Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
LEVEL 10
“Silly Human . . . ”
How Game Engines Think
Background of Game Engines •
Structure of a Game Engine •
Current Game Engines •
How a Game Engine Thinks About Sound •
The Importance of Testing and Design Iteration •
Learning Outcomes:
Understand the development of game engines •
Recognize the structure of game engines •
Know how a game engine thinks about sound •
Background of Game Engines
Before game engines existed, games were usually written by
programmers from scratch for specii c platforms. Every time a new game
was developed, the programmer largely had to start from the ground up
and recode the entire game for that same platform. Remember, these
i rst games were written to run on very limited resources, and would
have to take maximum advantage of minimum materials in order for
the game to run optimally. In addition, a game written for one particular
platform would often have to be almost completely rewritten if it were
ported to another platform, due to dif erences in hardware engendered
by both competition and the rapid development of hardware capability
in the i eld. This constant need to re-create the wheel over and over
again became exceedingly onerous for game developers, and led directly
to the development of game engines.
