game engine questions

[Joelbanks5]

What exactly is a game engine? What does it do? How does it work? And what makes up a game engine? Any other relevant information to help a stupid person understand a game engine is appreciated.

 

might want to dumb down you answer so I can understand it lol.

[Joelbanks5]

Just now, rrubberr said:

A game engine is all of the tools and such that are used to make a game. It makes pretty pictures.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_engine

 

 

tried wikipedia, didn't understand so I came here. please explain haha

[Ostwind]

2 minutes ago, Joelbanks5 said:

tried wikipedia, didn't understand so I came here. please explain haha

its the thing what which makes it possible fer shootin nazis and old people and aliens with guns and punchin their faces without getting in trouble with the police it also makes the graphics look more graphicy

[Joelbanks5]

Just now, rrubberr said:

A game engine is all of the tools and such that are used to make a game. It makes pretty pictures.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_engine

 

 

 

Just now, Ostwind said:

its the thing what which makes it possible fer shootin nazis and old people and aliens with guns and punchin their faces without getting in trouble with the police it also makes the graphics look more graphicy

 

I asked some fairly specific questions, would be appreciated if those were each answered.

[Ostwind]

4 minutes ago, Joelbanks5 said:

 

I asked some fairly specific questions, would be appreciated if those were each answered.

crazy how searching works

[2FA]

15 minutes ago, Joelbanks5 said:

What exactly is a game engine? What does it do? How does it work? And what makes up a game engine? Any other relevant information to help a stupid person understand a game engine is appreciated.

 

might want to dumb down you answer so I can understand it lol.

1. A template of functions and mechanics.
2. The template is used so that the developer doesn't have to code everything from scratch.
3. It's not something that you can just say "how does it work" since it is more along the lines of a library that the devs can use when making the game.
4. A rendering engine (the actual code needed for drawing objects on screen), a physics engine (how do objects behave), basic AI behavior that the dev can further customize, sound, etc as well as how system resources are used.

[Joelbanks5]

new question, how do game devs see it? How do they use it? 

 

maybe a more visual answer would be helpful.

 

thanks

Just now, DeadEyePsycho said:

1. A template of functions and mechanics.
2. The template is used so that the developer doesn't have to code everything from scratch.
3. It's not something that you can just say "how does it work" since it is more along the lines of a library that the devs can use when making the game.
4. A rendering engine (the actual code needed for drawing objects on screen), a physics engine (how do objects behave), basic AI behavior that the dev can further customize, sound, etc as well as how system resources are used.

 

 

Just now, rrubberr said:

Some fairly menial questions with fairly easy to find answers.

 

A game engine is the piece of software that a game is created in. It's what shows all of the geometry and makes all of the effects. A game engine is made up of:

 

Game engines are written in a scripting language like C or C++, which then allows them to communicate with various pieces of harware. To communicate with the GPU, DirectX, OpenGL, CUDA, or OpenCL are used.

 

"a rendering engine (“renderer”) for 2D or 3D graphics, a physics engine or collision detection (and collision response), sound, scripting, animation, artificial intelligence, networking, streaming, memory management, threading, localization support, scene graph, and may include video support for cinematics."

 

The rendering engine is what communicates with the GPU, it tells the GPU what objects and effects to draw. It defines the lighting, particle effects, etc.

 

The physics engine simulates physics. Look at Nvidia Physx, Havok for more.

 

Collision detection is figuring out when two objects collide, for instance if a character bumps into a wall.

 

These all combine with some magic in your graphics card to show you an image onscreen.

 

 

 

 

 

[Joelbanks5]

Just now, rrubberr said:

Generally you export something from your 3d modelling program and import it into the game engine.

 

Here's what it looked like in the 3d modelling software.

 

 

This is what it looks like without textures or other effects. This is just the shapes, or geometry, that make up the scene.

 

Then you can import that geometry into the engine and apply textures. Textures are the images that give the geometry realistic details, these can be made by the artist or from pictures of the real world. In this case, I made the textures in Substance Painter. I then imported the model and textures into Unreal Engine and made materials for each mesh. A few completed ones are seen below.

 

 

After a bit more work you have something fit to render / publish / show your boss. The final product is shown below.

 

 

And this is what the final version with effects and lighting applied might look like. The depth of field (blurriness), bloom (the light making the little clouds), volumetrics (the transport of light through a translucent medium, or dust / haze), and lighting (shadows) are all made using tools included in the engine.

 

And so what part(s) of the game engine is this?

 

can you provide visual representations of other parts of the game engine please?

[Joelbanks5]

Just now, rrubberr said:

 

That was the renderer.

 

Where to programming come into play in the game engine?

[Joelbanks5]

Just now, rrubberr said:

Never these days. It's all visual.

 

(unless you want to do it the hard way)

 

so then where is programming used in video games? I thought part of the game engine is AI and other things like you said, the surely must use programming?

[Joelbanks5]

Just now, rrubberr said:

Making the game engine is all programming, to clarify, and that's way beyond the scope of being able to

 

 

so the only programming in a game is programming the game engine?

[Joelbanks5]

Just now, rrubberr said:

Most likely, unless you want some weird specific feature that wasn't included in the engine.

so games that use engines like unreal and such haven't had much programming done to them? All the devs did was 3D models and animations and such?

[Joelbanks5]

Just now, rrubberr said:

That's kind of the point. To make it easier.

So millions of dollars, just to do that? why does that stuff cost so much money and why do games take so long to develop then if there's next to no programming?

[Joelbanks5]

4 minutes ago, rrubberr said:

Why would it cost more if it included programming? Remember, people like Activision, Rockstar, Epic, and EA / DICE all maintain their own engines that they update with every new release.

 

But there are so many popular and phenomenal games that don't make their own engines every new game. I'm honestly just more confused now. so the only programming is in the game engine, and most games don't make their own engines. so most of the work and many games is just other stuff. What exactly is all the other stuff other than programming?

[Joelbanks5]

Just now, rrubberr said:

Texturs, models, making it pretty.

So in a building of a video game development company you will see only a handful of programmers and everyone else is involved in some sort of art related stuff? 

 

are there any videos that show the entire process a video game goes through from start to finish?

[Joelbanks5]

Just now, rrubberr said:

Texturs, models, making it pretty.

why isn't there a subforum for that stuff then? there's a subforum for programming which apparently isn't as important as that stuff.

 

and can you explain the 3d modeling and animations and stuff in more depth, please?

[P4ZD4]

I think this is giving OP the impression developers do nothing 

[Joelbanks5]

Just now, rrubberr said:

This is stuff that takes literally years to learn (and took me literally years to learn), and I don't really have 15 hours to sit here and write the condensed version. There are graphic and game design forums. This isn't one of them.

 

This is a technology forum, I'm sure Technology is a broad enough subject to include 3d modeling and such. It's broad enough o include games and folding at home, so i don't see why 3d modeling can't be one.

 

you sure? It looks like it can be done quick n ez. you managed to explain an engine quick and easy.

Just now, P4ZD4 said:

I think this is giving OP the impression developers do nothing 

no, just that the main place they're useful in the video game industry is in the big companies that create game engines with each new game.

[Joelbanks5]

Just now, rrubberr said:

To the average non-AAA designer, they don't.

what exactly defines a AAA game? what requirements must it meet?

[Joelbanks5]

Just now, rrubberr said:

Budget.

more specific please, all I got from that is anything that seems expensive to me is a AAA game which isn't true.

[P4ZD4]

7 minutes ago, rrubberr said:

To the average non-AAA designer, they don't.

Yeah, most of today's games aren't very "logically demanding" and most resources go into making the game look better.

[Joelbanks5]

Just now, rrubberr said:

There sure as He** isn't a quality requirement. The only requirement to be AAA is to cost alot.

 

Just now, P4ZD4 said:

Yeah, most of today's games aren't very "logically demanding" and most resources go into making the game look better.

What does AAA stand for? And I'm pretty sure there are AAA games without custom engines.

 

so why is it so hard to make a game look good so much that they have to pour millions of dollars on it to make it "acceptable"?

[P4ZD4]

1 minute ago, rrubberr said:

Because it isn't something you can learn in 45 minutes on the LTT forum. It takes skill and you have to pay people with those skills.

How long are you planning on keeping this up? 

[Joelbanks5]

Just now, rrubberr said:

Because it isn't something you can learn in 45 minutes on the LTT forum. It takes skill and you have to pay people with those skills.

I know that, but what I am asking is why it's so hard to make it look nice? I've seen plenty of non-AAA games with nice graphics.

[Joelbanks5]

Just now, rrubberr said:

Why does the U.S. government cost so much? Britain's government is fine.

 

To make something not real look real takes extensive study and practise. These people (myself included) are literally trying to synthesize a believable reality.

 

Why am I seeing non-AAA games with nearly AAA game graphics and all?