Table of contents
1.
Introduction
2.
About Game Engines
3.
Components of Game Engines
3.1.
Game program
3.2.
Rendering engine
3.3.
Audio engine
3.4.
Physics engine
3.5.
Artificial intelligence
4.
Some popular Game Engines
4.1.
Unity
4.2.
Unreal game engine
4.3.
Gamemaker: Studio
5.
Frequently Asked Questions
5.1.
What is the basic structure for developing a game?
5.2.
What are some of the other popular game engines?
5.3.
What is the first computer game?
6.
Conclusion
Last Updated: Mar 27, 2024
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Game engines

Author Md Yawar
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Introduction

Games are becoming more and more lifelike. Have you ever wondered how these incredibly complex worlds and the real-life physics of the games are developed? Developing these worlds from scratch is very difficult and time-consuming. Most of the games are developed using game engines. Game engines provide ease for the development of these games. Let us dive deeper into the world of game engines.

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About Game Engines

Game engines are an integrated development environment that provides visual development tools and reusable software components. Game engines do all the complex work in the background, making game development easy. It is basically a framework for the construction of video games. Game engines are used to develop games for consoles, computers, and smartphones.

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Components of Game Engines

There are five main components of game engines. Let us look at each one of them.

Game program

It is the main game program that contains the game logic. The game program contains the files that build the architecture of the game. Different programming languages like C++ or Python are used to write the game program.

Rendering engine

A rendering engine generates 2D or 3D animated graphics of the game. A good game engine should have a rendering engine that is compatible with different formats.

rendering engine

Audio engine

Sound is one of the most important aspects of a game. Imagine playing a game without audio, it will soon be boring. Good audio is necessary for a good game experience. The audio engine generates the different sound effects that are needed in a game. An audio engine contains the algorithms which are related to sounds. It is a toolkit for developers to implement sound design in games. 

Physics engine

A physics engine implements the 'physical' laws within the system. It is very important as it creates the simulation of real-life activities. A physics engine gives us the concept of velocity, acceleration, different types of motions, etc. in the game. Grand Theft Auto is a prime example of using accurate physics to simulate real-life mechanics in the game. The collision of vehicles, the impact of bullets, concept of gravity are all excellently implemented in the game. 

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Artificial intelligence

The AI engine automatically provides recommendations based on the player's game behavior. The behavior of the players is recorded and actions are performed accordingly. This improves the overall performance of the game. The implementation of AI is done using ready-made scripts written by AI developers.

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Some popular Game Engines

Unity

Unity is a game engine developed by Unity Technologies. It was released in 2005 by Apple as a Mac–OS exclusive. Unity game engine is now available for desktops, smartphones, consoles, and even virtual reality platforms. Unity is popular for iOS and Android mobile devices. Some of the popular games developed using Unity are Pokemon Go, Monument Valley, Call of duty: Mobile, Hitman: sniper, Subnautica, and many more.

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Game development using Unity

Unreal game engine

Unreal game engine is developed by Epic Games. It was released in 1998 for the game Unreal. It was first used for first-person shooter games, but it is now used for various games. The Unreal game engine supports computers, smartphones, consoles, and virtual reality platforms. Some popular games developed by unreal game engine are Bioshock, Batman: Arkham City, Borderlands 3, Fortnite, etc.

Unreal game engine

Scenario overview in unreal game engine

Gamemaker: Studio

Gamemaker studio uses a simple drag and drop method to create games. This allows the creation of games quickly. Gamemaker is free, and you can sign up for GameMaker studio from this page.

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Game development using gamemaker studio

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the basic structure for developing a game?

The basic structure for developing a game is, the game interface, the implementation of the interface and the game source code.

What are some of the other popular game engines?

Some popular game engines are ARKit, Amazon Lumberyard, Godot, Solar2D, etc.

What is the first computer game?

Spacewar! is considered to be the first computer game. It was developed by Steve Russel in 1962. It is a computer-based space combat video game.

Conclusion

This blog talked about game engines. We also saw the main components of a game engine and talked about some popular game engines. 

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