Meanings
plural hitscans
- computingA calculation to find the point at which a given line intersects an object in the game world, commonly used to determine whether a bullet or projectile hits a target.
With this code the server now has enough information to perform hitscans: it has the position of the player, the player orientation, and the player look direction (camera rotation).
2013, Alan R. Stagner, Unity Multiplayer Games1 more example
Duel maps usually do not contain super weapons (eg, the Redeemer which fires a small nuclear warhead), but have one or two hitscan weapons (which when fired instantly hit whatever they are pointing at) and one or two projectile weapons (eg, a rocket launcher).
2014, L. Galli, P. L. Lanzi, D. Loiacono, Applying data mining to extract design patterns from Unreal Tournament levels
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*kh₂eyd-
- Proto-Indo-European*kh₂id-néh₂-ti
- Proto-Germanic*hittijaną
- Old Norsehitta
- Old Englishhyttan
- Middle Englishhitten
- Englishhit
- Proto-Indo-European*skend-
- Proto-Italic*skandō
- Latinscandō
- Middle Englishscanden
- Middle Englishscanne
- Englishscan
- Englishhitscan
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
hitscan. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hitscan
“hitscan.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hitscan. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hitscan,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hitscan.
Source: hitscan on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.