Will C++ remain viable for game engines in somewhat distant future? [closed]

Question

C++11 has opened ways, which were only dreamt by the C++ programmers. It has been three years since I have been learning C++, and I am going well. Now I want to get into video games. Every core of the game code I saw, was monstrously written in C++. My question is - If I get into serious game engine dev, and perfecting it would take, maybe say 10 years, would we still be writing game engines in C++ ?(newer standard)

Or, will John Carmack, write id tech 7 in c++?

note - I am strictly talking about game engines.

Answer 1

Short answer: yes, game engines will probably be still written in C++ at least for the next 10 years or so.

Long answer: big parts of engine code still include C. Members of the C++ standards committee have been trying (or at least dreaming of it) to close down the pointer arithmetics part of the language in favor of "safe" C++ (the STL/Boost crap that is the complete opposite of what game developers need). [proof] As soon as any big push is made in that direction, I assume that the developers will promptly disconnect from the latest standard (if they haven't done that already).

Protip: the language doesn't matter for a good programmer. If you're interested in being one of them, I'd suggest you to try working with lots of different languages and focus on generic concepts that can be applied everywhere.

Answer 2

Will we still be writing game engines in C++ [in ten years from now]?

No one can tell.

Ten years is quite a long time when speaking about programming languages. In the beginning games were written in assembly, then there was a major shift towards C, then a major shift towards C++. There's arguably quite a big shift towards more "modern" languages (such as C#, Java, Javascript...) now that the mobile & web games market is taking so much space, even if C++ remains strong in the PC & console world.

Is this situation going to last long, like in until-2022-long? Really, you shouldn't bet on it.

My belief is that one of the main technical reason why we still stick to C++ is memory management: with consoles being so limited memory-wise, you can't afford to leave the memory control to a virtual machine. So if next-gen consoles come with a massive amount of memory, C++ as we know it might very well disappear.

But it's even disputed if the next-gen is still a relevant concept. Maybe the living-room convergence people have been talking about for years will finally happen, and there won't be a market big enough to keep the AAA game industry as it stands now. Maybe cloud gaming will become the norm and games will be running on huge server farms that won't require such a fine-grained control of the machine.

Or, will John Carmack, write id Tech 7 in C++?

Still, no one can tell. Just look at the previous id Techs:

• 1993: id Tech 1 (Doom, Quake): C & Assembly
• 1997: id Tech 2 (Quake II): C & Assembly
• 1999: id Tech 3 (Quake III): C
• 2004: id Tech 4 (Doom 3): C++
• 2011: id Tech 5 (Rage): Undisclosed, but probably mostly C++
• ????: id Tech 6 (????): Just started research

It's not even clear when will id Tech 6 come to life, and what it will do exactly, how could one predict which programming language an hypothetical id Tech 7 would be written with?

That said, as others answered, my feeling is that C++ is here to stay for a while, but I might be wrong. I suggest you read Scott Meyer's Effective C++, Third Edition, if you didn't already. The author explains how C++ contains already 3 different paradigms in one language (procedural, OOP, template-based): one could imagine a fourth paradigm becoming popular in the games industry in the near future, learning about it would be like learning a whole new language.

Now what you need to do is not to focus too much on the programming language. Of course becoming a C++ guru now gives you a good chance to get a job in the mainstream games industry. But what you have to master is software engineering, this will certainly stay viable for quite a long time.

Answer 3

"It depends". If you're aiming to work at id or Blizzard then your best bet is C++, but if you're going to work in a small studio then it can be anything, HTML5/CSS3/JavaScript, Flash, C#, Java, etc. simply because most small titles don't need the power of C++ and these other languages allow for faster and easier development a lot of the time.

You're going to be writing "serious" game engines no matter the language of choice. It's a matter of the sector you want to be working in. All i can tell you is that setting your mind on only one language is bad. It's like only driving SUVs, while there are dozens of other types of cars that all have a steering wheel and a gear box.

So will C++ stay viable for game engines? Yes. Will it be the best language to use? It depends on the studio, the target platform and the type of game they'll be making.

Answer 4

C++ is probably the most stable language in the moment:

• It just got modernized with the C++11 specification.
• C#, which is the largest rival at the moment seems to be crumbling with Microsoft switching back to C++ as primary language and abandoning XNA.
• D is still far away from being any serious competition.

Answer 5

In case of AAA or AAAA game engines, I think that C++ will be majorly used for (Virtually) eternally...If you want to go into any big studio, go for C++, they wont switch(at least, in case of game engines).

Indie games have a different story-- C++ will be there, ( Unity, Panda3d are actually writern in C++ :) but the focus will be on beginner freindly languages.

Answer 6

C++ isnt going away any time soon. C#, Java. . . all these managed languages can be used in actual game, but they will always run on an engine in native language. . for example, rust, c, c++.