In the video game development, there are three ways how we develop of video games. On this article, we discuss how to understand the different types of video games tools such as game library, game framework, and game engine.
Game Library
A game library is a collection of code and data intended for reuse. It typically focuses on specific tasks such as handling audio, physics, or input. Examples include:
- DirectX
- SDL
- OpenGL
- Havok cloth
Game Framework
A game framework is a more comprehensive collection of libraries and tools designed to help you create a game. It provides a structure and often includes multiple libraries bundled together. Examples include:
- SFML (Simple and Fast Multimedia Library)
- LibGDX
- MonoGame
Game Engine
A game engine is the most comprehensive tool, providing everything needed to create a game, including a scene graph and a world/level editor. It often includes features like rendering, physics, scripting, and more. Examples include:
- Unity
- Unreal Engine
- Godot
In summary:
- Libraries are specialized tools for specific tasks. For example, Havok Navigation provides good support for cloth model, while DirectX provides set of libraries to input, output, and online gaming.
- Frameworks are collections of libraries and tools to help structure your game development. it gives you independence way to develop video games with codes editor such as Visual Studio Codes.
- Game engine provides all in one solution. they provide tools, editor, framework, and library to make the game creation is better.
Opinion
In my opinion, if you want to learn how to develop video games with programming you can use Frameworks. It the hardest part but give you flexibility to develop, while the game engine give you accelerated environment to develop video game. For library, you can use for the game engine to solve specific function. Start from framework, enhance with game engine, and improve with libraries.