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What is a games engine - Printable Version

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What is a games engine - Mariotroid - 01-07-2021

I don't really know what a games engine really is. Like is it the running jumping of a Mario game? Engines usually refer to things like gamemaker. What is an engine?


RE: What is a games engine - Yakibomb - 01-07-2021

I think it depends on the context.

For video games, I think the engine is how the code is set up to make the gameplay mechanics. For example, Mario jumping is a gameplay mechanic, but how fast he jumps, how high he jumps, and the direction he jumps in, are all engine related.


RE: What is a games engine - Mariotroid - 01-07-2021

(01-07-2021, 02:03 AM)Yakibomb Wrote: I think it depends on the context.

For video games, I think the engine is how the code is set up to make the gameplay mechanics. For example, Mario jumping is a gameplay mechanic, but how fast he jumps, how high he jumps, and the direction he jumps in, are all engine related.

What about all the other mechanics like level mechanics? Is that what you need before you have an "engine"?


RE: What is a games engine - Yakibomb - 01-07-2021

I think the engine is the stuff behind the curtain, the thing the player doesn't see, and the game mechanics or level mechanics are what the player actually plays with.

Here's a long-winded example: Have you seen original "The Wizard of Oz"? There is a scene where the main characters meet a giant head that claims to be all powerful Oz. Yet, when the main characters go behind a curtain... they find there a man controlling some levers and buttons to make it look like he's a giant head. In truth, he was a small-sized man using a projector to make his head look big!

It's the stuff behind the curtain that makes the "engine", and the giant head the main characters see and interacts with are the "gameplay mechanics."

You could go very deep in with this example but I wanted to focus on the analogy here. Hope that works!


RE: What is a games engine - Mariotroid - 01-07-2021

Can you have a completed engine without a complete list of mechanics?


RE: What is a games engine - Yakibomb - 01-07-2021

That is a good question. I mean because I don't know how to answer that one, haha.

Generally you'd want to know how the final game will play like, then tweak it every so often to keep things interesting for the player. In short, yeah you can always have an engine and add stuff to it, yeah.

(01-07-2021, 02:31 AM)Yakibomb Wrote: Generally you'd want to know how the final game will play like, then tweak it every so often to keep things interesting for the player.

I wanted to elaborate on this. I got this idea from here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvCri1tqIxQ

It might sound confusing... you want your engine to be the "minimum viable product" in this video. Everything else is technically the engine, so you can still add onto the engine. But you need a minimum viable product before continuing on said engine. Does that make sense?


RE: What is a games engine - G-Rex Studio - 01-07-2021

Game engines are software development used by developers to build their own video games. In many cases, mario fans have used mario game engines to create their own mario games that were used for a program (well as known. Game Maker).


RE: What is a games engine - Mors - 01-08-2021

I was at some point writing an MFGG Starters Guide where I went into detail about that stuff. I can show some of it but keep in mind that it's still WIP and I plan to continue it one day.
Quote:Game Engines

The very first thing you need to make a game is a game engine. To simplify it, game engines provide the base for you to create games, and (most of the time) provide you some tools to make the process easier. They can handle a lot of things that are common in most video games, such as rendering, input, audio, and so on.

Some examples of game engines would be GameMaker, Unity, and Unreal Engine, but we will get into more detail with those shortly.

Each game engine is tailored towards specific types of games, and one thing one game engine excels at might be lacking in another game engine. Because of this, there is no "definitive" game engine to use, instead, you gotta choose the one that's best for the type of games you want to make. You might want to even learn how to use multiple engines if there isn't a single game engine that covers all kinds of games you may wanna make, but for beginners, it's recommended to stick to 1 engine before jumping into another.

In the rest of this, I go into detail for each one of popular game engines but it's very incomplete but I'm not showing it.
But there's also this part that may help you clear the confusion.
Quote:Frameworks

Some of you might say, "Okay, but I've heard about Hello Engine too, how good is that one?" and the answer to that is a bit complicated. Hello Engine isn't exactly a game engine, it's more of what I'd like to call a "framework". Frameworks (sometimes also just called "engines" erroneously) are codebases made for existing game engines that you can use to build your game upon. Most of the time they even come with graphics and sounds, as well as menu templates, and so on! They can be really useful at making your dream game a reality.

...if used right that is.


Hello Clones

There was a time when Hello Engine was the most popular framework for fangames out there. It had a ton of features, and it came with everything you might ever need for an SMB3 styled Mario fangame. Heck, you could even make your own fangame just by downloading Hello Engine, changing the level design, and then giving it a different title.

There's a quote Hello likes to use to describe his engine, though I think it was something he himself made up.

"I love making games using the Hello Mario Engine. No programming needed! It can just be used like an editor to make Mario games effortlessly! Wheee!"

And that's what people ended up doing. MFGG was flooded with fangames that looked the same, sounded the same, and played the same. This is why they were called "Hello Clones". They were just clones of each other!

This might be obvious, but Hello Clones weren't received well by the community back then, and people still don't like them. And one thing to keep in mind is that Hello Clones don't just refer to games made with Hello's framework anymore. Over time it has evolved into a term referring to any fangame that was made with a framework without much effort.

So, how can you avoid making a Hello Clone? Simple, do some changes to the graphics, the music, the sound, add your own mechanics, your own gimmicks... etc. Your options are endless, and it's not even that difficult! It just needs effort, but you can't make good video games without putting in any effort, can you?


Should I Use a Framework?

That's up to you! There are both upsides and downsides of using a framework.

Upsides:
  • It speeds up the development a lot in most cases.
  • It allows you to create complex fangames without having extensive knowledge of the game engine.
  • The features the framework has might be better than what you can create on your own.
Downsides:
  • Just like game engines, frameworks don't always come with everything you may need, and sometimes it can be easier to just make your game from scratch only using an engine than to learn how a framework works and add your own stuff in it.
  • Your fangame might end up being similar to other fangames that use the same framework as yours.
  • It limits creativity, as people tend to use whatever the framework already gives them, rather than to add their own custom assets.
Overall I'd say that there are good reasons for using and not using a framework, so the choice is yours.



RE: What is a games engine - Mariotroid - 01-09-2021

Ok so they are called frameworks, thanks a bunch. I think I'll redo the framework for Mario Holidays eventually. Just gotta learn more. A Hello framework WOULD take more time. The concept is more original. Thank you.


RE: What is a games engine - Hyper - 01-09-2021

Mors got it right. All of the Mario "Engines" we got in the past are technically Frameworks. We called it engine back then because back then we cannot tell the difference between engines and frameworks.


RE: What is a games engine - Yakibomb - 01-09-2021

Ah! That makes it more clear to me. Thanks!


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