Preface#
The content of this column is from the online course "Fundamentals of 3D Game Engine Architecture Design" on XuetangX. I have converted it into a text and image version (I personally prefer text tutorials, which are much faster to read) for easy reference.
Original course link: Fundamentals of 3D Game Engine Architecture Design.
This article is converted from a word document and you can choose to read the entire document (reading it as a web column feels more comfortable). The link is provided at the end.
Mind Map#
Course mind map:
Link to view the full image: High-resolution Version
Therefore, this column will be divided into 7 chapters according to the mind map index.
Index#
- Overview
- [Scene Management]((https://olimiya.github.io/posts/Introduction-to-3D-Game-Engine-Course-2-Scene-Management)
- [Resource Management]((https://olimiya.github.io/posts/Introduction-to-3D-Game-Engine-Course-3-Resource-Management)
- [Scene Rendering]((https://olimiya.github.io/posts/Introduction-to-3D-Game-Engine-Course-4-Scene-Rendering)
- [Character Animation]((https://olimiya.github.io/posts/Introduction-to-3D-Game-Engine-Course-5-Character-Animation)
- [Event Handling and Scripting Languages]((https://olimiya.github.io/posts/Introduction-to-3D-Game-Engine-Course-6-Event-Handling-and-Scripting-Languages)
- [Memory Management]((https://olimiya.github.io/posts/Introduction-to-3D-Game-Engine-Course-7-Memory-Management-and-Plugin-Mechanism)
Overview#
Overview of Game Engines#
Definition: If the core basic functions in game development are abstracted and made available for game developers to use, these components are called game engines. Using a game engine to develop games can improve the efficiency and quality of game development. In the early days of game development, designers gradually extracted common components of game design, abstracted and modularized these functions, forming game engines. With the continuous maturity of game development, the functionality of game engines has become more and more powerful.
Open-source game engines include Unreal Engine 4, OGRE, Panda3D, etc., and popular commercial game engines include Unity, etc. The following text will mainly use OGRE and Panda3D as examples.
Overview of Game Engine Framework#
Requirement analysis of game engines, i.e., the functions that game engines should include.
Environmental requirements include:
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Target hardware
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Device drivers
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Operating system
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Third-party software packages and middleware
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Platform-independent layer supporting the engine
Functional requirements include:
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Core basic modules of the engine
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Engine resource management
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Engine scene management and graphics rendering
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Character animation
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Sound
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Physics and collision detection
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Artificial intelligence
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Graphical user interface (GUI)
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Scripting, etc.
The design principles of game engines include: comprehensive functionality (many), high runtime efficiency (fast), stable performance (good), and good scalability.
The architecture design of game engines should combine the following content in a certain way:
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Support components of the basic platform
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Third-party basic libraries: data computation, graphics processing, data structures, etc.
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Engine functionality (as mentioned in the functional requirements above)
Hierarchical organizational structure of game engines:
Casual Games#
Classification of casual games:
Design Patterns in Game Engines#
Creational patterns:
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Singleton pattern: Only one instance exists in the system, usually throughout the entire process.
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Abstract factory pattern: Provides an interface for creating a family of related or dependent objects, without specifying their concrete classes.
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Factory pattern: Provides an interface for creating objects related to each other, with concrete classes that can be instantiated.
Structural patterns:
- Adapter pattern: Converts the interface of a class into another interface that clients expect. It lets classes work together that couldn't otherwise because of incompatible interfaces. This pattern can define a unified interface for third-party basic libraries.
Behavioral patterns:
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Iterator pattern: Sequentially access the elements of an aggregate object without exposing its underlying representation.
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Observer pattern: Allows multiple observer objects to simultaneously listen to a subject. When the subject object changes, it notifies all observers and makes corresponding responses.
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Visitor pattern: Encapsulates an operation to be performed on the elements of a data structure. When the operation changes, the elements can remain unchanged. For example, encapsulating rendering algorithms into visitor pattern classes can isolate methods from data structures. If an algorithm of a data structure changes, only the algorithm needs to be modified without affecting the elements of the data structure.
Document Link#
[Kingsoft Document] Fundamentals of 3D Game Engine.doc