Glossary

Welcome to the wiki! This is where you can find resources from Yanfly.moe, Ækashics.moe,
VisuStella, Caz Wolf, Fallen Angel Olivia, Atelier Irina, and other affiliated content creators.

These are a list of commonly used terms and/or abbreviations that you will often see in the community. This page will provide a summary of what they mean but not a full explanation. A AAA A high-budget game with a large development team, or game studios that make them. AAA games are usually multiplatform, have multimillion-dollar budgets, and expect to sell millions of copies. Ace See RPG Maker VX Ace. Action Battle System (ABS) Refers to a genre of RPG's where the player fights enemies on the map rather than being sent to a different battle scene to fight them. Closely resembles the battle system in The Legend of Zelda series. Action Sequence A series of actions made through text commands to dictate how a skill or item acts visually and mechanically. See Action Sequences. Active Turn Battle (ATB) See Battle System - ATB. Ækashics See Ækashics Librarium. AGI Agility Character speed parameter in RPG Maker MV. Aggro Adapted from MMORPG slang. Refers to the likelihood of a character being targeted for an action, usually from the opposing party. The more aggro a character has, the more likely it is targeted for an action. Alias (Programming) Used in RPG Maker XP, VX, and VX Ace to patch Ruby scripts to create compatibility between scripts. The phrase carried over into RPG Maker MV and MZ's JavaScript plugins. The JavaScript term for this is "monkey patch" Alpha An extremely early stage of a product before it's released. Earlier than "Beta". Anchor (Sprite) Determines the origin point of the sprite. For X values, 0 means its origin is towards the left. 0.5 means its origin is its center. 1 means its origin is its right. For Y values, 0 means its origin is at the top. 0.5 means its origin is at the middle. 1 means its origin is at the bottom. Archeia Founder of Visustella. Area of Effect (AOE) Actions that target multiple battlers at once. This can target either an entire enemy party, entire player party, or perhaps even the entire battlefield of units. Could also refer to as a small condensed target range based on screen position achieved through the Area of Effect plugin. Aries See Aries of Sheratan. Arisu (Alice) See Arisu. Artist In the RPG Maker community, this often refers to content creators that make graphical assets. Asset Flipping A derogatory term referencing how certain games are just clones of other games with swapped out graphics and sound. ATK Attack Physical attack parameter in RPG Maker MV. Aura A term carried over from WarCraft 3. A status effect that comes as a source (usually a character) and affects units (usually party members) in a wide area. B Backup The process of creating a copy of your game project or anything you're working on in case you lose it. Because it will happen. You can never tell when. The thing you should always be doing on a regular basis. Base Code Refers to the original code that is included in any RPG Maker iteration. Battle System (BSys) In the RPG Maker community, refers to how battles work in-game. Differences in battle systems usually involve how turns interact, actions are performed, and status effects behave. Bestiary An in-game log of the monsters that the player has seen/fought/defeated. Beta An early stage of a product before it's released. Later than "Alpha". Brave Turn Battle (BTB) See Battle System - BTB. Broken When talking about skills and/or items, this means something is incredibly inbalanced to the point where it breaks the game. Buff A temporary boost to an actor or enemy that increases their stats. Not to be confused with a status effect, which could potentially do the same thing. When used by a game dev, this could mean improving/boosting a mechanic, character, enemy, skill, etc. to perform better. Opposite of a "nerf". Bug Coder slang for a programming/eventing error. Bust A graphical representation of a character during a message outside of the message window. Usually a half-body bust is used. Not to be confused with a face graphic. See Visual Novel Busts. C Caz See Caz Wolf. Changelog A log, usually found in a script or plugin, listing the changes that the script or plugin has gone through. Charge Turn Battle (CTB) See Battle System - CTB. Cheese A strategy used by players that allows them to get through a particular boss/challenge that's outside the intention of the game developer Chrono Trigger (CT) A super popular RPG that RPG Maker game devs tend to take inspiration off of. Wikipedia entry. Cleanse Refers to the removal of negative status effects. Coders In the RPG Maker community, this often refers to content creators that make plugins and/or scripts. Comment Tag Similar to Notetags but uses comments instead. More explained here. Console In the RPG Maker community, this refers to the debug console used in RPG Maker MV and RPG Maker MZ that's opened by pressing F12 during play testing. Consumable Refers to an item that disappears from inventory once you use it. If there is more than 1 of that item, the amount of the item decreases until it hits 0. Cooldown A period of time where a skill/item is unusable after having been used before. See Skill Cooldowns. Core (Plugin) A plugin that restructures a specific gameplay element of group of gameplay elements. It provides a foundation for extensions to be made and adapted into. Often misused by amateur plugin developers as a "first" plugin. Crafting The process of creating a new item through multiple items. Usually in the form of item synthesis. See Item Synthesis Crit Abbreviation for "Critical" which is often used with "Critical Hit". Critical Hit A successful attack that causes greater than normal damage to the target. Depending on the RPG may also inflict negative a status or effect onto the target hit. Custom Battle System (CBS) A custom made battle system by the creator. Usually refers to a mix-and-match with plugins and events to create the intended battle system. Custom Event System (CES) A custom made event system by the creator. Usually refers to a mix-and-match with plugins and events to create the intended event system. Custom Menu System (CMS) A custom made menu system by the creator. Usually refers to a mix-and-match with plugins and events to create the intended menu system. Cutscene A game segment that exists solely to provide detail and exposition to the story. D Damage Over Time (DoT) Adapted from MMORPG slang. Refers to the damage produced over a period of time. Usually referencing the damage output of a status effect dedicated to dealing damage to the affected battler. Damage Per Second (DPS) Adapted from MMORPG slang. Refers to the damage output over a set period of time. In the RPG Maker community, this term is inaccurate as it's also used to determine damage per turn. Dating Simulator (Dating Sim) A genre of games where the focus is dating the characters found within the game. Could also be a subgenre if it's a secondary focus. Debuff A temporary downgrade to an actor or enemy that decreases their stats. Not to be confused with a status effect, which could potentially do the same thing. DEF Defense Physical defense parameter in RPG Maker MV. Default Turn Battle (DTB) The default battle system that comes with the majority of the RPG Maker series. RPG Maker 2003 is the exception as it was ATB. Heavily inspired by the old Dragon Quest games. Demo A sample product of what's to represent a small portion of the final product. Dev Short for developer. Usually refers to game developers (game devs). Development Hell Jargon for being stuck in the development cycle for a long period of time before it progresses into production. Dialogue Tree Found primarily in adventure games A means of providing a menu of dialog choices to the player when interacting with a non-player character So as to learn more from that character, influence the character's actions And otherwise progress the game's story. The tree nature comes from typically having multiple branching levels of questions and replies that can be explored. Digital Rights Management (DRM) Software tools for copyright protection Often heavily criticized, particularly if the DRM tool is overly restrictive or badly-designed. Discord A online chatroom hosted through Discord. You can join the RPG Maker Portal Discord here. DMG Damage Dodge Tank A class that is used as damage mitigation, but instead of receiving the damage, the class focuses on evading it while attracting attacks from the opposing party. Also known as an "Evasion Tank". Doodad Referred to a graphical entity created by Yanfly's Grid-Free Doodads. Downloadable Content (DLC) Additional content for a video game that is acquired through a digital delivery system. Dragon Quest (FF) A super popular RPG series that RPG Maker game devs tend to take inspiration off of. entry. Dungeon Usually refers to the active/explorable segments of an RPG which are often outside of town and not on the overworld. Dungeon Crawler A genre of video game that is based around exploring a dungeon or similar setting, defeating monsters and collecting loot. E Effect A positive or negative element which affects a character Almost always causing modifiers to abilities or allowable actions. Example: stunned, poisoned, hasted, unconscious, etc. Sometimes called a "status effect" or, depending on the context, a "buff" or "debuff". For RPG Maker Database objects like skills and items, "Effects" are unique properties that take place when that action is used. Element Wheel A term used to describe a series of elements that have a weakness to each other in a cycle. Energy Turn Battle (ETB) See Battle System - ETB. Engine (Plugin) A plugin or series of plugins that focuses on creating a code base to further improve, optimize, and extend RPG Maker's default functions while providing a base/foundation for other plugins found in its library. This is often misused by amateur plugin developers as a "Library" Eroge Japanese slang for Erotic Game. A game that focuses on erotic content. Evasion Tank A class that is used as damage mitigation, but instead of receiving the damage, the class focuses on evading it while attracting attacks from the opposing party. Also known as a "Dodge Tank". Event RPG Maker term for an non-player-controllable entity. These can be actual characters or they can be objects. Events can trigger and run commands. Event Command A command used to control the game when an event triggers. Event System A complex system of event commands to create something that is normally not achievable through regular usage of event commands alone. Eventing The process of creating an Event System. EXP Experience Points Used in RPG Maker to represent the amount of progress a character has made. Usually earned through battles. Also abbreviated as "XP" F Fast Travel Common in role-playing games, a means by which to have the player-character(s) travel between already-discovered portions of the game's world without having to actually interactively move that distance Filter When talking about graphics, these are premade algorithms that change how the screen and/or object visibly looks. Final Fantasy (FF) A super popular RPG series that RPG Maker game devs tend to take inspiration off of. Wikipedia entry. Forum An internet message board where its users can post and reply to other messages. In the RPG Maker community, this usually refers to the official forums. Frames Per Second (FPS) A measure of the rendering speed of a video game's graphics. Free Turn Battle (FTB) See Battle System - FTB. Frontview (FV) Refers to a battle system where the camera angle is from the perspective of the player party, allowing the player to see both the enemy party but usually not the player party. If the player party is seen, it's through portraits. G Gacha Short for Gachapon. Used in the RPG Maker community as a system that grants randomized items to the player. Game Engine The codebase on which a game runs. Game Jam A hackathon for video games It is a gathering of people for the purpose of planning, designing, and creating one or more games within a short span of time, usually ranging between 24 and 72 hours, and some even longer. Participants are generally made up of programmers, game designers, artists, writers, and others in game development-related fields. Game Over State of the game where the player is considered to have "lost". Gate A term used in the game dev community to refer to how some games will intentionally lock their players out of certain content until specific requirements have been met. Generator In the RPG Maker community, this refers to the in-editor face/sprite generator found in RPG Maker VX and RPG Maker MV. Never click the randomize button. Glass Cannon A unit or character capable of doing a great deal of damage, but is easily defeated. Grind Refers to the act of repeatedly doing an action over and over to achieve a particular result. Not in the fun sense. H Harvest Moon (HM) A farming simulator game that's often used as a source of inspiration in RPG Maker. Healer Refers to a class or enemy type that focuses primarily on healing. Healing Over Time (HoT) Adapted from MMORPG slang. Refers to the damage healed over a period of time. Usually referencing the damage healing of a status effect dedicated to healing damage to the affected battler. Hentai Game A game that revolves around hentai. Usually more intense than eroge. Hitbox Refers to the area of contact an entity (usually the player) can interact with an object. Horror Game A genre of games made in RPG Maker dedicated to spooking the player. Doesn't usually have a battle system. Hot Garbage A derogatory term used to refer to games that are on the lower end of the quality spectrum. HP Health Points Used in RPG's to represent a character's current life total. Once it reaches 0, the character is knocked out/dead. Holy Trinity Adapted from MMORPG slang. Refers to a party composition consisting of a damage specialist, defense specialist, and a support specialist (usually in the form of healing). Horizontal Scaling The process of adding more options available to the player of similar impact to other items on the same tier level. Opposite of "Vertical Scaling" I Iconset Refers to a system graphic that's used as a spritesheet for all the icons used in a RPG Maker project. Immortal A state used in RPG Maker where an actor or enemy cannot die even if their HP reaches 0. This can be cancelled once the state is removed. In some plugins, immortality is used to extend certain action sequences so enemies don't die midway through them. Indie Game Short for Independent Video Game Loosely defined as a game made by a single person or a small studio without any financial, development, marketing, or distribution support from a large publisher, though there are exceptions. Instant Knock Out (IKO) A skill, item, or state that results in defeating a character or enemy instantly no matter what their current health is. Irina See Atelier Irina. itch A free host for games. Link to itch.io J JavaScript (JS) The scripting language used in RPG Maker MV. Not to be confused with Java. Call it Java to tilt some coders. JRPG Japanese Role Playing Game A genre of RPG's labeled after Japanese-style RPG's. Arguable whether or not it has to be of Japanese origin. K Kit The set of skills and abilities given to a pre-defined playable character in games featuring many such characters to choose from Knock Out (KO) Refers to an incapacitated character. Usually by reaching 0 HP. Kusoge Japanese slang for "shit game" A derogatory term used to refer to games that are on the lower end of the quality spectrum. L Lag A delay between an input or action and its corresponding result. Librarium See Ækashics Librarium. Library (Plugin) See Plugin Library. Limit Break Refers to a type of skill that requires filling up a specific gauge (in RPG Maker, this is usually the TP gauge) before it can be used. Loot Box Used in the RPG Maker community as a system that grants randomized items to the player. Also known as "Loot Crate". LUK Luck Status resistance parameter in RPG Maker MV. Luna Engine (Luna) A plugin made by Visustella dedicated towards the creation of custom menus. Made for artists by artists. Lunatic Mode A term coined by Yanfly and used by the majority of the community to refer to advanced techniques. More explained here. LV Level Represents a character's progression in RPG Maker. M Mage Refers to a class or enemy type that focuses primarily on casting magic. Mana Often used by the RPG Maker community as a resource for magical skills. Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) See the Wikipedia entry. Something you can't make in RPG Maker without a lot of difficulty. MAT Magic Attack Magical attack parameter in RPG Maker MV. MDF Magic Defense Magical defense parameter in RPG Maker MV. Melee Refers to hand-to-hand combat. In some cases, refers to close-ranged combat. Meta Often used in the gaming community as the standard strategy used at the time that is defined outside of the game itself. In RPG Maker MV, meta refers to the meta data created through the automatic Notetag parsing system. Min-Maxing The practice of playing a RPG with the intent of creating the "best" character by means of minimizing undesired or unimportant traits and maximizing desired ones. This is usually accomplished by improving one specific trait or ability (or a set of traits/abilities) by sacrificing ability in all other fields. This is easier to accomplish in games where attributes are generated from a certain number of points rather than in ones where they are randomly generated. Minigame A 'game-within-a-game', often provided as a diversion from the game's plot. Minigames are usually one-screen affairs with limited replay value, though some games have provided an entire commercial release as a 'mini-game' within the primary game-world. Mob Refers to enemies of no story importance that roam a specific area. Mobage Japanese slang for "mobile game" Refers to a genre of games that use RPG-like elements which are played on mobile devices. Usually features a gacha system of some sort. Monkey Patch (Programming) A technique used in RPG Maker MV and MZ to create compatibility between plugins. Sometimes referred to as "alias" as a carryover term from the RPG Maker XP, VX, and VX Ace days. MP Magic/Mana Points The resource used commonly in RPG's for characters to perform special skills. Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) A subgenre of strategy video games that originated as a subgenre of real-time strategy, in which a player controls a single character in a team who compete versus another team of players. Examples include League of Legends and DOTA2. Often used by RPG Maker game devs as inspiration for various skills and/or items. N Nerf When used by a game dev, this could mean reducing/lowering a mechanic, character, enemy, skill, etc. to perform worse. Opposite of a "buff". Non-Playable Character (NPC) Characters inside a game that aren't actively playable but can be interacted with. Notetag A technique originally used in RPG Maker VX to bypass the inability to add new data entries to the database. More explained here. O Original Character (OC) An character found originally in a game as its name implies. On Screen Encounters Refers to a setup where the player character has to come in contact with an enemy NPC on a map before entering battle. Also known as "Touch Encounters" Olivia See Fallen Angel Olivia. Open World An open-ended game with little to no linearity. Optimization The process of reducing memory usage of your assets. Order Turn Battle (OTB) See Order Turn Battle. See Battle System - OTB. Out of Character (OOC) Often refers to an action that is not in line with the character's personality. Overdrive See either Limit Break or Ultimate. Overpowered (OP) When talking about characters, enemies, items, skills, and/or status effects, this is talking about a near game-breaking effect that is above the norm and is potentially game-breaking. Overworld A map that is used to show a representation of the game's world on a reduced scale for faster/easier travel. Sometimes referred to as the "World Map". P Parallax Mapping The process of creating a map on an editable image and used as a parallax background on an otherwise empty map with transparent tiles. Parameter (Param) In RPG Maker, this refers to the statistical values an actor or enemy has. Base Parameters include MHP, MMP, ATK, DEF, MAT, MDF, AGI, LUK (Since RPG Maker VX Ace) X Parameters include HIT, EVA, CRI, CEV, MEV, MRF, CNT, HRG, MRG, TRG (Since RPG Maker VX Ace) S Parameters include TGR, GRD, REC, PHA, MCR, TCR, PDR, MDR, FDR, EXR (Since RPG Maker VX Ace) Often referred to as "stats" Party In the RPG Maker community, this refers to the cast of playable characters actively available to the player. PEBKAC Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair Often used by tech support staff Persona A super popular RPG series that RPG Maker game devs tend to take inspiration off of. Wikipedia entry. Pixel Movement In the RPG Maker community, this means grid-free movement, allowing the player to move outside of designated tiles and standing in multiple at a time while idle. PixiJS The graphics library used in RPG Maker MV and RPG Maker MZ. Playable Character (PC) Characters inside a game that are active playable and can be controlled by the player. Plugin Library A series of plugins made by a coder or group of coders made to work together with one another and enhance each other. Plugin Parameters Refers to the adjustable settings when opening up a plugin in the Plugin Manager list for RPG Maker MV and MZ. Poison Refers to a status effect that causes the affected character to periodically lose HP. Press Turn Battle (PTB) See Battle System - PTB. Procedural Generation When the game algorithmically combines randomly generated elements, particularly in game world creation. Programmer Tools Often refers to a plugin that's used to facilitate the creation of other plugins. It's intended that only other programmers would use this for the creation of newer plugins. Very rarely does this happen since programmers in the community cannot stand each other's code. The average RPG Maker user typically has no use for them. Prototype An early product of a project whose goal is to show what the intended gameplay experience will be like. PvE Player versus Environment Adapted from MMORPG slang. Refers to the player versus what the game dev has given the player. This is the natural state of the majority of RPG Maker games. PvP Player versus PLayer Adapted from MMORPG slang. Refers to the player versus another player. Difficult to accomplish in RPG Maker. Q Quest A task given to players in-game that may (sometimes optionally) be completed to progress further into the game or to acquire rewards. Quick Time Event (QTE) An event within a game that typically requires the player to press an indicated controller button Or move a controller's analog controls within a short time window to succeed in the event and progress forward While failure to do so may harm the player-character or lead to a game-over situation. Such controls are generally non-standard for the game, and the action performed in a quick time event is usually not possible to execute in regular gameplay R Random Encounter A gameplay feature most commonly used in JRPG's whereby combat encounters with enemies or other dangers occur sporadically and at random without the enemy being physically seen beforehand. Random Number Generation (RNG) Often referred to skills, items, and other effects that have a percent chance of succeeding. Replay Value The ability to play the game again with reasonable enjoyment. Respawn The reappearance of an entity, such as a character or object, after its death or destruction. Rez Short for resurrection. Usually refers to skills that bring a character or enemy out of a KO state. Rock Paper Scissors (RPS) Refers to a gameplay style where one element beats another, which beats another, which beats another, and so on, until it cycles back to the first. Rougelike A sub-genre of games primarily featuring procedurally-generated levels, tile-based movement, turn-based action, complex maps to explore, resource management, and permanent death. Games that lack some of those elements are usually better termed dungeon crawlers, but can be referred to as "Roguelites" In particular, permadeath alone does not make a game Roguelike. Roguelikes are typically set in dungeons, but may contain an overworld or other settings. Roguelike games are usually designed to be more challenging than typical games, with luck and memory playing a larger role. Named after the 1980 game Rogue. Rougelite Games that have some, but not all, features of Roguelike games. Often the feature removed will be permadeath. While games may self-identify as Roguelites, it can also be used as a derogatory term. Often used instead of "Roguelike" by mistake, but the two are different. RPG Maker (RM) A software series that allows its users to create games specialized in the Role Playing Game (RPG) genre. RPG Maker 95 (RM95) (95) The first release of RPG Maker for a Windows platform. RPG Maker 2000 (RM2k) (2k) The second release of RPG Maker for a Windows platform. RPG Maker 2003 (RM2k3) (2k3) The iteration of RPG Maker that released in 2003. A large improvement over RPG Maker 2000. RPG Maker MV (RMMV) (MV) The iteration of RPG Maker that released in 2015. The first iteration of RPG Maker that uses JavaScript. RPG Maker MZ (RMMZ) (MZ) The iteration of RPG Maker that released in 2020. RPG Maker VX (RMVX) (VX) The iteration of RPG Maker that released in 2007/2008. RPG Maker VX Ace (RMVXA) (VXA) (Ace) The iteration of RPG Maker that released in 2011/2012. RPG Maker XP (RMXP) (XP) The first iteration of RPG Maker that uses Ruby. Ruby The scripting language used in RPG Maker XP, RPG Maker VX, and RPG Maker VX Ace. Ruby Game Scripting System (RGSS) The specialized scripting made for the RPG Maker Windows series. Run Time Package (RTP) An asset pack that comes with each RPG Maker iteration providing stock assets. S Save Point A place in the game world of a video game where a game save can be made. Some games do not have specific save points, allowing the player to save at any point. Save Scumming The manipulation of game save states to gain an advantage during play or achieve a particular outcome from unpredictable events. It is used, for example, in Roguelike games that automatically delete any save files when the player-character dies. Scope Inside the RPG Maker software, this refers to the target range of a skill or item. In the RPG Maker community, this refers to the projected time length and scale of a game project. Script Code that is found inside an RPG Maker XP, VX, and VX Ace project. Often refers to external code imported into the game outside of the base code. These are what the "plugins" of RPG Maker XP, VX, and VX Ace were called. Script Call An event command that allows you to insert code to produce effects that are normally not available through event commands. More explained here. Self-Insert Refers to a character that's a representation of its creator. Shin Megami Tensei (SMT) A super popular RPG series that RPG Maker game devs tend to take inspiration off of. Wikipedia entry. Skill Tree A visual representation of the skills and orders a player can direct a character into learning. Not available to RPG Maker by default. Skinner Box A technique implemented by the game to keep players invested in their game through operant conditioning. Frowned upon heavily by gamers and other game devs. Wikipedia Sideview (SV) Refers to a battle system where the camera angle is from the side, allowing the player to see both the player party and enemy party. Silence Refers to a status effect that prevents the affected character from being able to use magic and/or sometimes skills in general. Sleep Refers to a status effect that prevents the affected character from being able to act until the character is dealt damage (either physical, magical, and/or both) to wake them up. Snippet (Programming) Actual definition refers to a "code snippet" which is used to describe a small portion of re-usable source code, machine code, or text. The RPG Maker community's definition usually refers to a small script or plugin that contains very little code. Sprite A graphic shown on the screen. Usually referred to in the RPG Maker community as a moveable graphic that's used to represent characters. Standard Turn Battle (STB) See Battle System - STB. Statistic (Stat) This refers to the statistical values an actor or enemy has. These are called "Parameters" in RPG Maker State In RPG Maker, this refers to what's common known as "status effects" in other RPG's. Status Effect In RPG's, this refers to a (usually temporary) condition that changes the affected actor or enemy's behavior. Examples would include poison, silence, stun, and more. Steam A platform used for distributing games. Link to Steam Strategy RPG (SRPG) A strategy-based RPG. Synonymous with Tactical RPG. Wikipedia entry. Stun Refers to a status effect that prevents the affected character from being able to act. Survival Game A game set in a hostile open-world environment where characters are challenged to collect resources, craft items, and survive as long as possible. Synthesis The process of creating a new item through multiple items. Usually in the form of item crafting. See Item Synthesis Often known as "Crafting" T Tactical RPG (TRPG) A strategy-based RPG. Synonymous with Strategy RPG. Wikipedia entry. Tank Refers to a class or enemy type that focuses primarily on defense. Taunt A term carried over from WarCraft 3. An action that causes an enemy or group of enemies to target a character, usually, the character performing the taunt. Text Code A text format used for changing the way text looks in the in-game message system. More explained here. Theme6 The default song used with a new project of RPG Maker MV that's overused due to neglecting to changing it from the default settings. A meme in the RPG Maker community that's often used as a sign of a poorly made project. Tick An increment of damage or healing periodically caused by a DoT or HoT effect. TileD A tool used to create more customized maps than what's possible through RPG Maker MV. Also see the plugin made by Visustella. Time Progression Battle (TPB) Introduced in RPG Maker MZ as a form of ATB (Active Turn Battle) Tips & Tricks (T&T) Usually refers to various techniques that game devs can in RPG Maker. In certain RPG Maker communities, this refers to Yanfly's Tips & Tricks. Touch Encounters Refers to a setup where the player character has to come in contact with an enemy NPC on a map before entering battle. Also known as "On Screen Encounters" TP Tech Points We're actually not sure what the T stands for but "Tech" is our guess. Used in RPG Maker as a resource gauge that fills up by dealing damage and receiving damage. Trash Mobs Refers to enemy encounters of little to no story importance. Trait Database property for Actors, Classes, Weapons, Armors, Enemies and States that enable unique passive effects. Actors and enemies are affected by all of their associated sub-database-related traits. Troop Enemy party Trope A common writing convention Usually given a name through TV Tropes. Don't visit that site unless you want to be trapped for hours. Sometimes called "cliches" (though inaccurate). U Ultimate When referring to skills, it's usually a character's best action. Usually something that deals above average damage, heals more than the norm, or applies a stronger than usual status effect. Usually a skill that has a high resource cost or specific requirements to be used. Underpowered When talking about characters, enemies, items, skills, and/or status effects, this is talking about an unimpressive effect that has little to no significance on gameplay. Undertale A super popular RPG that RPG Maker game devs tend to take inspiration off of. Wikipedia entry. User Interface (UI) Refers to the graphical interface that players see in-game. User Experience (UX) Refers to the player experience or user experience. V Vaporware Video games which are announced and appear in active development for some time but are never released nor officially cancelled. Vertical Scaling The process of adding more tiers and iterations of skills, items, equipment that are objectively better than the previous tier. Opposite of "Horizontal Scaling" Visual Novel (VN) A Japanese novel read as an game-like application on a computer. A term to distinguish itself from a "Game" because there is usually no gameplay involved, and the only interaction that the player can make with the game is making certain choices at specific points in the game that decides which branch of the storyline that the player will take. Visual Novel Maker (VNM) See Visual Novel Maker. VisuStella A game dev circle made by Archeia, Caz Wolf, and Yanfly. The circle produces graphical assets as well as plugins for various RPG Maker iterations. VisuStella MZ (VisuMZ) A plugin library lead by Yanfly with contracted plugin developers from the RPG Maker community. W Walking Simulator A derogatory term sometimes used to classify exploration games Which generally involve exploring an environment for story and narrative but with few, if any, puzzles or gameplay elements. Warrior Refers to a class or enemy type that focuses primarily on physical attacks. WASD A common control-mechanism using a typical QWERTY keyboard, with the W, A, S, and D keys bound to movement controls. This allows arrow key-like control with the left hand. Wave In game genres or modes where player(s) are to defend a point or stay alive as long as possible, enemies are commonly grouped into "waves" (sometimes referred to as levels). When one wave of enemies is defeated, player(s) are typically given a short period to prepare for the next wave. Window This refers to the in-game system pane that appears displaying text, messages, and other forms of data for the player. Usually not acknowledged by the characters in the game. Unless that game breaks the fourth wall. It's awkward when that happens. Wipe An attack from the boss in which the said boss completely knocks out the entire party. World Map A map that is used to show a representation of the game's world on a reduced scale for faster/easier travel. Sometimes referred to as the "Overworld". Writers In the RPG Maker community, this often refers to content creators that specialize in writing stories and/or dialogue. WRPG Western Role Playing Game A genre of RPG's labeled after Western-style RPG's. Arguable whether or not it has to be of Western origin. X XP Experience Points Used in RPG Maker to represent the amount of progress a character has made. Usually earned through battles. Also abbreviated as "EXP" Y Yanfly Creator of the following RPG Maker script/plugin libraries: Yanfly Engine Ace (YEA) The plugin library made by Yanfly for RPG Maker VX Ace. Yanfly Engine Melody (YEM) One of the plugin libraries made by Yanfly for RPG Maker VX. Yanfly Engine Plugins (YEP) The plugin library made by Yanfly for RPG Maker MV. Yanfly Engine ReDux (YERD) One of the plugin libraries made by Yanfly for RPG Maker VX. Yanfly Engine Zealous (YEZ) One of the plugin libraries made by Yanfly for RPG Maker VX. Z Z-Axis In RPG Maker, games are usually 2D, but the Z-Axis is used anyway to determine whether or not a sprite is in front of or behind another sprite.