Game Engine and Development Structure

Introduction

A game engine is a platform prepared for development of a particular game. In other words, game engine is a set of tools used to develop games.

A brief history

In the olden days, arcade games were very popular. However, these games are developed as a one-off kind meaning that if someone were to create another game, that person wouldn’t be able to use the same tools due to the fact that the games are developed right there and then. This was because memory at that time was not sufficient to create game items separately and combine them into one.

As people start to emphasize on graphics as a crucial element in games, graphic engines or better known as renderers, start to emerge. The most popular one in the early days was Reality Lab which was acquired by Microsoft soon after its birth. It was not until the mid-1990s that other engines start to become as important as the graphics engine. Soon, companies start to compile these various engines and the term ‘game engine’ was coined, thanks to the popularity of the Quake engine which was used to develop the then-popular Quake game. The Unreal engine further revolutionizes the development of games. It separated graphics, physics and game content, allowing games to be developed in a more manageable manner. As game engines continued to evolve, further subcategories such as scripting, artwork, level design and AI design were added.

Game engines had first-person shooter games to be thankful of because most of the current cutting-edge game engines are based on first-shooter games such as the Source engine (Counter Strike and Half-life) and CryTek Engine (Crysis 1 and 2).

Game Engine Functions

Typical game engines have around 10 functions to develop a game. They are r...

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...awareness of AIs will also increase. Hence, AI engine has to be able to develop and simulate all entered values by the user and present it using various techniques as stated. Kynapse, an AI game engine acquired by Autodesk is one of the most commonly used in games such as Mafia II, Crackdown, Alone in the Dark 5 and Fable II.

Conclusion

Game engines are getting more and more sophisticated as parts of its development structure are separated, divided and developed on its own. As IT games continue to remain popular among youths and young adults, so does game engines. It should be no surprise that many current IT applications are adopted from gaming technologies.

References

Gregory J., 2009. Game Engine Architecture. Boca Raton, Florida. A. K. Peters.

Thorn Al, 2011. Game Engine Design and Implementation. Sudbury, Massachusetts. Jonas & Burlett Learning, DDC