turnlevel

Turnlevel is a term that appears in some turn-based systems and game development contexts to denote a substage or planning depth within a single turn. The concept is not standardized across disciplines, but it generally refers to how far an agent’s actions or state changes can progress before the turn ends, or to how finely a turn is subdivided into phases.

In game design, turnlevel can be used to subdivide a turn into multiple phases such as action selection, movement, execution, and end-of-turn processing. By exposing different turnlevels, a game can let artificial players plan and execute more complex sequences within one turn or limit them to simpler actions, affecting pacing and difficulty. Turnlevel can also serve to coordinate multiple agents whose turns overlap or interact, providing a common reference point for when certain events become valid within a turn.

In artificial intelligence and planning, turnlevel often functions as a per-turn planning horizon. A higher turnlevel may allow an AI to simulate more actions within the same turn, trading increased computational cost for potentially stronger behavior. Conversely, a lower turnlevel reduces lookahead and improves responsiveness.

Because turnlevel is not a universally adopted standard, its exact meaning can vary by project or library. Documentation typically clarifies what a given turnlevel value affects—such as action sequencing, planning depth, or phase progression.

See also: horizon, lookahead, depth, turn-based systems.