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In the past, creating computer games required extensive programming knowledge, and even a relatively simple game took months of painstaking effort to complete. Today, however, some applications allow us to build complete games without writing a single line of code, without programming knowledge, and at no cost. If instead of making a game you want to play one you can visit NetBet.
Game engines: applications for creating computer games
In the early years of video games, every game was made from scratch. At the same time, it was difficult to use the code from one game to another, even in the same company.
To facilitate the creation of computer games, so-called game engines gradually began to develop. These are complex applications that bring together, undertake, support, and coordinate all aspects of game development.
More specifically, they have separate processing categories for each part of the creation process. You can find tools for photorealistic imaging, simulation of natural systems, artificial intelligence, animation, sound processing, etc.
The great advantage of game engines is that we can use them to create different games.
For example, the Unreal Engine was developed by Epic Games. It was first used in the 1998 Unreal game of the same name.
But both this first Unreal Engine and later versions have been used to create hundreds of titles. These games have nothing to do with Unreal or any of them.
We refer to titles ranging from masterpieces, such as Bioshock Infinite …
… to catastrophic failures, such as Duke Nukem Forever …
… and the upcoming Vampire: The Masquerade® – Bloodlines ™ 2
In other words, while the first Unreal was a first-person game, the Unreal Engine can be used for virtually any type of game: 3rd person, RPG, sports simulator, puzzle.
And, of course, Unreal Engine is just one of the commercially available game engines. The Wikipedia list includes dozens of different engines, and it is not exhaustive.
Does it cost much to create computer games with a game engine?
Someone unfamiliar with creating games may assume that using a well-known game engine, legally, requires paying hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars.
In other words, whatever good ideas you have for creating computer games, if you do not have the initial capital, forget it!
The good news is that this is by no means the case. Some well-known game engines allow you to create games without paying anything at all.
With some licensed gaming machines, you can sell the games you create and keep all the profits. In others, if you commercialize a game, you have to pay a percentage as royalties.
This is exactly the case with the aforementioned Unreal Engine. We can use it for free to create computer games. Just in case you start selling, you are obliged to give 5% to Epic.
Of course, the fact that the use of Unreal Engine and other game engines is free does not mean that you will be able to build the next BioShock Infinite yourself tomorrow.
Creating AAA-class computer games, even with a ready-made machine, usually requires an entire team. That team would consist of developers, graphic designers, writers, and other experienced professionals.
And you will probably have a hard time convincing so many people to work for free for months.
The total cost of developing a game can be massive. For the biggest titles, it even exceeds the budget of a Hollywood movie.
But that does not mean that you cannot start learning about computer games on your own. Also, to this day some creators make popular games completely on their own.
One of the most famous one-man-show creators is Lucas Pope. Pope became known as Papers, Please in 2016, which surpassed 1.8 million copies in sales. In 2018, Return of the Obra Dinn was released.
It should be noted, of course, that Pope was not a teenager who started making Papers, Please from scratch, and became successful with the first one.
He started by making a mod for Quake. Then, with some partners, he set up the small company Ratloop, which, however, did not become successful. He worked on Naughty Dog in the well-known games Uncharted and Uncharted 2 and experimented with various projects before he was successful.
In other words, as with anything else, if you are interested in creating computer games, do not expect success on the first try. “Unexpected successes” were usually prepared and worked for for years.
