Game Engines: Introducing Common Features
Earlier, we talked about game development and how to make money from it. Now let’s start making games! One of the first steps in game development (sometimes even before creating your team) is to choose the right game engine.
Game Engines: Introducing Common Features
Knowing which engine your game can be developed with will help you better select the game team members. Even if you are an independent game developer, you have to choose one of the engines.
So we decided to talk about game engines and their standard features here, and in the next article, we will introduce you to the famous and practical game engines; Stay with us.
What is a game engine?
The game engine is a program or framework with which game developers can build different parts of their game faster and test them simultaneously. Game engines have high graphics power and are a combination of several separate applications.
For example, suppose you want to make a game similar to Super Mario. To do this, you must first design the game environment images and characters with Photoshop. To add sound or make game music and add it to photos, you must use software to create and combine sound. To design the game stages, logic, and controllers, you have to start coding in a programming environment (IDE) and at the same time paste these parts together and get an output in different platforms so that you can test the game in various stages. Game engines provide all of this in one piece of software, and you don’t have to worry about connecting different parts of your game.
Game engines are a combination of several separate applications.
What are the features of game engines?
Game engines are different, and one engine may have a feature that others may lack. Here, we will examine some of the standard game engine features provided for game dvelopers.
Integrated environment
Each engine has a graphical environment for designing the game and combining different parts. This visual environment helps the game production process. For example, importing files into the environment is very simple. Besides, the graphical interface for running the game during the development process can provide rendering operations with good speed.
Game-making physics
Game-making physics is the logical function of the game elements and the relationship of its various components to each other. This simulation is based on the physics laws in the real world.
Take Super Mario, for example. Mario jumps and grows by bopping fungus. The basic physics concepts, such as colliding between objects or movements such as jumping, are already implemented on game engines. So the game maker does not have to write all the codes by himself. In fact, with gaming engines, you can write just a few code lines to make gaming objects behave the way you want them to.
By game engines, you can design the resources from the ground up.
Coding
One of the essential parts of any game engine is coding or scripting. The game maker writes the logic of the different parts of the game in files called scripts. Coding allows the game maker to execute his thinking in the game. Many everyday objects of games, such as the camera, animation system, etc., are already coded in game engines, and there is no need for the game maker to reinvent the wheel!
Graphics and sound
In many game engines, the game maker can design the game resources (such as sounds and music, images, models, animations, etc.) from the ground up. But even if the engine does not have this feature, the programmer can easily select the resources from particular platforms such as Photoshop, etc., upload and use them in the game. Game resources cause excitement in the player and ultimately increase his interest in playing. Game engines help you collect these resources and use them creatively in your game.
Interface
The user interface elements are generally the same in all game engines; For example, you always need a button. Only the function you call by pressing the button is different; that function is also written with code. This is why most game engines provide game developers with tools for user interface design; Elements such as buttons, drop-down menus, sliders, etc.
Networking
Network games are among the most popular ones. For this reason, most game engines have a networking system, customizable components, and built-in APIs that allow the game developer to use them to optimize online multiplayer games.
Network games and game engines
Artificial intelligence
Many game engines today offer advanced artificial intelligence systems as well as virtual reality. These systems allow the game developer to focus on the game’s difficulty and design and not waste his time implementing complex AI and virtual reality codes.
Create the final game file
Most game engines automatically provide the game file output for different platforms, and you only need to specify the output settings such as the game icon, game display screen settings, and so on.
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