| Terms |
Definition |
Example & Explanation |
Start Screen
|
Main menu |
Where you can access game’s
main features and begin play |
| Field of Play |
Environment you can move through without waiting for software to load |
A house, field, dungeon, castle, shop, etc. |
| Ambient Sounds |
Sounds that add to the game's realism |
Birds singing, water falling, wind blowing, monkeys laughing |
Musical Complexity
|
Quality and realism of music |
Tones vs. musical instruments, number of tracks, channels, etc. |
| Hero |
The character you control |
|
| 3D |
3-dimensional games allow you to move up to 6 directions |
Forward, backward, left, right, up and down |
2D
|
2-dimensional games allow you to move up to 4 directions |
Left, right, up, down -or- left, right, forward, backward |
| 1D |
1-dimensional games allow you to move only two directions |
Left and right -or- up and down |
| Controller |
Device you hold in your hand to play on a game console |
|
| Ergonomics |
Design of form and function regarding body movement (physiology) |
Button placement, grip comfort, finger access |
Cognetics
|
Design of form and function regarding user-friendly software |
Intuitiveness; how easy is it to figure out the program's features? |
| RPG |
Role Playing Game |
Hero must interact with a number of characters in different ways |
| Processor |
The chip that controls any type of computer |
The speed of a processor is measured in FLOPS |
| RAM |
Memory |
Random Access Memory |
FLOPS
|
Floating operations per second |
Number of math calculations a processor can handle per second |
| Cache |
Temporary data storage |
Enables quick access of information |
| Throughput |
Data transfer speed |
Transfer between the processor and the media |
| Poly/sec |
Polygons per second |
Refers to the realism of moving environment |
| Media |
Any type of disk, cartridge, or hard drive |
All computers store information on some type of media |