PCGamingWiki:Taxonomy

Taxonomy
Category	Type	Definition	Notes	Examples
Adventure	Genre	Adventure game, narrative with puzzles. From Wikipedia: "Adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving"	Distinguish between point and click vs control method?	The Secret of Monkey Island
Brawler	Genre	Brawler is a fighting game.	Distinguish between 1v1 fighting games like Tekken 7 and Castle Crashers.	Castle Crashers

Modes

First-person
Over-the-shoulder {example}
Behind-the-back {example}
"Free"-camera {eg: Okami}
Fixed camera {{eg: Lego Star Wars: The Video Game}
Isometric 2D or Bird's eye view 2D {eg: Diablo}
Bird's eye view 3D {eg: Diablo 3}
Top-down (2D) {eg: Grand Theft Auto}
Top-down (3D)
2D sidescrolling {eg: Limbo}
2.5D sidescrolling {eg: Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I}
3D sidescrolling {eg: Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project, Inside, Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II}
Text-based {eg: Zork}

Simplified into:

Notes:

Avoiding the terms 2D and 3D as nearly all modern games are built in 3D engines.

Perspectives
Category	Definition	Notes	Discussion points	Examples
2D	Any game which lacks any voxel or polygon 3D elements.	The illusion of depth means 2D games can appear 3D, i.e. pre-rendered 3D elements condensed into 2D form, like sprites, isometric perspective, etc.	Include games which use 3D elements in the foreground but 2D elements in the background? (i.e. as a non-PC example, New Super Mario Bros)	Jazz Jackrabbit, Diablo
2.5D	Any game which uses voxel or polygon 3D elements to create depth, but player movement is restricted as though the game did not have any 3D elements.			Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair, Pandemonium 2
3D	Any game which uses voxel or polygon 3D elements to create depth and permits the player to move unrestricted.		Should games like Wing Commander, which allow full 3D movement, but only uses 2D sprites, be considered 3D?	Halo: Combat Evolved, Descent, Stunts

Perspectives
Category	Definition	Examples
First-person	From the point of view of the first-person, where the camera is locked to the centre of the screen.	Doom
Third-person	From the point of view of the third-person, where the camera is free to view around a player character.	Gears of War
Free overview	Camera from a distant perspective which is free to move.	Baldur's Gate
Fixed overview	Camera from a distant perspective which is fixed to a player character.	Diablo, [[
Sidescrolling	Two dimensional movement plane.	Sonic, Katana Zero
Text-based	Primarily text-based game with no camera movement.	Zork

This should be used to designate the gameplay type, not refer to the literary genre (examples of literary genres would include fantasy or Sci-Fi)