Glossary of Game Writing Terms

• Avatar: the character (or characters) the player controls in the game world. Predominately used to refer to the player's character in an online game, but increasingly used as a synonym for PC (qv).
• Boolean variable: a data structure used by the programming team to record the state of something which can be either True or False.
• Branching: to offer the user of an interactive program several possible choices of action in order to move from one sequence to another.
• Breadcrumbing: the process of writing game dialogue with the express purpose of keeping the player inside the 'tram lines' of the gameplay. In effect, breadcrumbing dialogue is that speech whose purpose is guiding the player towards completing goals inside the game world, such that they need never get stuck in the game.
• Cardboard cutouts: when characters in a game have a fixed position in the game world, and only limited dialogue (usually one set speech for each time the player visits) they are described as carboard cutouts. The most common form of characters in a game, currently.
• Commentary: a voice-over of spoken remarks that explain or enhance the game sequence’s visual presentation.
• Conditional dialogue: speech in the game which varies according to the state of different variables in the game. For example, the character may one thing if the player doesn't have a certain item with them, and something different if they do.
• Continuity: the smooth linking of an event, or level to another.
• Critical objectives: elements revealed, or earned, as the player moves through a story; the opposite of critical path, because there are now many ways to complete an objective (qv).
• Critical path: a single correct path the player must follow to successfully complete an objective.
• Cut scene: a non-interactive part of a game, in which (usually) some story elements are advanced. The screen may go to a 'letterbox' format to inform the player that the sequence is non-interactive, and usually there is some option to advance the cut scene instantly if the player is already familiar with the material.
• Design document: a document that describes and defines all pertinent details of the game in development, including presentation methods, the story line, instructional strategies, flowcharts, gameplay (qv).
• Developer: an organization of artists, programmers, game designers, testers, and writers who create a playable game from its initial concept.
• Dialogue engine: the part of a game which handles how characters speak to the player. The design of this is usually provided by a game designer, but the game writer may contribute to the functionality.
• Dialogue script: the document which specifies the dialogue used in a game. Different developers have different formats for writing a dialogue script, but often the script writer determines the format of this document.
• Dynamic narrative: synonym for Interactive narrative (qv).
• Dynamic plot: synonym for Interactive plot (qv).
• Edutainment: combining educational information in a gaming enviornment to make the presentation more entertaining.
• Establishing event (or shot): the first event or screen that appears when a player launches a game.
• Fade in: a transition from blank screen to an image.
• Flag: a synonym for Boolean variable (qv) used as shorthand in some narrative designs.
• Flow module: a self-contained interactive environment linked to other environments through a common story, which presents itself to the player through interactive, non-linear pathways (qv).
• Game designer: a person who constructs or co-ordinates the mechanical, parametric and high-level design of a game. If the person also writes dialogue for the game, they can be considered a writer-designer (qv).
• Game developer: see 'developer'.
• Game publisher: see 'publisher'.
• Game writer: a person who contributes to the narrative design and/or script writing for a game.
• Immersive gameplay: a story or visual presentation that enables the player to convincingly enter and participate in a virtual world.
• Information window: a small area on the screen, usually framed by a pertinent graphic, that provides prompts, or useful information to the player.
• Interactive narrative: when a game is said to include 'interactive narrative', it means the progression of some aspect of the character-elements of the story changes according to the actions the player takes.
• Interactive plot: a game in which the progression of the plot changes according to player actions can be considered to have an interactive plot.
• Linear: an interactive sequence designed to be played from beginning to end without branching (qv).
• Logline: a one line story plot summary.
• Milestone: a pre-established date in time, used to define a important events such as a level completion, some element of game completion on which other elements depend, or the delivery date.
• Narrative design: high-level story design that dictates the overall flow of the story, the nature of the characters and their interactions, and any other aspect of the game story that can be expressed in broad strokes.
• Non-player character: a character in the game story that is not controlled by the player, but by the game engine or AI.
• NPC: short for non-player character (qv).
• Parallel streaming: a story path structure with multiple stories that coincide with, or run parallel with, a single linear narrative, that allows the user to switch between these story paths at any time.
• Play-life: the amount of time the typical player will expend on playing a game.
• Play-mechanics: a game’s rules or procedures.
• PC: short for player character (qv), the character controlled by the player in the game world. The term avatar (qv) may be replacing this term, but 'PC' is still used by many people, reflecting the roots of modern games in table-top role playing games.
• Player character: the character (or characters) in the game the player controls. The term 'avatar' (qv) is more commonly used these days.
• Plot: the plan of action of a game.
• Plot skeleton: the outline of a game story, showing the sequence of levels or other plot elements. Mostly used in connection with interactive plots or narratives (qv).
• Publisher: an organization that provides marketing and distribution services for the developer(qv).
• Royalties: a payment based on a percentage of revenue generated by a game.
• Segue: a transition from one game sequence to another, such as one scene to another, or an audio segment transition.
• Sequence: a related series of shots, or visuals, unified by some element that they hold in common, such as action, character, level, etc. (qv).
• Storyboard: a plot or outline of a game presented as a series of sketches; used typically during the initial development of levels, game play, and when mapping out character options/actions. See Super Storyboard).
• Subplot: a secondary plot in a game. See Plot (qv).
• Super Storyboard: the graphical roadmap that describes all audio, video, graphic and gameplay for an interactive project (qv).
• Synopsis: a brief outline of a proposed game project.
• Synthespian (see Avatar): a synthetic actor or character that can interact and navigate in the virtual environment of an on-line game, or some other virtual framework (qv).
• Target audience: the group to which the game has been designed to appeal.
• Timeout: a situation that prompts the execution of a default branch if a player does not respond within a set period of time.
• Transition: a passing from one condition, story element, sequence, activity, etc., to another (qv).
• Treatment: a summary of a proposed project’s contents, generally no more than 30 pages, used to generate interest and “sell” the project. Sometimes referred to as a design proposal (qv).
• Vanity board: a window or screen that displays player names and accumulated high-score statistics (qv).
• Voice Over (V.O.): a narration by an offscreen announcer that provides backstory, or some other important story element, such as player objectives, or rules of weapon use or gameplay.
• Writer-designer: a game writer (qv) who is also a game designer.
• Zero-Sum: an interactive game or contest where the outcome produces both a winner and a loser.