title: Game Engine Architecture
author:  Jason Gregory 
description: <P><STRONG>A 2010 <EM>CHOICE </EM>Outstanding Academic Title<BR></STRONG>This course resource provides an excellent, comprehensive look at every major system and issue related to modern game development&nbsp;&nbsp;a must-have textbook for computer science, software engineering, or game programming majors, amateur hobbyists, game 'modders,' and game developers. <BR>A. Chen, <EM>CHOICE</EM>, January 2010</P> <P> it looks like most of the critical areas and concepts are touched on.  it looks like youll have some reasonably deep understanding of the elements that go into making a game engine. Quite an impressive work, and I know of nothing else in this area that is so detailed.&nbsp;<BR>Eric Haines, www.realtimerendering.com/blog/, July 2009</P> <P>Jason Gregory draws upon his many years of experience and expertise to create a complete and comprehensive textbook on the theory and practice of game engine software development. Informed and informative, replete with examples for every aspect of the game development process, and fully accessible to aspiring game engine developers as well as a very useful reference for even experienced technicians in the field, <STRONG>Game Engine Architecture</STRONG> is an invaluable, thoroughly 'user friendly', and highly recommended core addition to personal, professional, and academic Computer Science reference and resource collections in general, as well as gaming engine design instructional reading lists in particular.&nbsp;<BR><EM>The Midwest Book Review</EM>, September 2009</P> <P>The book contains a huge amount of data on specifics to consider when developing a game engine. <BR>Gamasutra.com, November 2009</P> <P><STRONG>Game Engine Architecture</STRONG> by Jason Gregory has been named a finalist for the Game Developer's 2009 Front Line Award. <BR>PR Newswire, December 2009</P>
zlib_text: © Jared Halpern 2019
  
  Jared HalpernDeveloping 2D Games with Unity
  [https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-3772-4_1](A464283_1_En_1_Chapter.html)
  
  # 1\. Games and Game Engines
  
  Jared Halpern1
  
  (1)
  
  New York, NY, USA
  
  In this introductory chapter, I’ll talk a bit about game engines: what they
  are, and why they’re used. I’ll also discuss a few game engines of historical
  significance, as well as introduce the high-level capabilities of Unity. If
  you want to get straight to making games, feel free to skim or skip this
  chapter and come back to it later.
  
  ## Game Engines—What Are They?
  
  Game engines are software development tools designed to reduce the cost,
  complexity, and time-to-market required in the development of video games.
  These software tools create a layer of abstraction on top of the most common
  tasks in developing video games. The layers of abstraction are packaged
  together into tools designed to function as interoperable components that can
  be replaced outright or extended with addi