Glossary

A

Accessibility: Designing videogames to be playable by people with diverse abilities. See Accessibility as Craft.

Action: One of the 4 A's. What the videogame has the player do, including absence of interaction. See The 4 A's.

Aesthetic Heritage: Where the choices in each A come from. The lineage. See Aesthetic Heritage.

Affordance: What an object suggests you can do with it. A button affords pressing; a lever affords pulling.

Agency: The player's capacity to make meaningful choices and affect outcomes.

Assist Mode: Accessibility options that let players customize difficulty. See Celeste: Assist Mode.

Arc: One of the 4 A's. The amount of time. A micro-moment, a long moment, or an entire videogame. See The 4 A's.

Art: One of the 4 A's. Art direction, lighting, staging, camera grammar, composition, sound design, and their heritage. See The 4 A's.

Atmosphere: One of the 4 A's. The feeling and vibe experienced from the videogame. See The 4 A's.

B

Barks: Short, contextual voice lines that respond to videogame events ("Enemy spotted!", "I'm hit!").

Beat: A single unit of pacing. A moment of tension or release.

C

Cancel Window: The time during which one action can be interrupted by another.

Checkpoint: A saved progress point the player returns to on failure.

Coyote Time: Grace period after leaving a platform during which the player can still jump. Example of player-fair design. See Player Psychology.

Curb Cut Effect: Accessibility features that help specific users often help everyone. Named for sidewalk curb cuts. See Accessibility as Craft.

D

Diegetic: Existing within the videogame world (vs. UI that exists outside it).

Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment (DDA): System that automatically adjusts difficulty based on player performance. Can be hidden or transparent. See Hades: God Mode.

Dialogue Tree: Branching conversation structure where player choices lead to different responses. See Dialogue Systems.

Dynamics: Emergent patterns from player-system interaction.

Debugging: Finding and fixing errors in code or design. See Debugging as Literacy.

E

Emergence: Complex, unexpected behaviors arising from simple rule interactions. See Emergent Behavior.

Extrinsic Motivation: Playing for external rewards (XP, unlocks, achievements). See Player Psychology.

F

False Choice: A choice that appears meaningful but leads to the same outcome. See Branching & Consequence.

Feedback: How the videogame responds to player action.

Feedback Loop: When output of a system becomes input to that system. See Player Psychology.

Flow: State of complete absorption where challenge matches skill (Csikszentmihalyi). See Player Psychology.

Foldback Structure: Branching narrative that reconverges at key points before diverging again. See Branching & Consequence.

Found Narrative: Story discovered through exploration rather than delivered through cutscenes. See Environmental Storytelling.

Frame Data: The exact timing of actions measured in animation frames (common in fighting videogames).

G

Gesture: The surface area of contact between player and videogame. Composed of the 4 A's. See Gesture.

God Mode: (1) Classic cheat granting invincibility. (2) Hades' accessibility feature with escalating damage resistance. See Hades: God Mode.

H

Hard Currency: Difficult to obtain, premium currency, often monetized. See Economy & Resources.

Hitstop: Brief freeze when attacks connect, emphasizing impact.

Hub and Spoke: Conversation structure where player returns to a central menu after each topic. See Dialogue Systems.

Human Random vs. Computer Random: True randomness feels unfair to humans. Many videogames use weighted randomness that feels more fair. See Player Psychology.

I

Immersive Sim: Genre built around systemic emergence and player choice (Deus Ex, Dishonored, Prey). See Emergent Behavior.

Implicit Instruction: Teaching through spatial design and constraints rather than explicit text. See Portal: Level One.

Inflation: Too many sources, too few sinks in an economy. Resources pile up, value collapses. See Economy & Resources.

Inheritance: Using a solution because it works, without necessarily referencing its origin. See Aesthetic Heritage.

Input Buffer: System that remembers inputs for a grace period, improving responsiveness. See Player Psychology.

Intrinsic Motivation: Playing because the activity itself is rewarding. See Player Psychology.

J

Juice: Extra feedback beyond what's necessary, making actions feel satisfying. Particles, sounds, screen shake. See Screen Shake.

L

Leading Lines: Visual elements (paths, edges, beams) that direct the player's eye. See Spatial Communication.

Ludonarrative Dissonance: When gameplay and story contradict. See Ludonarrative Harmony.

M

Magic Circle: The boundary between play and ordinary life (Huizinga). A theoretical device that doesn't especially matter for videogame analysis.

Mechanic: A rule governing player action.

N

Negative Feedback Loop: Feedback that dampens change, pulling toward equilibrium (e.g., rubber-banding). See Player Psychology.

P

Pacing: Rhythm of intensity over time. See Pacing & Flow.

Permissions: What a videogame allows, requires, and forbids. Discovered through the 4 A's as we play. See Permissions.

Player Fair vs. Computer Fair: What feels fair to the player is not always mathematically fair. Good design often prioritizes player-fair. See Player Psychology.

Positive Feedback Loop: Feedback that amplifies change (rich get richer). See Player Psychology.

Procedural Rhetoric: Arguments made through videogame rules (Bogost). See Ludonarrative Harmony.

Q

Quality-Based Narrative: Tracking player history as accumulating stats rather than branch points (Failbetter Games). See Branching & Consequence.

Quotation: Deliberately referencing a source. See Aesthetic Heritage.

R

Readability: Whether the player can understand what they're looking at. See Spatial Communication.

S

Screen Shake: Camera shake as feedback for impact or intensity. See Screen Shake.

Sight Line: What's visible from a given position. Control of sight lines = control of information. See Verticality & Sight Lines.

Sink: Where resources go in an economy. Drains. See Economy & Resources.

Soft Currency: Easily obtained in-game currency, earned through play. See Economy & Resources.

Source: Where resources come from in an economy. Faucets. See Economy & Resources.

Squash and Stretch: Animation principle: compression on impact, extension during movement.

Systemic Design: Designing systems that interact with each other to produce emergent behavior. See Emergent Behavior.

T

Tetris Effect: When intensive play bleeds into non-play life. See Player Psychology.

The 4 A's: Action, Art, Arc, Atmosphere. The components of a Gesture. See The 4 A's.

Transformation: Taking something and making it new. See Aesthetic Heritage.

V

Verbs: The actions available to players. What the videogame lets you do.

Verticality: Use of height in level design. See Verticality & Sight Lines.

Vista: Dramatic revealing view; moment of seeing far. See Verticality & Sight Lines.

W

Weenie: Disney Imagineering term: tall, visible landmark that draws players forward. See Verticality & Sight Lines.