What languages do game programmers use?
- Thread starter Energize
- Start date
I assume most game programmers are still using C/C++. Simply because of speed. I know someone converted Quake III to .NET but never tried it to see how it ran.
TrUz
Last edited:
http://www.eve-online.com/faq/faq_07.asp
"
EVE uses a special Stackless version of Python for both the server and the client. This makes for a much simpler creation of game logic than what was available in the past. The control structures provided by Stackless allow for a more “procedural syncronous” model, rather than an “event driven asynchronous,” or thread pooling.
In more simplified terms, this means that a large number of actors can perform tiny tasks without the added complexity or overhead of the other two execution models. Our game logic scripters are thereby freed from many of the mundane tasks associated with models that don’t benefit from the control structures provided by Stackless. The creative process of writing interesting game behavior is no longer bogged down by software or system limitations.
This approach also means that making changes to the game is much easier than it has been historically. Many improvements or tweaks can be added even when the world is online and going strong without the need to reboot the servers. This process is called a hot fix."
"
EVE uses a special Stackless version of Python for both the server and the client. This makes for a much simpler creation of game logic than what was available in the past. The control structures provided by Stackless allow for a more “procedural syncronous” model, rather than an “event driven asynchronous,” or thread pooling.
In more simplified terms, this means that a large number of actors can perform tiny tasks without the added complexity or overhead of the other two execution models. Our game logic scripters are thereby freed from many of the mundane tasks associated with models that don’t benefit from the control structures provided by Stackless. The creative process of writing interesting game behavior is no longer bogged down by software or system limitations.
This approach also means that making changes to the game is much easier than it has been historically. Many improvements or tweaks can be added even when the world is online and going strong without the need to reboot the servers. This process is called a hot fix."
C/C++ and a little of assembly/HLSL for shaders/optimisation and the like. Lua is a popular scripting language as well used often for configs. If you mean high gfx games such as fps/platforms etc.
J2ME is quite heavily used on the mobile platform.
PHP/ASP on web based games.
All depends on what you want to do, there are no hard fast choices.
I know a production game which is written in Lisp.
J2ME is quite heavily used on the mobile platform.
PHP/ASP on web based games.
All depends on what you want to do, there are no hard fast choices.
I know a production game which is written in Lisp.
Last edited:
I've not even taken a passing interest in it, but I'm pretty sure I've read that quite a large portion of it is Python (Stackless Python, specifically). Python's pretty fast in and of itself, plus you can compile in pure-C modules for really speedy things, plus it (and especially Stackless Python) makes concurrency lots easier.
Edit: http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2005/10/nested_worlds.html
For the low-level stuff (graphics, physics, sound, etc) I think it's nearly always C++. For programming gameplay mechanics a variety of languages are used. Sometimes it's in C++ too, LUA, C#, Python are also used and there's also proprietory languages like UnrealScript.
I hear people saying that, but what games have been written in C#? I can imagine some budget/xbox live arcade games being made with it, but what about full price games?
Reasons why C++/C is used nearly everywhere:
> Games programmers have almost exclusively worked in C++/C forever. They know it, they are good at it, why change.
> All of a companies tools will be written to work for C++/C. These include level designers, game engines, physics libraries, sound engines etc etc. It would take years to rewrite them in Java/C#.
In the future I expect more and more stuff will move to Java/C#, with calls being made back to C libraries only for low level device access and graphics libraries (directX, C#). Its a perfectly reasonable idea to build a game engine in C# which calls the openGL libraries to render things. The overhead of Java/C# as opposed to C++/C is very low now - probably only a few percent as of Java 6.0. I believe .Net is lagging behind a little bit in terms of performance, but I guess not for long.
> Games programmers have almost exclusively worked in C++/C forever. They know it, they are good at it, why change.
> All of a companies tools will be written to work for C++/C. These include level designers, game engines, physics libraries, sound engines etc etc. It would take years to rewrite them in Java/C#.
In the future I expect more and more stuff will move to Java/C#, with calls being made back to C libraries only for low level device access and graphics libraries (directX, C#). Its a perfectly reasonable idea to build a game engine in C# which calls the openGL libraries to render things. The overhead of Java/C# as opposed to C++/C is very low now - probably only a few percent as of Java 6.0. I believe .Net is lagging behind a little bit in terms of performance, but I guess not for long.
Haven't Microsoft made a big push towards C# adoption on the 360? Not sure how well it's worked though.
With all the XNA stuff it looks like it. The idea is to get kids/enthusiasts/uni students to use it. Then when they all turn up at games companies in 3 or 4 years and say "I know how to make games in C#" there will eventually be change.
They will get laughed at
3-4 years "experience" at university versus 20 years c++ experience in industry...GG
They will get laughed at
GG
But if the idea is eventual change, there won't be people with 20 years of c++ in the future because they will all have been brought up to learn c# instead.
MS will always push MS tech (e.g. C sharp for 360 dev, rob), because they want to lock people in and therefore continue buying their products..good business sense, I guess, and MS has years of experience 
That said, their grip isn't so strong that the pool of experienced C and C++ programmers, for example, will dry up any time soon IMO..and if it does eventually dry up, I don't think MS will be the deciding factor. I certainly hope your last post doesn't come true, Energize!
That said, their grip isn't so strong that the pool of experienced C and C++ programmers, for example, will dry up any time soon IMO..and if it does eventually dry up, I don't think MS will be the deciding factor. I certainly hope your last post doesn't come true, Energize!