When reading various games, we often encounter this word "engine" (Engine), what kind of role in the game does? What is its impact on the development of the game? I hope that the article will be doubtful for everyone.
First, what is engine
We can make the engine's engine than the engine's engine. Everyone knows that the engine is the heart of the car, which determines the performance and stability of the car, the speed of the car, the sense of the car is directly related to the engine's foundation. Up. The same is true, the players experience the plots, levels, art, music, operations and other contents are directly controlled by the game engine. It plays the role of the midfield engine, bundles all the elements in the game together, in The background commands them at the same time, and work in an orderly manner. Simply put, the engine is "used to control all the main programs of all game features, from the relative position of the collision, physical system, and objects to accept the player's input, and in accordance with the correct volume output sound, etc."
It can be seen, the engine is not a mysterious thing, whether 2D game or 3D game, whether it is a role play game, instant strategy game, adventure puzzle game or action shooting game, even if it is a 1 trillion game, there are Such a piece of code that controls the effect. After continuous evolution, the current game engine has been developed into a complex system that is commonly constructed of multiple subsystems, from modeling, animation to light, particle effects, from physical systems, collision detection to file management, network characteristics, and Professional editing tools and plugins, almost all of the important links in the development process, and the following is a brief introduction to some key components of the engine.
The first is the light and shadow effect, that is, the method of influence the light source in the scene to the human and objects therein. The light and shadow effect of the game is completely basic for engine control, refractive, reflection, etc., and the advanced effects such as dynamic light source, color light source are achieved by different programming techniques of the engine.
Secondly, the animation system currently used by the game can be divided into two types: First, the bone animation system, one is the model animation system, the former uses the built-in bone to produce sports, more common, the latter is the foundation of the model Directly deformed directly. The engine prefers these two animation systems into the game, facilitating the animator for the role design.
Another important function of the engine is to provide physical systems, which can make the motion of the object to follow the fixed law, for example, when the role is jumped, the system-constant gravity value will determine how he can jump, and the speed of his drop. How fast, the flight trajectory of the bullet, the bump mode of the vehicle is also determined by the physical system.
Collision detection is the core part of the physical system, which can detect the physical edge of each object in the game. When two 3D objects hit together, this technique can prevent them from passing through each other, which ensures that when you hit the wall, you won't wear the wall, and you will not knock the wall, because Collision detection will determine the position and mutual relationship between the two according to the characteristics between you and the wall.
Rendering is one of the most important functions of the engine. After the 3D model is completed, the art will give a model according to different faces, which is equivalent to the skin of the skin, and finally use the rendering engine to put the model, animation, light, and shadow, All effects such as special effects are calculated and displayed on the screen. The rendering engine is the most complicated part of the engine, and its power is directly determined to the final output quality.
An important responsibility is to be responsible for communication between players and computers, handling signals from keyboard, mouse, rocker, and other peripherals. If the game supports the networking feature, the network code will be integrated into the engine for managing communication between clients and servers.
Through the above boring introduction, we can at least learn a little: the engine is equivalent to the framework of the game, after the frame is hit, the level designer, build a modest, and the animator can fill the content in the process. Therefore, during the development of 3D games, the engine's production often takes a lot of time, "Marcos Payne" MAX-FX engine has spent more than four years from the initial prototype Final Reality to the final product for more than four years. The LithTech Engine has spent five years, costing 7 million US dollars, the boss of Monolith (the developer of the LithTech Engine), Jensen Hall, did not even have no regrets: "If you realize your own engine If you have such a big price, we can't do this stupid thing at all. No one will expect what the market is in the five years. "It is due to cost savings, shortening the cycle and reducing risk. Considering that more and more developers tend to use third-party ready-made engines to make their own games, a huge engine license market has been formed.
Second, the engine's evolution has once a period of time, game developers have only developed new games as much as possible and sell them to players. Although the game is mostly simple, the average development cycle of each game has to reach 8 to 10 months. This aspect is due to the reason, on the other hand, because almost every game must be written from the head. The code has caused a lot of repetitive labor. Gradually, some experienced developers have explored a lazy way, they borrow a basic framework for new games in a game similar to the theme to save development time and development. According to Mr. Ma Lao's productive mechanics, the cost of the unit product is reduced due to the increase in productivity, and the automated level of automation will ultimately eliminate the handicrafts that have low productivity, the concept of engine is in this machine. Born in the background.
Every game has its own engine, but there is not much engine that can be approved and become a standard. Throughout the nine years of development, we can see that the largest driving force of the engine comes from 3D games, especially 3D shooting games. Although 2D engines like Infinity also have a considerable history, from the Baldur's Gate series to "Icescape: Torment", "Ice Wind Dale" until this year Summer will be released, but its application is limited to the role playing game of "Dragon and Dungeon" style, including the expected "Night in the Winter City" (Neverwinter Nights). Aurora engine, all of which have a very special purpose, it is difficult to play a role in the development of the entire engine technology, which is why sports simulation games, flight simulation games and instant strategy games are rarely entered the authorized market. Even if you use a third party engine, it is difficult to obtain the ideal effect, and the "Star Wars: Galactic Battleground" is the best example using the "Age of Empires" engine.
Therefore, the history of the engine will focus on the change of the action shooting game. The relationship between the action shooting game is equivalent to a pair of twin brothers, and they have born together, grow together, and each other provides development power.
The birth of the engine (1992-1993)
In 1992, 3D Realms Company / Apogee issued a small game with only 2 trillion - "Wolfenstein 3D), a slightly qualified player may still remember the excitement of the initial contact, The word "revolution" is also unable to describe its important position in its history of computer game development. This game has created the first person to shoot the primary river of shooting games. More importantly, it adds a Z-axis on the basis of the X-axis and Y axes, adding a forward backward on the plane composed of width and height. The depth space, this Z-axis can I know that the huge impact caused by players who are gotting 2D games. The author of the Wolfenstein 3D engine is a famous John Kamark. The ID Software's CEO is standing with this Wolfenstein 3D engine in the game circle. In fact, the "German Command" is not the first game with the first person's perspective. It has launched a role playing game of the first person's perspective before it is released - "Genesis: Underground World "(Ultima Underworld), this corner game uses a similar technology, but it has a considerable difference between the Wolfenstein 3D engine, for example, the" underground world "engine supports slopes, floors and ceiling can have different The height, divided into different levels, players can jump in the game, can look down, these features Wolfenstein 3D engine can not do, and from the screen, the "German Command" is closer to the comic style rather than traditional pixel screens .
Despite the technical details, Wolfenstein 3D engines are not "Genesis: Underground World" engine, but it makes it better to use the characteristics of the first person's perspective. The fast-hot game rhythm makes people remember " One person called shooting game "this word, not" first person "role play game." The "German Command" later issued an named sequel - "Rise of the Tria", this game adds many important features based on the Wolfenstein 3D engine, including jumping and looking up Lower and other actions.
Another important game in the early days of the engine is also a very successful first-person shooting game from ID Software, "Destroyed Warrior". The Doom engine has greatly transcending the Wolfenstein 3D engine, and the size of all objects in the "German Command" is fixed. All the angles between all paths are right angles, that is, you can only go forward or backward, these The limitations have been broken through the "Destruction Warrior". Although the game's level is still made on the 2D plane, there is no "upstairs" concept, but the thickness of the wall can be arbitrary, and the angle between the path can be arbitrary, which makes the stairs, lift platforms, tower and Outdoor scenarios have become possible.
Since the DOOM engine is still two-dimensional, you can do a large number of roles on the screen without affecting the speed of the game, this feature creates a crazy stimulus style, in this regard So about only the "SERIS SAM" series, there is no such 3D engine that can still keep the game smooth when a large number of enemies will come to you, why is this today's market Most of the first person, shooting games, are actively cultivating players' tactical use capabilities, and raising the player's main reason for the main cause of deforens. It is worth mentioning that although the Doom engine lacks enough detail, developers still show amazing environmental effects in the "Destruction Warrior", and their sake of cooked design techniques are amazing.
However, it is more memorant that the DOM engine is the first engine that is used to authorize. At the end of 1993, Raven has developed a game called "SHADOWCASTER" in the use of improved DOM engines. This is the first successful grafting surgery in the history of the game. In 1994, RAVEN has developed a "heretic" in the DOOM engine. Increases flight characteristics to the engine and become the predecessor of jumping. In 1995, RAVEN has developed a "destruction of the Wizard" (HEXEN), joining new sound technology, scripting technology, and a gathered design of a hub, allowing you to move freely between different levels. Raven's a series of cooperation between the ID Software fully explains the engine's authorization. No matter what the user is still a developer. It only hands your own engine to more people to use to make the engine. Continuously ripe. The "Destruction Warrior" series is quite successful, and it has sold more than 3.5 million sets, and the authorization fee has brought a considerable income for ID Software. Before this, the engine is only a kind of self-selling development tool. There have never been a gamer who rely on the engine to make money, and the success of the Doom engine undoubtedly open a new market.
The transformation of the engine (1994-1997)
During the evolution of the engine, the Build engine developed by Ken Silverman in 1994 was an important milestone. The "flesh" of the Build Engine is the "Duke Duke Mak" (Duke Nukem 3D). . "Duke of Destruction" has already had all the standards of the first person to shoot the shooting game, such as jump, 360 degree coming, squat and swimming characteristics, but also replaced the flying in the "pagan" into a jet backpack, even joined Role reduction is a refreshing content. On the basis of the Build Engine, there were 14 games, such as "Redneck Rampage", "Shadow Warrior) and" Blood "(Blood), etc., and Taiwan Ai Yisheng Development "Seven Heroes", this is one of several 3D shooting games in China (so far). The 2D Realms has brought more than $ 10 million in 3D Realms, and 3D Realms has also become the first "outbreak house" on the engine license market. However, from the general perspective, the Build engine does not have any quality changes to the development of the 3D engine, and the breakthrough tasks are ultimately completed by ID Software's "Rayt God" (QUAKE).
"The Hammer of Thunder" is safe after the "Duke of Destruction", and the two are excellent and become a hot topic of players. From the extent of the content, "Duke of Destruction" exceeded "The hammer of Thunder God", but from the advancement of technology, "the hammer of" Rayt God "is undoubtedly winner. The quake engine is the first 3D engine that fully supports polygon models, animations, and particle effects, rather than Doom, Build 2.5D engine. In addition, the Quake engine is still the initiator of the connection game, although "Destruction Warrior" a few years ago can also connect to the battle of the demodulator, but finally bring the online game into the Volkswagen 's vision, it is "the hammer of Thunder God", it is to promote The development of the electronic competitive industry.
One year later, ID Software launched the "Hammer 2" of Thunder, I identified my dominance in the 3D engine market. "The Hammer 2" of Thunder has adopted a new engine that can be more fully utilized to use 3D acceleration and OpenGL technology, with a quality leap in front of the image and the network, Raven's "pagan 2" (Heretic) II) and "Soldier of Fortune", "Sin), XATRIX Entertainment's" Kingpin: Life of Crime "(Kingpin: Life of Crime) and Ion Storm Studio have just been released last year "Annkernox" (Anachronox) has a Quake II engine. The authorization model of the Quake II engine is roughly as follows: Basic licensing costs range from $ 400,000 to US $ 1 million, and the basic license fee of the branch is fixed, and the license fee of $ 400,000 needs to extract 10% of the bonus. The $ 1 million license fee is extracted with a few part of the tax. This is calculated, "Rayt God's Hammer 2" has passed through the engine authorization at least 10 million US dollars, although the sales performance of the game itself is much worse than the "destruction of the warrior", it has sold more than 1.1 million sets, income It is more than $ 45 million, but the profit it gets it is obviously much higher than the "Destruction Warrior", and the engine has become a mouth-watering fat from a junior tool.
As the saying goes, "a slap in the face is not ringing", there is no competitor that is quite, and any market cannot develop. Just as the Quake II October, the "Unreal" (Unreal) of Epic Megagames (that is, the current EPIC game company). It is not exaggerated. When I first run this game, I was really shocked by the picture in front of my eyes, although this game running at 300x200 resolution (one of the four sorrows: playing game machine is not enough ). In addition to exquisite buildings, many special effects in the game are still very good at today's seemingly excellent, ripple, beautiful sky, huge level, realistic flame, smoke and force field. From a simple picture effect, "Unreal" is a well-deserved leader, and its shocking force can be compared to people's feelings when they see the "German Command".
The Unreal engine may be the most wide engine. 18 games have been signed with EPIC companies within two years after the launch, which does not include the "Unreal" data sheet "returned by EPIC. Napari, in which several works such as the third person, "Nordic God" (Rune), role playing game "DEUS EX) and the first person who will never list shoot" is always Duke Duke Nukem Forever, these games have or will have to get a lot of praise.
The application range of the Unreal engine is not limited to game production, and other areas such as education, construction are covered. Digital Design has cooperated with the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Branch using Unreal Engine to produce internal virtual demonstrations of Notre Dame de Paris, ZEN Tao adopts Unreal Engine to make martial arts training software for karate players, another software developer Vito Miliano also developed a architectural design software called "UnRealTy" for real estate demonstrations.
This engine with the "Rayt God 2" has been continuously updated. It is still active in the game market, and there is no significant signs of old mood.
The engine's revolution (1998-2000) The image of the game has developed to "Unreal" here has reached a height of a ceiling, and the development direction of the next development is obviously impossible to move towards visual. As mentioned earlier, the role of engine technology is not limited to the screen. It also affects the overall style of the game. For example, all games made with Doom Engine, whether it is "pagan" or "destroying the wizard", there is similar The content, even even the plot settings are as follows. The player started to ran around the gun to run, and developers had to seek breakthroughs from other aspects, thereby set off a new climax of the first person shooting game.
The two episodes appeared at the same time in 1998 - the "Half-life" and LookingGlass studio's "Thief: Dark Project", although the previous "system shock "System Shock" has also brought many new features for engine technology, but no game can have such a profound effect on the evolution of later works as "half-life" and "sneak". .
The "half-life" who has won countless grand prize is a mixture of Quake and Quake II engines. Valve has joined two important features on this two engine: First, the script sequence technology, this technology The player can make the player real experience the development of the plot by means of a reasonable rhythm, which is a great revolution; the second feature is undoubtedly a great revolution. It is an improvement to the artificial intelligence engine. The enemy's actions have significantly more deceitable, no longer simply pocked the muzzle. These two characteristics give the "half-life" engine, the "Baixi Skums", "Squadron", "The Counter Strike" and "Destroying Day", and the "Half Tropics" and "Destruction Day" on this basis The life of the life is a more eye-catching ray.
The game that is really breakthrough in artificial intelligence is the "Cabin: Dark Plan" of the Looking Glass Studio. The story of the game has occurred in the middle of the ancient age. Players play a thief. The task is to enter different places. Try not to pay attention to others. In the case of stealing items. The "Thief" is used by the Dark Engine developed by the Looking Glass Studio. The Dark Engine is not in the image than the "Rayt God 2" or "Unreal", but it is much higher than the latter two. If the enemy in the game knows that according to the sound identifying your orientation, you can distinguish between the footsteps on different grounds. There are different potions in different illumination environments. After discovering the body of the companion, it will enter the warning state, and will also target you. Action make a variety of reasonable reactions, you must hide in the dark, not being discovered by the enemy, it is possible to complete the task, which is not found in the pure killing game. Today, most of the first person, shooting games, including this hidden style, including newly released "MEDAL OF Honor: Allied Assault). Unfortunately, due to the premature closure of the looking glass studio, the DARK engine failed to carry forward, except for the "Cabin: Dark Program", only "Thief 2: Metal Age" in this engine (Thief 2: The Metal Age) And a few games such as "system shock 2".
Inspired by the "half-life" and "sneak: Diablo plan", more and more developers have begun to turn their attention from a simple visual effect to a more changing game content, which is worth mentioning. The "killing of the rear", "killing the rear", "Killing the Double Since", the "killing the rear", although the picture effect is very outstanding, but it cannot meet the "hob" series, the enemy in the game More, relying on pre-set scene scripts, for example, smashing the ammunition box may cause a vigilance of nearby enemies, but this does not mean what he has heard, and the accomplices around you will stand up to you. The location can also be indifferent, these untrue behaviors still exist even in the "Honor Medal: Allied Antie". The quality of the image offsets artificial intelligence defects, and truly helps "killing the heavy" standing in numerous shooting games, it is its unique style. The game contains a strong role playing component, and the characters can accumulate experience, improve skills, and also Have rich dialogue and twists and turns. Like "half-life", the success of "killing the heavy" indicates the importance of the narrative for the first person to shoot games, which can better support the narrative ability of the game has become a new standard for the measurement engine. Since 2000, the 3D engine is differentiated in two different directions. One is the "half-life", "thief" and "killing the rehearsal", and strengthens the artificial integration into more narrative ingredients and roles. Smart to improve the playability of the game, the second is to develop pure network models. In this regard, ID Software has went to the forefront of the entire industry. They realize that they are so happy, so they are On the basis of Quake II's excellent image engine joins more network components, breaking the sky launched a pure online game that completely does not have a single pass mode - "QUAKE III Arena", it EPIC's "Unreal Tournament" will become a turning point in the history of engine development.
With the great success of the Quake III engine, ID Software also earned a lot in the engine license market. Raven has once again collaborate with ID Software, using the Quake III engine to produce the first person shooting game "Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force), and this engine is also used to make a third-person action game" heavy metal FAKK 2 "(Heavy Metal Fakk 2) and" AMERICAN MCGEE's Alice ", the recent shooting game" Return to Castle Wolfenstein "and" Honor Medal: Allied Antie "," Jedi Outcast: Jedi Knight II ", as well as the development of" Jedi Outcast: Jedi Knight II). From the advantage of the Dungeon to the outer space, from the fairy tale world to the World War II, from the first person's perspective to the third perspective, the powerful potential of the Quake III engine is fully shown.
Epic's "Unreal Arena" is a step behind "Raytard's Hammer 3 Arena", but if you carefully compare, you will find that its performance is slightly higher than the latter. From the picture, the two are almost made into flat hands, but in the networked mode, it not only provides a death competition model, but also provides a variety of fierce battle models such as teamwork, but the unreal tournament engine can not only be applied in action shooting games. In the middle, you can provide strong 3D support for large multiplayer games, instant strategy games and role playing games. The Unreal Tournament engine has more than 20 in the LUAKE III. It has been included in the game of Unreal Tournament Engine to date, including "Star Trek Deep Space Nine: The" Fallen), "New Legend" and "Sierraphim", etc. Another engine that rapidly rising during the period 1998 to 2000 is the LithTech engine of Monolith, which was originally used in the machine shooting game "Spring Gang" (SHOGO). As mentioned earlier, the development of the LithTech engine has spent a five-year time, costing 7 million US dollars, hard work, and the first version of the LithTech engine immediately causing the industry's idea, in the white thermal state. "The Hammer of Lei Shen 2" vs. "Unreal" battle splashes a pot of cold water.
It is because of the excessive development cost. In 2002, Monolith decided to set up a LithTech company, as the main business license for the LithTech engine, I hope to pick back some costs. The game made from LithTech first generation engine includes "blood band 2" and "sanity). In 2000, LithTech launched a 2.0 version of the engine and version 2.5, joined the skeletal animation and advanced terrain system, giving people a "No One Lives Forever) and the" Global Action "that is about to be listed. Global Operations uses the lithtech 2.5 engine. At this time, LithTech has become a engine with QUAKE III and Unreal Tournament from a useful supplement. Today's 3.0 version of the LithTech engine has also been released and is derived from Jupiter, "Eagle" (Talon), "Cobalt" and "Discovery" ("Eagle claws" "It is used to develop" Alien vs. Predator 2 "(Alien vs. Predator 2)," Jupiter "will be used for the development of" no life 2 "," dark blue "is used to develop PS2 version" no one eternal life "," Exploration will be used to make a large online game that has not been published.
In addition to the powerful performance of itself, the LithTech engine is the detailed service. In addition to the source code and editor of the lithtech engine, the buyer can also get a free upgrade, fast email and telephone technical support, LithTech Company even Will ask the purchaser to the company to train the handler. And the average price of the LithTech engine is not very high, about $ 250,000, which is already quite low compared to the QUAKE III engine.
Tomorrow of the engine (2001 ~)
In 2001, many excellent 3D shooting games were released, and some of them used ready-made engines such as Quake III and Unreal Tournament, such as "Star Trends Depth Space Nine: Fall", "Returning to German Headquarters" and "Honors" and "Allies" Attack ", and more, it is the engine that is developed. It includes a representative network shooting game" Tribe 2 "(Tribes 2), the first person is called" Marcos Petion "," Red Pass " (Red Faction) and "Hero Sam", etc. "Tribe 2" is a V12 engine. Although this engine cannot be compared with Quake III and Unreal Tourn, but developers are quite novel for its licensing models, you only need to spend $ 100 to get the right to use. However, there is no free lunch in the world, and a series of provisions that are quite demanding. For example, developers cannot use the engine to make games for other game publishers, other commercial game sites and other competitors, and the development of the game must Garagegames (owner of the V12 engine) before issuance, can not be handed over to any third party, GarageGames will have the exclusive issuance of these games for five years. Despite this, this ultra-low-cost engine is still very attractive for those with small independent developers.
"Marcos Payne" is the MAX-FX engine, which is the first engine that supports radiation light rendering technology (Radiosity Lighting). This technology only appears in some advanced architectural design software, it can Combined all of the light source effects of the surface of the object, according to the physical properties of the material and its geometric characteristics, accurately calculate the refractive index and reflectance of each point, so that the light is propagated in a more natural manner, and creates a very realistic light for the object. effect. Another feature of the MAX-FX engine is the so-called "bullet time", which is a "hacker empire" slow-moving lens, in which the flight trajectory of the bullet can be seen. Qing Dynasty. The MAX-FX engine has introduced the visual effect of the game to a new peak.
The "Red Palace" is the Geo-MOD engine. This is the first 3D engine that can be arbitrarily changed, that is, you can use weapons to blow a gap on walls, buildings or any sturdy objects. After wearing a wall, or blowing a slit in flat. Another feature of the Geo-MOD engine is superb artificial intelligence. The enemy will react not only after seeing the body of the companion or after hearing the explosion. When they find that you stay in the surrounding object, if you also Will be alert, they know how to stay away from those who may cause harm to themselves, they will fist out, but they will not fight, but will continue to fight against life.
"Hero Sam" uses the Serious engine. This engine is the biggest feature of abnormal rendering. It is facing a large number of enemies and an endless open scene. You will not feel the stagnation of the picture, and the game The picture effect is also quite excellent. In addition, it is worth mentioning the KRASS engine used by "Aquanox". This engine is used as the official designated engine of GeForce 3, which is specifically used to promote, demonstrate GeForce 3, and impeccable visual performance.
It can be seen that several engines in 2001 continue to continue for more than two years, and constantly pursue real effects, such as the true effect of the MAX-FX engine pursue pictures, the GEO-MOD engine pursues the trueity of content, The "Soldier Of Fortune" GHOUL engine pursues the true death of death; on the other hand, continue to explore the direction of the network, such as "Tribe 2", "Team Fortress 2), and Monolith The company's large online game that has not been announced. However, the idea of putting the first person shooting in large network environments is still difficult to achieve due to technical restrictions. It is well known that the general large online game is more rhythmic role play game, the engine used by these games, whether it is the Netimmerse engine used by Dark Age of Camelot, or a horizon: The Horizons Engine used by Istaria Continent, or "It is said that 500,000 people can guarantee the BIG World engine of the game in the same virtual world without any hysteresis". A large team dynamic environment that is fought at both hundreds of players. It is based on such considerations, ID Software re-puts his eyes in single mode, and the "Raged Warrior 4" and "Destruction Warrior 3" announced at the end of last year will rebuild a single-player-based engine. At the same time, the old opponent EPIC game company also developed a new generation of Unreal Engines and "Unreal Arena 2". Although there are not many specific information on these engines, from the new engine real-time animated animation, which has been displayed in real-time rendering, they indeed beyond the other engines on the market, indicating a new engine era. 's arrival
Finally, it is necessary to point out that many excellent game developers are withdrawing from the game development market, turn into the engine authorization market, only relying on development engine to eat, this is a dangerous signal. Although the continuous evolution of the engine makes the game's technical content, it is finally determined whether a game excellent factor is the use of techniques rather than the technology itself. As mentioned above, the engine is equivalent to the framework of the game. After the frame is hit, you only need to fill the content in the future, here, the framework just provides a possibility, the game's wonderful or depends on how the content is not How is the frame. As the "unmanned eternal" development team said: "All the questions will eventually be attributed to a little - is your game is fun."
