We Have The Power

OXM speaks to the professionals about exactly what game engines are, which ones they use, and how they work

- Adam Bryant

Frostbite, Unity, Unreal… we’ve all heard of their names, and seen the jaw-dropping, beautiful demos that showcase their tech and highlight advancements in lighting, animation, physics, and particle effects, but what are they really? Ask ten different people what one is, and you’ll likely get ten different answers. Yet game engines are the most crucial part of in-game development, because until a team obtains or creates one, almost everything in the pipeline is put on hold. Despite this, for most people outside the games industry they remain a mysterious entity. So join us as we clear out the grime and sediment to give you a clear idea of just what game engines are capable of…

Well, what are game engines? “Simply put, a game engine is a platform for your game to run on; to load the world, place you in it, and accommodate your stay,” explains CD Projekt Red’s tech team. “There are many kinds of engines. Depending on your game’s requirements, each one will differ in how much work it actually does. They render (display) the world, calculate physics, play sounds, and more. Engines are all the code that is not specific to your game, and can potentially be reused in a different title.” By having an engine that already has ways of handling things like rendering, physics, lighting, and artificial intelligence straight out of the box, it makes creating character models and having them behave in a given way quickly achievable. Such game engines allow development teams to focus on actually making their games rather than having to essentially reinvent the wheel every time they wish to do so. It’s also one of the main reasons why new developers will opt for using engines that are readily available for free, such as Unity or the Unreal Engine.