Table of Contents Show
In this issue, our eyes are mainly focussed on the Big Three (yes, on safari it’s the Big Five): Unity, Unreal, Cryengine. But just because everyone wants to see the big three doesn’t mean they’re the only ones out there roaming the steppes and deep jungles. Because there are also other (un)known specimens that might deserve our attention, at least briefly.
So let’s get out our bush knives and fight our way through the thicket of the Engine jungle. Maybe we’ll discover one or two strange, funny, stupid or already extinct species. Of course, there are many more than the ones we’ve discovered in this round, but after all, this is all about rekindling our thirst for exploration, isn’t it?
AnvilNext Engine
Originally known as Scimitar, Anvil is an engine developed by Ubisoft Montreal that was and still is mainly used for the in-house products “Prince of Persia” and “Assassin’s Creed”. Until “Assassin’s Creed: Revelations” (2011), the original Anvil Engine was still used. From “Assassin’s Creed III” (2012) onwards, the game engine was renamed AnvilNext. The reason for this is the supposedly drastic improvement in the engine’s graphical performance. With AnvilNext, a whole range of new features were added, such as a day-night cycle, pre-baked global illumination and volumetric fog.
The popularity of the engine is due to the fact that it enables a high degree of artificial intelligence and interaction with the environment in games.
Frame info
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Systems: cross-platform
Programming language: C , C#
Current version: 2.0
Licence : proprietary
Cost: Not for sale
https://montreal.ubisoft.com/en/
Blender Game Engine (R.I.P.)
How about a dead one? Most people probably know the programme more as 3D modelling software, which enjoys great popularity, if only for the reason that it is free. However, it may have escaped some people’s attention that Blender itself also contains a game engine. Its original name is Ketsji – it has since been given a much more boring name: Blender Game Engine. Hooray, how exciting!
The game engine didn’t even work until version 2.37a, but had to wait for the 2.41 update, which in turn was almost exclusively reserved for the game aspect. In April 2018, however, the components were removed with version 2.8 due to a lack of community development and too little use in general. However, work is said to be underway on an alternative – this will probably have relatively little to do with Blender, but hey, we wanted to mention it.
Framework information
Developer: Blender Foundation
Systems: cross-platform
Programming language: C, C , Python
Current version: 2.76b (3 Nov 2015)
Licence: GPL
Cost: free of charge
www.blender.org
Cafu Engine
No, not Café, but Cafu. This is an engine that is accessible to everyone and was primarily developed to support the developers of games and other 3D applications with its functions. Among other things, it is suitable for multiplayer, cross-platform and real-time 3D. Since December 2009, this copy including source code has been available to everyone. It can be downloaded from the official download page or even checked out directly from the Subversion repository with the corresponding command line command (svn checkout https://svn.lcube.de/dev123/projects/cafu/trunk Cafu). All within the framework of the GPL. Similar to other open projects of this type, the documentation is kept in a separate wiki, which can be supplemented or modified by users.
Framework information
Developer: Carsten Fuchs Software
Systems: platform-independent
Programming language: C , Lua
Current version: always ongoing
Licence: GPL
Costs: free of charge
www.cafu.de
Frostbite Engine
Of course, this one should not be missing among all the names. Anyone who has ever played games such as “Battlefield” or “FIFA” (or even funnier titles such as “Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare”) will already have played this engine and know that it has a lot to offer.
Its first version 1.0 was used solely for “Battlefield: Bad Company”, which also signalled its launch in 2008. It is currently used exclusively by EA and its associated studios and cannot be licensed by other developers. Yep, EA has the say here. However, many Frostbite functions can also be found in other engines. Cinemachine from Unity even comes from the same developer, with whom we also happened to conduct an interview. You can find it in this issue on page 21.
Frame info
Developer: Digital Illusions Creative
Entertainment (DICE)
Systems: Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360,
Playstation 3, Xbox One, Playstation 4
Programming language: C , C#
Current version: 3.0
Licence : proprietary
Cost: Not for sale
www.ea.com/frostbite
Hero Engine
This engine specialises primarily in the MMO category and therefore also has a unique feature: real-time editing with several people tinkering at the same time. It almost feels like Perforce in real time. The Simutronics engine is therefore particularly suitable for the production of online games. It was originally developed for the company’s own game “Hero’s Journey” (which was never released) and received numerous awards. Later, several companies bought licences to be able to use the engine for their own games. It also comes with integrated middleware such as SpeedTree and FaceGen.
Framework information
Developer: Simutronics
Systems: Microsoft Windows
Programming language: C , C#,
HeroScript Language (HSL)
Current version: 2.0 (stable)
Licence: proprietary
Cost: from 99.95 US dollars
www.heroengine.com
Wisp Engine
Small but mighty: Irrlicht was developed by a small team centred around Nikolaus Gebhardt. It is completely free, has a well-documented API and also comes with tutorials. Anyone who wants to can tinker with it and share the features they have built with everyone else. Irrlicht may celebrate its community on a small scale, but you can still take a look at some current projects.
Framework information
Developer: Nikolaus Gebhardt
Systems: Linux, Mac OS, Sun Solaris,
Microsoft Windows
Programming language: C
Current version: 1.8.4 (9 July 2016)
Licence: zlib (open source)
Costs: free of charge
http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net
Lumberyard Engine
It will probably be in beta for all eternity, but with Amazon it has a big name behind it – perhaps it will make it to the actual release at some point. The engine is based on the well-known Cryengine, but has been further developed and modified during the course of development. The main trump card here is the excellent interaction with Amazon’s other services and Twitch functions.
The source code can also be used by end users, at least to a limited extent. It may be customised for the game, but not released publicly.
It is also not allowed to write your own engine. True to the motto: Look, but don’t touch!
Frame information
Developer: Amazon
Systems: Microsoft Windows,
Playstation 4, Xbox One, iOs, Android
Programming language: C , Lua
Current version: Beta 1.15
(Status: 27 July 2018)
Licence : proprietary
Costs: (initially) free of charge
https://aws.amazon.com/de/
lumberyard
Quake Engine
The mother of all 3D engines was developed by id Software in 1995 for the game of the same name “Quake” and probably paved the way for all game engines on the market today. It is the first 3D game engine that actually uses real three-dimensional models instead of two-dimensional sprites. The graphics engine has been continuously developed over the years and reused for a number of other computer games, including “Half-Life” and “Hexen II”.
Ioquake3 is a free FPS engine based on Quake 3 that is still being pushed by the community today.
Frame info
Developer: id Software
Systems: Windows, Linux, Mac OS
Programming language: QuakeC
Current version: 3.0
Licence: GPL
Costs: free of charge
https://ioquake3.org
Sauerbraten Engine
Yes, this exotic engine definitely deserves a mention just because of its name. How it got from its predecessor Cube Engine to Sauerbraten will probably never be completely clear (and do you really want to know? Really?). But the fact is that this is a free engine that offers the possibility to modify maps interactively. The special feature is that the maps are based on height fields and use a hierarchical octree structure. This keeps the working memory relatively low and greatly compresses the representation of the game world. However, it is not kept particularly up-to-date.
Framework information
Developer: Wouter “Aardappel”
van Oortmerssen
Systems: GNU/Linux, Mac OS X,
Microsoft Windows
Programming language: C
Current version: Collect Edition (2013)
Licence: zlib (open source)
Costs: free of charge
http://sauerbraten.org
Source Engine (2)
Remnants of the Quake Engine can be found here. Source made its debut after around five years of development in 2004 for the game “Half-Life 2” and with “Counter-Strike: Source”. It was therefore also the replacement for the previous Half-Life engine. It is mainly used in Valve’s in-house games.
However, the original Source Engine website is no longer available and the engine in its old form can no longer be licensed.
At the Game Developer Conference 2015, however, the successor model Source 2 was released, which was used to create the popular “MOBA Dota 2”, among others. The Source 2 engine is available to everyone free of charge. The only condition: If a game is to be published, it MUST be done via Steam.
Framework information
Developer: Valve
Systems: Windows, Mac OS,
Linux, Android
Programming language: C
Current version: 2.0
Licence : proprietary/available on Steam
Cost: (initially) free of charge
https://steamcommunity.com/
app/211?l=german
Tombstone Engine
The successor to the C4 Engine (may it rest in piece) lovingly welcomes its visitors on the homepage with a large picture of gravestones and a dead atmosphere. The screenshots to be marvelled at also show a creepy night-time atmosphere and graves, but we simply assume that Tombstone, despite its fitting name, also allows for other scenarios.
It is not free, but comes with a single licence type that includes the complete source code for the engine, tools and demo game. Also, once you buy it, you own it for life and can basically do whatever you want with it and produce as many games as you like until you’re buried in the ground … Maybe that’s where the name comes from?
Frame info
Developer: Terathon Software LLC
Systems: Playstation 4, Windows,
Mac OS, Linux
Programming language: C#
Current version: 2.5
Licence : Single licence
Cost: 450 Euro
http://tombstoneengine.com
