Quicktime Event (n) A gameplay mechanic in which players are instructed to push buttons exactly as they are displayed on the screen. Frequently accompanies a cinematic-like sequence of the player character doing something cool but outside the game’s control schemes. QTE heavy games include God of War, Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and [...]

Verb (n) An action the player can use to interact with the game or game world. Verbs include shooting, running, jumping, pushing buttons, insulting people, and eating food. Usage: We never properly trained the chicken-kicking verb, so how can we count on players using it to solve this puzzle? Comment: Understanding verbs is important in [...]

Joe Six-Pack (n) A proverbial average player who is not interested in thought-provoking game experiences and has a low tolerance for complex rules that he needs to learn. Usage: The mind reading hamburger character an interesting concept, but do you think Joe Sixpack will really care? Comment: Ah, Joe Sixpack. How I love you. Joe [...]

Parse (v) To absorb and understand information presented by the game. Usage: The menu screen threw so much information at the player that it was impossible to parse. Comment: Parseability is extremely important. It’s one of the main reasons (if not the main reason) that otherwise good ideas need to be thrown out. There are [...]

Bottomless (adj) A bottomless game has more strategic depth than can be explored within years of study. Examples include Chess, Starcraft, and Street Fighter 2. Bottomless games require constant thought and re-strategizing to play properly.Expert players will be constantly inventing new strategies and counter-strategies. Usage: People have been inventing new Starcraft strategies for years! The [...]

Degenerate (adj) A degenerate game has very little strategic depth. Tic tac toe is a good example. Degenerate games can be played using very simple strategies with no meaningful decision making. These are known as degenerate strategies. A good game design does not allow degenerate strategies. Usage: I wish we could include an exploding squirrel [...]

Strategic Depth (n) The complexity of the strategic space that the game creates. Basically, it is a measure of how many viable strategies there are, how many ways they can interact with other strategies, and how many decision branches there are that require players to choose between strategies. Usage: Chess has a fantastic level of [...]

And (adj) A gameplay concept that has too many different things thrown into the pot. Lacking in focus and design discipline. Usage: There’s a lot going on in this system. It’s very ‘and’. Comment: It’s common for projects to be ‘and’ early in the design phase. We just need to make sure we know that [...]

Minmax (verb) To play in a style a player tries to achieve a mathematically optimal gameplay result by systematically working out the best way to play the game. Derived from Minimax, a common algorithm used by brute-force AIs to find the optimal next move in a game. Usage: I used to really minmax the Star [...]