The use of game engines has made the process of game development so much more approachable, and led to some amazing innovations and developments. Whether you prefer popular engines (and you’re wrapped up in the unreal vs unity engine debate), or you prefer a more obscure tool, it’s hard to overstate how much these engines have revolutionized the industry.
What is a game engine?
A game engine could best be described as a tool, designed specifically to make it more straightforward and approachable for developers.
The first game engines were, compared to modern ones, fairly straightforward. Essentially, they would provide an environment in which a coder could write code to interact with graphics, audio, and user input all at once.
Prior to the invention of the game engine, every game that was created was made with its own rendering engine. To put that simply, the developer would have to create the code of the game as well as create the method through which the game was displayed.
How is a game engine used in game development?
During the process of game development which is now infinitely easier for software developers to create games, many different skilled professionals will have a hand in creating the game itself. This will include developers specializing in dialog trees and NPC interaction at one end of things, as well as artists specializing in environmental storytelling at the other end of things.
A game engine essentially functions as a way to bring these different professionals together and allow them to work collaboratively in a way that serves to generate a functional game.
This allows the entire process of creating a game to be sped up massively, leading to greater output from game design studios and, in turn, more complex stories and artwork behind the scenes.
A game engine also allows developers to live test the game as they’re creating it. This means that an artist, for instance, can get live feedback on how the avatar that they’ve created interacts with the world. This massively speeds up the process, as it allows that artist to work directly with other team members to iterate through improving designs over the course of a day, rather than over the course of weeks or months.
How do different game engines differ?
There are a great number of game engines available on the market, with each of them offering a slightly different user experience and end product. Some popular game engines include: Unity, Unreal Engine, Godot, and Game Maker Studio 2.
The best way to describe the differences is to say where each engine excels. For instance, the Unity engine is exceptionally popular for developers who like to build 2D games. Because of this popularity and the fact that the code is written in C# it's quite accessible, with lots of tutorials online.
On the other hand, the Unreal Engine is considered the market leader for those who wish to make 3D games. It’s quite a hefty program, but it makes use of Visual Scripting to create visually striking 3D interactions in-game.
Game engines can seem a complex and daunting tool from the outside. However, once you understand them on a deeper level, they become intuitive and incredibly useful!