Game Engines

It's the second year, and we've just started the dreaded Queens building project. Its not been going to bad, but it has introduced us to game engines. Whereas before we were simply making 3D models, now we can import them into the unreal engine and make a playable level.

The definition of a games engine is 'A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games'. A game engine typically contains a rendering engine, a physics engine, sound, scripting, animation, AI, networking, streaming, memory management, threading, localization support. Basically, a game engine is where you can put all the different parts of a game to create the finished playable version.

It used to be that games companies would make their own engines, for example, the Scumm engine (Lucas Arts) and SCI by Sierra. However, the cost of making your own engine has got more expensive since then, and so companies started to create engines then sell them to games companies. For example, the unreal engine. It's simply cheaper and more time efficient for some companies to buy the engines instead of hiring more programmers to create one from scratch.

There are different types of game engine availed. Here is three major types. Firstly, roll your own game engines (low level). Even though it is more expensive some companies will want to build their own game engines. The advantage to making your own is that it gives the programmers a lot more flexibility. However, this takes a lot of time, and would be very difficult for beginners.

There is also mostly ready game engines (mid level). They are already built and allow you to change things around. The main advantage is the fact that you can just start the engine up and all the tools are there. The main disadvantage is that you don't have as much customisation, so you may not be able to get things exactly like you want. There are lots of engines that are like this because they can be used pretty much out of the box without limiting you too much. examples include Torque, Unreal, and Gamebryo. This is the type of game engine we use.

The next level up is point and click engines (highest level). These are very limiting and can only make one or two different types of games. They contain everything  you need to create a game. The main advantage is that they allow you to create a finished product very quickly, without too much work. The disadvantage  is that it is very limited and it is difficult to be creative with lots of restrictions. Examples of this type of engine include GameMaker, Torque Game Builder, and Unity3d. 

The main thing now for me is to get used to using game engines, which I really need to have down for next year. This queens building project is a good introduction, as we are in a group so we can help each other out. Knowing how to use UDK is necessary for the final major project, and I don't want to be left behind.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_engine

http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/529/what_is_a_game.php?page=1