NAN

Not a Number; usually refers to the result of an unsuccessful floating point operation. A NaN is generated when the result of a floating-point operation cannot be represented in Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) format. To check if a floating point value is Not A Number, use the function _isnan(). NaN is also the name of a 2D game engine created by Andrei Bazhgin. View the website here.

NDA

Non-Disclosure Agreement

NDA

A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is a legal contract between two parties which outlines confidential materials the parties wish to share with one another for certain purposes, but wish to restrict from generalized use.

Net Yaroze

A black Playstaton hobbyist's development kit (which also looks exactly like the regular Playstation & is made by Sony) that enables you to develop your own video games just for the Net Yaroze. But only members can participate. More information can be found at the following address: http://www.scea.sony.com/net/what.htm

Network

A group of computers which are connected together through hardware and software.

NeverWinter Nights

A very in-depth Role Playing Game released by BioWare. It has a very well constructed multiplayer system and allows for DMing. The rule set is based on AD&D but manages to keep the Player away from the dice rolls and other unnecessarily complex systems. The viewing angle is fully 3D isometric, but the view can also be rotated and zoomed in for a different viewing angle depending on the players discression. This game is by far a gem of RPGs and has a very entertaining single player campaign.

Newbie

A derogatory term for someone who has little or no experience.

NIC

Network Interface Card. Hardware used to interact through a network. Usually on a LAN.

Niche Market

Buzzword for defining a narrowly-targeted market. Normally referring to a segment of consumers who are not being targeted by mainstream products.

NIS

Non-interactive sequence. Synonyms: cut-to's, movies. A non-interactive sequence is a part of the game when the player watches the events rather than participates (or interacts). E.g., a transition movie from one level to another.

NIST

The United States National Institute of Standards and Technology.

NLP

Natural Language Processing

Node

Any connection in a network with a unique MAC address. This can be, for example, a computer or a printer.
See Also:MAC address

Noise Gate

The noise gate is a piece of studio equipment used to control the volume of an audio signal. The original intended purpose of this is to clean up unwanted noise from a recording, but some nice effects can also be achieved using a noise gate. Used simply, the noise gate only allows an audio signal above a certain threshold to play. This can be used to clean up unwanted noise by setting the threshold above the level of the noise. A typical use of the noise gate as an audio effect is to have it controlled by an additional track - for example, a beat supplied by a drum machine. In this case, the gate can be applied over the top of an audio track such as a synth pad, or perhaps vocal 'oohs'. By 'opening' and 'closing' the gate based on the rhythm supplied by another track (which may or may not be audible itself), the track in question is effectively cut up into a nice rythm. This is often used in electronic music, especially Trance. Software noise gates are also available.

Non Disclosure Agreement

A contract between two parties where they agree not to discuss details that they tell each other about matters they would rather keep private. This is different than a submission agreement though.

Normal

A "vector" that points away from the face of an object at a right (90 degree) angle.

Normal Mapping

Normal Mapping is a lighting technique used to light a low-polygon model like a high-polygon model by means of a bitmap image. Each RGB value of each individual texel within the normal map is used to represent the x,y,z components of the mesh normal at each texel. Rather than using interpolated vertex normals to calculate the lighting data, the normals from from the normal map are used.

NPC

Non-Player Characters

NURBS

Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines

Nurnies

Little electronic, pipe, or mechanical looking objects that add function/life to a space ship texture.

TOP