Okuzeka
Game Development vocabulary · Game Engines & Tools

Component

Meaning in game development, with examples

/kəmˈpoʊnənt/nounCommon term

In game development, component means: A piece of functionality attached to a game object, such as a collider, a light, an audio source or a script; an object's behavior comes from the components it has.

In Turkish: bileşen, component

How it is used

Unity attaches components to GameObjects, and Unreal adds components to Actors. You add, remove, get and disable components. ECS (entity component system) is a related architecture used when a game has huge numbers of objects.

Example sentences

  1. Add an Audio Source component to the door so it can play the creak sound.

  2. Instead of one huge player script, split the logic into smaller components.

Common collocations

  • add a component
  • get a component
  • component-based design
  • entity component system
  • scriptA piece of code that controls how something in the game behaves, such as a door that opens, an enemy that patrols or a quest that starts, usually attached to objects in the engine.
  • prefabA saved, reusable game object with all its parts and settings, such as an enemy or a door, that you can place many times; editing the prefab updates every copy.
  • sceneOne part of a game project in the engine, such as a menu, a level or a test area, that contains the objects, lights and cameras placed in it.
  • rigid bodyAn object in the physics engine that keeps its shape and is moved by forces such as gravity and collisions, for example a falling crate or a thrown grenade.

This word in other fields

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

More terms: Game Engines & Tools

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: