Tags

A tag is used to describe a major element of a game from its gameplay type (strategy, action, arcade) to any specific subset of that gameplay type (scrolling shooter, lane-based strategy). You can have more than one tag per game, in fact, that's kind of the point. If there is a tag that you would like to have on this page, let someone with a color name know on Discord. We don't want tags that will only apply to one or two games; it should be a relatively used tag, to prevent the list from getting too long.

Action: A game with reaction-based gameplay and a high pace; can refer to a lot of different types of games.

Adult: A game where the only interaction is akin to a dress-up game, but with sexual themes.

Adventure: A game where the main feature is exploring and puzzle-solving, usually with a mouse or movement of an on-screen character.

• Also known as Point and Click.
• Escape the Room: A subset of the Adventure genre where you're in a single room / low amount of rooms, a general lack of story, and simple puzzles to solve in order to get out of it.

Arcade: A game where the gameplay is simple, slowly progresses in difficulty, and is about gaining a high score. Avoid Collect Launch Timing Buttonmasher

Artillery: A game where you use power and angle in order to hit a target in whatever kind of form or shape it's in.

Brawler: A game where you control a character who fights multiple other characters on a playfield using simple combos and special moves. See: Dad 'n' Me.

Card: A game played using a set of rules based around a deck of cards, whether it be the standard deck of 52 or more custom arrangements.

Choose Your Own Adventure: A game where you're presented with some kind of story, in which you make one of a set of choices to progress said story.

Clicker: A game where you click to increase score, and usually spend said clicks to increase your score further.

Dating Sim: A game where the main focus is to date a hero or heroine, usually presented in a Visual Novel / Choose Your Own Adventure format, but is sometimes more complicated with things like stats, day/night cycles, etc.

Dress Up: A game where you choose clothes for an included character to dress them up.

Fighting: A type of game that places two characters head to head with a series of included moves, combos and rounds.

Find: A game where you need to find something; whether it be objects, usually hidden in a room or among a bunch of other objects, or differences in two pictures.

Flying: A type of game where you're flying a vehicle, but not actively fighting or racing with it.

Gambling: A game that either recreates a form of real world gambling such as slots or poker, or is completely focused on some fictional kind of gambling.

Horror: A game that intends to provide an unsettling, creepy, spooky, scary skele-cough atmosphere. Isn't exclusive to any other tag.

Microsite: Not so much a game as an interactive website backed up from the internet.

Motocross: A game that usually involves some form of vehicle in a side on view affected by physics that you have to use to surmount a challenging set of physical terrain.

Pinball: A game based on either a recreation or fresh conception of the real world diversion.

Platformer: A game where you control a character affected by gravity and have to surmount obstacles and enemies by maneuvering and jumping over them.

Puzzle: There are many types of puzzle games, but they usually involve some kind of logical task that needs to be solved.

• Match-3: A puzzle game where you match objects on a grid to make a line of three, which then disappear and refill the grid.
• Crossword: A recreation of the real world newspaper timewaster.
• Daily: A game where the puzzle given changes every day.

Quiz: A game that asks you questions about any particular subject matter.

Racing: A game that has you in a competition of speed; in particular, to reach a finish line first. Not entirely reliant on things like vehicles, but usually includes vehicles.

• Driving: The above, but with no actual racing, mainly just with vehicles.
• Parking: A game where you use a car to attempt to park in a parking spot, usually with nearby obstacles.

Rhythm: A game that has you pressing buttons in time to the rhythm of a song; the more accurate your presses, the more points you earn.

Rock Paper Scissors: A game based off the classic three-way head-to-head mind game.

RPG: Can take many different forms but usually involves a world to explore, a story, stats, equipment that raises said stats, leveling up, battles.

Runner: A game that usually involves you moving down a path automatically, avoiding obstacles in order to either get a high score (endless) or finish a level.

Shooter: Can be used to describe any game where your main form of engagement is blasting enemies with any kind of ranged weapon.

• First-Person: The game is played from the point of view of the character firing the weapon.
• Rail Shooter: The game is played with a viewpoint that moves automatically, with no input available to the player.
• Side-Scrolling: The game is played with a playfield that scrolls from the left to the right (usually in a ship).
• Vertically-Scrolling: The game is played with a playfield that scrolls from bottom to top (usually in a ship).

Simulation: A catch-all term for games that involve managing some kind of business.

Sports: A recreation of any set of real world sports (anything from baseball to football).

Strategy: Comes in many forms, but usually involves controlling units in an efficient way to defeat some kind of enemy.

• Turn-Based Strategy: Has the player and the enemy taking turns to move, attack, or whatever with their units.
• Real-Time Strategy: The player and the enemy can give orders at the same time, and the action continues on even if neither are involved.
• Node-Based Strategy: The player and the enemy each control 'nodes', which they can send units to and from.
• Lane-Based Strategy: The player and the enemy have multiple 'lanes' that they can send troops down as attacks.
• Single-Lane Strategy: The player and the enemy share one 'lane' in which they send all their units down to fight.
• Tower Defense: A type of game where the player places towers on the field to defend from enemies coming for a certain point on the map (usually, but not always, the end of a preset path).

Tabletop: A recreation of a board game from the real world, or a game formatted to play like a game from said real world.

Toy: A game that has no set objective, and just lets you play with a sandbox of toys or a set of preset options.

Tutorial: A game that is more akin to a tutorial, showing you how to do something in an interactive fashion.

Typing: A game where the main goal is to type as efficiently and mistake-free as possible.

Variety: A game where the gameplay changes frequently, such as in minigame collections.

Visual Novel: A game where a story is told through text and pictures, and sometimes allows the player to make choices to change the story. Usually more verbose, character and story focused than a Choose Your Own Adventure title.

Walking Simulator: A game that involves the player exploring a world by walking around it while the story unfolds around them. (Generally, if a game involves combat, platforming, or anything more than just walking around, it usually isn't a walking simulator.)

Idle: A game that increments some kind of counter automatically, which the player can then spend to help that counter go up faster.

Blocks

Physics

Differences

Wave-Based

Survival

On rails

Roguelike

Experimental

Board

Educational

Math