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[Phediuk]

This has got to be one of the most used gaming term that no one's ever really pinned down, along with its adjectival counterpart "janky".

So, what exactly is it, and how does one differentiate a janky game from a non-janky game?

 

[DNAbro]

doesn't feel right

 

[alr1ght]

Eastern Europe.

 

[Dennis]

Jank is like porn. It is hard to define but you know it when you play it.

 

[StevieP]

Elder scrolls

 

[Apt101]

It's when the controls and/or physics aren't quite matching up with what one would reasonably and logically expect at times. I guess.

 

[Miker]

Get out of here, stalker.

(I love STALKER)

 

[Dennis]

Elder scrolls

Not even close.

 

[jblank83]

It's the same thing as "clunky".

i.e. it's something that doesn't work well. It's unwieldy and difficult to control.

Elder scrolls

That's a fair example, I'd say.

Personally I find all console shooters janky.

 

[GavinUK86]

assassins creed unity

 

[block tower]

assassins creed character movements are jank in comparison to good third person action games.

 

[shungokusatsu]

BF4 pre patch.

 

[LiK]

Not working as intended.

 

[『Inaba Resident』]

Netherealm fighters

 

[injurai]

Eurojank, the best rpg genre.

 

[tapedeck]

Mortal Kombat 9.

Edit: Dammit Inaba

 

[WrenchNinja]

Better than junk but not by much

 

[KiraWins]

when some plays are so sick nasty, beyond dank - its jank

janky is like cray, shit is just unreal u cant even fathom what just occured

like a guy with 6 hp left in battlefield going full jank and killing a full squad and defending a point 1v5 , thats janky

 

[KarmaCow]

It's where you can see what the developer wanted but couldn't execute properly. It's unfinished or rough but not straight up broken either.

 

[Jebral]

The Evil Within, at release, was the very definition of janky.

It's like when a game has enticing features, but it doesn't want you to play it.

 

[Besthelboy]

QWOP

 

[bomblord1]

It generally means broken in some fashion. The word has a universal negative tone but can mean different things depending on context like a lot of slang.

 

[Zebetite]

The moving parts don't quite fit together in the way they feel they should. It is exceedingly difficult (perhaps impossible) to play the game in such a way that the action looks good on screen. Controls are perhaps unresponsive, or ill-suited to the gameplay situations they accompany. The visuals are of uneven quality.

There's loads of things that say "jank" to me. It's kind of a catch-all phrase for "this game has technical or mechanical problems."

 

[Alchemist]

The control scheme for every Assassin's Creed game.

 

[Dusk Golem]

I define it as something that is less than optimal. Something that doesn't feel smooth, or top-of-its-game comparatively. However, jank holds certain appeal, and the roughness can sometimes be beneficial. They can have charm, and with it, a certain spirit or mood, that may go against what is 'beneficial' generally, but make in turn benefit the project in question.

 

[NoblesseOblige]

It's the same thing as "clunky".

Yeah I've always used it to pretty much mean this.

 

[ClaptoVaughn]

An awkwardness that doesnt render a game unplayable but noticeably imperfect. Not always a bad thing because in time it becomes part of that title's personality and charm.

 

[UncleSporky]

Janky doesn't just have to be a feeling, it can also encompass a general sort of bugginess, but minor bugs that you can tell they didn't want to bother to fix...maybe you can't even say they're bugs for sure, but the game certainly seems like it's acting wrong. Could be physics bugs. Could be some weird interface quirks. That sort of thing.

 

[Übermatik]

Feels unresponsive in some way, almost 'glitchy'. Unnatural and unintuitive.

Perfect when applied to shovelware Wii titles with stapled-on motion controls.

 

[Marceles]

I've only heard of "janky", which is like getting something new but it's already broken. Like if you buy a janky chair, you sit on it and it's already wobbly or squeaky.

 

[GamerJM]

The way attacks "feel," in Brawl.

 

[BlazeHedgehog]

Many little errors in animation, controls, or gameplay that, while not game-endingly so, are still visibly broken.

 

[thekonamicode]

Clayfighter?

 

[DidntKnowJack]

Something that feels (or looks) clunky.

 

[hatchx]

Inconsistent framerate, clipping, unresponsive controls, and pop-up.

 

[Noobcraft]

Dark Souls console versions. Frame rate is all over the place (it has dips to ~10fps sometimes), controls suffer because of it.

 

[Fasty]

"Unrefined" or "Unpolished"

 

[udivision]

Wonky

 

[Zukuu]

Play Gothic and you'll understand.

 

[Nanashrew]

When I asked Twitter, Urban Dictionary responded:

adj- broken; unnecessarily redundant, superfluous, or meaningless; stupid or ridiculously moronic; bootleg or of questionable quality

Sounds about right in how I tend to use it.

 

[nictron]

 

[105.Will]

No More Heroes.

 

[petethepanda]

Unpolished, rough around the edges, usually in relation to control/movement or animation. First example that pops into my head is a modern third person game where jumping is floaty or awkwardly timed, with an animation that jarringly transitions into jumping without any feeling of weight.

 

[NoirVisage]

Eastern Europe.

sounds legit.

 

[water_wendi]

More Polish, less polish.

 

[pizzacat]

Netherealm fighters

Nailed it right in the head

 

[Creaking]

Undue stiffness, rough animations, mechanics that don't always function correctly.

 

[Dennis]

More Polish, less polish.

What you did there, I see it.

 

[Trigonometrize.]

FFVIII-s draw system is an example. Not broken, but weird and unsatisfyinfg. Maybe easily exploitable?

 

[djplaeskool]

I think a number of things need to be off-kilter to meet my definition of jank.
Stiff animations, poor hit/collision detection, propensity for particle flaws, clipping, ill-timed music/dialog cues, just a general looseness with properties and mechanics, etc.

For me, Two Worlds was jank personified.