Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine Issue 36
Demo Derby
Game Mess Mornings 04/22/24
GrubbSnax
8-4 Play 4/19/2024: LEAVE IT TO BEAVERS
8-4 Play
The Community Spotlight 2024.04.20
The Community Spotlight 2024.04.13
Community Endurance Run XIV - April 12-14
Concept »
Bonus levels, rounds, or stages give players a chance to gain extra points, powerups, or lives. Occasionally bonus stages will play completely different than the rest of the game, like as a slot machine or pinball minigame.
Bosses are enemies that fight you at the end of a level or at a significant point in the story.
A different take on the commonplace video game death. Different ways to avoid death can include time travel, as in Prince of Persia; or a minigame, as in Prey.
The continue is a classic gaming concept, and usually arises when the player "dies" or fails in the game. Usually some loss is tied to a continue, in a form of a "life" or something of other value.
Sometimes designers add old-school things on purpose to enhance game design. These games tend to be heavily inspired by hardware limitations of older systems. NES, Atari 2600, and early computer platforms (DOS, Commodore 64, MSX, etc...) are common sources of inspiration.
Earning an extra life, either by collecting a 1up or by hitting a certain score.
Game Over originally appeared in pinball machines, and later, arcade machines. When players lose at a game, it is game over.
Health is a value that gauges how much damage players can take in a game before they die or pass out. Also known as life in some games. Health is usually represented by a bar or a percentage instead of an exact amount. Found in most non sport games
The legendary Konami code, any who knew it were rewarded in many classic Konami games. UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT B A (SELECT) (START)!
Some game modes don't allow the player to respawn once killed, forcing them to think strategically and to try to stay alive.
The concept of reviving somebody who is dead or down.
Rather than leaving each player to their own devices and deaths, some multiplayer modes pool the total number of lives or respawns that can be used among the entire team. Then the blaming starts.
A type of gameplay where the player chooses and builds autonomous towers to protect a location from waves of enemies.
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.
This edit will also create new pages on Giant Bomb for:
Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Giant Bomb users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.
Use your keyboard!
Log in to comment
Log in to comment