Suggesting a few questions that teams should ask themselves when facing the question of choosing a game engine. Talk given at the GameIS 2014 conference

1. Choosing a Game Engine
More than frames per second
Noam Gat
4/12/2014
@noamgat

2. Hello!
Noam Gat
CTO @ Tacticsoft
Past - JoyTunes, Omek Interactive, OGRE

3. What is a “Game Engine”?
It is the glue that puts things together.
- Game engines and frameworks are not
exactly the same, but I will treat them
equally here.

4. What is the best Game Engine?
The conversation is often about certain
aspects of the decision
- Features (2D / 3D, “AAA Quality”, etc.)
- Pricing
- Platform Support
- Ease of use (For whom?)

5. Good Criteria… BUT
These aspects are more about ruling out
irrelevant options than picking the most
fitting one for a specific project.

6. Lenses for the Decision

7. Lenses for the Decision
#1: Lens of the Workflow
+ =

8. #1 : Lens of the Workflow
It is a technological decision that applies to
the entire team.
Ask yourself :
What will every role’s day
look like with this engine?

9. #1 : Lens of the Workflow
- How do the artists get their assets into the
product?
- Can the game designer prototype new
ideas without programmer’s help?
- Tailor the selection to your team!

10. #1 : Lens of the Workflow
The game engine is one piece of the product
tech stack. It should be chosen with the rest
of the pieces in mind.
The combination will determine how
comfortably your team can collaborate.

11. #1 : Lens of the Workflow
Look out for tools that complement your
engine and make life easier for everyone.

12. #1 : Lens of the Workflow
We are not alone. Don’t be afraid to look
outside of game-dev for solutions.

13. Lenses for the Decision
#2: Lens of the Community

14. #2 : Lens of the Community
Sooner or later, you will run into challenges.
Ask yourself :
How quickly and reliably will you get
answers to your questions?

15. #2 : Lens of the Community
Before you choose a game engine, you
might want to check
- The amount of activity in the engine’s
forums
- Discussion about the engine in other
forums (StackOverflow etc)
- Facebook groups
- Premium support by the developer?

16. #2 : Lens of the Community
Bonus : If you pick a solution with a strong
local community, it may make it easier to
find future talent.

17. Lenses for the Decision
#3: Lens of Similarity

18. #3 : Lens of Similarity
Most game projects do not involve
technological breakthroughs.
Ask yourself :
What is the biggest tech challenge you
face? How did others solve this?

19. #3 : Lens of Similarity
Search for the games that are the most
similar to what you are doing. Can you find
out what engine(s) they used?
- Game-Dev community not very open :(
- Search for post mortems and GDC talks.
Lets share!

20. “What is the best Game Engine?”
Our current stack is
- Art : 3D Studio Max + Photoshop
(Exporting FBX and PNG to)
- Client : Unity (With many plugins)
(Using BestHTTP Pro to communicate via Rest API with)
- Server : Python-Flask + PostgreSQL
(With SQLAlchemy for ORM, hosted in the cloud)

21. “What is the best Game Engine?”
The fact that it is good for us does not mean
that it is good for you.
Ask the right questions, find the answers
that answer your demands.

22. Thank You!
(Also, questions?)
@noamgat