Glossary¶
This page lists definitions for terms used in Crown and this manual.
- Camera¶
An object that describes a position and orientation in space, along with other geometric parameters, used to render a World on screen from a specific perspective.
- Component¶
A collection of data that is necessary for a given simulation to be computed.
- Data Compiler¶
The incremental compiler that transforms generic, human-readable Source Data into specialized, high-performance binary blobs ready to be loaded in memory and consumed by the Runtime.
- Data Directory¶
The directory where the Data Compiler output is stored on disk.
- Level¶
A collection of units, sounds and other objects to be used together in a World.
- Lua¶
The scripting language used in Crown.
- Mesh¶
An object used to represent animated 3D graphics on the screen.
- Resource¶
The file that describes a particular piece of data to be used by the Runtime. Resource files typically contain definitions for units, levels, Lua scripts etc.
- Runtime¶
The executable that reads data from the Data Directory and transforms it to produce a particular output based on the logic defined by the programmer and the input given by the user. This is the executable that will be distributed to the end user of your game.
- Shader¶
A program that runs on dedicated hardware to produce graphical output on the screen or other off-screen buffers.
- Sound¶
A 3D object used to play sounds in a World.
- Source Data¶
The collection of Resource files stored inside the Source Directory.
- Source Directory¶
The directory where the Source Data is stored on disk.
- Sprite¶
An object used to represent animated 2D graphics on the screen.
- Texture¶
An object used to describes visual features for sprites, meshes etc.
- Unit¶
A collection of distinct components. This is the basic building block used to represent all kinds of different objects in a World simulation.
- World¶
The object where the simulation of a number of units occur. This simulation can be advanced in time and its results can be rendered on screen from arbitrary view points defined by a Camera.