What is a game engine

 First, what is the engine
we can make the car engine than the game engine, you know, the engine is the heart of the car determines the performance and stability of the car, the car's speed, handling and driver feel directly related to these indicators are established based on the engine. the game as well, players experience the story, levels, art, music, operation and other content are directly controlled by the game's engine, it plays a role in the midfield engine, all the elements of the game tied, they command in the background the same time, orderly work. In short, the engine is to accept the player's input, and the volume of output in the correct sound, and so. action adventure puzzle games or shooting games, even if only 1 trillion is a small game, have such a code from the control action. Through continuous evolution, today's game engine has been developed by a number of subsystems constitute a complex systems, from modeling, animation to lighting, particle effects, from the physical system, collision detection to the document management, network characteristics, as well as professional editing tools and plug-ins, covering almost all of the development process an important part of the following to Some of the key components of the engine to make a simple introduction. The first is lighting effects, that is, the light source on the scene in which the impact of human and material way. lighting effects the game is completely controlled by the engine, refraction, reflection, and other basic optics and dynamic lighting, color effects of light through the engine and other advanced programming techniques to achieve different.
followed by the animation, the current animation system used in the game can be divided into two types: one is skeletal animation system, one model animation system, the former driven by the built-in bone objects in motion, the more common, while the latter is directly based on the model deformation. engine animation system pre-implantation of these two games, the animator for the character design to facilitate a rich action modeling. engine, another important function is to provide physical system, which enables the movement of an object to follow a fixed rule, for example, when the character jumps, the system default value will determine the gravity how high he can jump, and his how fast the whereabouts of the bullet's flight path, the vehicle's rough ways are determined by the physical system.
collision detection is a core part of the physical system, which can detect objects in the game all the physical edge. When the two a 3D object into each of the time, this technology can prevent them through each other, which ensures that when you hit the wall, it does not pass through walls, nor will hit the wall, because the collision detection between you and the wall, according to the characteristics of both the location and determine the role of mutual relations.
rendering is one of the most important functions of the engine, when the 3D modeling is completed, the United States and the union according to the different surface textures given model, which is equivalent to bone cast skin, and finally the model through the rendering engine, animation, lighting, special effects and all effects of real-time calculated and displayed on the screen. rendering engine among all the components in the engine is the most complex, It directly determines whether or not the power of the final output quality.
engine there is an important duty is responsible for communication between the player and the computer, processing from the keyboard, mouse, joystick, and other peripheral signals. If The game supports networking features, the network code will also be integrated in the engine, to manage client and server communication.
dry by the above description of these we can at least understand this: the engine is equivalent to the framework of the game , to lay the framework, the level designers, modelers, animators as long as the inside padding on it. Therefore, in the 3D game development process, often making the engine takes a lot of time, Payne, persons) of the owner of Johnson. Hall or not without regret, said: be in five years what is the market. their own game, a huge market has authorized the formation of the engine.
The engine of evolution
There was a time, game developers care about is how as much as possible the development of new games and sell them to players . Although the game was most simple and rough, but each game, the average development cycle should reach 8 to 10 months or more, this is due to technical reasons, the other is because almost every game from scratch code, resulting in a lot of duplication of effort. Gradually, a number of experienced developers worked out a lazy way, they borrowed a similar theme on the part of the game code as the basic framework for a new game in order to save development time and development costs. According to the Ma old gentleman's productivity theory, the cost per unit increased due to reduced productivity, higher degree of automation will eventually artisan craftsmen who eliminated the low productivity of the engine in this concept is kinds of machines operating in the context of the birth.
each game has its own engine, but others can really get recognized and become the standard engine is not much. Throughout the development process more than nine years, we can see the engine driving force comes from the greatest 3D games, especially 3D shooting game. Although 2D such as the Infinity engine also has a very long history, from the , including the popular expectation games, flight simulation games and real-time strategy game engine rarely authorized to enter the market because, even with third-party developers to get a good engine it is difficult to effect, the Wars: Galactic Battlefield equivalent to a pair of twin brothers, they are born together, grow together, each to each other to provide the driving force of development.
the birth of the engine (1992 ~ 1993)
1992 ��, 3D Realms company / Apogee has releasedWords can not describe it out in the entire history of computer games occupy an important position. this game first person shooter created a precedent, more importantly, its X-axis and Y axis on the basis of a Z-axis increases , constituted by the width and height of the plane forward and backward to increase the depth of a space, this root Z-axis of the 2D games are used to seeing the enormous impact the player can imagine.
Wolfenstein 3D engine The author is the famous John. Carmack, the id Software is the company's chief programmer Wolfenstein 3D engine by virtue of this circle in a firm foothold in the game. In fact, perspective of the game, a few months before its sale, Origin company has introduced a first-person perspective role-playing game mm However, Wolfenstein 3D engine, it has a very big difference between, for example, can rise bow, Wolfenstein 3D engine, these features can not be done, but from the picture point of view, not on the not a added many important features, including actions such as jumping and looked down.
engine, another important early birth of the game from id Software is also a very successful company's first-person shooter mm . Doom engine technology far beyond the Wolfenstein 3D engine, These limited angle can be arbitrary, which makes the stairs, lifting platforms, towers and other outdoor scenes possible.
the Doom engine is still essentially two-dimensional, it can be simultaneously displayed on the screen instead of a large number of roles the speed of the game, a feature that the game created a wild excitement of the action style, in this regard so far only about Which 3D engine is not the enemy in large numbers coming to when you still keep the game flowing, which is why most of the market today first-person shooter players are actively tactical training proficiency and improve the player's shooting accuracy rate of killing one of the main Lankan refused. It is worth mentioning that, despite the lack of sufficient detail Doom engine level, but developers are still in the skill is amazing.
but more memorable is that, Doom engine is the first engine to be used for authorization by the end of .1993, Raven adoption of improved developed a Doom engine called ShadowCaster) of the game, this is the game in the history of the first case of successful graft surgery .1994 Raven Doom engine development company with Doom engine, developed by the a series of cooperation between authorized full description of the engine, both for the users or developers who are all helpful, only to its own engine to more people to use to make the engine continue to mature.
, Which game has never been considered to rely on the engine business to make money, Doom engine's success is no doubt for people to open a new market.
engine change (1994 to 1997)
evolution of the engine, Ken. Silverman 3D Realms in 1994, developed for the Build engine is an important milestone, Build engine's already has a first-person shooter today all the standard content, such as jumping, look around 360 degrees and features such as squatting and swimming, in addition to also refreshing the content. on the basis of the Build engine has been the birth of 14 games, for example, AIDS Health Information developed additional income, 3D Realms company which made the engine licensing market for the first The task ultimately by id Software's topic. from the content of the wonderful extent that shall fully support the polygon models, animation and particle effects of the real 3D engine, not Doom, Build, as the 2.5D engine. In addition Quake game engine or the initiator of the connection, though a few years ago Battle through a modem connection, but ultimately the network into the public's vision of the game is Hammer 2 made a qualitative leap compared, Raven's career license fees from $ 400,000 to $ 1,000,000 range, the version of the basic license fee tax as the number may be 40 million dollars in license fees would need some version of more than 10% extraction tax, 100 million dollars in license fees are rarely extracted some version of tax. In so doing, income in 4500 million dollars, but in the license that is clearly a piece of the profits it gets much higher than meat.
saying goes, game company) (one of four Great Mercy things: play the game machine is not enough strength). In addition to fine buildings, many of the effects even if the game still looked very good today, rippling waves, beautiful sky, a huge hurdle, realistic flame , smoke, and field and other effects. from the simple picture effect of view, is a most widely used engines in the launch within two years after 18 games and Epic have signed a license agreement, not including Epic's own development of the (Duke Nukem Forever), these games have been or are going to get a lot of praise.
Unreal engine, limited scope of application of game production, but also covers education, construction and other fields. Digital Design Company has worked with UNESCO World Heritage Division co-produced by Notre Dame Unreal engine's internal virtual demo, Zen Tao company uses Unreal engine produced martial arts training in karate player software, another software developer Vito Miliano companies also developed a set of Unreal Engine called signs of a very old, it is rare.
engine revolution (1998 to 2000)
the development of the game image to the may then proceed towards the visual aspects. I said before, the role of engine technology for the game and is not confined to the screen, it also affects the overall style of the game, for example, all produced by Doom engine game, whether it is or the first-person shooter to a new climax.
two epoch-making work also appeared in 1998 mmValve's (Thief: The Dark Project), despite the previous the later works as well as the evolution of engine technology has caused such a profound impact.
has received numerous awards for to add two very important features: First, the script sequence technology, which can make the rhythm of the game with reasonable way through the touch event to allow players to truly experience the development of the plot, which for very little attention since the birth of first-person shooter game plot is undoubtedly a great revolution; second characteristic is the improvement of artificial intelligence engine, the enemy's actions and have more obvious than ever cunning, no longer simply fell into the gun mouth. These two features give the robber, the task is to enter a different place, trying not to attract attention in case of stolen goods. Hammer 2 under different lighting conditions eyesight and found the bodies of companions will enter the alert action will make for your response to all reasonable, you must find the enemy hiding in the dark is not be possible to complete the task, which in the past that simply killing the game is simply invisible. Today, most of the first-person shooting games are more or less adopted this style secret, including the newly released Medal of Honor: Allied Assault). Unfortunately, due to the premature closure of Looking Glass Studios, Dark engine failed to flourish, in addition to Metal Age and more developers are beginning to focus shifted from purely visual effect more change in game content, which is worth mentioning that comparison Ion Storm studio production of , although the visuals are outstanding, but the artificial intelligence in the individual can not achieve it, will cause the alert nearby enemies, but that does not mean what he heard, after killing the enemy may be associates around the position towards the stand and ran you may also be indifferent to the behavior of these true even in the military attack can gain experience, skills, and rich dialogue and plot twists and turns. with the game has become a measure of narrative ability of a new standard engine. Since 2000, 3D engine, differentiation toward two different directions, one such as into more narrative composition and role-playing game elements and the strengthening of artificial intelligence to enhance gameplay, and second, the development towards a pure network model, in this context, id Software has once again come to the forefront of the industry They realize that fighting is fun and people, so good in the Quake II graphics engine, based on adding more network components, no first time introduced a single-pass mode of the pure network gaming mm Hammer 3 Arena in the engine licensing market also made a killing. Raven has once again companies with id Software, Quake III engine produced by first-person shooting game Department engine was also used to create the third-person action game Return to Castle Wolfenstein) and the From the first person to third person perspective, fully demonstrated the great potential of Quake III engine.
Epic's , you'll find it slightly higher than the performance of the latter the edge. from the picture side is almost a tie between the two, but in the networking mode, it not only provides a Deathmatch mode, but also provide a variety of intense hot team The Versus mode, and the Unreal Tournament engine can be applied not only in the action shooter, but also that large-scale multiplayer games, real-time strategy games and role-playing 3D games provide strong support. Unreal Tournament engine, the performance of the licensed business has more than the Quake III, Unreal Tournament engine, produced by far the game has about 20 models, including and the for the then white-hot state in the LithTech as the main engine licensing business, would like to take salvaged some costs. LithTech the first generation of engines produced by the game, including and the 2.5 version, adding skeletal animation and advanced terrain system, impressive LithTech at this time has gone from a useful complement to those into a Quake III and Unreal Tournament with an equal footing with the engine. LithTech engine version 3.0 now also been released, and derived from the Alien Vs. Predator 2), production of a large-scale online games has not been announced.
LithTech engine in addition to their strong performance, the biggest selling point is the comprehensive services, in addition to LithTech engines outside the source code and editors, buyers can also get a free upgrade, quick e-mail and telephone technical support, LithTech companies even go to the purchaser company hands-on training. but the average price of LithTech engine is not too high, about 25 million dollars, 70 with the Quake III engine million is already very low compared to the.
engine tomorrow (2001 ~)
2001, there were a lot of good 3D shooting game released in stages, some of which is used in Quake III and Unreal Tournament and other ready-made engine, such as Tribes 2 Although money can not be the same Quake III engine, and Unreal Tournament par, but ...