Fundamentals of Game Design, Third Edition

Glossary

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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