Action Arcade Adventure Set
Diana Gruber

Glossary

Action Arcade Game	A game genre identified by tile- based backgrounds and animated sprites. Also known as a platform game or side-scroller.
Action Function	A special type of function that controlls the motion and characteristics of an object.
Animation	A technique where successive still frames of a particular object appear to constitute a seemless sequence of movements.
Arcade Game	A game with fast action where hand-eye coordination is the primary skill needed to beat the game.
Artificial Intelligence	An algorithm by which the computer gives the illusion of thinking like a human. Also, the action of a character in a game as it reacts to other objects in the game.
Bit	The smallest unit that can carry information in a computer - this is a base 2 number, equaling either 0 or 1.
BitBlt	BIT BLock Transfer, a bit string move, usually referring to moving the bits that represent an image from memory to display. Also known as a "blit".
Bitmap	Arrays of data specifying the color of each pixel in a rectangular image of arbitrary size.
Blit	To copy an image (or part of an image) from one place to another. See BitBlt.
Boss Enemy	The biggest bad guy that must be killed in order to complete a level.
Cheat Code	A keyboard sequence which, when used, gives the player an advantage in the game, for example infinite ammunition, infinite lives, the ability to walk through walls, or fly.
Cinematics	An animated sequence at the beginning of a game, or animated transition screens.
Clipping	Cutting off parts of lines and/or shapes (sprites) that exceed the boundaries of a viewport or clipping region.
Clipping Region	Rectangular area that defines where objects will be clipped.
Collision Detection	Method of checking if two or more objects come in contact with each other.
Continue	Another chance to play the game where you left off after you've lost all your lives.
Coordinate	A location, or point in space, which may be addressed using arbitrary units.
Credits	Listing of those involved in the development of a game, typically including the programmer, artist, musician, and producer.
Demo Mode	A self-playing mode, showing off the features and artwork of a game.
Engine	Code used as the basis for building a game, including the various utilities and a skeleton game.
Energy	A scale representing how close a player is to death. Usually energy declines as a player collides with enemies, and increases when a player finds certain energy items, such as food.
Episode	One portion of a shareware game series. Most often the first episode is used to interest the player in the game, while others are used as incentives to encourage registering the game. Sometimes different episodes have different plots.
Fastgraph	High performance programmer's graphics library.
Fat Bit Editor	A feature of an image editor that zooms in on an area of the image, and displays the individual pixels larger for easier editing.
Flipping	Changing the display start address of video memory, so that a completely new part of video memory is visible. Also known as page flipping or page swapping.
Frame	A sequence of events ending in a page flip. Also known as an animation frame.
Frame Rate	Speed of animation, usually expressed in frames per second.
GIF	An image file format where the image is compressed using LZW compression.
God Mode	State of a game, usually triggered by a keystroke sequence, where the player can not die, and may have other powers such as infinite amunition or the ability to walk through walls. Also known as cheat mode.
Graphics Library	Collection of functions that control the video ouput. Fastgraph is a graphics library.
Graphics Mode	A PC mode where the screen is addressed in pixels.
Hidden Page	A page-shaped area of offscreen video memory.
Keyboard Handler	Functions or routines for programming and working with a keyboard. A low-level keyboard handler monitors keyboard activity so that special keys and key combinations can be detected.
LCR	Low Cost Retail software, see rackware.
Layout Array	An array holding information about which tiles in a level are covered by sprites and must be redrawn during a frame.
Layout Space	A coordinate system based on the number of tiles on a page, for example 22 tiles wide by 15 tiles high.
Level	One continuous section of a platform game or other type of game. The goal of a game is to beat all the levels.
Level Editor	A utility used for creating, viewing, and modifying levels.
Life	More accurately referred to as a death, the unit for counting how many tries a player has before a game is finished.
Mode X	A 256-color planar or tweaked VGA graphics mode popularized by Michael Abrash.
One-Up	An extra life, or the object that gives you an extra life.
Page	An area of video memory or system RAM which holds enough data to fill the screen(or more) in the current graphics mode.
Page Flipping	An animation technique that consists of writing to offscreen video memory, and then panning or flipping to that area. Also known as page swapping.
Panning	Changing the screen origin to a different point in video memory.
Parallaxing	An animation technique where where the background is drawn in levels, and distant levels move at a slower speed than near levels, giving the illusion of depth.
PCX	A popular image file format designed by Zsoft.
Pixel	The smallest addressable unit on a computer screen.
Platform Game	See Action Arcade Game.
Producer	Someone who coordinates and supervises a game's development.
Publisher	Anybody who markets games.
Rackware	Games sold on racks in retail channels at a low price. Rackware may be shareware or non-shareware, exclusive or non-exclusive.
Registration Incentive	A method of obtaining shareware registrations by offering something of value for money, such as more levels.
RLE	An image stored using run-length encoding.
Resizing	Changing the coordinate limits of video memory.
Resolution	The number of pixels or character cells available on the screen.
Retrace	A total screen update, usually happening at the rate of about 60 frames per second.
Royalties	A method whereby a developer is paid for their work as a percentage of either net or gross receipts.
Score	The cumulative number of points earned.
Scoreboard	A graphical representation of the score, along with other items such as one-ups, energy and ammunition.
Screen origin	The pixel coordinates of the upper left corner of the screen.
Scrolling	Moving the screen smoothly an any direction.
Screen Space	Coordinate system where object positions are identified as x,y positions in video memory.
Segue	(pronounced "seg-way") A transitional device that helps one sequence flow smoothly into another. In a game, a segue usually occurs between levels and involves storyline development, often in the form of cinematics.
Shareware	A method of marketing software where a program is distributed freely, and users may try it before paying for it.
Shelfware	Software sold through regular retail channels, especially when marketed by an established commercial publishing house such as Electronic Arts.
Side Scroller	See Action Arcade Game.
Special Effect	Any unusual or special visual image or sound or music.
SPR File	Fastgraph's Standard Pixel Run image format. See RLE.
Sprite	A bitmap of an arbitrary shape that can be moved across complex backgrounds without flicker or damage to the background image.
Sprite List	Several related sprites, usually kept in a single file or buffer.
Sprite Editor	A program for creating, viewing, and modifying sprites.
Storyline	The setting for the game, including such things as an introduction to the characters, their location, and the reason they do what they do.
Text Mode	A PC video mode where the screen is addressed in rows and columns of character cels. The default video mode of a PC when running DOS.
Tile	A 16x16 image, usually blitted in sequence with other tiles to create levels.
Tile Attribute	A one-byte value used to determine characteristics of a tile, such as solid on top.
Tile Library	A collection of unique tiles used to build levels.
Tile Space	A coordinate system based on the number of tiles in a level.
Tile Editor	A utility program used to create, view, and modify tiles.
Tile Ripper	A utility used to reduce one or several screens of artwork to unique tiles.
Title Screen	The opening screen of a computer game, which includes the title and other information.
Transition	The sequence between levels, often consisting of storyline development, special effects, or cinematics.
Transparent	Pixels in a rectangular blit which are not displayed, so that the background shows through.
Trilogy	A method of marketing games, where a third of the game, known as an episode, is distributed as shareware and the other two episodes are registered or purchased directly from the manufacturer.
TSR	Terminate and Stay Resident; a program that stays in memory after it returns control to the operating system, such as FGDRIVER.EXE.
VGA	Video Graphics Array, any of a collection of video modes; also the hardware that supports them.
Visual Page	The page that is currently visible on screen.
Warp	Moving to an area in a game level requiring a complete screen redraw, for example going through a door or advancing to a new level.

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