Game Development Glossary

Essential terminology for game developers, studios, and stakeholders. Every term explained in plain language, with links to our relevant services.

Development Models

Agile: An iterative development methodology that breaks work into short cycles (sprints) with regular reviews and adaptation. Widely adopted in game development because it accommodates the frequent design changes inherent in creative projects. Contrast with waterfall, where requirements are fixed upfront.
Backlog: A prioritised list of features, bugs, and tasks that a development team plans to work on. Managed by the product owner and refined regularly. Items near the top are well-defined and ready for the next sprint; items lower down may be rough ideas awaiting further detail.
Code Audit: A systematic review of a codebase to assess its health, architecture, technical debt, and readiness for further development. Often performed before acquiring a project, onboarding a new team, or beginning a major modernisation effort. Our Legacy Modernisation Services →
Co-Development: A partnership model where an external studio works alongside your internal team as an embedded unit. Unlike traditional outsourcing, co-dev teams integrate into your workflows, tools, and communication channels. This provides flexible capacity without the overhead of permanent hires. Our Co-Development Services →
Outsourcing: Contracting an external company to handle part or all of your game development. Can range from specific tasks (art production, QA) to full turnkey development. The key distinction from co-development is that outsourced work is typically managed by the external partner rather than embedded in your team.
Sprint: A fixed time period (typically one to four weeks) during which an agile team commits to completing a defined set of work. Each sprint ends with a review of what was delivered and a retrospective on the process. Provides predictable delivery cadence and regular checkpoints.
Staff Augmentation: Temporarily expanding your team by bringing in external specialists who work under your direction. Often used interchangeably with co-development, though staff augmentation typically implies individual contributors rather than a coordinated team. Our Co-Development Services →
Technical Debt: The accumulated cost of shortcuts, quick fixes, and deferred maintenance in a codebase. Like financial debt, it compounds over time: each workaround makes future changes harder and more error-prone. Addressing technical debt is a key motivation for legacy modernisation projects. Our Legacy Modernisation Services →
Turnkey Development: A development model where the external studio handles the entire project from concept to delivery. The client receives a finished product without managing day-to-day development. Best suited for organisations without in-house game development expertise.
White-Label Development: Building a game or app that the client publishes under their own brand, with no visible attribution to the development studio. Common in corporate training and educational game development.

Development Phases

Pre-Production: The planning phase before full development begins. Includes concept development, market research, technical feasibility studies, Game Design Document (GDD) creation, and prototyping. A thorough pre-production phase reduces risk and prevents costly changes later. Our Game Design Services →
Prototyping: Building a minimal playable version of the game to test core mechanics before committing to full production. Often called a 'greybox' prototype because it uses placeholder art. Prototyping validates whether the gameplay loop is fun and technically feasible. Our Game Design Services →
Alpha: A development milestone where all core features are implemented but the game is not yet content-complete or fully polished. Alpha builds are typically used for internal testing and feedback. Expect bugs, placeholder art, and missing content at this stage.
Beta: A development milestone where the game is feature-complete and content-complete but still undergoing testing and polish. Beta builds may be released to a limited audience (closed beta) or the public (open beta) to gather feedback and identify issues at scale.
Gold Master: The final, approved build of a game that is submitted for distribution or platform certification. On console, this is the version sent for TRC/XR compliance testing. On mobile, it is the build submitted to the App Store or Google Play.
Game Design Document (GDD): A comprehensive reference document that describes every aspect of a game: mechanics, UI flows, progression systems, narrative, monetisation, and technical requirements. A living document that evolves throughout development and serves as the single source of truth for the team. Our Game Design Services →

Platforms & Porting

Console Porting: Specifically adapting a game for PlayStation, Xbox, or Nintendo Switch. Console porting requires devkit access, platform-specific SDKs, controller input remapping, and passing the platform holder's certification process (TRC for Sony, XR for Microsoft, Lotcheck for Nintendo). Our Console Porting Services →
Cross-Platform: Developing a game that runs on multiple platforms (mobile, PC, console) from a shared codebase. Requires abstraction layers for input, rendering, and platform-specific features. Unity's cross-platform support makes this more achievable, but each platform still needs dedicated optimisation and testing.
Flash to HTML5: The process of migrating games and interactive content from Adobe Flash (discontinued in 2020) to modern web technologies like HTML5, JavaScript, and WebGL. A common legacy modernisation project, particularly for educational publishers with large Flash content libraries. Our Legacy Modernisation Services →
Game Porting: Adapting a game from one platform to another, such as PC to mobile or mobile to console. Porting involves more than recompilation - it requires reworking input systems, UI, performance profiles, and often significant code changes to meet the target platform's constraints. Our Mobile Development Services →
Platform Certification: The approval process required by console manufacturers (Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo) before a game can be published on their platform. Each has specific technical requirements covering performance, accessibility, save data handling, and user experience that must be met. Our Console Porting Services →
PWA (Progressive Web App): A web application that can be installed on a device and run offline, behaving like a native app. PWAs avoid app store distribution (and commissions) while still supporting push notifications, home screen icons, and hardware access. Useful for educational games and tools.
Smart Delivery: Microsoft's system for Xbox that ensures players automatically receive the best version of a game for their console (Xbox One vs Xbox Series X|S) with a single purchase. Developers must build and submit separate binaries for each hardware target.
Steam Deck Verified: Valve's compatibility programme that rates how well PC games run on the Steam Deck handheld. A Verified badge indicates the game works perfectly with the Deck's controls, display, and performance profile. Increasingly important for PC game launches.
TRC / XR / Lotcheck: The certification requirement checklists from Sony (Technical Requirements Checklist), Microsoft (Xbox Requirements), and Nintendo (Lotcheck) respectively. These define the mandatory standards a game must meet before it can ship on each platform.
WebGL: A JavaScript API for rendering 2D and 3D graphics in a web browser without plugins. Unity can export to WebGL, making it a viable target for browser-based educational games and prototypes. Performance is more constrained than native builds. Our Educational Game Services →

Performance & Optimisation

Addressables: Unity's asset management system that allows developers to load content by address (a string key) rather than direct reference. Supports on-demand downloading, memory-efficient loading, and content updates without full app patches. Essential for large mobile projects.
Asset Bundles: Packaged collections of Unity assets (textures, models, prefabs) that can be loaded at runtime. The predecessor to Addressables, still used in many projects. Enables downloadable content (DLC) and reduces initial install size on mobile.
Draw Call Batching: A rendering optimisation that combines multiple draw calls into fewer, larger ones. Each draw call has CPU overhead, so reducing their count improves frame rate. Unity supports static batching (for non-moving objects) and dynamic batching (for small, similar meshes).
ECS / DOTS: Unity's Entity Component System and Data-Oriented Technology Stack. A high-performance programming paradigm that organises data for optimal CPU cache usage, enabling massive entity counts. Useful for simulation-heavy games with thousands of active objects.
Frame Budget: The maximum time available to process a single frame while maintaining the target frame rate. At 30 fps the budget is 33.3 ms per frame; at 60 fps it is 16.6 ms. Exceeding the budget causes dropped frames and visible stuttering.
Garbage Collection (GC): The automatic process of reclaiming memory that is no longer in use. In Unity (C#), GC pauses can cause frame rate hitches if code allocates and discards objects frequently. Techniques like object pooling and struct usage help minimise GC pressure.
GPU Instancing: A rendering technique that draws many copies of the same mesh in a single draw call, with per-instance data (position, colour, scale) passed via buffers. Ideal for dense game worlds with repeated elements like foliage, crowds, or projectiles.
IL2CPP: Unity's scripting backend that converts C# (IL) code to C++ before compiling to native machine code. Produces faster, smaller builds than the older Mono backend and is required for iOS. Increases build times but improves runtime performance.
LOD (Level of Detail): A technique that renders distant objects with simpler meshes and textures. As the camera moves closer, higher-detail versions are swapped in. Reduces the GPU workload for scenes with many objects at varying distances.
Memory Budget: The maximum amount of RAM a game should consume on a given platform. Exceeding the budget causes the operating system to terminate the app (especially on mobile) or triggers excessive paging on desktop. Profiling tools help track memory usage by category.
Object Pooling: A pattern that pre-creates and recycles game objects instead of instantiating and destroying them at runtime. Avoids garbage collection spikes that cause frame rate stutters, especially important on mobile where GC pauses are more noticeable.
Performance Optimisation: The process of improving a game's frame rate, load times, memory usage, and battery consumption. Particularly critical on mobile where hardware varies enormously. Techniques include draw call batching, texture compression, LOD systems, object pooling, and shader optimisation. Our Performance Optimisation Services →
Profiling: Measuring a game's runtime performance to identify bottlenecks. Tools like Unity Profiler, Xcode Instruments, and Android GPU Inspector reveal where CPU time, GPU time, and memory are being spent, guiding targeted optimisation.
Shader Graph: Unity's visual tool for building shaders without writing code. Designers and technical artists can create custom materials by connecting nodes in a graph editor. Outputs optimised shader code compatible with Unity's Scriptable Render Pipeline.
SRP Batcher: Unity's Scriptable Render Pipeline Batcher, which speeds up CPU rendering by batching draw calls for objects that share the same shader variant. Unlike GPU instancing, it does not require identical meshes, making it effective across diverse scene geometry.
Thermal Throttling: When a mobile device reduces CPU and GPU clock speeds to prevent overheating during sustained processing. Causes progressive frame rate drops during long play sessions. Games must be optimised to run well within thermal limits, not just peak performance. Our Performance Optimisation Services →

Multiplayer & Networking

CCU (Concurrent Users): The number of players connected to a game's servers at the same time. A key capacity planning metric that determines infrastructure costs and matchmaking pool size. Peak CCU often occurs during events, launches, or weekends.
Client-Side Prediction: A technique where the client simulates the result of player input locally before the server confirms it. This hides network latency by showing immediate feedback, then reconciles with the server's authoritative state when the response arrives.
Dedicated Server: A server instance that runs the game simulation independently of any player's machine. Provides better performance, fairness, and anti-cheat capabilities than peer-to-peer models, but requires hosting infrastructure and ongoing operational costs.
FishNet: An open-source Unity networking framework designed for server-authoritative multiplayer games. Offers prediction, reconciliation, and a component-based API. A popular free alternative to commercial solutions for Unity developers. Our Multiplayer & Networking Services →
Lag Compensation: Techniques that account for network latency so that actions feel responsive and fair across all players. Server-side lag compensation rewinds game state to the moment a player fired, ensuring hit detection matches what they saw on screen. Our Multiplayer & Networking Services →
Matchmaking: The system that groups players together for multiplayer sessions based on criteria like skill level, region, latency, and party size. Good matchmaking balances fair competition with fast queue times.
Mirror: A community-maintained open-source networking library for Unity, forked from the original UNet. Provides high-level networking components for synchronisation, RPCs, and server authority. Widely used in indie and mid-sized multiplayer projects. Our Multiplayer & Networking Services →
NAT Traversal: Techniques for establishing direct connections between players whose devices sit behind routers and firewalls (Network Address Translation). Methods include STUN, TURN, and hole punching. Without NAT traversal, peer-to-peer connections often fail.
Netcode: The collective networking code that handles communication between game clients and servers. Includes serialisation, state synchronisation, lag compensation, and connection management. Good netcode is invisible to players; bad netcode causes rubber-banding and desync. Our Multiplayer & Networking Services →
Peer-to-Peer (P2P): A networking model where players connect directly to each other without a central server. Lower infrastructure cost but more vulnerable to cheating, latency asymmetry, and NAT traversal issues. Suitable for smaller-scale multiplayer or co-op games.
Photon: A commercial networking platform by Exit Games that provides cloud-hosted multiplayer infrastructure, matchmaking, and real-time communication. Available as Photon PUN (high-level Unity integration) and Photon Fusion (newer, prediction-based framework). One of the most widely adopted multiplayer middleware solutions. Our Multiplayer & Networking Services →
Server-Authoritative Architecture: A networking model where the server is the single source of truth for game state. Clients send inputs to the server, which validates them, updates the game state, and sends results back. Prevents most forms of cheating because clients cannot directly modify game state. Our Multiplayer & Networking Services →
Snapshot Interpolation: A networking technique where the server sends periodic snapshots of the full game state. Clients interpolate between two received snapshots to produce smooth visual movement, trading a small amount of additional latency for visual smoothness and simplicity.
State Synchronisation: The process of keeping game state consistent across all connected clients and the server. Approaches include full state snapshots, delta compression (sending only changes), and interest management (sending only relevant data to each client). Our Multiplayer & Networking Services →

Monetisation & Live Ops

A/B Testing: Running controlled experiments where different player groups see different versions of a feature (pricing, UI layout, tutorial flow) to measure which performs better. Essential for optimising monetisation, retention, and user experience in live-service games.
Ad Mediation: A layer that manages multiple ad networks (AdMob, Unity Ads, IronSource, AppLovin) and selects the highest-paying ad for each impression in real time. Maximises ad revenue without requiring developers to integrate each network individually. Our Monetisation & Live Ops Services →
ARPU / ARPDAU: Average Revenue Per User and Average Revenue Per Daily Active User. Key monetisation metrics that measure how effectively a game generates revenue from its player base. ARPDAU is preferred for free-to-play games because it accounts for daily engagement fluctuations.
Battle Pass: A seasonal monetisation system that offers a tiered reward track. Players earn progress through gameplay and can purchase a premium tier for additional rewards. Drives both engagement and revenue by combining FOMO with tangible value.
Churn Rate: The percentage of players who stop playing over a given period. High churn indicates problems with onboarding, content depth, or player satisfaction. Reducing churn (improving retention) is typically more cost-effective than acquiring new players.
COPPA: The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (US federal law) that imposes strict requirements on apps directed at children under 13. Requires verifiable parental consent before collecting personal data. Relevant for educational and family-friendly games. Our Educational Game Services →
eCPM: Effective Cost Per Mille (thousand impressions). The revenue earned per 1,000 ad impressions, calculated as (total ad revenue / impressions) x 1,000. The primary metric for comparing ad network performance. Rewarded video typically delivers the highest eCPM.
Free-to-Play (F2P): A monetisation model where the game is free to download and play, generating revenue through optional in-app purchases, ads, or battle passes. Requires careful design to ensure paying players get value without alienating non-paying players. Our Monetisation Services →
Gacha: A monetisation mechanic inspired by Japanese capsule-toy machines where players spend premium currency for randomised rewards. Similar to loot boxes but often tied to character collection systems. Subject to increasing regulatory scrutiny in multiple jurisdictions.
Games as a Service (GaaS): A business model where a game generates ongoing revenue through continuous content updates, subscriptions, or microtransactions rather than a single upfront purchase. Requires robust live ops infrastructure and a long-term content roadmap.
GDPR-K / UK AADC: Regulations that apply additional protections to children's personal data. The UK Age Appropriate Design Code (AADC, also known as the Children's Code) requires apps likely to be accessed by children to apply high privacy settings by default, disable profiling, and minimise data collection. Our Educational Game Services →
In-App Purchases (IAP): Digital goods or currency sold within a game. Consumables (gems, energy) are used once; non-consumables (skins, characters) are permanent. Both Apple and Google take a platform commission (typically 15-30%) on all IAP revenue.
Live Ops (Live Operations): The ongoing management of a game after launch, including content updates, seasonal events, balance changes, bug fixes, and community management. Live ops transforms a game from a one-time product into a continuously evolving service. Our Monetisation & Live Ops Services →
Loot Box: A purchasable or earnable in-game container that reveals randomised rewards when opened. Controversially blurs the line between gaming and gambling. Regulated or banned in several countries (Belgium, Netherlands) and subject to mandatory probability disclosure in others.
Paymium: A monetisation model that combines a paid upfront purchase with additional in-app purchases. Players pay to download the game and can optionally buy extra content, cosmetics, or convenience items. Less common on mobile but more accepted on PC and console.
Remote Configuration: The ability to change game parameters (pricing, difficulty, event timing, feature flags) without releasing an app update. Essential for live ops, A/B testing, and rapid response to player feedback or market conditions.
Retention: The percentage of players who return to a game after a specific period. Typically measured as Day 1, Day 7, and Day 30 retention. Industry benchmarks for mobile games hover around 40% (D1), 15% (D7), and 5% (D30). The most important long-term health metric for free-to-play games.
Rewarded Video: An ad format where players voluntarily watch a short video advertisement in exchange for an in-game reward (extra lives, currency, power-ups). Achieves high eCPM because of strong engagement and does not interrupt gameplay flow. Our Monetisation & Live Ops Services →
Virtual Economy: The system of currencies, resources, and exchange rates within a game. A well-designed virtual economy balances earning rates, spending sinks, and premium currency value to sustain long-term player engagement without inflation or pay-to-win imbalance.
Whale / Dolphin / Minnow: Informal terms categorising players by spending level. Whales are the small percentage of players who spend heavily (often generating 50%+ of total revenue). Dolphins spend moderately. Minnows spend little or nothing. Understanding spending tiers informs monetisation design.

Game Types & Genres

4X Strategy: A strategy genre defined by four pillars: eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate. Players build civilisations or empires through resource management, diplomacy, and conflict. Examples include Civilization, Stellaris, and Humankind. Complex systems with long session times.
Gamification: Applying game mechanics (points, badges, leaderboards, progress bars) to non-game contexts like corporate training, education, or marketing. Distinct from serious games in that gamification enhances an existing activity rather than creating a standalone game experience. Our Educational Game Services →
Hyper-Casual: A mobile game subgenre characterised by minimalist design, instant onboarding, and extremely short play sessions. Monetised primarily through advertising. Low development cost but highly competitive market with short product lifecycles.
Idle / Incremental Game: A genre where the game progresses even when the player is not actively engaged. Players make strategic decisions about resource allocation and upgrades, then return later to collect accumulated rewards. Popular on mobile due to low session demand.
Match-3: A puzzle genre where players swap adjacent tiles to create rows or columns of three or more matching elements. One of the most commercially successful mobile genres (Candy Crush, Puzzle & Dragons). Accessible mechanics combined with deep meta-game progression.
Metroidvania: An action-adventure subgenre featuring a large, interconnected map that opens progressively as the player acquires new abilities. Named after Metroid and Castlevania. Emphasises exploration, backtracking, and ability-gated progression.
MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online): A game that supports hundreds or thousands of concurrent players in a shared persistent world. MMOs require significant server infrastructure, database architecture, and anti-cheat systems. Among the most technically demanding game types to build and operate. Our Multiplayer & Networking Services →
Roguelike / Roguelite: Genres characterised by procedurally generated levels, permadeath, and high replayability. Traditional roguelikes (Nethack) are turn-based and punishingly difficult. Roguelites (Hades, Dead Cells) retain procedural generation and permadeath but add persistent progression between runs.
Serious Game: A game designed primarily for a purpose beyond entertainment, such as education, training, health, or social impact. Serious games apply game design principles (engagement, feedback loops, progression) to achieve measurable learning or behavioural outcomes. Our Educational Game Services →
Simulation: A broad genre that models real-world or hypothetical systems with varying degrees of fidelity. Includes vehicle simulations (flight, racing), management simulations (cities, hospitals), and life simulations (farming, social). Often used in serious games and training applications. Our Educational Game Services →
Tower Defence: A strategy subgenre where players place defensive structures along a path to stop waves of enemies from reaching an objective. Combines strategic placement with resource management and upgrade systems. Popular on mobile due to session-friendly wave structure.
Visual Novel: A narrative-driven genre that presents story through text, character art, and branching dialogue choices. Minimal gameplay mechanics beyond decision-making. Used in entertainment, education, and interactive fiction. Can be developed rapidly compared to other genres.

Technical Foundations

API (Application Programming Interface): A defined set of methods and data formats that allow different software systems to communicate. Game developers interact with platform APIs (Steam, PlayStation Network), third-party service APIs (analytics, ads), and internal APIs between game systems.
C#: The primary programming language used in Unity development. A statically typed, object-oriented language developed by Microsoft. Offers a balance of performance, safety, and developer productivity that makes it well-suited to game development.
CI/CD (Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery): Automated pipelines that build, test, and deploy game builds whenever code changes are committed. Catches bugs early, ensures consistent build quality, and accelerates the release cycle. Particularly valuable for live-service games with frequent updates.
Engine Migration: Moving a game project from one engine to another, such as from a proprietary framework to Unity or from an older Unity version to a current LTS release. Engine migration is typically triggered by end-of-support for the original platform, performance limitations, or the need to target new platforms. More complex than a simple upgrade because it often requires rebuilding core systems. Our Legacy Modernisation Services →
Game Engine: A software framework that provides core systems for building games: rendering, physics, audio, input handling, and scripting. The two dominant engines are Unity (C#, strong mobile/cross-platform support) and Unreal Engine (C++/Blueprints, strong for high-fidelity visuals). Choosing the right engine is one of the most impactful decisions in a project. Our Unity Development Services →
Legacy Modernisation: Updating an older game or application to modern platforms and technologies. Common scenarios include migrating Flash games to HTML5 or Unity, upgrading outdated SDKs, rebuilding deprecated server infrastructure, and adapting games for current device resolutions and input methods. Our Legacy Modernisation Services →
LMS (Learning Management System): A platform for delivering, tracking, and managing educational content (e.g., Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard). Educational games often need to integrate with an LMS to report scores, completion, and learner progress via standards like SCORM or xAPI. Our Educational Game Services →
Procedural Generation: Using algorithms to create game content (levels, terrain, items, quests) at runtime rather than hand-crafting every element. Reduces art and design costs for content-heavy games but adds engineering complexity. Must be carefully tuned to ensure quality and variety.
SCORM: Sharable Content Object Reference Model, a set of technical standards for e-learning content interoperability. Allows educational games and courses to communicate with any SCORM-compliant LMS. The most widely supported standard, though increasingly supplemented by xAPI. Our Educational Game Services →
SDK (Software Development Kit): A collection of tools, libraries, documentation, and code samples that enables developers to build for a specific platform or service. Console SDKs (provided by Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo) are required for console development and are distributed under NDA.
Unity: A cross-platform game engine developed by Unity Technologies. Known for its accessibility, extensive asset store, strong mobile performance, and C# scripting. The most widely used engine for mobile game development and our primary development platform at Ocean View Games. Our Unity Development Services →
Unity 6: The latest major release of the Unity engine (released 2024), succeeding the yearly numbered releases. Introduces improved rendering, multiplayer tools, AI integration, and performance enhancements. Unity now uses a release-number naming convention instead of year-based versions. Our Unity Development Services →
Version Control: Systems (like Git or Perforce) that track changes to source code and assets, enabling multiple developers to work simultaneously without overwriting each other's work. Essential for any team larger than one person. Also provides a safety net for reverting problematic changes.
xAPI (Experience API): A modern e-learning data standard (also called Tin Can API) that tracks learning experiences as actor-verb-object statements. More flexible than SCORM, supporting offline learning, mobile apps, simulations, and game-based learning scenarios. Our Educational Game Services →

Quality & Testing

Automated Testing: Using scripts and frameworks to run repeatable tests without manual intervention. Includes unit tests (individual functions), integration tests (system interactions), and end-to-end tests (full user flows). Reduces regression risk and accelerates release cycles for live-service games. Our QA & Testing Services →
Compatibility Testing: Testing a game across a range of devices, operating system versions, and hardware configurations to ensure consistent behaviour. Particularly important for mobile, where the Android ecosystem alone includes thousands of distinct device profiles.
Device Matrix: A defined set of target devices and OS versions against which a game is tested. For mobile, the matrix covers screen sizes, chipsets, RAM tiers, and OS versions. Balancing coverage against testing cost is a key QA planning decision. Our QA & Testing Services →
Playtesting: Having real players test the game to evaluate fun factor, difficulty curve, onboarding flow, and overall user experience. Distinct from QA in that playtesting focuses on design and engagement rather than technical bugs.
QA (Quality Assurance): The systematic process of testing a game to find and document bugs, performance issues, and usability problems before release. Includes functional testing, regression testing, compatibility testing, and platform-specific compliance checks. Our QA & Testing Services →
Regression Testing: Re-testing previously working features after new code changes to ensure nothing has been broken. Automated regression tests are especially valuable for live-service games where frequent updates risk introducing new bugs into stable systems. Our QA & Testing Services →
Smoke Testing: A quick, high-level test pass that verifies a build's core functions (launch, main menu, basic gameplay loop) work before committing to deeper testing. Catches catastrophic issues early and prevents wasted QA time on fundamentally broken builds. Our QA & Testing Services →

Publishing & Launch

App Store Optimisation (ASO): Improving a mobile game's visibility and conversion rate in app store search results. Includes keyword optimisation, screenshot and video design, description copywriting, localisation, and review management. The mobile equivalent of SEO. Our App Store Launch Services →
ATT (App Tracking Transparency): Apple's iOS framework that requires apps to request user permission before tracking their activity across other apps and websites. Significantly impacted mobile game advertising by limiting access to the IDFA (Identifier for Advertisers), reducing ad targeting precision and attribution accuracy.
Data Safety Declaration: Google Play's requirement for developers to disclose what user data their app collects, how it is used, and whether it is shared with third parties. Displayed prominently on the store listing. Must be accurate and kept up to date with each app update. Our App Store Launch Services →
Day-One Patch: An update released simultaneously with (or shortly after) a game's launch to fix issues discovered between the Gold Master submission and the public release date. Common on console where certification timelines create a gap between final development and launch.
Early Access: Releasing an unfinished game to the public for purchase, with the understanding that development is ongoing. Players get immediate access at a reduced price while providing feedback that shapes the final product. Common on Steam. Requires transparent communication about the development roadmap and regular content updates to maintain player trust.
IARC (International Age Rating Coalition): A system that provides a single age rating questionnaire whose results are automatically mapped to regional rating boards (PEGI, ESRB, USK, GRAC, ClassInd). Required for Google Play and Microsoft Store submissions. Simplifies the multi-region rating process for global launches. Our App Store Launch Services →
Minimum Viable Product (MVP): The simplest version of a game that can be released to test the core concept with real players. An MVP includes only the essential gameplay loop and enough content to validate the idea, allowing data-driven decisions about whether to invest in full production.
Privacy Manifest: An Apple requirement (introduced 2024) that declares the specific APIs, data types, and tracking domains an iOS app uses. Apps that access required reason APIs without a valid privacy manifest are rejected during App Store review. Our App Store Launch Services →
Soft Launch: Releasing a game in a limited market (typically smaller countries like Canada, Australia, or the Philippines) before a worldwide launch. Used to gather real-world performance data, test monetisation, and fix issues with lower risk and visibility. Our App Store Launch Services →
Staged Rollout: Releasing an app update to a small percentage of users initially, gradually increasing to 100% over days or weeks. Available on Google Play and TestFlight. Limits the blast radius of critical bugs and allows monitoring crash rates and user feedback before full deployment. Our App Store Launch Services →