Genres 

– Adventure: the player solves various quests and progresses through the story to a distant goal, with an emphasis on exploring and solving puzzles 

– Action: the goal of the game is to eliminate enemies, most often by dynamic virtual fights  

– MMOG (Massively-Multiplayer Online Game): a game with a huge player base who share an open virtual world  

– Strategy:  strategy games are focused on thinking and planning to achieve victory. In building strategies, the player builds an economy, in combat strategies, they try to beat their enemy  

– Tycoon: business simulation game, the player builds and manages the operation of their own business 

– Open world: the game allows the player to move freely around the virtual world and gives them considerable freedom in choosing objectives and solving tasks

– Platformer: the player guides a character over a series of obstacles and enemies. These games are mostly arcades – both difficulty and number of traps gradually increase 

– RPG (Role-playing game): the player takes on the roles of fictional characters, for whom they act according to the rules, RPGs are often characterized by vast worlds 

– Simulation: a game that emulates real-life conditions  

– Survival game: the player has the task to survive in a hostile environment, where they face adverse conditions and enemy attacks (monsters, zombies etc.)   

– Sandbox: open-ended, the game provides an open in-game world (including principles and rules) where players can do what they wish

Player interaction  

– Multiplayer: a game designed to involve multiple players at the same time 

– Single player: a game that can be played by just one player   

– Co-op gameplay: players work together as a team  

– PVP (Player versus player): a game mode in which two players play against each other, as opposed to playing against the game itself

Perspectives: 

– First-person: simulation of the player’s own point of view which creates the impression of being in the game 

– Third person: the camera moves behind the back of the virtual hero, the player can see the character in front of or below them, which provides a better overview of what is happening in the game 

Platforms: 

– PC and console games: intended for PCs (Windows, Mac, Linux) or game consoles (Xbox, PlayStation, Switch) 

– Mobile games: for mobile devices (mobile phones, tablets) or wearables (smart watches, wristbands) 

– Web games: accessed via a web browser, require internet connection  

– VR/AR games: for special devices such as VR/AR headsets or glasses  

Gaming models 

– F2P (Free to Play): the game is free to download or play across the platform, often offers microtransactions to access additional content, perks or to speed up the gameplay 

– Premium Game: an upfront payment or purchase to access the game  

– DLC (downloadable content): additional content that can be purchased online and added on to a video game to enhance its features 

– Steam: currently the largest platform for purchasing games digitally, providing multiplayer and communication facilities for players 

Vocabulary  

– Bug: a coding error in a game 

– Easter Egg:  secret inside jokes or extra features placed inside a game by the game developers  

– Engine: a software development environment. It is a set of tools for game developers which allows the game to work as a complete framework. Examples: Unity, Enfusion, Real Virtuality, CryEngine, Gamemaker, Unreal Engine 4, VRAGE  

– Modding: the ability for the player community to make modifications to the base game, such as adding new locations, custom characters, tools, special abilities etc. 

– Procedural content generation: game content is created algorithmically, not manually 

– Respawn: a game character reappearing after having been killed 

– Swiping: moving the finger left or right between screens on mobile devices 

– Tesseract: a four-dimensional analogy of the cube, a special variant of the supercube 

– VBScript (VBS, Visual Basic Scripting Edition): a scripting language based on Visual Basic for embedding code into web pages and basic scripting 

– Voxel: in computer graphics, it denotes a volume particle representing a value in a regular grid of three-dimensional (3D) space. It is analogous to a pixel, which represents a value in a 2D grid 

– VR: virtual reality