The game engines were introduced in the mid-1990s, there were many first-person shooter games created at that time, a game called Doom, developed by id Software was extremely popular. It was well-architected by developers and consisted of many-core software components, such as 3D graphics rendering, the tool to detect a collision, many different art assets, and the different game levels that made up the game as well as enhanced the gamers gaming experience.
This is when developers started editing the game with different assets, such as characters, gaming levels, layouts, and retooling the game with very minimal enhancements. This is how the ‘’mod community’’ started, from then developers have been editing the game using the free toolkits that were available to individuals
What is game engine architecture and what are the core features?
A game engine is a software that gives an individual the authority to create and develop games for different platforms, such as computers, consoles, mobile phones, etc. It consists of several core features, components, tools that can be used for the creation and development of games. The developers would also look for ways to economize the game development process and one common way of doing this, is by reusing/editing the same game engine to create different versions (updated) of the same games, or even create different games.
Another reason why developers may use the same game engine is to make it easier to develop the games for the different platforms. Game engines provide great enhancement tools that ease the development process, such as audio, graphics, physics, and different AI functionalities. These types of game engines are also commonly known as ‘’middleware’’, this is because the purpose of ‘’middleware’’ is to provide an efficient and reusable software that offers all the core functionalities and features needed to develop games for different platforms;
While reducing costs, complexities, and other significant factors that are highly relevant in the gaming industry. Examples of middleware programs; Gamebryo, RenderWare, and JMonkey Engine. There are also other game engines known as graphics engines, also known as rendering engines, these only provide real-time 3D rendering functionalities, this is aimed at developers who highly only need the functionalities and the capabilities of real-time 3D rendering.
Different functions, features, and tools of game engines;
As mentioned above, game engines provide different functions, features, and tools needed for the development of games, these are listed below:
Rendering Engine(2D/3D);
The purpose of the rendering engine is to create 3d graphics using the method chosen by the developers, such as Ray Tracing. There are many more methods, techniques that can also be used. Rendering engines are built in a way that rather than being programmed to execute on the CPU or even the GPU they use multiple rendering applications, also known as programming interfaces(APIs), which provide an abstraction of the GPU.
Physics;
This is software that provides the simulation of certain physical dynamics, such as collision detection (including rigid body dynamics), soft body dynamics, etc. It is typically used in middleware generating the simulations in real-time.
Artificial Intelligence;
Artificial Intelligence, also known as AI is the way a non-player character can act like an actual human being. AI is used to create adaptive and intelligent behaviors in NPC to improve the game experience, making NPC’s look and feel more human-like. AI is generally found in almost every game. But some games will have basic AI and some will have advanced AI.
Animation;
Game engines provide many different animation systems such as inverse kinematics and Path-based animation. There are no more animation systems, but it depends on the game engine. The purpose of the animation system is to render the animations in the game.
Sound;
This is also known as an audio engine, this is the component that has algorithms all related to sound. This algorithm can calculate on the CPU, an ASIC. Many other features such as abstraction APIs, SDL audio, etc. are available on the game engine.
Networking;
The network is the feature that allows players to communicate and play online. Many companies offer online services such as DemonWare State Engine. This software offers developers a high-performance C++ framework, which prevents developers from net coding multiplayer games. The engine also provides user profiling, matchmaking, and gaming statistics.
Ray Tracing;
This feature of the in-game engine simulates shadows, reflections, and refractions. The tool generates images using the pixels in an image plane. The feature is used to provide high-quality realistic gameplay. Ray Tracing is commonly used for still images as images can be rendered slowly. But it’s not necessarily used in video games as rendering speed has to be lighting fast.
 |
| Game Engines Features Functions Tool Essay; Image by Jan Vašek from Pixabay. |