Game engines

[tubgoatstugboats]

For a short while now i have been learning C++ with an overall goal of making my own game, you know pretty much every gamers dream. I wont try to say i am good but i am learning. While doing other things i try to visualise everything in my mind. Not much to think about while renovating a bedroom. One question i continously have is in reguards to the game engine. I have a few ideas in mind, but i think i need to narrow it down early. The options i see are using the unreal engine, using a completely free engine (i believe panda 3d falls into this category) or piecing my own together though various open source engines. I lean towards using the unreal engine because it is in professional use, but i would like to hear the opinions of others. A goal i have is to get picked up by a company for this game, i dont know if using this engine would be a positive negative or indifferent. Would it be preferable to initially piece together my own engine and just be open to changes later? One main reason i am leaning towards using it is because i do understand that pitching a game is already difficult, i figure if i use a known decent engine it could only help, and if it doesnt happen i can easily continue on and join in the growing indie scence which to be honest doesnt bother me one bit.

[Nightshape]

I always used to write my own engines. (Is till do infact)

 

Now I work with the Ego Engine at Codemasters daily, the benefit of having written my own engines in the past is that I can contribute to any area of the codebase with confidence.

 

That said I'm a person who learns by doing/failure, so I've already made alot of mistakes in the past, on non-professional projects when I was a student. If you're a person who learns by proxy, i.e. seeing how X is done, then I would recommend using an existing engine.

 

That said, your first several attempts at building anything will likely be absolute failures. I would recommend that you create small simple games, asteroids, space invaders, and work from there. Set out with a particular unique goal, for example, I've done two versions of space invaders, one on PC one on PS3 & Xbox 360, over the years, both times I have focused heavily on the destructible barriers.

 

I've done other projects aswell with other focus's, be that animation, terrains, multithreading, rendering, physics, particle systems, whatever it is that you wish to make the main focus of your learning.

 

If you're serious about it, don't expect results within weeks.

 

There is one rule I have which I have inherited from our Lead Programmer, make things demonstrable, that way you feel like you're making progress, because you are.

 

Lets say I'm writing a new game engine from scratch, I know that I need all sorts of systems to make a game, both within the engine and outside of the engine. I'll need a pipeline, I'll need some tools, and I'll need a runtime codebase. Depending on the nature of the game I would get something on screen first, for example, say I'm making space invaders. The first thing I will do is draw a sprite on screen, then I'll build an animation engine, then perhaps some basic physics, then entity systems, meanwhile I'll focus on making the more complete systems data driven (This probably mean building some tools).

 

Once I have enough systems in place I'll begin to focus on some basic gameplay mechanics, after that its just a matter of iteration and expansion through the addition of new features.

 

Then I finish up by profiling and optimizing

[Devirginizer]

I don't know anything about game engines, but what I do know is that you have what it takes son. I would love to see what you got one day on the big stage and say, "I gave that young lad a pep talk one night, and look where he's at." Remember me son, I want to say that I am the proud father of an ingenious game designer. But more importantly, all these kids playing these violent little games are so into it. They come home from school and they get right onto the violence, when all they really need is for someone to say, you know what, you're a neat kid. Just give him a wink and they're sold.

[Walsingham]

I know from personal experience that keeping a blog helps with ANY crazy project. Therefore I suggest you keep us posted here on your progress.