Game Development Stack Exchange
Game Development Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [software-engineering]

Software engineering is the design and development of software as it applies to the game development field. Questions using this tag should be about theoretical concepts and practices as relates to the task of creating or designing software. This tag should not be used simply because a question involves programming or contains code.

Software engineering is a broad field, but on the Game Development Stack Exchange, we are referring specifically to the aspect of the field that is about the process of thinking about how to craft good programming processes and policies. is like the technical equivalent to .

The current usage guidelines for this tag came about after discussing the merits of the old programming tag, which was deemed too vague and easy to misuse. After that discussion we settled on clarifying the usage guidelines and creating a synonym for programming to point here and help avoid misuse of the tag.

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What are good games to "earn your wings" with?

I believe that in order to become a good game developer, you need to make games. From a programmer's perspective, what are some good entry level games to get your hands dirty? What skills and challenges do each of these games teach you?
Drew
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Is storing all game objects in a single list an acceptable design?

For every game I've made, I just end up placing all my game objects (bullets, cars, players) in a single array list, which I loop through to draw and update. The update code for each entity is stored within it's class. I've been wondering, is this…
Derek
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What are the most commonly used programming languages?

When I took my Java courses a year ago, I was told that Java is used mostly in the overseas gaming companies while C++ is used here in the US. What languages should I focus on learning in-depth?
Serneum
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What should a game engine do?

I'd like to improve my skills/try something new and I'd like to start with 3D. I have read Starting programming in 3D with C++ but I have question about engines: What should engine do? I know it is abstraction layer above 3D API (i.e. OpenGL or…
Maja Piechotka
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What programming language were PS1 games written in?

Is there any common language that is used to create Play Station 1 Games? Or how can I find out what programming language is used for one of those games?
Zim3r
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Little and big endianness in games

Do we have to worry about byte orders in the process of programming a game? Do game consoles use different byte orders?
mrk
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15
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How can a game prevent people from running multiple instances of itself?

Starcraft II restricts me from running multiple instances, but if I run the second instance sandboxed in Sandboxie, it works. What might account for this? How might I replicate this behavior for my own games?
Brandon
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What should I consider when evaluating libraries, engines and frameworks for making a game?

I'm going to make a game. I've noticed that there are a lot of game engines, libraries, and frameworks available out there, and I'm having a little trouble deciding which one to use. I'm already pretty good with some programming languages, but…
Trevor Powell
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What are the specific mathematics, physics, AI and general concepts a programmer should know in order to develop a game engine?

Being a programmer of web and DB centered applications, I have knowledge in data structures such as lists, trees, graphs, etc. I honestly use very little of these data structure algorithms in my coding, except for sorting things in plain arrays, as…
droidsites
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Making game constants/tables available to game logic classes/routines in a modular manner

Suppose I have a game where there are several predefined constants and charts (a XP chart, cost of goods and so on). Those could be defined at runtime, or load from files at start-up. The question is how should those logic routines access the…
Extrakun
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What language was used to write Starcraft II?

Total newbie question, but what language was used by blizzard to create the Starcraft II gameplay? I've been playing it for the last couple of days, and I'm constantly astonished by the complexity and the performance of the game. Is it an in-house…
yossi.ittach
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Where does the game code fit into the engine?

I was wondering if somebody could tell me how the game and the game engine fit into game development. What I specifically mean is, the game engine does not actually contain a game. Do game developers build an engine, then create a new class that…
jmasterx
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Should I use Game Engines to learn to make 3D games?

HI i am a software engineering student in his second-last year. I am proficient with C,C++,C# and java programming languages, and being a student of engineering I have studied calculus, vectors etc in both 2D and 3D & various other mathematical,…
abdul121
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When or why would someone use a programming language (Swift, Java, C++, Rust etc...) over an engine like Unity?

Everytime I've read about people asking whether they should write their game in C++ or Unity, Unity is usually the default answer, unless they want to go through the hassle of creating an engine by themselves when Unity already does everything for…
Eric Gumba
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Is game software design the same as non-game software design?

Is the software design process for a game similar to a non-game? Do developers create UML diagrams? I ask because of the iterative nature of game development, I wonder if creating a UML diagram would just be a waste.
Joey Green
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