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Game Development vocabulary · Level Design

Checkpoint

Meaning in game development, with examples

/ˈtʃekpɔɪnt/nounCore term

In game development, checkpoint means: A point in a level where the game saves the player's progress, so after failing or dying they start again from there instead of from the beginning.

In Turkish: kontrol noktası, checkpoint, kayıt noktası

How it is used

Level designers decide checkpoint placement to control frustration, and players say a game has fair or unfair checkpoints. You reach or hit a checkpoint and restart from the last checkpoint; autosave is the system behind it.

Example sentences

  1. Add a checkpoint before the boss; nobody wants to replay ten minutes of platforming.

  2. The checkpoint saved after the player had already lost most of their health.

Common collocations

  • checkpoint system
  • reach a checkpoint
  • checkpoint placement
  • restart from the last checkpoint
  • spawnTo make a character, enemy or item appear in the game world, or to appear in it. A spawn point is the place where this happens.
  • level designThe work of creating the spaces a game takes place in, such as maps, missions and stages, and deciding where players go, what they meet and how hard it is.
  • pacingThe rhythm of a level or game: how action, exploration, story and quiet moments are mixed and timed so that players stay interested without getting tired.
  • difficulty curveHow quickly a game gets harder as the player progresses. A good curve rises steadily with short breaks; a bad one has sudden spikes or long, boring flat parts.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Level Design

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