Fundamentals of Game Design, Second Edition

Glossary

A

absolute difficulty

The difficulty of a challenge, taking into account both the intrinsic skill required and the stress on the player, as compared to the trivial case of a similar challenge. See also relative difficulty and perceived difficulty.

abstract (adjective)

A quality of a game that indicates it bears little relationship to the real world, and the player may not rely on his understanding of the real world in playing the game; its rules are arbitrary. Abstract is one end of the realism scale; the other end is representational.

abstract (verb)

To remove a complex mechanism from a simulation (often a mechanism intended to simulate a real-world phenomenon) and replace it with a simpler mechanism or none at all.

accelerometer ...