Video Game Engines

Tom Estill

Video Game Engines

• Havok

The Havok engine is an open game engine that specialises in rendering physics in a three-dimension environment, which eventually grew to develop different modules that enhanced the graphical capabilities with various elements such as clothing physics and destruction. By dynamic simulation it is able to render virtual worlds and handles realistic physics and lighting, such as destroying boxes, each piece will realistically break apart and cast shading onto the environment.

The engine was most commonly used during the Seventh generation, for platforms such as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The first version of the software development kit was released during 2000 (Version 1.0), and the current version currently stands at 2011.2, and is still being used in the most recent games such as Halo 5 on the Xbox One. Like many game engines, the Havok engine remains open to developers and the elements of the code are able to be fully customised through licensing the C/C++ development.

(Demonstration link below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQnrll8H-z4

• RAGE (Rockstar Advanced Game Engine)

Rage is a closed gaming engine, meaning it is primarily used by a single company for creating games, which is Rockstar. Originally evolving from the Angel Game Engine, Rage has also seen third-party integrations such as the Euphoria engine, which is task with handling realistic ragdoll physics that react to props and environment collision and mimicking damage. 

Before the Rage engine, Rockstar also delved into Renderware, for the their Grand Theft Auto instalments that featured on the PlayStation 2. The later version of Rage grew to support DirectX 11 and stereoscope 3D rendering for the PC. 

(Demonstration link below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87qdmuOesRs

• id Tech 5

  

Similar to the Rage engine, the id Tech 5 engine primarily belongs to game developer id Software, being a closed/proprietary engine. Released in 2011 for the game Rage, it was able to render textures with resolutions spanning 128,000 to 128,000 and was overall seen as a far superior version to id Tech 4. A factor in this was the way shadows were rendered, since Tech 4 featured volume-based shadows, meaning they were very sharply displayed, which were prominently used for DOOM 3 back in 2004 and following id Software games. id Tech 5 on the other hand managed to render more realistic shadows with softer edging, as well as many graphical improvements such as bloom, volumetric lighting and dynamic water surfaces. 

The A.I.'s coherent logic and believable animations was also greatly improved, and was a key achievement in the game Rage, where enemies would react very realistically to being shot, even trying to seek shelter or fight back when on their last legs with believable physics and ragolling. 

id Tech 5's engine also allowed for community creations and was bundled with a creation kit, and while the engine was mostly made for first person shooters which is what id Software is well known for, it does have the ability to surpass the genre.

(Demonstration link below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRQFlK1MFd0

• Cry Engine

The Cry Engine was developed and created by Crytek, a developer in Germany. Their engine has most knowingly been used for the Crysis and Far Cry series, but isn't limited to just these. The engine has seen multiple updates since it was licensed back in 2006, such as Versions 1, 2, 3, 3.6/4 and the most recent addition Cry Engine V, which was announced back in March 2016, adding new features such as VR Support (Virtual Reality), and a "Pay what you want" model for access to the source code openly.

The engine is also designed to assist in making background environments easier to handle such as terrains, and the use of fake backdrops, to the illusion of a more "Open world" without the over use of assets. As well as this, it uses more advanced shaders, animation blending for more smoother animations key frames, and real time soft particles.

(Demonstration link below)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcnrt1pX5XA

• Unreal Engine

The Unreal Engine is arguably the most popular, and as we as that one of the oldest engines still around, dating back to its first showing in 1998. It has been known for its use in the majority of games, and for many popular series that featured it such as Unreal Tournament, and Gears of War. It is also a very open engine, allowing anyone to use it free of charge, as Epic Games make their profit of the royalties. As of now there have been four versions of the engine, each bringing a better and more refined toolset. Unreal 1 focused on integrated rendering, collision detection, networking, and file system management. Unreal 2 included the Karma physics SDK module, which allowed for ragdoll physics and more stable running console releases. Unreal 3 on the other hand allowed for complete freedom with its shader system, and allowed fore realistic and smooth shading, HDRR, per-pixel lighting, and dynamic shadows.

Unreal 4 is currently available for all to use, and it's a true engine to try out for its advanced features, yet user friendly design, such as the new "Blueprint" visual scripting system, which simplifies and breaks down code scripting which makes developing much more faster than using C++.

• My Thoughts

In my eyes, the best engine of them all is the Unreal Engine, due to its simplicity and accessibility, yet still provides an advanced arsenal of tools and assets. Not only that but it has been used in the majority of games as of recent years and with the free use it will build an even stronger community and will improve education within the games industry in general.