Engines, Tech & Hardware

⚙   🎮   💻
CS 470 | Game Development

Week 1 • Lecture 3

Game Engines

What is a Game Engine?

  • A framework for building games without starting from scratch
  • Handles: Rendering, Physics, Input, Audio, Scripting
  • Like a car chassis — you add the body and paint

Engine vs Custom Code

Game Engine

  • Pre-built systems
  • Visual editors
  • Fast iteration
vs

Custom Engine

  • Full control
  • Optimized for needs
  • Longer development

The Major Players

Godot
Unity
Unreal
GameMaker

Godot Engine

godot-editor.png
Godot 4.x editor interface with node tree, 2D/3D viewport, inspector panel

Godot Features

Open Source

100% free, MIT license

GDScript

Python-like, easy to learn

Node System

Everything is a node

2D & 3D

First-class support for both

Cross-platform

Export to PC, mobile, web

Active Community

Growing fast

Made with Godot

godot-games.png
Collage: Dome Keeper, Cassette Beasts, Brotato, Cruelty Squad

2K+

Steam games

90K+

GitHub stars

$$$

Brotato made millions

Notable: Sonic Colors Ultimate, Cassette Beasts, Dome Keeper

Unity

unity-editor.png
Unity editor interface showing hierarchy, scene view, inspector, project panel

Unity Features

C# Scripting

Industry-standard language

Asset Store

Huge marketplace

Documentation

Extensive tutorials

Note: 2023 pricing controversy shook developer trust

Made with Unity

unity-games.png
Collage: Hollow Knight, Cuphead, Among Us, Genshin Impact, Beat Saber

Unreal Engine

unreal-editor.png
Unreal Engine 5 editor with Lumen lighting, Nanite demo, Blueprint visual scripting

Unreal Features

Blueprints

Visual scripting system

Nanite & Lumen

Next-gen graphics tech

Free until $1M

Then 5% royalty

Made with Unreal

unreal-games.png
Collage: Fortnite, Valorant, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Rocket League

GameMaker

gamemaker-editor.png
GameMaker Studio 2 editor showing room editor, sprite editor, code window

GameMaker Highlights

GML Language

Simple syntax

Drag & Drop

Visual coding option

2D Focus

Pixel art friendly

gamemaker-games.png
Undertale, Hyper Light Drifter, Hotline Miami

Custom Engines

custom-engines.png
Logos: id Tech, Frostbite, Decima, RE Engine

id Tech

DOOM, Quake

Frostbite

Battlefield, FIFA

Decima

Horizon, Death Stranding

Why? Specific needs, full control, competitive edge

Choosing an Engine

Godot

Best for: 2D, learning

Curve: Low

Cost: Free

Unity

Best for: Mobile, indie

Curve: Medium

Cost: Free to $$$

Unreal

Best for: 3D/AAA visuals

Curve: High

Cost: Free to 5%

GameMaker

Best for: 2D pixel art

Curve: Low

Cost: $0-800

Why Godot for This Course?

  • Free and open source — no licensing headaches
  • GDScript is beginner-friendly (Python-like)
  • Lightweight — runs on any laptop
  • Excellent 2D support (our focus)
  • Growing industry adoption

Hardware 101

What Runs Your Game?

computer-internals.png
Diagram showing CPU, GPU, RAM, Storage with labeled arrows indicating data flow

CPU vs GPU

CPU

🧠

"The Brain"

  • Few powerful cores
  • Sequential tasks
  • Game logic, AI, physics
vs

GPU

⚔

"The Army"

  • Many small cores
  • Parallel tasks
  • Rendering, shaders

What the CPU Does

cpu-tasks.png
Flowchart: Input -> Logic -> AI -> Physics -> Audio

Logic

Game scripts & state

AI

Decision making

Physics

Collision & movement

Sequential: One task at a time, very fast

What the GPU Does

gpu-tasks.png
Pipeline: Vertices -> Vertex Shader -> Rasterization -> Fragment Shader -> Pixels on Screen

Pixels

Drawing millions per frame

Shaders

Visual effects & lighting

Post

Bloom, blur, color grading

Parallel: Thousands of cores working together

Frame Rate

30 FPS

Cinematic, budget

60 FPS

Standard, smooth

120+ FPS

Competitive, premium

16.67ms

Time budget per frame at 60 FPS

Resolution

resolution-comparison.png
Side-by-side: 720p, 1080p, 4K pixel density

720p

0.9M pixels

1080p

2.1M pixels

4K

8.3M pixels

Trade-off: 4K = 4x the GPU work of 1080p

Input Devices

Keyboard & Mouse
Controller
Touch Screen
Motion / VR

Design for your target input — each has different strengths

Console vs PC

Console

  • Fixed hardware
  • Optimization target
  • Closed ecosystem
vs

PC

  • Variable hardware
  • Settings flexibility
  • Open ecosystem

Modern Game Tech

Real-Time Rendering

rendering-comparison.png
Rasterization vs Ray Tracing comparison

Raster

Fast, traditional approach

Ray Trace

Realistic lighting, expensive

Reality: Most games still use rasterization

Physics

physics-demo.png
Ragdoll, rigid bodies, cloth, destruction

Rigid

Solid body dynamics

Collision

Detection & response

Soft

Cloth & deformables

Goal: Make worlds feel real

Procedural Generation

procgen-examples.png
Minecraft, No Man's Sky, roguelike dungeons

Infinite

Content from algorithms

Variety

Randomness + rules

Examples

Minecraft, Spelunky

Week 13: We'll build this

AI in Games

game-ai.png
A* pathfinding, behavior trees, state machines

Pathfind

A*, nav meshes

Behavior

Decision trees

State

Enemy state machines

Note: Believable, not intelligent

Networking

networking-models.png
Client-Server, P2P, Rollback netcode

C-S

Authoritative, anti-cheat

P2P

Lower latency, no server

Rollback

Fighting games, prediction

Challenge: Latency is the enemy

Tech Overview Recap

  • Rendering — Rasterization & Ray Tracing
  • Physics — Collision, rigid bodies, dynamics
  • Procedural — Algorithms create content
  • AI — Pathfinding, behavior, decisions
  • Networking — Synchronizing players

Resources & Community

GDC Talks

gdc-logo.png
GDC logo and GDC Vault screenshot

What

Game Developers Conference

Free

Talks on YouTube (GDC Vault)

Content

Postmortems, design deep-dives

Tip: Goldmine of industry knowledge

itch.io

itchio-screenshot.png
itch.io homepage, indie games, game jams

Platform

Indie game marketplace

Pricing

Name your own price

Jams

Game jams every week

Great for: Publishing your first game

Game Jams

game-jams.png
Ludum Dare, GMTK, Global Game Jam logos

Ludum

48-72 hours, twice yearly

GMTK

48 hours, theme-based

GGJ

48 hours, worldwide

Best way: Learn fast, finish something!

YouTube Channels

Game Maker's Toolkit

Design analysis

GDC

Industry talks

Brackeys

Tutorials (archived)

Sebastian Lague

Coding adventures

Masahiro Sakurai

Smash creator insights

Jonas Tyroller

Indie dev journey

Godot Resources

godot-docs.png
Godot documentation website, Discord server screenshot, r/godot subreddit

Docs

docs.godotengine.org

Discord

Active community support

Reddit

r/godot tips & showcase

Community: Welcoming & helpful

Course Roadmap

Weeks 1-15 Overview

course-timeline.png
Visual timeline: Phase 1 (Weeks 1-5: Foundation, Pong to Mario), Phase 2 (Weeks 6-7: 2D Mastery), Phase 3 (Weeks 8-12: Physics + 3D), Phase 4 (Weeks 13-15: Advanced), Finals Week 16

Grading

15%

Participation

15%

Quizzes (5)

30%

Assignments

15%

Midterm

25%

Final Project

Next Time

We Start Coding!

godot-first-project.png
Godot new project screen, simple "Wanderer" game with character moving around

Install Godot 4.x before class!

See You Next Class!

Questions? Come chat after class.