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Game Development vocabulary · Multiplayer & Networking

Tick rate

Meaning in game development, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In game development, tick rate means: How many times per second a game server updates the game state and sends it to players, measured in hertz. A higher tick rate makes online play more precise.

In Turkish: tick rate, sunucu güncelleme hızı

How it is used

Competitive shooters advertise 64 Hz or 128 Hz servers, and each single update is called a tick. A higher tick rate costs more server power and bandwidth, so teams choose a rate for each game mode.

Example sentences

  1. We raised the tick rate to 60 for ranked matches only.

  2. With a low tick rate, players get hit after they've already ducked behind cover.

Common collocations

  • server tick rate
  • 128-tick server
  • raise the tick rate
  • per tick
  • netcodeThe networking code of an online game that sends game data between players and servers and keeps everyone's view of the match in sync despite delays.
  • dedicated serverA computer, usually in a data center, that runs only the game server and the shared game world, while players connect to it instead of one player hosting the match.
  • latencyThe time it takes for data to travel between a player's device and the server or another player, usually measured in milliseconds. High latency makes online games feel slow.
  • lagA noticeable delay between a player's action and the game's reaction, usually caused by a slow or unstable network connection, which makes the game feel jumpy.

This word in other fields

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

More terms: Multiplayer & Networking

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