Game engines are a collection of libraries and tools that provide a framework to create games.
123
votes
8answers
24k views
Fixed time step vs Variable time step
What is better for games when developing game loops, fixed time steps or variable time steps? What type of games are better with one or the other?
Variable time steps:
With variable time step, I ...
79
votes
23answers
24k views
Why is it so hard to develop a MMO? [closed]
I want to develop a MMO like World of Warcraft, but some basic research says that is going to take months (if not years) and cost a lot of money. I'd like to know why.
79
votes
11answers
10k views
Good resources for learning about game architecture?
Are there any good resources for learning about game architectures? I am looking for high level overviews of different architectures. I tend to find information about the various pieces of a game such ...
77
votes
9answers
6k views
Entity communication: Message queue vs Publish/Subscribe vs Signal/Slots
How do game engine entities communicate?
Two use cases:
How would entity_A send a take-damage message to entity_B?
How would entity_A query entity_B's HP?
Here's what I've encountered so far:
...
68
votes
3answers
14k views
Tips for writing the main game loop?
Can anyone recommend some good tips, articles, sites, etc. for writing the main game loop? What are some things that you should do in the game loop, and what are some things that you shouldn't do in ...
49
votes
15answers
18k views
Cross Platform 2D Graphics Engines [closed]
I'm looking for a 2D graphics engine that would allow me to release to Windows, Mac and the iPhone, much the way Unity does for 3D.
Is there a good engine that does this and is specific to 2D?
44
votes
15answers
29k views
Are there any 2D gaming libraries/frameworks/engines for Android? [closed]
Are any such things available to help me build my Android game?
44
votes
6answers
2k views
Is there a pedagogical game engine?
I'm looking for a book, website, or other resource that gives modern 3D game engines the same treatment as Operating Systems: Design and Implementation gave operating systems.
I have read Jason ...
40
votes
7answers
8k views
Why don't more games use vector art?
It would seem to me that vector art is more efficient in terms of resources/scalability; however, in most cases I have seen artists using bitmap/rasterized art. Is this a limitation put on the artists ...
39
votes
12answers
2k views
Why can we recognize game engines?
About many games you can say "oh that's the Unreal engine for sure", "this was made by upgrading GTA 4", etc. We can often recognize the engine used for a game just by looking at its graphics ...
36
votes
8answers
14k views
Is Java viable for serious game development?
Ever since I was a little kid, my dream has been to develop games. Well, now that I am older, more mature, and have some programming experience, I would like to start. However, I would like to turn ...
34
votes
9answers
16k views
Easy to use cross-platform 3D engines for C++ game development? [closed]
I want to try my hand at writing a 3D game. However I don't want to start at such a low level of drawing individual triangles and writing my own 3D object loader and so on. I've heard of things like ...
33
votes
8answers
5k views
Where to start with game development? [closed]
I asked this earlier in this thread at stackoverflow.com. One of the early comments redirected me here to gamedev.stackexchange.com, so I'm reposting here.
Searching for related questions I found a ...
32
votes
12answers
7k views
Is it reasonable to write a game engine in C?
Even though C++ appears to be king, from what I've been told C is still widely used in games, especially on the consoles. However, would writing an entire game engine in C be unreasonable today? What ...
29
votes
8answers
6k views
Are there any open source projects for car engine sound simulation? [closed]
I have been thinking how to create realistic sound for a car. The main sound is the engine, then all kind of wind, road and suspension sounds.
Are there any open source projects for the engine sound ...
27
votes
11answers
4k views
Do 2D games have a future? [closed]
I'm currently working on a 2D soft-body physics engine (since none exist right now -_-), but I'm worried that there's no point to spending what will most likely be years on it.
Although I love ...
26
votes
4answers
4k views
Multi-threaded game (engine) design resources?
What are the best resources on multi-threaded game or game engine design and development? As this is obviously where computers are headed, I intend to study this topic and I'd like to know what ...
25
votes
4answers
3k views
Proper OO game engine design: how to parcel responsibilities
(note - I don't have the reputation to create new tags, so mod action may be needed to re-tag)
I'm in the midst of developing a 2D sprite-based game for Windows 7 Phone using XNA. The training and ...
25
votes
2answers
906 views
How'd they do it: Destructible environments in BF:BC2 and BF3
How did the folks at Dice create the destructible environments in the more recent Battlefield games?
Did they just assemble the buildings out of predefined sub-regions that break apart when there is ...
22
votes
9answers
6k views
What C++ GUI library can you suggest? [closed]
I'm building my own game engine in C++ and I'm currently deciding on what user interface I should use.
Should I use a library? Should I make my own?
22
votes
12answers
11k views
Isometric game engine in JavaScript/HTML5 [closed]
Is anybody aware of any stable-ish (ie out of alpha) isometric drawing engines for JavaScript/HTML5? I have done some Google searches and found a few, but they were mostly in alpha/invite-only ...
21
votes
10answers
2k views
How does one escape the GPL?
DISCLAIMER I don't pretend to know anything about licensing. In fact, everything I say below may be completely false!
Backstory:
Recently, I've been looking for a decent game engine, and I think ...
21
votes
3answers
2k views
How does Blizzard manage to support Mac OS and Windows in their games?
I've always thought, that using Direct X for Windows was the most powerful, easy and modern method to create games with modern graphics nowdays. And knowing, that it's only Windows I thinks it's ...
20
votes
2answers
1k views
Several classes need to access the same data, where should the data be declared?
I have a basic 2D tower defense game in C++.
Each map is a separate class which inherits from GameState. The map delegates the logic and drawing code to each object in the game and sets data such as ...
20
votes
3answers
6k views
18
votes
5answers
1k views
What do potential employers look for in a good portfolio?
A buddy from work and myself are wanting to get into the indie scene for game development. I've done a few tech demos demonstrating different ideas and approaches for various problems. Now, I feel ...
18
votes
7answers
5k views
Easiest, most fun way to program 2D games? Flash? XNA? Some other engine? [closed]
this is a post detailing my search for the most enjoyable way for a hobbyist game programmer to sweeten his free time with making a game.
My requirements:
I looked at Flash first, I made a couple of ...
18
votes
1answer
734 views
Which features belong to the engine and which ones to a game?
Right now I find myself implementing and testing new features of my 2D game engine by directly coding them into engine. Simultaneously I have a showcase game (with scripting support) which should call ...
18
votes
4answers
5k views
How to design a game engine in an object-oriented language?
Whenever I try and write a game in any object-oriented language, the first problem I always face (after thinking about what kind of game to write) is how to design the engine. Even if I'm using ...
18
votes
2answers
2k views
Component-Based System online resources
I've been considering moving to a more component-based approach in my games. Does anyone else have any decent reference material or sample implementations that would help make this transition a little ...
17
votes
5answers
3k views
When to roll your own game engine?
I've been a software developer for 5 years now and wanting to get into iOS game development. I've played around with the iOS SDK for about 2 years now, attending cocoaheads meetings and feel I have a ...
17
votes
5answers
3k views
Implementing features in an Entity System
After asking two questions on Entity Systems (1, 2), and reading some articles on them, I think that I understand them much better than before.
But, I still have some uncertainties, and mainly they ...
16
votes
15answers
5k views
Simple game engines / development tools made with artists in mind?
I've been working in the 2d art side of games for a while now, and my full time job keeps me very busy on the art side of things, but I'm becoming more and more interested in learning to prototype my ...
16
votes
7answers
3k views
How can one implement hot-swappable C++ modules?
Fast iteration times are key to developing games, much more so than fancy graphics and engines with truckloads of features in my opinion. No wonder many small developers choose scripting languages.
...
16
votes
7answers
2k views
What scripting language would you recommend for a C++ game project?
By scripting here I mean not just putting config data in a script, but scripting parts of the project like some class methods, test specific game loop, etc. This would be not just to accelerate ...
16
votes
4answers
4k views
What should a game engine do?
I'd like to improve my skills/try something new and I'd like to start with 3D. I have read Starting programming in 3D with C++ but I have question about engines:
What should engine do? I know it is ...
16
votes
3answers
1k views
What's the difference between a Library and an Engine
I am working on a library to help 2D-Game development with Scala. So far it is a collection of helpful classes, file loading, collision detection, images, sprites...
So when does it stop being a ...
14
votes
6answers
4k views
What are the advantages and disadvantages to using a game engine?
How do I know whether or not to use a game engine? I want to make a relatively complex 2D game for Android. What factors should I weigh to decide whether to find, install and learn a game engine or ...
14
votes
3answers
1k views
Is it clever to use some engine to start game developing?
I started C# programming in order to develop games with XNA later (I always wanted to create some awesome 3D-based RPG or at least a functional one). I read a good book for C# which is ...
14
votes
3answers
2k views
What are the pros/cons of using a 3d engine for 2d games?
What pros or cons should a beginner be aware of when deciding between a 2d game engine (like Slick2D/Flixel/FlashPunk) and a 3d engine (like Unity) for 2d game development?
I am just getting started ...
14
votes
6answers
3k views
Do any open source JavaScript 3D physics engines exist? [closed]
I'm working on a web-based 3D FPS game using WebGL, HTML5 and JavaScript. It is supposed to target PCs and net-books with WebGL-enabled browsers installed.
I'm wondering if there's an existing open ...
13
votes
9answers
7k views
C# (Mono)/Java 3D Game Engine recommendation [closed]
can you recommend a good C# game engine for cross platform (Win/Mac/Linux, I don't care about consoles) development?
I've got some experience with raw OpenGL and I played around with Java bindings ...
13
votes
2answers
798 views
Textual descriptions of 8-bit and 16-bit game engines
I found a good description of the engine in the Sonic games. It describes roughly how the engine works for people writing their own clones. In my case, I am simply interested in getting a general view ...
13
votes
3answers
2k views
Organizing an entity system with external component managers?
I'm designing a game engine for a top-down multiplayer 2D shooter game, which I want to be reasonably reuseable for other top-down shooter games. At the moment I'm thinking about how something like an ...
12
votes
6answers
4k views
Where do I begin if I want to write a C++ 2d game? [closed]
Clarification: I'm not asking for the best place to start. I'm just asking for a place to start.
I am a C# web developer and I want to expand my skillset and have some fun while doing it. I know some ...
12
votes
5answers
3k views
Pro's and Con's of Various 3D Game Engines [closed]
I normally code my admittedly simple games by hand in either Assembly or C but I'm looking to go a little more high level. I also want to build more modern skills so I'm looking at UDK. What are the ...
12
votes
3answers
973 views
Avoiding singleton pattern for Event Scheduler?
I want to make an Event scheduler for my Game, I basically want to be able to schedule the triggering of a Game Event. This can be a one time trigger, or a periodic trigger (trigger event ...
12
votes
3answers
787 views
What platform were old TV video games developed on?
I am very eager to know how TV video games (which we all used to play in our childhood) were developed and on which platform.
I know how games are developed for mobile devices, Windows PC's and Mac ...
12
votes
5answers
6k views
SharpDX and game engines, back to zero?
I'm a desktop developer (I mainly do WPF for a living) but I want to make games as a hobby.
So a few months ago, I started reading blogs, gamedevSE, you name it.
I understand in the C++ DirectX ...
12
votes
4answers
586 views
How can I assign entity IDs in a robust way in a network game?
I'm working on an entity system for a networked game and I'm assigning each entity a unique 32-bit integer id that I can use to serialize references to entities and the entities themselves.
Currently ...
