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 well-used tag, to prevent the list from getting too long.
Genre
What is the primary genre that this game represents?
| Tag | Category | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Action | Action | A game with reaction-based gameplay and a high pace; can refer to a lot of different types of games, including other tags like Platformer or Shooter. | Alien Hominid |
| Adventure | 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.) | The Last Door |
| Arcade | Arcade | Used to describe simple games with easily graspable gameplay and a focus on getting a high score. | Helicopter Game |
| Artillery | Action | A game where the focus is using a set power and angle to throw an object at a target of any kind of form. | Crush the Castle |
| Brawler | Action | A game where you control a character who fights multiple other characters at the same time using simple combos and special moves. | Dad 'n' Me |
| Breakout | Arcade | A game involving a paddle, a ball, and brickbreaking. | bloXplatter |
| Card | Puzzle | 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. | Solitaire |
| Choose Your Own Adventure | 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. | The Sagittarian |
| Clicker | Incremental | A game where you primarily click to increase numbers. | AdVenture Capitalist |
| Daily | Mechanic | A game with content that updates or changes every day. | Drift n' Burn 365 |
| Dating Sim | Adventure | 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. | SIMGirls |
| Dress-Up | Other | A game where you choose clothes for an included character to dress them up. | Dead Baby Dressup |
| Driving | Driving | Games that have driving, but aren't particularly about racing. | Cab Driver |
| Escape the Room | Adventure | A subset of the Adventure genre where you're in a single room / low amount of rooms, a general lack of story, and puzzles to solve in order to get out of it. | Cube Escape: The Cave |
| Experimental | Other | Games that defy categorization and break convention. | Crumbling Room |
| Fighting | Action | A type of game that places two characters head to head with a series of included moves, combos and rounds. | Pencak Silat |
| Find | Puzzle | 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. | 5 Differences |
| Flying | Arcade | A type of game where you're flying a vehicle, but not actively fighting or racing with it. | Fly Like A Bird |
| Gambling | Other | 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 betting, winning and losing. | Blackjack Elf |
| Horror | Theme | A game that intends to provide an unsettling, creepy, spooky, scary skele-cough atmosphere. Isn't exclusive to any other tag. | Exmortis |
| Idle | Incremental | A game where numbers go up while you're away. Most of the incremental games are idle ones. | NGU Idle |
| Incremental | Incremental | A game primarily about increasing numbers, either idly or through very simple actions that don't require skill. | Universal Paperclips |
| Level Editor | Creative | Games with level editors. | Warp |
| Math | Informational | A game where you mostly solve math problems. | Math Shootout |
| Music | Theme | If music is a major part of gameplay, then use this tag. Can also be used with the Creative tag for music creation applications. | Symphony |
| Microsite | Other | Not so much a game as an interactive website backed up from the internet. Often exists to promote another product. | J.K. Rowling Official Site |
| Motocross | Driving | 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. | Trials 2 Flash Preview |
| Pinball | Arcade | A game based on either a recreation or fresh conception of the real world diversion. | Pinbill |
| Puzzle | Puzzle | There are many types of puzzle games, but they usually involve some kind of logical task/brainteaser that needs to be solved. | Bloxorz |
| Match-3 | Puzzle | A puzzle game where you match objects on a grid to make a line of three, which then disappear and refill the grid. | Galactic Gems |
| Physics | Mechanic | Objects in the game are affected by real world/akin to real world forces. | Red Remover |
| Pong | Arcade | A game based on the classic Pong game. | PONGS |
| Quiz | Informational | A game that asks you questions about any particular subject matter. | 50 States |
| Racing | Driving | 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. | Cyclomaniacs |
| Parking | Driving | A game where you use a car to attempt to park in a parking spot, usually with nearby obstacles. | Parking Lot |
| Rock-Paper-Scissors | Mechanic | A game based off the classic three-way head-to-head mind game. | Pico vs. Uberkids |
| Roguelike | Adventure | Players get one life, with all or the majority of their progress lost on death. | Yet Another Roguelike |
| RPG | Adventure | Can take many different forms but usually involves a world to explore, an in-depth story, stats, equipment that raises said stats, leveling up and battles. | Sonny |
| Runner | Arcade | 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. | Canabalt |
| Shooter | Action | Can be used to describe any game where your main form of engagement is blasting enemies with any kind of ranged weapon. | Space Invaders |
| First-Person | Shooter | The game is played from the point of view of the player character. Usually applies to shooters. | Sierra 7 |
| Side-Scrolling | Mechanic | The game that's played with a playfield that scrolls from the left to the right. Sometimes ships, sometimes on foot. Usually applies to shooters or platformers. | Heli Attack 3 |
| On-Rails | Shooter | The game is played with a viewpoint that moves automatically, with no input available to the player. Applies almost always to shooters. | Xiao Xiao no. 4 |
| Vertically-Scrolling | Shooter | The game is played with a playfield that scrolls from bottom to top (usually in a ship). | Enigmata 2 |
| Simulation | Simulation | A catch-all term for games that involve managing some kind of business, or attempt to simulate any real-world activity. | Papa's Pizzeria |
| Sports | Simulation | A recreation of any set of real world sports (anything from baseball to football). | Stick Cricket |
| Strategy | Strategy | Comes in many forms, but usually involves controlling units in an efficient way to defeat some kind of enemy. | Age of War |
| 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. | Creeper World: Evermore |
| Node-Based | Strategy | The player and the enemy each control 'nodes', which they can send units to and from. | Tentacle Wars |
| Lane-Based | Strategy | The player and the enemy have multiple 'lanes' that they can send troops down as attacks. | Plants vs Zombies (Web Version) |
| Single-Lane | Strategy | The player and the enemy share one 'lane' in which they send all their units down to fight. | Age of War |
| Story-Driven | Theme | Any game that places emphasis on a story, regardless of genre. | ? |
| Sokoban | Puzzle | A puzzle game in which you push or boxes around in a warehouse, trying to get them to storage locations. | Aggressive Sokoban |
| Tabletop | Simulation | A recreation of a board game from the real world, or a game formatted to play like a game from said real world. | Snakes and Ladders |
| Tetris | Puzzle | Based on the classic Tetris game. | Tetris Heaven |
| Tower Defense | Strategy | 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). | Bloons TD 5 |
| Toy | Other | A game that has no set objective, and just lets you play with a sandbox of toys or a set of preset options. | One Man Band |
| Turn-Based | Mechanic | The player and the game take turns. Often applies to Strategy games. | Sonny |
| Tutorial | Informational | A game that is more akin to a tutorial, showing you how to do something in an interactive fashion. | Newgrounds Levels |
| Typing | Informational | A game where the main goal is to type as efficiently and mistake-free as possible. | Icarus Proudbottom Teaches Typing! |
| Variety | Arcade | A game where the gameplay changes frequently, such as in minigame collections. | Four Second Frenzy |
| Visual Novel | Adventure | 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. | Aurica Cosmosphere Part 1 |
| Walking Simulator | Simulation | 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.) | Dear Esther |
| Word | Puzzle | A type of puzzle or arcade game where you spell words, solve crosswords, or something similar. | WordUp |
Subgenre
Are there any other genres that could be applied to this game? NOTE: Please use these sparingly, small parts of a game such as minigames or in-game parodies of a genre do not warrant a Subgenre tag.
(These are just the Genre tags applied as Subgenre tags)
Mechanics
How does the player interact with the game?
| Tag | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Shooter | Involves firing projectiles. | ??? |
| Rhythm | Involves performing actions in time to a song or beat. | Super Crazy Guitar Maniac Deluxe 3 |
| Platformer | Involves traversing the environment via platforms. | Super Mario 63 |
| Side Scroller | Game progression involves moving your character from one side of the screen to the other. | ??? |
| Run and gun | Gameplay involves running on foot while shooting. | ??? |
Elements
What is the primary experience intended for the player?
| Tag | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Story Driven | Story is a major focus of the game. | ??? |
| Arcade | Achieving a high score is a major focus of the game. | ??? |
| Creative | Anything that facilitates user-created content, whether that's a game with a level editor, a painting program, or something else. | Sonic Scene Creator 5 |
| Competitive | Competing against other players is a major focus of the game. | ??? |
| Exploration | Exploring the environment is a major focus of the game. | ??? |
| Educational | Educating the player on real world topics is a major focus of the game. | Annual Precipitation in California |
| Adventure | Completing a series of challenges or levels is a major focus of the game. | ??? |
Themes
Are there any existing themes or fantasies that the game pulls from?
| Tag | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Western | Cowboys, six shooters and yeeing your last haw. | Wild West Showdown |
| Holiday | Games with holiday themes like Christmas and Halloween get this tag. | Snow Line |
| Anime | A game with an anime art style. | Anime Character Maker 2.2 |
| Science Fiction | A game with a futuristic or science fiction theme. | Alternator |
| Space | Any game with an outer-space theme. | Planet Cruncher |
| Fantasy | A game with a fantasy setting, such as a fairy tale. | Talesworth Adventure Episode 1 |
| Historical | A game based on a historical event or time period. | Western Front 1914 |
| Adult | Games entirely or almost entirely meant for titillation. | Super Deepthroat |
Content
Is there anything in the game that one would find objectionable?
| Tag | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Gore | ??? | ??? |
| Sex | ??? | ??? |
| Nudity | ??? | ??? |
| Mature Language | ??? | ??? |
| Loud Sounds | ??? | ??? |
| Flashing Images | ??? | ??? |