Newsletter LEXICON
Asset: Essentially any in-game object. Buildings, trees, leaves, etc.
Automated tests: Tests that are programmed to run automatically whenever a new build is made. Reduces the need to manually test features repetitively (ex. making sure every ability works as intended for every character).
Behavior Tree: The instructions that tell an NPC how they should act in different situations.
Build: A playable version of the game. We create new builds multiple times per week to test new changes.
Cache: To store a piece of information so it can be easily accessed at a later point.
Client: A player’s computer when playing in multiplayer. All the clients connect to a server to make sure the same thing is happening on everyone’s computers.
Clipping: When objects in the game intersect in unintended ways.
Codebase: All of the code that makes up the project.
Cutscene: A non-interactive video sequence that occurs between segments of gameplay and depicts part of the story.
Editor: (aka Unity Editor) The program developers use to make changes to the game. Developers can test their work here before their changes are added to a build.
Framerate: The number of frames that play per second, determining the smoothness of motion.
Foot sliding: When a character’s movement animation doesn’t match the speed with which the character moves across a surface. This can often result in an “ice skating” effect.
Greybox: A method used for designing large portions of map, dungeons, or other important areas. It involves constructing the general form of the thing in question using placeholder assets and shapes. It’s like a framework so when the correct assets are ready, they can be placed in the orientation that was already laid out. This allows for other developers to work on and around the Greybox before the final art is finished.
Headlook: Code that tells an NPC to look in a specific direction.
Hit pause: A feature that very very briefly pauses a character’s attack animation right at the moment they damage a target. This makes hits feel more chunky and satisfying.
Host: (In P2P multiplayer) The player whose device manages the game world and sends data to the other player, making sure everyone is in sync. The other player is called the client or the remote player.
Input: Any button press, mouse click, etc. that a player does to tell the game what to do.
Key Items: Unique items the player only obtains once and keeps for the rest of the game. They often play an important role in progressing through the game.
Known Good State: A version of the project that is certain to be free of errors. Very helpful to have before making changes that are likely to produce bugs.
Logic: The programming side of any feature. For example, “cooking logic” would be the base level programming for the cooking mechanic.
Movement input: Pressing a button that causes a character to move in a certain direction. (For example, using the WASD keys on your keyboard are often for movement inputs.)
Networking: The process of sending data between machines so that people playing a multiplayer game together experience the same things at the same time.
NPC: A non-player character.
Optimization: Making the code run more efficiently, so it takes less processing power to achieve the same effect.
Overworld: The playable area in the open world exploration part of the game.
Pathfinding: The code that tells an NPC how to get from one place to another.
Phantom: A rare Kinfolk with a different color scheme.
Point of interest: An area given special care and attention, intended to draw the player’s interest. An abandoned cabin in the middle of the woods filled with strange notes would be a point of interest.
Post-FX: Changes made to the game’s appearance after everything has been rendered. Sometimes similar to a filter you could put on a photo or video.
QA: Quality assurance. The people who test the game and report bugs.
Red Letter mode: The codename for an unrevealed game mode to be included in the Combat Arena Beta.
Rigging: Giving a character model a “skeleton” with joints that animators can move around to create animations.
SFX: Sound effects.
Server: When multiple players are in the same game, the server is a separate machine that makes sure the same thing is happening on everyone’s computers.
Set piece: A model used in the environment, such as buildings, statues, etc.
Shader: An effect that changes how things visually appear in the game. Shaders can do many things to alter overall appearances.
Soft lock: A situation where the game becomes impossible to progress due to a bug, glitch, or flawed logic.
Spawner: Code that spawns Kinfolk or NPC Summoners into the world. We can give them a multitude of settings to spawn based on time passed, or enemies defeated, etc.
Sprint: A two week period used for organization. Our newsletters are released on the last day of our sprint.
Summoner: The people in Hinterlock who can summon Kinfolk.
Texture: A 2D image that’s applied to a 3D model to give it color and shading.
Tiling: A noticeable repeating pattern on a model or terrain due to using a texture to cover a large area.
Toggle: A switch that can be flipped between two possible outcomes. For example: A/B, or on/off.
Tooling: Dev tools that help improve efficiency.
UI: User Interface. The layout of information on the screen, including menus, health bars, etc.
VFX: Visual effects. Kinfolk attacks, dust clouds, water splashes are all examples of VFX.
World building: The process of constructing a world, originally an imaginary one, ofren associated with a fictional universe.
Workflow: The sequence of steps someone follows to complete a task.
World Streaming: The process of breaking up large terrain into smaller tiles that can be unloaded if they aren’t visible from the player’s current perspective. Reduces processing power needed to run the game.
xNode: The software we use for handling our dialogue implementation.