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Game Development vocabulary · Gameplay & Game Design

Cooldown

Meaning in game development, with examples

/ˈkuːldaʊn/nounCommon term

In game development, cooldown means: The waiting time after a player uses an ability or item before it can be used again. It stops players from repeating the strongest action all the time.

In Turkish: bekleme süresi, cooldown, yeniden kullanım süresi

How it is used

Common in action games, MOBAs and RPGs. An ability is on cooldown, and designers increase, reduce or reset cooldowns as a balance tool. Players say a skill has a long or short cooldown.

Example sentences

  1. The dash has a three-second cooldown, so you can't use it over and over.

  2. We increased the cooldown on the healing ability from 8 to 12 seconds.

Common collocations

  • on cooldown
  • reduce the cooldown
  • cooldown timer
  • long cooldown
  • reset cooldowns
  • balanceTo adjust numbers and rules, such as damage, costs and cooldowns, so that no weapon, character or strategy is too strong or too weak compared with the others.
  • nerfTo make a weapon, character, ability or strategy weaker in an update because it is too strong. The opposite, making something stronger, is to buff it.
  • HUDShort for heads-up display: the information shown on top of the game view while you play, such as health, ammo, a mini-map and the score.
  • game mechanicA single rule or action that a game is built around, such as jumping, crafting, stealth or a cover system. Several mechanics together make up the gameplay.

More terms: Gameplay & Game Design

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