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Game » consists of 0 releases. Released Mar 04, 2008
Sure, these days have almost every game sporting the newfangled 3D, but way back when, everyone had to live with plain old 2D. 2D, or two dimensions, limit the game to scrolling backgrounds, but some games even now make use of this basic concept.
Backtracking is the act of navigating through previously explored areas, usually for the purpose of progressing in an objective-based adventure game. Players who are lost may also backtrack to reorient themselves.
A boss fight is a culminating challenge that pits the player against one or more enemies representing a greater threat and/or difficulty than those previously faced. These scenarios typically feature unique antagonists.
Climbing is a common tradition in games, particularly platformers. There is often a particular type of surface that can be climbed, and it has a recognizably different look than other surfaces in the game. Climbing ladders or stairs doesn't count.
Darkness is used in games to restrict access, increase tension, or just to set a mood. Often the player has access to a light source that can mitigate its effect.
The main line of distinction between victory or failure in video games, death is the process of a biological being ceasing to be alive.
Game titles that make a statement of fact or opinion.
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.
The concept of purchasing media and having it delivered over the internet. No physical representation of this content is given, and although the content resides on the user's hard drive they are typically granted a license to the product, rather than ownership of it.
This concept deals with platforms that phase in and out of existence as time passes. It is used to create tricky platforming situations requiring excellent timing to overcome.
Frequently seen in RPGs and Fighting games, The EHI helps players calculate the current health of opponents.
An animation and game development engine prolific during the 2000s and early 2010s. While most titles developed in Flash were browser-exclusive, Flash could also be used for standalone games.
Flip screen (or flick-screen) describes a way of dividing the game world into fixed screens, displayed one at a time. It's commonly found in 2D platformers, especially prior to the 16-bit era.
These spooky entities are the spirits of the dead, returned from beyond their graves for generally sinister purposes. There's generally about even odds whether a particular ghost will be helpful or malevolent towards the living, but some ghosts just want to be left alone entirely.
Stories and legends created by the ancient Greeks. Today these myths are used as an endless source of inspiration for all media.
An invisible object is something that can't be seen, but is still there. Sometimes it is a hidden bonus item, or part of a puzzle to be solved.
An imaginary boundary in the game world that limits player movement to a specific area. They are often criticized as a poor component of level design, when an actual wall or other visible boundary could have been used to delineate a game's playing field.
It's arguably the one move that symbolizes the medium to those outside it. The ability to jump, be it onto a building, a platform, or a skull, is one of the all time most important abilities ever put in a video game.
Any game that does not have any written or spoken dialogue in it, regardless if it has characters or not. This includes any text or recorded dialogue that is spoken by a character or narrator, but not text such as "Press Start".
Side-scrolling games present the world as viewed perpendicular to the direction the characters are facing on screen. With a heavy focus on lateral movement, objectives are often met by moving from one end of a stage to the other.
Whether it's an obvious callback, a bookend narration, a repeat in scenery, or a never ending time loop, many games feature an ending that gives the player a severe case of déjà vu.
When a game's title succinctly describes or indicates how the game is played, or a specific game mode.
If the protagonist is standing on an unstable platform for a certain amount of time, it will eventually drop. Usually there is a pit below, or some other hazardous danger.
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