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Glossary Glossary
neutral NPC: Non-player game characters
who are not motivated by what the player is
doing. (2)
noncompete agreement: Contract that states
you cannot create work that competes with
the company while you are employed by it
and for a certain period of time after you
leave the company. (10)
nonlinear structure: Story that has more
than one path from the beginning to the end,
and there may be more than one possible
ending. (3)
non-player character (NPC): Any game
character controlled by the game instead of by
the player. (2)
nontrivial task: Task with purpose, like
fi nding a potion to defeat an enemy. (3)
NPC dialogue: Occurs when a non-player
character speaks directly to the player. (5)
NURBS: Model is based on a mathematical
calculation that creates a curve or surface
from specifi ed control points; stands for
non-uniform rational basis spline. (10)
O O
object: In programming, a defi nition
subroutine; defi ned by attributes and
properties. (12)
one bit: Smallest unit of measure of
information in computer science; one byte is
eight bits. (12)
opacity: Quality of being see-through; the
higher the opacity, the less see-through a
material is. (10)
opaque: Not transparent. (11)
optical texture: Variation in what is seen. (9)
optimizing: Formatting audio so it sounds
best from a playback device. (8)
organic shapes: Irregular shapes. (9)
other player character (OPC): In-game
character controlled by another human
player. (2)
output: Information that the computer sends
to the player. (4)
output-interaction model: The portion of the
user interface that performs the action-fulfi ll
commands and provides feedback to the
player. (4)
over budget: When more money is spent than
was allowed for the project. (1)
overlapping: More than one motion occurring
at the same time. (11)
overt clue: Clue that is easy to fi nd and
understand. (6)
P P
pacing: Rate at which a player must make
decisions. (6)
parallel-branching level design: Level design
that allows the player to start and make
choices as to which room to enter to get to
the endpoint. (3)
parameters: Variables that could alter the
situation. (13)
partial-conversion mod: Mod that only adds
content to the game. (5)
partnership: Agreement between two or more
people to open a business together. (1)
parts: Pieces of a puzzle that are manipulated
in the game. (7)
patch: Software installation program that fi xes
known bugs or damaged programming. (1)
pattern recognition: Occurs when a player
can observe repeating actions or conditions
and use that to predict future game
movements and events. (6)
pause-and-relax activity: Gives the player a
chance to recover from the stress of a major
challenge. (5)