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Looking to learn...

Started by Washime Dec 21, 2001 at 10:31 AM 2 replies 300+ views

Original Post

Dec 21, 2001 at 10:31 AM

First off, I would like to say hello

I am looking to learn how to design and build a basic 3d game engine (for learning purposes only, I don''t expect it to be a quake or other commerical engine

). I am not a programmer by trade, but I have read and know reasonable set of basics about C++ and I am currently reading books on openGL. But I am one of these people who learn more by doing than reading theory about why it should work. What I haven''t found is anything that truly explains what a 3d Game engine does or how to go about designing one. And all the books I have seem (to me at least) to gloss over it (or I am not seeing it infront of my face

). As far as game books go, I have Tricks of the Windows Game Gurus (more oriented towards DX) and Game Programming Gems(seem more oriented to doing things better, not with how to do them at first

). Will 3D Game Engine Design cover the material I am needing, or is there another book that is more suited to this. I thank you in advance for any help.

RipTide1024

Dec 21, 2001 at 11:11 AM

3d Game Engine Design does cover the material you need, but Game Programming Gems also covers some of it. A game engine is pretty much what the anonymous poster said... software that manages the storing and drawing of the graphic data for a game. This can actually be within the game executable, or a library of classes and functions. In the most basic sense, the engine is just a group of functions. Both of those books go over a lot of functions necessary for a game engine. In fact, 3d Game Engine Design includes a CD with source code for a game engine on it.

I don''t know your intentions after building your engine, but many people who write games do not write an engine. If you plan on writing a game, you may not have to write the engine. It is very math/theory oriented code and is difficult to understand sometimes.

Whether you still want to develop your own engine or not, you may want to check out some engines written by others. I don''t know many off of the top of my head that the source code is freely distributed, but Crystal Space is one developed on Linux to be cross-platform. http://crystal.linuxgames.com

I hope this info helped

- RipTide

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We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time

T. S. Eliot

Washime

Dec 21, 2001 at 11:29 AM

Thank you for the information. I am just looking to build the engine, more or less to see if I can, but also to understand from the inside view how they work and why they work.

I will certainly check further into the 3d Game Engine Design book.

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