percentage of games built with engines?
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I would just like to know if anyone has got a statistic on the number of games that are produced commercially that license a game engine to develop their games. If they have got the stat, could they tell me the URL or reference of the book that they got it from??? Cheers people
Hard to tell a precise number without some intensive research. However, it seems obvious to me that its the case for more and more games... Several games were built on the Quake, Quake II, Quake III and even Unreal engines (other engines like LithTech were also licensed).
The fact is that engine design becomes more and more complicated as the graphics become more sophisticated and more features are required. Many companies don't want to spend the time to research and develop a 3D engine (which might turn out as a failure). They prefer to license a proven engine and concentrate on actual game development.
Some large software companies still design engines, but in the future, even those might start to re-use what they have already created (Quake IV, even though it is not developed by Id Software themselves, will use the Doom III engine).
Looking for a serious game project?
www.xgameproject.com
[edited by - Max_Payne on March 30, 2004 11:03:21 AM]
The fact is that engine design becomes more and more complicated as the graphics become more sophisticated and more features are required. Many companies don't want to spend the time to research and develop a 3D engine (which might turn out as a failure). They prefer to license a proven engine and concentrate on actual game development.
Some large software companies still design engines, but in the future, even those might start to re-use what they have already created (Quake IV, even though it is not developed by Id Software themselves, will use the Doom III engine).
Looking for a serious game project?
www.xgameproject.com
[edited by - Max_Payne on March 30, 2004 11:03:21 AM]
quote:Original post by Max_Payne
The fact is that engine design becomes more and more complicated as the graphics become more sophisticated and more features are required. Many companies don''t want to spend the time to research and develop a 3D engine (which might turn out as a failure). They prefer to license a proven engine and concentrate on actual game development.
You forgot one of the bigger players, RenderWare. We plan to switch to RenderWare for the next-gen consoles, simply because it''ll be ready at launch. We''d have to spend time learning the hardware and writing an engine, or porting our engine to new hardware... or we could use RenderWare to start now, prototyping on a fast PC, and making a few tweaks and graphical changes when we finally have devkits. Unless you''re one of the biggest developers you don''t get dev kits in advance, but that''s no reason to stop you from making your game.
I think a big chunk of big PC games are made with licensed engines. The other chunk are made with new engines that are gonna be licensed for other games.
But on consoles, licensed engines are a minority, since the burden is lower.
With a PC game, you have a lot more variables to deal with: multi tasking, different OS versions, drivers, hardware combinations, etc, whereas in a console, if you get the game running in your dev kit, it''ll probably run in all units, making it a bit easier to build a basic engine to run a specific game.
But on consoles, licensed engines are a minority, since the burden is lower.
With a PC game, you have a lot more variables to deal with: multi tasking, different OS versions, drivers, hardware combinations, etc, whereas in a console, if you get the game running in your dev kit, it''ll probably run in all units, making it a bit easier to build a basic engine to run a specific game.
quote:Original post by M3d10nSee preceding post.
But on consoles, licensed engines are a minority, since the burden is lower.
With a PC game, you have a lot more variables to deal with: multi tasking, different OS versions, drivers, hardware combinations, etc, whereas in a console, if you get the game running in your dev kit, it''ll probably run in all units, making it a bit easier to build a basic engine to run a specific game.
quote:Original post by Namethatnobodyelsetookquote:Original post by Max_Payne
The fact is that engine design becomes more and more complicated as the graphics become more sophisticated and more features are required. Many companies don''t want to spend the time to research and develop a 3D engine (which might turn out as a failure). They prefer to license a proven engine and concentrate on actual game development.
You forgot one of the bigger players, RenderWare. We plan to switch to RenderWare for the next-gen consoles, simply because it''ll be ready at launch. We''d have to spend time learning the hardware and writing an engine, or porting our engine to new hardware... or we could use RenderWare to start now, prototyping on a fast PC, and making a few tweaks and graphical changes when we finally have devkits. Unless you''re one of the biggest developers you don''t get dev kits in advance, but that''s no reason to stop you from making your game.
And when you do get dev kits there''s not enough to go around.
Alot of companies will use existing engines but in most cases it will be their own from other projects that are used, not one that''s been licenced but there are a few that get licenced. Mainly the Quake and Unreal engines.
quote:Original post by Oluseyiquote:Original post by M3d10nSee preceding post.
But on consoles, licensed engines are a minority, since the burden is lower.
With a PC game, you have a lot more variables to deal with: multi tasking, different OS versions, drivers, hardware combinations, etc, whereas in a console, if you get the game running in your dev kit, it''ll probably run in all units, making it a bit easier to build a basic engine to run a specific game.
I was talking majority. Renderware is growing, but it''s still not that widespread.
Number of games using licensed engines in 2004 = Total Number of Games - Doom3
AFAIK, its damn close to 90-95%
AFAIK, its damn close to 90-95%
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