Glossary

KevinSeghetti -- As the rest of the documentation is filled in this needs to be updated to have links to the various pieces

Actbox: A type of object, primarily a box or field that is used to determine when another object has entered a specific area within the level. ACTIVATE: When objects are activated their mailbox flag is set to "on". ACTIVATOR: The object responsible for activating another object. CLASS: They type of an object. Clipping Plane: The visual limits at which the level is rendered. COLLISION, IMPACT: When one object strikes another. CREATE(D): When a new object appears in the Gameworld DESTROY(ED): When an active object is removed from the world. ECONOMIC UNITS (EUS): Gold, coins, etc. are all examples of economic units found in games. EUs are normally found in the Gameworld, and are spent in order to activate other objects. GAMEWORLD: This is a complete, compiled group of objects, where a Player can interact with objects, and objects can display their behaviors. INSTANCIATE(D): An actual compiled running instance of the Gameworld. The game is "playing". JUMP: A single impulse of upward energy. See Movement. Mailbox: A mailbox is a virtual container for data, specifically numeric variables. This stored data allows objects to maintain state between frames of the running game or to interact with other objects (and their own respective mailboxes) by responding to, sharing, and otherwise acting on the data stored in an object’s mailbox. Matte: The background rendered behind a scene. OAD (.oad): “Object Attribute Description,” the file type, which contains the different fields what apply to a given class and also their default values. After creating an object, the default values automatically appear in the Attributes panel. When you right-click on a spinner, this default value is what the number field will be reset to. OBJECT: Anything in the Gameworld with an OAD and attached set of values. Platform: A fundamental object type–the essential “building block” for constructing a game level. PLAYER CHARACTER(PC): This is the character that is directly controlled by the user. Poof: An object generated when another object is destroyed – for example, a cloud of dust or sparkles. Spike: An object or surface type which causes damage. TEMPLATE OBJECT: A template object defines how an instance of that object will appear in the world. Whenever an object is generated it looks to the template and creates a copy of that object that is put into the Gameworld. Missiles, guards, etc. are defined as template objects. TRIGGER: Triggers are one way that objects can be activated. When an objects trigger value is set to on, the corresponding object is activated. TWEEN: Create a third state by averaging two states together. In WF the engine tweens between the first point and the last point on a path by creating a straight line between them. Warp: A location through which an object can move or “warp” from one place to another. Z-BUFFERING: Polygons are hidden on a pixel by pixel basis. This allows for true intersection of polygons. Z-SORT: Polygons are hidden on a polygon by polygon basis. Polygons may overlap.