Fundamentals of Game Design vocab Ch. 1-6

Avatar

A fictional character in a game with whom the player identifies as the personification of herself within the game world. The character need not be human; it may even be vehicle.

Symmetric game

A game in which all the players begin with the same initial conditions (resources, starting positions, and so on), are trying to achieve the same goals, and play by the same rules. Such a game is usually considered to be fair and is generally easier to balance than an asymmetric game.

Asymmetric game

A game in which the players do not start with identical conditions, do not play by the same rules, or do not seek to achieve the same victory condition.

Sandbox mode

A gameplay mode in which the player is not presented with a victory condition. This mode has few restrictions on what he may do and offers no guidance on what he should do.

Game concept

A statement of a group of design choices sufficient to convey, among other things, what a game will be like to play, for what audience it is intended, and on what machine it will run.

Artificial intelligence (AI)

A suite of programming techniques that allow a computer to mimic human behavior in certain domains. Video games use AI to provide artificial opponents for players to play against, among other functions.

Core mechanics

A symbolic and mathematical model of the game's rules that can be implemented algorithmically.

Game

A type of play activity conducted in the context of a pretended reality in which the participant(s) try to achieve at least one arbitrary, nontrivial goal by acting in accordance with rules.

High-concept

A very short description, no more than two or three sentences long, that conveys the most important aspects of an idea for a game.

Game world

An imaginary universe in which the events of the game take place. Most computer game worlds are simulated two- and three-dimensional spaces containing characters and objects.

Functional attributes

Attributes of an avatar or other character that influence gameplay through their effect on the core mechanics. Contrast with cosmetic attributes.

Characterization attributes

Attributes that describe something fundamental about a character or unit and change only slowly by small amounts or not at all. Maximum speed might be characterization attribute for a vehicle.

Characterization attributes

Attributes that describe something fundamental about character or unit and change only slowly by small amounts or not at all. Maximum speed might be a characterization attribute for a vehicle.

Status attributes

Attributes that describe the current state of a character or unit and may change frequently. Current speed and current health are examples.

Dimensions

Collections of related properties that define how the player experiences the game world, for example, the physical dimension, emotional dimension, ethical dimension, and so on.

Exclusionary material

Content or features that tend to drive players away from a game they might otherwise like, e.g., racist or sexist content.

Constrained creative play

Creative play artificially constrained by rules. The rules may impose physical, aesthetic, or economic limitations on what the player may create. Contrast with freeform creative play.

Freeform creative play

Creative play constrained only by the options that the game offers and the technological limitations of the machine but not by rules. Contrast with constrained creative play.

Competition mode

One of a variety of different forms of competitive or cooperative play, such as team play or multiplayer cooperative play. Many video games allow players to choose a competition mode.

Mods

Player-created modifications to a game that provide new content and sometimes new ways to play the game.

Concept art

Sketches drawn during the early stages of game design to give developers and publishers an idea of how game world features and characters may look in the game. Concept art is not incorporated into the final product.

Concept stage

The first major stage of game design, in which the designer works to turn an idea for a game into a game concept.

Structure of a game

The relationships among a game's gameplay modes, including specification of the circumstances in which the game switches from one mode to another.