This document contains a glossary of terms related to video game design produced by a student named Joshua Meyer. It includes 20 terms with short definitions sourced from online references. For many terms, Meyer provides examples of how the terms relate to his own video game production practice, such as using demos to test games before purchasing, and how physics mechanics can create interesting gameplay. The glossary covers topics such as video game testing, game engines, animation, and artificial intelligence pathfinding.

1. Salford City College
Eccles Sixth Form Centre
BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN
Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games
IG2 Task 1
1
Produce a glossary of terms specific to the methods and principles of Video Game Design and Video Game Terms. Using a provided template,
you must research and gather definitions specific to provided glossary terms. Any definitions must be referenced with the URL link of the
website you have obtained the definition.
You must also, where possible, provide specific details of how researched definitions relate to your own production practice.
Name:
Joshua
Meyer
RESEARCHED DEFINITION (provide short internet researched definition and
URL link)
DESCRIBE THE RELEVANCE
OF THE RESEARCHED TERM
TO YOUR OWN
PRODUCTION PRACTICE?
IMAGE SUPPORT
(Provide an image
and/or video link of said
term being used in a
game)
VIDEO
GAMES /
VIDEO
GAME
TESTING
Demo A game demo is a f reely distributed demonstration or preview of an upcoming or recently
released video game.
http://en.w ikipedia.org/wiki/Game_demo
When looking for a new video game
to play I am never certain I will enjoy
a game so before purchasing it I like
to look for a demo so I can get a feel
for how the game plays before I buy
it.
Beta Beta is usually a trial version of a game for a company. betas are usually experimental
and of ten have problems w ith them.
https://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081019143302AAIBseY
Some times a developer isn’t
sure i f anyone would actually
l ike their game so they release it
early in beta. This is good
because like a demo I can find
out i f I l ike i t or not.
Alpha The alpha phase of the release life cycle is the f irst phase to begin sof tware testing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_release_life_cycle#Alpha
Alpha is a good way for
developers to check if a concept
works or not. Alpha is the bare
minimum for a working game
and i s a good way of checking if
an idea works or not.
Pre-Alpha Pre-alpha refers to all activities performed during the sof tware project before testing.
http://en.w ikipedia.org/wiki/Sof tware_release_life_cycle#Pre-alpha
Gold Gold master is the f inal game's build that is used as a master for production of the game.
http://en.w ikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_development
Debug Debugging is a methodical process of f inding and reducing the number of bugs, or Debugging is important for

2. Salford City College
Eccles Sixth Form Centre
BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN
Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games
IG2 Task 1
2
defects, in a computer program or a piece of electronic hardw are.
http://en.w ikipedia.org/wiki/Debugging
fixing game breaking faults in
the software. Minecraft is
cons tantly Updated with not
only new features but also
Cons tant bug fixes. This
cons tant dedication to the game
i s probably key to is success.
Automation Implementing test automation for mobile application development process is the best w ay
to gain agile, ef fective use of resources and time for testing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_testing#Test_automation
White-Box
Testing
White-box testing tests internal structures or workings of a program, as opposed to the
functionality exposed to the end-user. In w hite-box testing an internal perspective of the
system, as w ell as programming skills, are used to design test cases. The tester chooses
inputs to exercise paths through the code and determine the appropriate outputs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_testing#White-Box_testing
Bug In several usages in information technology, a bug or glitch (pronounced GLIHTCH ) is a sudden
break in function or continuity, sometimes of a transient nature, with a varying degree of
seriousness.
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/glitch
GAME
ENGINES
Vertex Shader Vertex shaders are run once for each vertex given to the graphics processor. The
purpose is to transform each vertex's 3D position in virtual space to the 2D coordinate at
w hich it appears on the screen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shader#Vertex_shaders
Pixel Shader Pixel shaders, also know n as f ragment shaders, compute colour and other attributes of
each f ragment. The simplest kinds of pixel shaders output one screen pixel as a colour
value; more complex shaders w ith multiple inputs/outputs are also possible.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shader#Pixel_shaders
Post Processing The term post-processing (or postproc for short) is used in the video/f ilm business for
quality-improvement image processing (specifically digital image processing) methods
used in video playback devices, (such as stand-alone DVD-Video players), and video
players sof tware and transcoding sof tware. It is also commonly used in real-time 3D
rendering (such as in video games) to add additional ef fects.
http://en.w ikipedia.org/wiki/Video_post-processing
Rendering 1. Rendering is the process of generating an image f rom a model bymeans of computer
sof tware. Rendering is used in architecture, simulators, video games, movies and
television visual ef fects and design visualization.
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?id=17940930&siteID=123112

3. Salford City College
Eccles Sixth Form Centre
BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN
Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games
IG2 Task 1
3
GAME
ENGINES
Normal Map In 3D computer graphics, normal mapping, or "Dot3 bump mapping", is a technique used
for faking the lighting of bumps and dents – an implementation of bump mapping. It is
used to add details w ithout using more polygons.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_mapping
Entity A non-player character (NPC), sometimes know n as a non-person character or non-playable
character, in a game is any character that is not controlled by a player. In
electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer
through artif icial intelligence.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-player_character
UV Map UV mapping is the 3D modelling process of making a 2D image representation of a 3D
model's surface.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UV_mapping
Procedural
Texture
Procedural textures are textures that are defined mathematically. They are generally
relatively simple to use, because they don't need to be mapped in a special way - which
doesn't mean that procedural textures can't become very
complex.http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.4/Manual/Textures/Types/Procedural
Physics Computer animation physics or game physics involves the introduction of the law s
of physics into a simulation or game engine, particularly in 3D computer graphics, for the
purpose of making the ef fects appear more real to the observer. Typically, simulation
physics is only a close approximation to real physics, and computation is performed using
discrete values.
http://en.w ikipedia.org/wiki/Game_physics
Phys ics in video games are
almost essential (depending on
the game) and can determine
how you interact with the
envi ronment. Differences in
phys ics in video games can lead
to some pretty interesting
mechanics. My favourite physics
based mechanic in video games
i s rocket jumping in Team
Fortres s 2.
Collision Collision detection typically refers to the computational problem of detecting the
intersection of tw o or more objects.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collision_detection
Lighting Lighting is one of the most important and influential elements in environments. It has
the power to make or break the visuals, theme and atmosphere.
http://www.moddb.com/tutorials/lighting-in-game-environments-the-hows-and-whys
AA – Anti-
Aliasing
In 3D video games, anti-aliasing is a very intense process, requiring a lot of computer
pow er. It basically is rendering the w hole image multiple times, and then blurring the
images together, to smooth out the edges.

4. Salford City College
Eccles Sixth Form Centre
BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN
Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games
IG2 Task 1
4
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100710073433AA0dSCA
LoD – Level of
Detail
In computer graphics, accounting for level of detail involves decreasing the complexity of
a 3D object representation as it moves aw ay f rom the view er or according to other metrics
such as object importance, view point-relative speed or position. Level of detail techniques
increases the ef f iciency of rendering by decreasing the w orkload on graphics
pipeline stages, usually vertex transformations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_of_detail
Animation Animation in video games refers to how things physically look, which includes
everything from the packaging on a retail video game, to the texture of the skin on
each character, to the graphical user interface, to the way a character rolls her ankle
when she walks.
http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/413/game_art_and_animation_an_introduction.php
Animation can be very satisfying
in video games. My favourite
animation in video games is a
very s imple animation of
someone in GTA V wearing flip
fops at the beach. The flip flops
are fully animated and even
make a small sound as you walk,
instead of just having the flip
flops stick to the bottom of your
feet.
Sprite In computer graphics, a sprite is a tw o-dimensional image or animation that is integrated
into a larger scene. Initially including just graphical objects handled separately f rom the
memory bitmap of a video display, this now includes various manners of graphical
overlays.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_(computer_graphics)
Retro games are loved and
recognised by their 2D 8bi t
spri tes for characters and
objects. It is an easy and simple
way of making an aesthetically
pleasing game that is still used
today.
Scene A scene f ile contains objects in a strictly def ined language or data structure; it w ould
contain geometry, view point, texture, lighting, and shading information as a description of
the virtual scene.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendering_(computer_graphics)
When working with the unreal
game engine, anything I added
to the game or altered was
saved in a s cene.
Library A key decision in game programming is w hich, if any, APIs and libraries to use. Today,
there are numerous libraries available w hich take care of key tasks of game
programming. Some libraries can handle sound processing, input, and graphics
rendering. Some can even handle some AItasks such as pathf inding.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_programming#APIs_and_libraries
UI In video gaming, the HUD (heads-up display) or Status Bar is the method by w hich
information is visually relayed to the player as part of a game's user interface
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HUD_(video_gaming)
User interface varies from game
to game depending on the
objective of the game. In GTA V

5. Salford City College
Eccles Sixth Form Centre
BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN
Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games
IG2 Task 1
5
you have a quick s elect menu of
di fferent guns in your arsenal
making it quick and easy to
swi tch wepons.
Frames Frame rate, also know n as f rame f requency and f rames per second (FPS), is
the f requency (rate) at w hich an imaging device produces unique consecutive images
called f rames. The term applies equally w ell to f ilmand video cameras, computer
graphics, and motion capture systems. Frame rate is most of ten expressed in f rames per
second (FPS) and is also expressed in progressive scan monitors as hertz (Hz)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame_rate
Frame rate is very important in
fi rs t person shooters. The more
frames you have the faster the
game will be able to process
information giving your
character a faster reaction time,
not to mention the better you
wi l l be able to see.
Concept Concept document, game proposal, or game plan is a more detailed document than the
pitch document. This includes all the information produced about the game. This includes
the high concept, game's genre, gameplay description, features, setting, story, target
audience, hardw are platforms, estimated schedule, marketing analysis, team
requirements, and risk analysis.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_development#Pre-production
Event
Pathfinding Pathf inding is the method for determining how to get a NPC f rom one point on a map to
another, taking into consideration the terrain, obstacles and possibly "fog of w ar".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence_(video_games)#Usage
Pathfinding can be very
di fferent from game to game
and even character to character.
In GTA V there are citizens
walking on the side of the
s treet, slowly, compared to
when you start a gang mission
and your fellow gangsters run
everywhere.