pixel hunt meaning: definition, quotations

pixel hunt

noun

Video games a search for a small, onscreen, hard-to-find object in a graphic adventure puzzle video game

Like most adventure games, Phantasmagoria is a bit of a pixel hunt, so move your cursor around the screen to see what can be manipulated or examined in each room.1996, Multimedia World, Multimedia World, Volume 3, Issues 2-9, PC Communications, page 89:
(..) and adjust the block size on the screen, so the visually impaired can play with big blocks, and those who like to play pixel hunt can do so with single-pixel square blocks.2003, Alexandre Santos Lobao, Ellen Hatton, .NET Game Programming with DirectX 9.0, Apress, →ISBN, page 67:

3 more examples

Finding the solution to a puzzle involved figuring out how to move an object, or trying to decide in what sequence objects should be configured, or the frustrating “pixel hunt” (searching for the one spot on the screen that was a hot spot).2012, Christy Marx, Writing for Animation, Comics, and Games, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN, page 142:
Though far less frustrating than many text adventures, point-and-click adventure games often featured at least a few puzzles with highly illogical solutions and frequently forced players to engage in a “pixel hunt,” which refers to the process of moving and clicking the mouse all over a screen in hopes of finding a missed item or other important “hotspot.”2012, Josiah Lebowitz, Chris Klug, Interactive Storytelling for Video Games: Proven Writing Techniques for Role Playing Games, Online Games, First Person Shooters, and more, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN, page 19:
This is similar to a blunder designers of adventure games can make. We called this a pixel hunt and strove mightily to avoid falling into that trap.2014, Lee Sheldon, Character Development and Storytelling for Games, Second Edition, Cengage Learning, →ISBN, page 260:

verb

Video games to look for a small, onscreen, hard-to-find object in a graphic adventure puzzle video game

Unfortunately, once you actually go about solving the cases, the game falls into the trap that have been the bane of click n' point adventure games for years; illogical puzzles and pixel hunting.2006 December, GameAxis Unwired, GameAxis Unwired, SPH Magazines, →ISSN, page 53:
We totally relate to gamers who hesitate to devote a few hours to pixel hunting to solve puzzles.2009, PC Gamer, PC Gamer, volume 16, GP Publications, page 22: