress forward by themselves at a fixed rate.
Character Creation refers to characters created by players themselves, rather than developers.
Sometimes you want a challenge, sometimes you wanna coast.
Experience Points are part of a character advancement system commonly found in RPGs. These points are generally gained by defeating an enemy or completing a task.
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.
When two or more elements become one and form something new.
Video games that are based on comic books, manga and graphic novels.
The engine that came to be known as the "Gold Box" engine was used to develop a series of party-based roleplaying games in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The engine's name comes from the gold boxes that most of these games were packaged in, and games in the series are often referred to as "Gold Box" games.
Gravity is a physical phenomenon, specifically the mutual attraction between all objects in the universe. In a gaming setting, gravity determines the relationship between the player and the "ground," preventing the player or game objects from flying off into space, and hopefully acting in a predictable/realistic manner.
An numeral indication of how much damage a character can sustain. The loss of all hit points results in the death of the character or another penalty.
The process by which characters reach a new level, gain greater attributes, and learn more abilities. It usually involves earning enough experience points by completing a variety of tasks such as quests or by "farming" such as killing other characters for their experience points.
Genetically evolved humans, animals or aliens.
An on-rails game behaves much like a train: while sometimes the player can choose which path is taken, they cannot deviate from it. Sometimes on-rails games even go so far as to decide when the player moves.
In video games Plasma is often used as a core ingredient in weapons due to its high temperature. Due to the amount of damage it can inflict it is effective against any type of target, whether organic or metallic
Procedural Generation refers to the creation of content algorithmically as the game is running. This content generally coexists with standard, authored content; the two are not mutually exclusive.
A shooter in which the player movement is restricted so they can only follow a linear, predetermined path. This style of game is considered very "arcadey" and is usually accompanied by a lightgun.
Enemies that appear out of nowhere and force the player into a battle.
A Random Number Generator (hence RNG) is a system designed to randomize a sequence of numbers. Most games technically use a table of 'random' numbers, simulating random chance.
A shadow is an area where direct light from a light source cannot reach due to obstruction by an object.
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.
Turn-based games divide game actions into distinct parts, called turns. This gives the player time to strategically choose actions as the battle or events unfold.
Vertical scrolling is when the screen scrolls along the y-axis. In a vertical scrolling game the player usually starts from the bottom of the screen and moves up. They are also almost always presented in a top-down perspective.
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