Today I discussed 5 core purposes about game engines:
- Graphics rendering – text, display, lighting
- Collision detection – main character not falling through floor etc. entering, leaving, touching
- AI – game controlling itself, used to create illusion of intelligence in behaviour of NPCs
- Sound – always needed (even if just ambience)
- Physics – eg. Gravity, Friction (walking, climbing etc. linear and angular drag), Force/Torque, Momentum, Mass
We discussed the advantages of using game engines over previous methods of building a game, where companies built an engine specifically for 1 game and then scrapped it after the game was released. An example of a ground breaking game engine was when ID Software licensed their DOOM engine, which completely changed how games were built, utilising the “Fake 3D” and helping to bridge the gap between 2D and 3D games.
After discussing these points, I proceeded to look at how game engines progressed from when they were orgininally realeased, starting with game dev kits at the end of the 80s. An example of this was the Pinball Construction Set in 1983 which began to let the you toy around with different mechanics and begin to allow you to easily create your “unique” game. You only had a select number of things to use to build your pinball machine, but allowed people to start developing their own games.
As we hit the 90s, we also hit the 3D revolution. A good example of a ground breaking engine was the Source Engine, which used true 3D, included modding, ragdoll and buoyancy physics. This began to progress in other engines and the graphics quality have been improving from one engine to the next since.