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Software Engineering vocabulary · Architecture, Design Patterns and Graphics

Collision detection

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

nounCore term

In software engineering, collision detection means: The part of a game that checks whether two objects touch or overlap, for example a bullet hitting an enemy or the player landing on a platform.

In Turkish: çarpışma algılama, çarpışma tespiti

How it is used

Handled by the physics engine using simple invisible shapes called colliders, such as boxes, spheres and capsules. Collision response is what happens next, like bouncing or taking damage. Bugs here let players fall through floors or get stuck in walls.

Example sentences

  1. Fast bullets sometimes pass through thin walls because collision detection only checks once per physics step.

  2. We simplified the collision detection on the rocks to a few boxes.

Common collocations

  • continuous collision detection
  • collision mesh
  • collision layers
  • collision response
  • physics engineThe system that simulates real-world physics in a game, such as gravity, collisions, friction and forces, so objects fall, bounce and push each other believably.
  • hitboxAn invisible shape around a character, or part of one, that the game uses to decide whether an attack or bullet has hit. It is often simpler than the visible model.
  • 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.
  • raycastA check in which the game sends an invisible straight line from a point in a direction to find what it hits first. It is used for shooting, line of sight and ground detection.

This word in other fields

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

More terms: Architecture, Design Patterns and Graphics

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