Cooldown
Encyclopedia
Cooldown is, in numerous video games, the minimum length of time
that the player
needs to wait after using an ability before they can use it again.
One can think of cooldown as the reload
time and firing rate of weapons. For example, a machine gun
has very fast firing rate, so it has a very low cooldown between shots. Comparatively, a shotgun
has a long reload/cooldown time between each shots. Cooldown also can be used to 'balance' a weapon such as a turret-mounted
machine gun having infinite ammunition, since it can only sustain continuous fire until reaching a threshold at which the weapon would have to cool down (hence the term) before it could be fired again.
In design terms, cooldown can also be thought of as an inverted 'casting time' where instead of requiring a wait time before using an ability, cooldown may replace casting time and put the wait after the ability is activated. This creates a new dimension to the balancing act of casting speed versus power: "lower cooldown, faster cast, but weaker strength" versus "higher cooldown, slower cast, but greater strength." This sort of mechanic is integral to such games as World of Warcraft
, where cooldown management is key to higher-level play and various abilities deal with cooldown (for example, cooldown reduction or immediately finishing cooldown on certain abilities).
From the technical point of view, cooldown can also be used to assert control over frequency of cast (for spamming) in order to maintain a fluid frame rate and ping. For example, in the game Diablo II
, cooldown was added in the form of a patch to several graphically and CPU intensive spells (blizzard, frozen orb, hydra, etc.) to solve the problem of extreme lag
caused by players spamming these spells in multiplayer.
In Fighting games like the Street Fighter
series, cooldown refers to the time a character has before they can perform another action after having performed one, which is counted in Frames. Greater attacks like "Supers" and "Desperation Attacks" that also consume energy from an in-game meter also carry a lengthy cooldown. Because of this mechanic, it requires strategic use of skills to make sure the opponent cannot immediately counter the player during their cooldown phase of an attack, since it leaves the player wide open.
Many games also make use of a mechanic like cooldown placed at the beginning of a skill, referred to as "startup," which denotes a length of time between an action's input or activation and when it is actually used or takes effect. In Fighters, attacks with very low startup frames are used in order to catch an enemy and begin a combination attack string into stronger attacks that would otherwise be too risky to perform on their own, as their longer startup could result in interruptions from the opponent.
In the Nintendo DS game The World Ends With You, the player equips pins that allow the use of special psychic abilities, which carry a certain number of Uses before the pin enters a cooldown phase, which the game refers to as a pin's "Reboot," which must finish before the pin's ability can be used again. Some pins also come with an initial startup, called "Boot" that must finish at the outset of a battle before the ability can be used.
Time
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
that the player
Gamer
Historically, the term "gamer" usually referred to someone who played role-playing games and wargames. Since they became very popular, the term has included players of video games...
needs to wait after using an ability before they can use it again.
One can think of cooldown as the reload
Handloading
Handloading or reloading is the process of loading firearm cartridges or shotgun shells by assembling the individual components , rather than purchasing completely assembled, factory-loaded cartridges...
time and firing rate of weapons. For example, a machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
has very fast firing rate, so it has a very low cooldown between shots. Comparatively, a shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
has a long reload/cooldown time between each shots. Cooldown also can be used to 'balance' a weapon such as a turret-mounted
Gun turret
A gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...
machine gun having infinite ammunition, since it can only sustain continuous fire until reaching a threshold at which the weapon would have to cool down (hence the term) before it could be fired again.
In design terms, cooldown can also be thought of as an inverted 'casting time' where instead of requiring a wait time before using an ability, cooldown may replace casting time and put the wait after the ability is activated. This creates a new dimension to the balancing act of casting speed versus power: "lower cooldown, faster cast, but weaker strength" versus "higher cooldown, slower cast, but greater strength." This sort of mechanic is integral to such games as World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
, where cooldown management is key to higher-level play and various abilities deal with cooldown (for example, cooldown reduction or immediately finishing cooldown on certain abilities).
From the technical point of view, cooldown can also be used to assert control over frequency of cast (for spamming) in order to maintain a fluid frame rate and ping. For example, in the game Diablo II
Diablo II
Diablo II is a dark fantasy/horror-themed hack and slash, with elements of the role playing game and dungeon crawl genres. It was released for Windows and Mac OS in 2000 by Blizzard Entertainment, and was developed by Blizzard North. It is a direct sequel to the 1996 hit PC game, Diablo.Diablo II...
, cooldown was added in the form of a patch to several graphically and CPU intensive spells (blizzard, frozen orb, hydra, etc.) to solve the problem of extreme lag
Lag
Lag is a common word meaning to fail to keep up or to fall behind. In real-time applications, the term is used when the application fails to respond in a timely fashion to inputs...
caused by players spamming these spells in multiplayer.
In Fighting games like the Street Fighter
Street Fighter
, commonly abbreviated as SF, is a series of Fighting Games developed in Japan in which the players pit the video games' competitive fighters from around the world, each with his or her own unique fighting style, against one another...
series, cooldown refers to the time a character has before they can perform another action after having performed one, which is counted in Frames. Greater attacks like "Supers" and "Desperation Attacks" that also consume energy from an in-game meter also carry a lengthy cooldown. Because of this mechanic, it requires strategic use of skills to make sure the opponent cannot immediately counter the player during their cooldown phase of an attack, since it leaves the player wide open.
Many games also make use of a mechanic like cooldown placed at the beginning of a skill, referred to as "startup," which denotes a length of time between an action's input or activation and when it is actually used or takes effect. In Fighters, attacks with very low startup frames are used in order to catch an enemy and begin a combination attack string into stronger attacks that would otherwise be too risky to perform on their own, as their longer startup could result in interruptions from the opponent.
In the Nintendo DS game The World Ends With You, the player equips pins that allow the use of special psychic abilities, which carry a certain number of Uses before the pin enters a cooldown phase, which the game refers to as a pin's "Reboot," which must finish before the pin's ability can be used again. Some pins also come with an initial startup, called "Boot" that must finish at the outset of a battle before the ability can be used.