Time pressure
Also said as Timer, Countdown, Clock
Limiting how long a player has to act. It changes the kind of thinking a task takes, from careful working out to quick judgement.
It makes easy tasks tense without changing them, and stops players from stalling. Too much of it, though, punishes the slow and turns thinking into panic, so many games let you turn it off.
Say it
“Give each room 30 seconds. At 10 seconds, speed the music up and flash the clock, but do not punish until zero. I want them hurrying long before it is really a danger.”
Where you’ve seen it
Super Mario Bros. has a timer that hardly ever kills anyone, but its music speeds up when under 100 is left, and the whole mood changes. Prince of Persia gives you 60 minutes to finish the whole game.
Not to be confused with difficulty
Difficulty asks whether you can solve it. Time pressure asks whether you can solve it now.