Ultra Gameplayers Disc #104
Demo Derby
Game Mess Mornings 05/13/24
GrubbSnax
839: REVENGEANCE
Giant Bombcast
The Community Spotlight 2024.05.11
The Community Spotlight 2024.05.04
The Community Spotlight 2024.04.27
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Sometimes you need to crush a little rock to gain access to valuable objects - or even to find your way out of a sticky situation. The drill is your friend.
The 2000 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California on May 11-13.
A game that was once in development as part of an existing franchise, but was released as an all-new property, with any explicit connection to the original franchise removed. The change can occur anywhere from the conceptual stage to the final weeks of development.
An arcade system board by Namco based on PlayStation hardware, used for a variety of arcade games throughout the mid-to-late 1990's and early 2000's.
The concept of a character leaping forwards or backwards in time.
Kaiju is the Japanese term for monster or strange beasts, commonly associated with giant monsters such as Godzilla. Kaiju appear as enemies in games, but just as often they are controlled by the player.
A character type found in RPGs, MMOs, and class based Multiplayer games that focuses on keeping friendly characters alive. Their general role is to heal/buff and resurrect fallen allies.
A page describing the concept of class change, otherwise referred to as changing classes or class promotion. Characters are able to change classes, either growing in strength from one class to the next or as a means of changing a characters range of abilities entirely.
This concept occurs in many RPGs and Sci-Fi games. The Ancient Advanced Civilization Technology is often a giant weapon (Halo Rings, Giant of Babil, etc.) that becomes a major plot focus in the stories of these games.
No HUD games are ones that either lack a Heads Up Display, or find a way to integrate it into the game environment. Many games do this to add a sense of immersion or artistic quality to their games, or to reduce screen clutter.
A time paradox is when a person who travels in time does something that influences their past self in a way that traveling in time in the first place would not be possible or not have occurred without the first intrusion.
This is when the events of a story are not in chronological order. Often, the end comes at the beginning, and the remaining story explains how things came to be the way they are.
A ship deck battle is a cliché battle scene found in the vast majority of Japanese RPGs. It takes place on a ship or an airship, pitting the protagonists against seamonsters or flying monsters respectively.
The shark is an underwater animal that is often stereotyped for its vicious killing of prey. In video games, they are used as enemies in underwater levels or a plot device used to keep the player away from the ocean.
Floating Islands are land masses (anywhere from island size to continental size) that float either by the use of magic or some other force.
Many games such as Shin Megami Tensei, God of War, or Too Human base their story off of or utilize elements from the order of the cosmos as perceived by humans both ancient and modern.
Magical creatures made of stone, resembling the grotesque statues commonly part of Gothic architecture such as the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.
According to greek mythology, Hydra was a many-headed serpent; the offspring of Typhon and Echidna. For each head that got cut off, two new heads would grow in its place. It was eventually slain by Hercules.
An individual who specializes in armed combat.
The act of changing an event in the past that significantly alters further events leading up to the present. This is a major element of many stories involving time travel.
Wireframe describes any 3D model or shape that has no covering texture or "skin" and can be seen through. It can also be a visual effect to make a 2D image appear 3D.
Slang term for first-person party-based RPGs in which the player controlled 'entity' is meant to represent a party of individual characters, but is literally an invisible blob with arms and legs.
A style of gameplay where players must navigate a vast stream of projectiles.
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.
First-Person is a vantage point that attempts to simulate looking through a game character's eyes. It is most commonly found in first-person shooters, racing games, and visual novels, and to a lesser extent in other genres, such as RPGs, 3D platformers, and adventure games.
A game where cards are used to fight your enemies, or one where you make a "deck" with different abilites. Some examples are Culdcept Saga, Yggdra Union, and Phantom Dust.
Sometimes we will go a whole game without knowing the true name of a protagonist. Oftentimes, this is remedied by unique references being made towards the protagonist, such as "The Wanderer," "The Kid," or "The Man With no Name."
Quick Time Events show up in all sorts of games as an attempt to make cutscenes interactive. Press the buttons displayed on-screen before time runs out, or else.
Romance in video games can either be interactive, in which the player attempts to woo another character, or an unchangeable part of the story of a given game.
An often used plot device where the main character wakes up and has lost all their memories. The game usually centers around getting your memory back or uncovering the events that lead to your confusion.
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