Which Game Engine be used?

            This week we quickly went over which engine you would want to choose, if you were to develop a game. You must keep in mind what type of game you want to make, and what constraints you have. These constraints could range from budget, type of game, and team experience, such as if you have more programmers than artists or vice versa. From this you can determine which engine is best suited for your game or if you should make your own.

First fact which you must acknowledge, every engine is made for a specific genre of game and NEVER every single game. Some engines in the industry today is usually developed and launched alongside a flagship game. A couple examples are Half Life 2 and Source, Gears of War and Unreal 3, StarCraft 2 and its engine. Despite all these engines and their flexibility in creating games of multiple genres, they weren’t made to do this. For example creating a 2D based platformer with the Source engine would be a nightmare, due to the fact it is well made for 3d models.

 When making a game, developers will also look at other options, such as making their own engine out of smaller engines or free software. This software could range from a simple free math library, to render engines such as OGRE, to even free engines such as WildMagic. Generally making your own engine from scratch would be a good idea for a simple 2D game, like for simple indie games like Super Meat Boy and Mark of the Ninja. However when it comes a 3d game, you will have to determine whether to use an expensive existing engine, or you create your own/modify one with existing software. In the end it will come down to the features and scope of the game which you have planned.

In class we compared game engines to a real life car engine, and discussed what it does for the car. An engine is something which brings all the parts of the car together and all them to function together as 1 system. Because of this, the engine which you use must be coherent with the function of the car. One question asked is, would you use a Ferrari engine in a Honda car? No, first off you have to modify the car use this powerful car engine, which is time consuming and unwanted. Second the Ferrari engine is an expensive engine, while the Honda brand is made to be a not as expensive brand of vehicles.