WHAT IS A GAME ENGINE AND WHICH GAME ENGINES ARE FAMOUS NOWADAYS?

-


Fig. 1, Global Game Engines Market 2019

Introduction



Game engines by definition are software development environment designed to enable people build games but mostly video games. Game engines are used by developers to construct games which can be fixed in consoles, mobile devices or personal computers. For most 2Dimensional and 3Dimesnional graphics, the core functionality provided by game engines are a rendering game engine, as well as collision detection and a whole lot of other features such as sound , scripting, networking, streaming, memory management, threading, scene graph, video support for cinematics, animation, and  artificial intelligence.  Most of the times, the same game engines are adapted and improved on to produce different games. (Cowan and Danny, 2013)



The Components of A Game Engine

  • Most of the game engine suite provides facilities that ease development such as graphics, physics, and Al functions sometimes the game engines are called middleware because they provide a flexible and reusable software platform which provides most of the core functionality needed to develop a game application while reducing costs, complexities and other factors such as time-to-market .(Riccitielo, John,  2014)

  • Game engines provide platforms for abstraction and allow the same game to be run on different platforms such as the consoles and personal computers. They are often designed with component-based architecture which makes necessary provisions for engine extension and replacement. Since some of the game engines are designed with a component-based architecture. (Jared Halpen, 2018)
  • Some of the game engines provide real-time 3D rendering capabilities instead of a wide range of functionality needed by games (COWAN, DANNY)  . The components of a game engine include the following;
  • The main game program which contains the actual game logic, different  from the rendering, sound or input work
  • The rendering engine which functions majorly in generating animated 3D graphics by methods such as rasterization and ray tracing.
  • Audio engine also has the component which consists of algorithms related to the loading and modification of sound through the client's speaker system.
  • The physics engine functions mainly in emulating the laws of physics within the application. (3D game engine programming (book), 2011)
  • Artificial intelligence is most times outsourced from the main game program into a special module to be designed and written by software engineers with specialist knowledge. (Gary, 2017)




There are different types of game engines which are famous nowadays.

They are as follows;

  • UNREAL ENGINE
  • GODOT ENGINE
  • UNITY
  • CRYENGINE
  • MARMALADE SDK
  • APP GAME KIT
  • COCOS2D-X
  • MONOGAME
  • AMAZON LUMBERYARD
  • SHIVA ENGINE
  • HEROENGINE.

Conclusion

Finally, Game engines have helped a lot in building video games. It's the basis of most games we get to play.



References


  • What is a Game Engine?". GameCareerGuide.com. Retrieved 2013-11-24

  • Cowan, Danny. "Joystiq". Gamedaily.com. Retrieved 2013-11

  • "Rise of Middleware". Gamedesigning.org. 2019-01-10. Retrieved 2011-01-17.

  • Bailey, Dustin (March 8, 2018). "artifact will use Source 2, bringing the engine to iOS and Android". PCGamesN. archived from the original on March 9, 2018. Retrieved March 8, 2018.

  • Martin, Michael. "Valve Announces Dota 2 Reborn". IGN. Archived from the original on June 29, 2016. Retrieved july 10, 2016.

  • "pkgsrc.se - The NetBSD package collection". pkgsrc.se. Retrieved August 19, 2015.

  • "Thunder Force Construction". Oh!FM. Archived from the original on 1 September 2012. Retrieved 1 SEPTEMBER 2012.

  • Bramwell, Tom (2007-08-09). "id Tech 5 Interview • Page 1 • Interviews " Retrieved 2013-11-24.

  • "Video Games Starting to Get Serious". Retrieved 2011-01-17.

  • "xboxlivecommunitygames.org". Retrieved 2013-11-24.

  • Eastwood, Gary. "How video game AI is changing the world". CIO. Retrieved 28 February 2017.

  • (m)"Microsoft to enable User-Created XBox 360 games". retrieved 2017-05-05.

  • "A-Painter: Paint in VR in Your Browser". Mozilla VR Blog. September 19, 2016. Retrieved october 27, 2016.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Technical and Artistic difference between 2D and 3D Animation

-
Image
Animation simply involves basic manipulation of pictures such that they appear as moving images, It is useful in many fields especially information technology interface ( Pervasive Animation , 2013 ).   The two kinds of animations which exist-2D and 3D entail different processes for different outcomes therefore there exist substantial differences between them. 2D Animation   Figure 1 - Leo walk cycle take TWO, LuigiL (deviantart.com, 2012) 2-Dimensional animation employs the use of two-dimensional drawings where there are flat objects such as squares, triangles, and circles, manipulated to form images and characters that are not capable of motion 2D figure (Sito Tom., 2013) . There is a separation of illustrations into transparent layers without a virtual skeleton, whose accessories are moved by the animator on keyframes which is called morphing. (Sito Tom., 2013) . There are different ways in which 2D animatio
Read more

Contour Drawing Versus Gesture Drawing

-
Image
Background information       There are various artistic techniques an artist can choose from while making a drawing. Contour drawing and gesture drawing are the main artistic techniques used by artists to get their drawings done. In contour drawing, the artist starts by sketching by drawing lines which form outlines for real drawings . On the other hand, gesture drawing involves loosely sketching the subject as a way of capturing its form and express its movement. The two artistic techniques are widely used depending on the needs of the artist because they all have significant comparative benefits   (Küssner, 2017) .  (Q&A, 2014) Examples of Gesture vs Contour and Scribbly Lines Comparative differences between contour drawing and gesture drawing       A contour is a line that shows that shows the edges or the form of an object while a gesture is a loosely drawn sketch that captures form and helps express motion. The two artistic techniques are different in
Read more