A C/C++ header file.
See Also:C, C++

Hardware Abstraction Layer. The driver used by DirectX to perform functions using hardware such as a graphics card.

Half-Life is an innovative First Person Shooter that brought real scenario and artificial intelligence. Its main ability relied in the fact that it was customable, so that people could program game mods (modifications).

The writer and designer behind a number of bestselling computer games including "Betrayal at Krondor", "Return to Krondor", "Planet?s Edge" and "Might & Magic III: Isles of Terra". Further information about him is available through his website at Neal.Hallford.com.

A site for gamers and has some information for game developers as well.

A media storage device which is usually built into the computer tower, and serves as major storage space for programs and other data.

One who is extremely familiar with games and gaming terms. Usually knows more about the industry than most, and enjoys niche and import games such as anime and RPG based games. Also, are known for being large fans of import gaming. Usually "live and breath" games.

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The Hash Table is a data structure which is suited to searching large amounts of information by a key value. Hash tables are most useful with a large number of records are stored, and allow information to easily be located. Hash tables function by processing the key using a function which returns a hash value - this value determines where the the data the particular record will be stored. This same value can then be used to search the hash table, and will point to the same location.

A header file is a file that is included into your program source. For Instance: #include "gamestuff.h" Whatever is in gamestuff.h is availible to the program.

This is a technique for imparting vital information to the player during gameplay, without requiring him to access a separate menu. The relevant information is simply overlaid on the game screen. This makes the information instantly available, without destroying the flow of the game itself. Typical examples of the Heads Up Display include the health bars common to Fighting games,and speedometers found in Racing games. While the Heads Up Display can help to support the game?s pacing, it may also detract from the mood of a game. So it is important to make the Heads Up Display blend with the rest of the game as seemlessly as possible.

A method often used to create 3D landscapes, height maps contain a grid of points that are given height values and the landscape is rendered by building polygons out of them.

Hardware Emulation Layer. The driver used by DirectX to perform functions that cannot be performed by hardware (and therefore cannot be done through the HAL).

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A rule of thumb or educated guess that reduces or limits a search on a domain that is difficult to search.

The hexadecimal number system is a base 16 number system. This number system uses values 0-9 and A-F to represent values.

Artificial intelligence that is build on several levels, in order to produce concrete and local actions from a global concept or strategy. Mostly used in Real-Time Strategy (RTS) games, in order to simulate military hierarchy.

Used in most games to reference the amount of times a player can be damaged before their character passes out or dies.

High-Level Shading Language. A C-like language developed by Microsoft for DirectX Graphics. Shader programs, such as vertex and pixel shaders, can be written and compiled in HLSL rather than the various hardware shader assembly languages. The resulting compiled can then be loaded onto modern graphics hardware that supports programmable shaders.

Hidden Surface Removal The CPU removes hidden surfaces before sending meshes to the videocard. Because the CPU can remove entire meshes at a time, this can save a lot of time when checking individual triangles.

HyperText Markup Language: A markup language used to structure text and multimedia documents and to set up hypertext links between documents, used extensively on the World Wide Web.

A piece of hardware that connects multiple network connections together, such as computers. Can be active or passive. Sends a brodcast signle to all computers untill a response is received from the destination client.

Heads-Up-Display. This means status information which are always visible like health or ammo information.

A list of suggested prefixes to variable and function names created by Charles Simonyi. There are different versions for both Visual Basic and Visual C++. VC++: b - boolean operator by - byte (unsigned char) c - char cx / cy - size stored in a short dw - DWORD; double word, unsigned long fn - function h - handle i - integer l - long n - short int p - pointer s - string sz - ASCIIZ string terminated with a zero (null-terminated) w - WORD (unsigned int) x, y - short used as coordinates These can be combined in many cases. For instance, lpsz - long pointer to a null-terminated ASCII string. Visual Basic (almost all Visual Basic notations are three letters long): bln - Boolean chk - Check box cbo - Combo box cmd - Command button cur - Currency dtm - Date/Time (variant) dlg - Dialog Box (also used for common dialog control) dbl - Double (double-precision float) frm - Form fra - Frame hsb - Horizontal scroll bar img - Image box int - Integer lbl - Label lst - List box lng - Long mnu - Menu opt - Option (radio) button pic - Picture box shp - Shape or Line sng - Single str - String txt - Text box vnt - Variant vsb - Vertical scroll bar

The most common types of cameras used in games today are OTS (Over the Shoulder; Tomb Raider series) and FP (First Person; Quake series) along with some others such as isometric etc. A hybrid camera system is a camera system that combines two or more camera types in a single game. One example is Morrowind an RPG which uses both OTS (so the player can see his character?s equiped items and the combat more closely) and FPS (to give the player a sense of immersion in Morrowinds rich enviorments).

A evolutionary body that regulates the intrinsic intelligence of Living and Artifical Living systems. Developed in 1979 Eigen, M. and P. Schuster, hypercyclic systems have become primary factor in the study of evolving systems. Since 1999, the Bionic Bros. GmbH lauched the development of an ALife gaming system based on the Eigen - Schuster Proposal. Watch it evolve.. www.bionicbros.de

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