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Define the word "jank".
- Thread starter Phediuk
- Start date
Kai Dracon
Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
It's like "Slack" but not cool.
More seriously I define it as a general lack of polish that isn't necessarily the same thing as broken. It's a case-by-case basis. A game may not be spoiled by a lot of "jank" in many areas. While another otherwise polished game can be ruined by a single crucial element that's really janky.
More seriously I define it as a general lack of polish that isn't necessarily the same thing as broken. It's a case-by-case basis. A game may not be spoiled by a lot of "jank" in many areas. While another otherwise polished game can be ruined by a single crucial element that's really janky.
Moon_frogger
Member
When the controls and gameplay don't work/aren't as precise as they should be/intended by the develoopers. Pretty simple.
davepoobond
you can't put a price on sparks
Weird-looking, usually in the connotation that it looks sharp-angled in the context of polygons and also perhaps clipping of textures
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
When you get a product that does three things in a not so efficient manner instead on one single thing efficiently.
ZiggyPalffyLA
Member
The on foot controls for every GTA game.
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
stuttering
Oh God I rented this out of morbid curiosity ages ago..what an abomination.![Perfect%20Weapon%20[U]%20[SLUS-00341]-front.jpg](http://www.emuparadise.me/PSX/Covers/Perfect%20Weapon%20[U]%20[SLUS-00341]-front.jpg)
ScepticMatt
Member
This guy's got it.
I imagine it's impossible to come up with an actual "definition" for the word, because there's really no root to it, and it never really arose out of any specific usage into its current form. As a result, pretty much everybody who uses the word has a slightly different idea of what it actually means.
Some people use it as just a synonym for "bad" or to mean that something is broken (usually mildly broken, sometimes totally nonfunctional).
Some people use it as a shorthand for just saying that something is unpolished, as though it's describing something that reasonably approximates the thing it's trying to do, without actually fully accomplishing that goal.
Some people view it as more or less an actual positive term, like a video game equivalent to "wabi sabi", or just as something that is designed the opposite way from the ideals that a more 'mainstream' game would incorporate into its design.
Best thing to do when you encounter it is just to press people into elaborating and properly articulating the way they feel about something, if you actually want to know what they mean, or just make a guess by context if you don't really feel like you need their exact opinion.
Some people use it as just a synonym for "bad" or to mean that something is broken (usually mildly broken, sometimes totally nonfunctional).
Some people use it as a shorthand for just saying that something is unpolished, as though it's describing something that reasonably approximates the thing it's trying to do, without actually fully accomplishing that goal.
Some people view it as more or less an actual positive term, like a video game equivalent to "wabi sabi", or just as something that is designed the opposite way from the ideals that a more 'mainstream' game would incorporate into its design.
Best thing to do when you encounter it is just to press people into elaborating and properly articulating the way they feel about something, if you actually want to know what they mean, or just make a guess by context if you don't really feel like you need their exact opinion.
MrCunningham
Member
Rigid, doesn't flow right with the rest of the game, feels stifled.
PixyJunket
Member
backflip10019
Member
Dark Souls combat.
should have used a picture of a more recent sonic design because the original sonic games were GOAT
OrlanisWorks
Banned
DICE game development.
Theanine3D
Member
The menu system in Pokemon Red/Blue, as well as EarthBound, are the definition of jank to me.
Uncomfortable, inefficient, slow, cumbersome. Sums it up.
Uncomfortable, inefficient, slow, cumbersome. Sums it up.
Shpeshal Nick
aka Collingwood
Grand Theft Auto 3 through 5
Rats Off To Ya
Banned
Unpolished. Jerky animations. Enemies running into walls. Abilities that don't do what they're supposed to do. Poor/nonexistent feedback. Stuff like that.
AKA the entirety of Mass Effect 1.
AKA the entirety of Mass Effect 1.
DirtyLarry
Member
Wonky.
Shark Attack
Banned
Battlefield Hardline
MightyHedgehog
Member
Inelegant or kludgey. Not broken, just suboptimal in the way controls can feel somewhat inadequate to what is necessary for the player to perform. Tank control in the original Alone in the Dark trilogy, or the orginal RE trilogy could be seen as a good example, though they were the best answer for that early 3D movement. Bad menu design and navigation can also be part of it or the annoying always-rotating map in Deadly Premonition. Sometimes, it's just how dated and less-refined the sense of control that older, stop-start animations can make a game feel when you are accustomed to newer, more flowing systems of movement. Personally, as long as it's not truly broken, it just feels like a blemish rather than a real issue and sometimes, as long as the core game experience is good, the lack of refinement and polish can help manage expectations, leading to a greater appreciation of what the game actually does do well.
Every Eastern European inventory menu ever.
Pestilence11
Member
Controls, animations and physics not meshing.
Night Angel
Member
Free running in assassin's creed.
It's when something doesn't do what you expect/what it's supposed to do. Example: I want to run through that archway to escape guards. Nope, guess I'm gonna climb it. I'll just jump up to that ledge... Nope, guess I'm gonna go to the building next door. Just gonna jump across to that next building... Nope, that wooden spar must have looked interesting....
Visual jank: clipping, bad animations, floating, glitching.
It's when something doesn't do what you expect/what it's supposed to do. Example: I want to run through that archway to escape guards. Nope, guess I'm gonna climb it. I'll just jump up to that ledge... Nope, guess I'm gonna go to the building next door. Just gonna jump across to that next building... Nope, that wooden spar must have looked interesting....
Visual jank: clipping, bad animations, floating, glitching.
SuperDowns
Banned
For it has never been a pejorative.
Such as that tactic is jank: unlikely but successful, unorthodox.
Such as that tactic is jank: unlikely but successful, unorthodox.
Douche McBaggins The 3rd
Junior Member
Blazblue with its animation. Aksys always seems to have janky ass animation compared to snkp.
SuperAngelo64
Banned
Been using 'janky' forever. I always equate the idea with shaking a cartridge or a controller and hearing the tiny little broken pieces/dust shaking inside. It usually meant either the controls, or the game was gonna have some weird issues because of the 'jank' noise.
SatelliteOfLove
Member
Jank comes from too little polish or too much.
dragonlife
Member
The GAF TF2 server.
hey_it's_that_dog
benevolent sexism
For me, janky is something you have to be able to feel or see. A bad game mechanic or system can be imbalanced, or broken, or just dumb, but it doesn't fall under the umbrella of "jank" IMO.
E.g., Too Human's animation is janky. The combat probably feels janky as a result. (I haven't played it myself.)