Exploring and Understanding Game Engines

Manuscripts

I. What is a Game Engine

A game engine is the core component of a programmed editable computer game system or interactive real-time graphics application. These systems provide game designers with the tools they need to write games, and are designed to make it easy and fast for game designers to create game programs without having to start from scratch. In short, we can use game engines to make games.

II. What are the game engines?

Nowadays, the common game engines include Unity, Unreal Engine, Cocos, Godot, RPG Maker, Lumberyard, etc. The characteristics of the more widely used engines are as follows:

1. Unity:
   • A cross-platform game engine that supports 2D and 3D game development.
   • Has a large development community and a rich resource library, is the first choice of game developers.
   • Using the C# programming language, easy to get started and powerful.
2. Unreal Engine (Unreal Engine):
   • Developed by Epic Games, it is known for its advanced graphics capabilities and scalability.
   • Widely used to create high-quality 3D games and interactive experiences. o Provides a powerful blueprinting system.
   • Provides a powerful blueprinting system to make development more efficient.
3. Cocos Creator:
   • Includes multiple versions of Cocos2d-x and Cocos Creator.
   • Cocos2d-x supports multi-platform development, using programming languages such as C++, Lua and JavaScript.
   • Cocos Creator, on the other hand, is a homegrown engine that uses the JavaScript/TypeScript programming language and focuses on the small game market, making it suitable for rapid game development and distribution.
4. Godot:
   • An open source platform that has attracted a large number of developers with its ease of use and growing feature set.
   • Provides a wealth of tools and resources for indie game developers and small projects.
   • Supports multiple programming languages such as GDScript (a Python-like language), C#, and C++.

Trying to understand the features of each engine through text introduction is not easy, non-programmer students may not know what programming languages are used by multiple engines, but it doesn’t matter, the basic principles of all game engines are similar, next I will give you a specific introduction to the game engines have what features.

III. What does a game engine do?

Game engines usually come with a graphical interface and most of the built-in functionality, with frameworks and libraries that provide all the functionality needed to create a game and the content displayed on the screen. They give the maker more freedom to build the code and the game the way they want to, and they can help us to achieve a multitude of complex effects, but they do need to be set up by the maker. The creation of a game involves multiple functions, and game engines provide us with several sophisticated systems that we just need to build on to accomplish our ideas, but you need to learn how to code, but the engine will make it easy to do so as you learn. And different game engines have different product characteristics, with different features and drawbacks, in the choice, we need to choose the most suitable game engine for us to use according to the needs of the actual project.

Generally speaking, the game engine will include the following features:

1. Rendering engine: Also known as “renderer”, it contains 2D image engine and 3D image engine, which is the most important part of the game engine and is responsible for converting 3D models, textures, lighting and other information into pixel information displayed on the screen. It includes the packaging of OpenGL, DirectX and other graphics interfaces, and implements complex graphics algorithms such as rasterization, texture mapping, anti-aliasing, etc., which are used to produce high-quality image effects.
2. Physics engine: Used to simulate physical phenomena in the game, such as collision detection, force field simulation, joint constraints, etc. It usually uses rigid body dynamics or finite element dynamics. It usually uses rigid body dynamics or finite element methods to calculate the trajectories and interaction forces of objects, making the objects in the game able to exhibit real physical properties. The collision detection system is the core part of the physics engine, which can detect the physical edges of the objects in the game and prevent them from passing through each other.
3. Animation system: It is used to deal with the movement of the characters and the dynamic changes of the objects in the game. Animation system usually supports both skeletal animation and model animation, which can realize realistic character movement and object dynamic effects. Skeletal animation system uses built-in skeleton to drive the object to produce movement, which is more common; model animation system is to deform directly on the basis of the model.
4. sound system: used to deal with the sound effects in the game, such as background music, environmental sound effects. The sound effect system usually supports 3D sound effects, and can adjust the size and pitch of the sound according to the position and direction of the sound source to provide an immersive listening experience.
5. Input Device Interface: The game engine needs to process information from the player’s input devices, such as keyboards, mice, gamepads, and so on. The input device interface is responsible for converting the signals generated by the input devices into commands in the game to realize the player’s control of the game world.
6. Network function: It is the key to realize multiplayer online game. The network function in the game engine includes network communication protocols, data transmission mechanisms, synchronization algorithms, etc., which are used to realize real-time interaction and data synchronization between players in the game.
7. Resource management system: It is responsible for loading and unloading resources in the game, such as 3D models, textures, sound effects, etc. The resource management system can dynamically load and unload resources as needed. The resource management system can dynamically load and unload resources according to the needs, which improves the running efficiency and memory usage of the game.
8. Scripting system: Game engines usually support one or more scripting languages, which are used to implement the logic and behavior of the game. The scripting system provides rich function libraries and API interfaces for developers to write game logic and custom behaviours.
9. Debugger: Used for debugging various properties and parameters in the game. The debugger provides a visual interface and powerful debugging tools to facilitate developers to check and modify various properties and parameters in the game. It may be difficult to understand the meaning of each function simply through the above text, don’t worry, I will create a small case study with you to learn how to use the game engine in a simple way.

IV. Making our first game

Here we choose to make a simple and classic horizontal jumping game, we choose unity as the game engine we use this time.

Specific steps in detail see the video content

V. Game engine and virtual reality connection

1. Import the virtual reality plugin:
   • Import the SDK or related plugins of virtual reality devices in the game engine. For example, in Unity, you can import Oculus or SteamVR plug-ins to support virtual reality functions.
2. Configure the virtual reality camera:
   • Set up a virtual reality camera in the game engine to simulate the user’s perspective. This usually involves placing the camera in an appropriate location in the virtual scene and adjusting its field of view and focal length.
3. Setting up the interaction:
   • Set up appropriate interaction methods based on the characteristics of the virtual reality device. For example, use technologies such as joystick, head tracking or gesture recognition to enable interaction with the virtual scene.
4. Deploy to virtual reality devices:
   • Deploy the packaged application to the target virtual reality device and perform final testing and tuning. Ensure that the application can run properly on the device and the user experience is good.

To summarise, we have only briefly introduced some key steps on the connection. In practice, the connection between game engine and virtual reality requires multiple steps and considerations. By choosing the right game engine and virtual reality device, setting up the virtual reality environment, developing virtual reality content, testing and debugging, as well as publishing and deploying the steps, we can successfully connect the game engine with virtual reality and create a realistic virtual reality experience.

VI. Expansion of Game Engines

With the rapid development of technology, game engines are no longer limited to the field of game development, but are deeply penetrated into multiple industry sectors with their powerful rendering capabilities, physics simulation, artificial intelligence and other technologies at the core. Nowadays, game engines are also widely used in various industries, such as: virtual shooting, construction industry, animation industry, industry, holographic projection, digital human production, simulation training and so on.

In the field of game development, game engines continue to introduce new technologies, such as ray tracing, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), etc., to bring players a more realistic and immersive gaming experience. At the same time, the ease of use and scalability of game engines have also been significantly improved, enabling developers to more efficiently create various types of game works.

In other industries, the expansion of game engines has been equally impressive. For example, in movie production, game engines are used to create realistic virtual scenes and characters, bringing stunning visual effects to movies. In architectural design, game engines have become a powerful visualisation tool to help designers better understand and present design concepts. In addition, game engines are also widely used in education, healthcare, military and other fields, providing strong support for the innovation and development of these industries.

Overall, the expansion of game engines not only promotes the progress of the game industry and virtual reality industry, but also brings new development opportunities for other industries. We need to use it, master it, and inspire our unlimited creativity.