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Even here on GameFromScratch, the game engine resource refers to both game engines and frameworks using the same moniker. Quite often however, frameworks and engines will be used interchangeably. Game Engine examples include Unity, Unreal, Construct2, GameMaker, HeroEngine and Copperlight. The level/world editor requirement is probably the biggest distinguishing factor, although there exist some game engines (often 2D) that have no editor ( although I would then argue they are in fact frameworks ). Generally there are a number of supporting functions for managing, searching and saving the scene graph as well, although often these are left to the game itself to implement. The scene graph is essentially the data structure that holds a game’s world.
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In addition to providing all the various libraries needed to create a game, a game engine must include:
#MAC OS FRAMEWORK VS LIBRARY CODE#
So, a library is a collection of code to accomplish a task, a framework is a collection of libraries to create a game, we does something become an engine? This classification is probably the least defined but in my opinion two key things separate a framework from a game engine. LibGDX is a slightly more interesting example as the inclusion of Scene2D straddles the line between framework and game engine a bit closer than most. SFML is composed of several libraries… graphics, input, window, audio, etc… Collected together as a whole they become the framework SFML. SFML is a good example of the relationship between libraries and frameworks. Gamedev examples include SFML, OGRE, LibGDX and MonoGame. Essentially a framework is a collection of libraries and tools that go together to solve a given task, in this case, making a game. What happens when you gather a bunch of libraries together, throw in a couple of tools, assembling all the ingredients you need to start creating a game? Well, you’ve got yourself a framework. There can be some ambiguity here, as FMOD for example contains some tools and calls itself “middleware”, while Box2D refers to itself as an “engine”, both are still essentially libraries. Gamedev examples of libraries include FMOD, RakNet, Box2D or Assimp. For example, playing audio, performing physics, handling input. In game development terms, a library generally is a collection of code for performing tasks from a specific domain. Plenty of JavaScript libraries exist for example, while entire template libraries in C++ are pure code. Libraries are often compiled binaries, such as DLLs, but don’t have to be. LibraryĪ library is simply put a collection of code and data intended for reuse. I suppose that’s true with most modern words. It’s important to note, there isn’t a hard and fast definition for each term, basically the meaning prescribed to each is formed by the most popular usage. We often here the terms “game library”, “game framework” and “game engine” but what is the difference, where does one end and the next begin? This post attempts to explain the difference as clearly as possible. This is a topic that seems to cause some degree of confusion, especially among new game developers.