Choosing to buy a middleware game engine for your next game is the most important technology decision you will likely make for your project. How can you evaluate engines properly? What should you do before looking at engines? This talk covers a framework for evaluating game engines, based on a developer survey conducted in early 2009. It also goes through a bit on the history of game engines. Alas, without notes or audio, there are a lot of things missing from this presentation. But hopefully you will find it helpful!

2. Choosing the Game Engine
that is Right for You
Mark DeLoura
Videogame Technology
Consultant
October 12, 2009

3. Introduction

4. Topics
• The Evolution of Game Engines
• Choosing a Game Engine
• Available Engines

5. The Evolution of Game
Engines
• Graphics engines to game engines
• Software 3D to hardware 3D
• Consoles embrace game engines
• The Mod generation
• Shader evolution
• Costs and complexity

6. Graphics Engines
to Game Engines
• 1993: Doom (idTech 1)

7. Graphics Engines
to Game Engines
• 1995: Software-rendered engines
– Argonaut’s BRender
– Criterion’s Renderware
– RenderMorphics’ Reality Lab

8. Graphics Engines
to Game Engines
• 1996: Quake 1

9. Software 3D to Hardware 3D
• 1996: Quake 1

10. Software 3D to Hardware 3D
• 1997: Quake 2 (idTech 2)

11. Software 3D to Hardware 3D
• 1998: Half-Life (GoldSRC)

12. Software 3D to Hardware 3D
• 1998: Unreal (Unreal Engine 1)

13. Software 3D to Hardware 3D
• 1999: Quake 3 (idTech 3)

14. Consoles Embrace Engines
• 1999: PlayStation2

15. Consoles Embrace Engines
• 1999: NDL’s NetImmerse 3D
• 2000: Intrinsic Graphics’ Alchemy

16. Consoles Embrace Engines
• 2001: Grand Theft Auto III uses
Criterion’s Renderware

17. Consoles Embrace Engines
• 2003: Unreal 2 PC (Unreal Engine 2)
• 2004: Unreal 2 Xbox; PS2 in dev

18. Consoles Embrace Engines
• 2003: Vicarious Visions purchases
Intrinsic Graphics (Alchemy)
• 2004: EA purchases Criterion
(Renderware)
• 2005: Emergent purchases NDL
(NetImmerse, Gamebryo)

19. Engines Embrace Consoles
• 2007: Unreal Engine 3
– PC, Xbox360, PS3
• 2009: CryEngine 3
– PC, Xbox360, PS3

20. The Mod Generation

21. The Mod Generation
• 1993: Doom (idTech 1)

22. The Mod Generation
• 1997: Quake 2 (idTech 2)

23. The Mod Generation
• 1998: Unreal (Unreal Engine 1)

24. The Mod Generation
• 2001: Tribes 2 (Torque)

25. The Mod Generation
• 2002: Criterion ships Renderware
Studio

26. The Mod Generation
• 2004: Doom 3 (idTech 4)
• 2004: Half-Life 2 (Source)
• 2004: FarCry (CryEngine)

27. The Mod Generation
• 2007: Gears of War (Unreal Engine 3)

28. The Mod Generation
• 2007: Crysis (CryEngine 2)

29. Shader Evolution
• 1999-2000: “All games on a
particular engine look the same.”

30. Shader Evolution
• 2000: GeForce3 released

31. Shader Evolution
• 2004: Doom 3 (idTech 4)

32. Shader Evolution
• 2004: Half-Life 2 (Source)

33. Shader Evolution
• 2004: Far Cry (CryEngine)

34. Shader Evolution
• 2007: Gears of War (Unreal Engine 3)

35. Current Engine Trends
• Game development costs are very
high
– Amortize development across
multiple games and multiple
platforms
• Multi-processor complexity
– Encourages use of game engines that
make multi-processor development
simpler

36. Choosing a Game Engine
• The most important decision you
will make about game technology

37. 1. Create Your Game Design
• A draft Game Design Document

38. 2. Create Your Tech Design
• A draft Technical Design Document

39. 3. Create Your Production Plan
• A draft Production Plan

40. 4. Now Look at Engines!

41. Developer Survey
• February 2009 survey of game
developers on game engines
– Senior producers
– Senior engineers
• Results published on
Gamasutra.com

42. Game Engine Decisions
• The most important considerations
– Cost: What can you afford?
– Relevance to platforms, genre, design
– Support
– Functionality: Time saved
– Tools and Content Pipeline
– Integration into Current Technology
– Flexibility

43. Cost: What can you afford?
• Tiers of game engines roughly
match cost
– MMO Engines
– High-end Engines
– Mid-range Engines
– Casual / Web Engines
– Open source PC Engines

44. Cost: What can you afford?
• Deal structures are flexible
– Survey: Preferred deal structure?
17.9%
Flat-rate
82.1% Royalty

45. Cost: What can you afford?
• Other costs to keep in mind
– Training
– Integration time
– Support and maintenance fees
– Add-ons
– Potentially unhappy employees

46. Cost: What can you afford?
• Potentially unhappy employees?
– Survey: If budget and time were no
object, which of these would you
prefer?
7.0%
9.3%
46.5% Create ourselves
Use middleware
37.2%
Purchase engine
Other

47. Relevance
• Platforms
– MMO, PC standalone, consoles,
handhelds, mobile
• Genre
– Look for similar games which use the
engine
• Design
– What is most important? Graphics?
Interaction? Physics?

48. Support
• Documentation
• Support team structure
• Samples and tutorials

49. Support
• Survey: Most important engine
practices
1. Source code is available
2. Known to easily integrate
3. Resource management is tweakable
4. Ongoing access to current builds
5. Clear development roadmap

50. Support
• Get a demo license!

51. Functionality
• Survey: Most important engine
systems
1. Multi-threading system
2. Rendering pipeline
3. Animation system
4. Collision detection / physics system
5. Streaming system
6. Networking design
• Varies based on game, team
expertise, other middleware

52. Tools and Pipeline
• Survey: Most important engine
tools
1. Profiling system
2. Live preview on target platform
37.5%
Yes
62.5%
No

53. Tools and Pipeline
• Most important engine tools
3. Standalone world builder
4. Particle system editor

54. Tools and Pipeline
• More important engine tools
5. Scripting system
• Run-time script debugger
• 51.3% of projects use Lua

55. Tools and Pipeline
• Build Process
– Average code change: 3.5 minutes
– Average full rebuild: 105 minutes
Using Automated Builds
11.9%
Yes
88.1% No

56. Integration
• Existing custom technology
• Middleware technology
Using Engine Using Middleware
10.3%
45.0%
Yes Yes
55.0% 89.7%
No No

57. Integration
• Survey: Most popular middleware
libraries
– Bink
– FMOD
– Havok
– Scaleform
– Kynapse
– Wwise

58. Flexibility
• What range of games are made on
the engine?
• Talk to people who have used the
engine.
• Work with the code: how brittle is
it?

59. Other important factors
• Outsourcing
• Source code escrow

60. Most Importantly
• DEMO!

61. Currently Available Engines
• MMO Engines
• High-end Engines
• Mid-range Engines
• Casual / Web Engines
• Open source PC Engines

62. MMO Engines
• BigWorld Technology Suite
• Simutronics’ HeroEngine
• Sun’s Project Darkstar (server)

63. High-end Engines
• Epic’s Unreal Engine 3
• Crytek’s CryEngine 3
• Digital Extremes’ Evolution Engine
• id’s idTech 4/5/6
• Valve’s Source

64. Mid-range Engines
• Emergent’s Gamebryo
• Terminal Reality’s Infernal Engine
• Blitz Games’ BlitzTech
• Trinigy’s Vision Engine
• Vicious Cycle’s Vicious Engine

65. Casual / Web Engines
• Unity Technologies’ Unity
• Garage Games’ Torque
• Macromedia Flash
– For example, PushButton Engine
• Sun’s Java
– For example, jMonkey Engine

66. Open source PC Engines
• Irrlicht
• OGRE3D
• Panda3D
• Many more listed at:
– en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_game_
engines
– zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/游戏引擎列表

67. Another option:
Use middleware
• Use middleware to supplement
your own engine

68. Online Games
• BigWorld Technology
– Tian Xia 2, Kingdom Heroes 2 Online,
Chuang Shi Online

69. Online Games
• Simutronics’ HeroEngine
– Star Wars: The Old Republic

70. Online Games
• Crytek’s CryEngine 3 (2)
– AION, Entropia

71. Online Games
• Unreal Engine 3
– Alliance of Valiant Arms (A.V.A.), APB,
Huxley, The Agency

72. Online Games
• Gamebryo
– Warhammer Online, Wizard 101,
Dark Age of Camelot

73. Casual Games
• Unity

74. Casual Games
• Torque

75. Conclusion
• There are many, MANY engines
• Plan what you are making BEFORE
analyzing game engines
• Each engine has unique features –
analyze games, talk to users, demo
the pipeline, examine the code

76. Closing
• Mark DeLoura’s contact info:
– http://www.satori.org
– mdeloura@satori.org
• Gamasutra engine articles:
– http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/M
arkDeLoura/124/