Gaming
hitbox
What does hitbox mean?
The actual area the game tests for getting hit. In bullet hell it's usually a single pixel-ish dot near the centre of your sprite, which is why you can graze bullets that look like they're touching you.
"Your ship's huge but the hitbox is one dot — bullets clip the wings and you're fine."
Origin
General game-dev term for the collision region; especially load-bearing in danmaku where the player hitbox is a tiny point.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the shmup hitbox so small?
So dense patterns stay fair. If the whole ship sprite could be hit, weaving through a bullet curtain would be impossible — the tiny dot makes dodging readable.
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