Game Engine Update
This is an update on the game development project I am working on as a hobby. Initially the goal was to make an engine and a small game an enter it into the TSumea AI programming challenge. However I wasn’t able to complete the entry in time as I really bit off far more than I could chew.
It came down to the fact that developing an engine, a game, and an interesting AI simulation is far more for one person to do in three weeks of hard coding. There are some questions to consider as to why I didn’t have an entry ready.
- Maybe I could have used an existing open source engine – but none of them gelled with me nicely.
- Maybe I could have started developing the game and engine back in September (when the challenge started) – but there were work deadlines to make.
Regardless, the final result is that I didn’t get the engine or game completed. Not only that, but from all the people that suggested interest in the challenge there was only one final entry. How disappointing.
But still I have developed something that looks like an engine.
In three weeks “working” about 12 to 16 hours a day of programming/research I have managed to create a nice engine, with (what I hope is) a good architecture underneath it. I even spent a weekend working out mathematical and physics formulae (for collision detection and response) on my Tablet PC, and I can honestly say that I haven’t done that much mathematics since University.
(I have to note that it’s quite nice to scribble out mathematics on a tablet. As you can use normal handwriting with the correct mathematical symbols and all on a grid ruled background. Also you can move stuff around and erase with ease if you make a mistake.)
For the time spent on the project I have had a blast. It reminded me of the good old Uni days staying up till the early hours in the morning coding, and yes I did that this time as well. I learnt to use some interesting bits of the Boost library, experimented with better ways of writing game architecture code, and re-learnt a whole bunch of mathematics and phyics.
However the engine and game is not complete, and since I stopped working on it on the 15th I haven’t done much to it since. (I’ve been playing games instead!) But I’ll start working on it again now and see if I can create a decent game out of it. Also I have a couple of articles that are in various stages or preparation and will post them when they are done.
Have a happy new year too!
