An Overview Of Modern Video Game Design Software
There are several categories of video game design software. Each type serves a different aspect of the process of creating video games.
From the core video game engine to the art and graphic design software, as well as the 3d modeling software, and even down to the programming language, each specific video game design software performs a different role in game dev (also spelled ‘gamedev’).
There are some excellent free software applications available for game development. And of course there are several popular paid apps as well.
Click here to read What Is A Video Game Software Development Kit?
Click here to read What Are The Best 3D Game Design Software Programs?
Video Game Design Software – Game Engines
Video game engines are the core video game design software, used to create and develop video games. Video game engines are usually part of the software development kit (SDK) released by the game console manufacturer. Apple, Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft and Android are the most popular game console manufacturers, and each offers their own video game software development kit for free (with a partnership agreement).
Click here to read What Is A Video Game Software Development Kit?
Game engines are designed to work on personal computers, as well as on game consoles such as Xbox 360, Sony Playstation 3 and the Wii game console (even the new Apple iOS for the iPad and iPhone and iTouch – as well as the new Android OS).
By learning to work with the most popular designsoftware, a game designer can leverage their work. The idea is to design and create a product one time, yet deploy on several platforms. That is the power of intelligent programming in today’s modern game engine development kits.
Game engines (and software development kits) are usually a bundled group of software engines such as a rendering engine (for both 2D and 3D graphics), a physics engine, artificial intelligence, and memory management software, to name a few. Game engines typically provide a suite of visual software development tools designed to help game creators speed up the process of game design, and even animation.
A single game engine is often used by multiple video games from various game design software companies.
For example, the Unreal game engine has been used by several of the most popular games such as: Deus Ex, America’s Army, BioShock, Duke Nukem Forever, Red Steel, Star Wars Republic Commando, Thief, Unreal Tournament and Gears of War. This is only a small sample of the games which use the Unreal engine. Other game engines besides the Unreal engine have been used on multiple games.
[Editor's note: Why reinvent the wheel, eh? If a game engine is good, there is no need to make another one - just reuse what works and tweak it to make it a better fit for your game project]
A new video game designer or recent graduates of game design schools entering into the field of video game design would be wise to invest time in mastering one of the popular game engines such as Torque Game Builder, Unreal Engine 3, Cry Engine, id Tech, Gamebryo, or Unity3D.
Click here to read What Is A Video Game Software Development Kit?
Video Game Design Software – Physics Engines
The Unreal Development Kit is a popular video game design software tool
Physics engines are a type of middleware game design software which is essential to most video games to provide the element of realism which most game players expect and demand. Physics engines help to simulate various physical phenomena such gravity and collisions, as well as for creating explosions and simulating physical damage in video games.
Physics engines are used in other industries besides video game design, such as weather forecasting and mechanical engineering and manufacturing.
In the field of video game design, physics engines are designed to be faster than they are accurate because game players expect video games to respond quickly to changes. When it comes to physics engines there is always a tradeoff between realism and speed. Game designers choose speed over realism because they know that gamers want that.
In other fields such as weather simulation or mechanical engineering, physics engines are designed to be more accurate than fast (which makes sense).
Havok Physics Engine
The Havok engine has been bundled with other software beyond game engines, such as 3ds Max, Maya and Autodesk 3ds Max, Autodesk Maya and Autodesk Softimage.
Popular video games that use the Havoc physics engine are: Assassin’s Creed, Bioshock, Far Cry 2, Half-Life 2, Halo 3, Resident Evil 5, Soulcalibur IV, Star Wars The Force Unleashed, Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty, Killzone 2 and Killzone 3, L.A. Noire, Fallout 3, and even Guitar Hero World Tour.
Another popular physics engine is PhysX. The PhysX engine has been used in these video games: Unreal Tournament 3, and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter.
The types of games which require a strong physics engine are primarily first person shooters, and all action / adventure games, such as sports games and racing simulation games, as well as fighting games.
Video Game Design Software – Artificial Intelligence
Not all games rely heavily on a strong physics engine. Instead, games such as RPG’s (role playing games), MORPG’s (multiplayer online RPG) and MMORPG’s (massively multiplayer online RPG) are often more dependent upon the strength of their artificial intelligence to provide game players with the experience they crave. Of course most game players require a balance of both realistic physics engine as well as artificial intelligence.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is critical to all video games. It is the ability of the game to appear to have realistic non-player characters (NPC’s) who can make intelligent decisions based on the actions of the game player. AI programming is a field with a rich history in computer programming. However, in most video games the objective is not to have the most in-depth AI programming, but instead, the goal is to provide a realistic gaming experience.
For example, game players who enjoy first person shooters won’t find it as enjoyable to play against the computer when it is allowed to have perfect aim every time. Instead, AI programmers create realism by making sure that the computer seems more human – which means it is more fallible and more prone to errors.
In a first person shooter, AI programming is what makes a wounded, surprised enemy have poor targeting and aiming and a slowed reaction time. Without good AI programming, the same wounded, surprised enemy would still have perfect aim and perfect timing to make a one hit kill every time. Can you see how important good artificial intelligence programming is?
Video Game Design Software – Level Editors
Level editors (otherwise known as campaign editors, maps or scenario editors) are used to design levels and maps for video games. Most of the newer, popular video games have level editors so that fans can create their own levels from their favorite game engines. Sometimes the fans create an entirely new game by designing levels which become popular through social media and gaming forums.
Video Game Design Software – Graphic Design
One of the quintessential game design software tools for game developers is a good graphics program. One of the highest quality graphics programs is the popular Adobe Photoshop.
Video Game Design Software – 3d Modeling Software
As more games move from 2 dimensions to 3d, the use of 3d modeling software becomes essential. One of the most popular 3d game design software programs is 3d Studio Max. Other software titles include Blender and Maya.
We have an article about the best 3D game design software. Click here to read What Are The Best 3D Game Design Software Programs?
Video Game Design Software Summary
There are many video game design software types available to today’s modern video game creators. Successful game designers take the time to master a handful of game engines and other design software tools, such as the Unreal engine. Beginners would be wise to pick one game engine and one game level editor to master before moving on to more complex design software.
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