What kind of ridiculous terminology arises during a game's heated development? Starbreeze weighs in.
It's Friday, and you know what that means: Time for another installment in our series of developer diaries from Starbreeze Studios, the makers of The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. This week, the boys from Sweden run down some of the more colorful terms that come into usage during the high-pressure months leading up to a game's completion.
We'll be back next week with the fourth and final diary. We've also got a final build of the game in-house, so we'll weigh in with a full review of Riddick in advance of the game's April 7 ship date.
The "N" Word
Martin Annander Gameplay Designer, Starbreeze Studios
With contributions by
Johan Althoff Sound Director, Starbreeze Studios
No, this doesn't refer to what you think it does. Among programmers, "nuking" something refers to removing it completely. If you nuke an event, for example, you remove it from the game and make sure the flow stays interesting without it. It's on par with the KYD expression from marketing: "Kill Your Darlings."
But "nuking" is far from the only word in the Starbreeze patois.
"Bitrot" A data disease that strikes when code hasn't been given its due attention in a while.
"Fniss" Most likely a simple mistake, easily fixed once someone can be bothered to take a look at it. From the Swedish word for snickering.
"Krick" (adj. Krickad, verb Kricka or Kricka ur) Out of whack, broken, hasn't recently been shown the appropriate amount of love. Usually the result of bitrot.
"Hirr" Yet another in a string of indications that a particular system is a can-of-worms and in dire need of an overhaul.
"Stolpskott" A failed action that causes some humiliation to the performer. You can also be a Stolpskott. Not a nice thing to say.
"Kodfel" (Eng. "code error" or "code problem") The collective term for a bug or error you don't understand, or don't consider to be your responsibility. It's vaguely similar to Douglas Adams' SEP (Sombody Else's Problem).
"Steka" (Eng. "deep fry", primarily used by audio people) The likely result of a request to make a sound BIG-GER. Usually involves pushing all sliders to their maximum value, regardless of their effect.
"Pimpa" (from Eng. verb "pimp" or "pimp out") Inherently vague, the term refers to the subtle art of improving a sound without really doing anything. Most often, it involves moving a few elements slightly to the left, or raising the volume by an undetectable amount. Makes a huge difference.
"Tårta" (Eng. "cake") The dreaded result of over-pimping a sound, or adding too many elements to a mix. The project then ends up in an irrevocable state of chaos. Once your mix has become a Tårta, it cannot be undone, and you have to start from scratch, usually with an inferior result.
"Priblem" This not an expression as much as a cipher. It shouldn't be a problem to understand what the hidden word really is.
"Borken" As part of the popular Internet misspelling conspiracy, borken really means broken and it's usually either krick or fniss.
"You're a ..." An automatic, almost instinctive response to any question or statement that twists the reply back to the inquirer. If someone asked, "Which dialogue number is it for the VO?" he'd be answered with "You're a VO dialogue number."
Personally, I'm mostly targeted with the worldwide derogative term "fanboy" whenever people pass my desk and notice the Master Chief helmet. I've already stopped explaining why the accusations are unfair, of course. It's futile. Once the wolves find a sheep among them... Well. I think you can see the consequences.
Of course, the accusations are quite unfair and it's my hope that someone will be on my side, eventually. Until then, I'll avoid as much bitrot fniss as I possibly can by telling the responsible stolpskotts: you're a fanboy!
Jag visste att det fanns massor av svenskar på den här sidan men inte såhär många, bra att veta att många svenskar gillar den här sidan, var många av er möjligtvis på Gamespot förut? Starbreeze ä grymma, ja längtar tills det här spelet kommer ut
Yes I wrote in swedish above there, just wondering some things about the swedes on the site and pointing out that alot of swedish people are on this site
Det är många svenskar på FB. Om du går in på google trends och söker på Giantbomb så är Sverige en av de stora länderna som googlar GB. Vi är alltså något överrepresenterade av någon anledning.
(Sweden is for some unknown reason overrepresented on giantbomb, which can be seen using google trends. I guess this is why stories like this gets approval on giantbomb.
Precis vad vi behövde, fler korkade slangutryck :p
"Har du vart i Göteborg? Ne de har du inte. Har du nånsinn slängt en cementblandare längre än femti meter? Ne de har du inte. Har du nånsinn satt på en chilensk städkärring så att trosorna åkte me in? Ne.. ne men se där då vaaaaa du ju en överklasskärring iallafall!"
Btw, it's not that mean to call anyone a stolpskott, we barely use the expression anymore. The best equivalent for you crazy yanks would be "a swing and a miss". Not tha you can actually call anyone that but both are sports references and virtually means the same thing. ( To atempt to score and fail... but in different sports.)
that was cool. thanks for these. even though the demo was weak and really didn't showcase what the game was all about (the stealth, for instance, felt totally useless in that demo), I can tell they are doing a good job at making another fantastic game.
I've gotta say, Vin Unleaded has certainly earned my respect as a "game developer." I've only read positive things about how he handles the business. I'm sure he has some happy employees.
It's Friday, and you know what that means: Time for another installment in our series of developer diaries from Starbreeze Studios, the makers of The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. This week, the boys from Sweden run down some of the more colorful terms that come into usage during the high-pressure months leading up to a game's completion.
We'll be back next week with the fourth and final diary. We've also got a final build of the game in-house, so we'll weigh in with a full review of Riddick in advance of the game's April 7 ship date.
The "N" Word
Martin Annander Gameplay Designer, Starbreeze Studios
With contributions by
Johan Althoff Sound Director, Starbreeze Studios
No, this doesn't refer to what you think it does. Among programmers, "nuking" something refers to removing it completely. If you nuke an event, for example, you remove it from the game and make sure the flow stays interesting without it. It's on par with the KYD expression from marketing: "Kill Your Darlings."
But "nuking" is far from the only word in the Starbreeze patois.
"Bitrot" A data disease that strikes when code hasn't been given its due attention in a while.
"Fniss" Most likely a simple mistake, easily fixed once someone can be bothered to take a look at it. From the Swedish word for snickering.
"Krick" (adj. Krickad, verb Kricka or Kricka ur) Out of whack, broken, hasn't recently been shown the appropriate amount of love. Usually the result of bitrot.
"Hirr" Yet another in a string of indications that a particular system is a can-of-worms and in dire need of an overhaul.
"Stolpskott" A failed action that causes some humiliation to the performer. You can also be a Stolpskott. Not a nice thing to say.
"Kodfel" (Eng. "code error" or "code problem") The collective term for a bug or error you don't understand, or don't consider to be your responsibility. It's vaguely similar to Douglas Adams' SEP (Sombody Else's Problem).
"Steka" (Eng. "deep fry", primarily used by audio people) The likely result of a request to make a sound BIG-GER. Usually involves pushing all sliders to their maximum value, regardless of their effect.
"Pimpa" (from Eng. verb "pimp" or "pimp out") Inherently vague, the term refers to the subtle art of improving a sound without really doing anything. Most often, it involves moving a few elements slightly to the left, or raising the volume by an undetectable amount. Makes a huge difference.
"Tårta" (Eng. "cake") The dreaded result of over-pimping a sound, or adding too many elements to a mix. The project then ends up in an irrevocable state of chaos. Once your mix has become a Tårta, it cannot be undone, and you have to start from scratch, usually with an inferior result.
"Priblem" This not an expression as much as a cipher. It shouldn't be a problem to understand what the hidden word really is.
"Borken" As part of the popular Internet misspelling conspiracy, borken really means broken and it's usually either krick or fniss.
"You're a ..." An automatic, almost instinctive response to any question or statement that twists the reply back to the inquirer. If someone asked, "Which dialogue number is it for the VO?" he'd be answered with "You're a VO dialogue number."
Personally, I'm mostly targeted with the worldwide derogative term "fanboy" whenever people pass my desk and notice the Master Chief helmet. I've already stopped explaining why the accusations are unfair, of course. It's futile. Once the wolves find a sheep among them... Well. I think you can see the consequences.
Of course, the accusations are quite unfair and it's my hope that someone will be on my side, eventually. Until then, I'll avoid as much bitrot fniss as I possibly can by telling the responsible stolpskotts: you're a fanboy!
40 Comments