Top-down perspective

Okay kiddo, imagine you're playing with your toy cars on the floor. You look at them from above, right? That's like a top-down perspective.

When something is shown to you from a top-down perspective, you're looking at it from above, like you're a bird flying over it. Imagine you're looking down on a map of your neighborhood. You can see where all the houses are and where the streets go. That's something you can only do from a top-down perspective.

In video games, you might see a top-down perspective when you're playing a game like Mario or Zelda or Minecraft. You can see everything around you, even if it's far away. This lets you plan what to do, where to go, and how to get there.

It's called "top-down" because the view comes from the top of something, like a bird flying overhead. So think of it like you're a bird looking down on things and seeing them from above.