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Glossary
hub-and-spoke level design: Level design
that allows the player to start in the center,
complete a mission, and return to the center
to choose another mission. (3)
human-computer interface (HCI):
Connection and communication between the
player and the game system. (4)
human-in-the-loop (HITL) simulation: Any
simulation that has a real human user as part
of the event model. (13)
Hungarian notation: Name of a variable
starts with lowercase letters that indicate
what type of variable it is. (12)
I
iconic logic: Critical thinking and learning
from outside of the system. (13)
imbalance: State of being out of proportion. (5)
immersion: Level to which the player feels he
or she is actually experiencing the events of
the game, or how well the player connects to
the game world. (4)
implicit challenge: Task that the player
interprets and discovers on his or her own. (5)
implied line: Path the viewer’s eye takes to
connect the two endpoints of the line when it
is not continuous. (9)
incentives: Ways of encouraging a specific
action or path. (13)
incongruous character: Characters who seem
out of place or different than the rest of the
game mood and theme. (2)
indie: Term to describe a company that is
small and considered to be independent or
outside of the traditional gaming business. (1)
induction puzzle: Requires deductive
reasoning from a limited amount of
information about the opponents with no
information about the player. (7)
inductive logic: Critical thinking and learning
from inside the system. (13)
inertia: Resistance to a change in motion. (11)
inflection: Vocal tones of spoken words. (2)
inherit: Receive from a relative; in the
structure of a modeling bones system, the
relatives are referred to as parents and
children. (11)
input: Instruction from the player sent to the
computer. (4)
input-interaction model: Includes the
player controls and the programming needed
to interpret the button presses or other
commands. (4)
inspiration: Suggests or influences an idea or
motivates a particular thought. (7)
instance variable: Describes a single type of
item. (12)
intangible feature: Attribute that is part of
the emotional or inner character. (2)
integer: Positive and negative real whole
number. (12)
interactive simulation: Allows a user to
actively control some part of the system. (13)
interactive story: Game in which the player
performs the actions of the story. (3)
interactivity: How one object behaves when
it encounters another object. (12)
intercalating: Process of indenting all lines
that are part of a block of one code. (12)
interpolation: Process of creating a new pixel;
an approximation of combining the colors of
the original pixels surrounding it. (10)
intrinsic skill: Skill essential to complete a
task. (5)
intuitive controller: Needs little explanation
on how to use it in the game. (4)