This term is used in many different ways, depending on the application. In real time, we are generally talking about a triangular face of a mesh object. Poly count refers to the number of polygons or “tris” in a mesh object or in an entire scene. People new to the game-development process almost always ask how many polys their characters should be. The answer is always dependent on whatever else is happening in the scene. If you have a scene with a lot of geometry that is drawn at the same time in every frame, the number would be a lot lower than if the character was always alone in a desert with a couple of rock formations. Another important concept is how important the object is, or how close it will be viewed. If the object is secondary to the plot or game play, it probably doesn’t warrant a high poly count. If the player will never see the object larger than 200×200 pixels worth of screen space, there’s a good chance that high poly detail will be wasted resources, both in creation time and CPU usage.