Reddit mentions of Game Engine Architecture, Third Edition

I know a good bit about this... engine programming specifically.

I have a physics degree and a standing offer to work at Naughty Dog. A good friend of mine from undergrad also has a physics degree, and is an engine developer at Naughty Dog. He is currently rewriting the companion AI for The Last of Us 2. And because it is only 7pm on a Saturday, I do mean currently. He is cited in the definitive text Game Engine Architecture. We talk often, and he even comes to me for help with especially tricky problems. I also have a copy of the 100+ pages of notes he used to study for the Naughty Dog interview... PM me your email for a copy.

This is what I suggest:

Step 1: Read Game Engine Architecture.

Step 2: Read Game Engine Architecture again, but slower this time.

Step 3: Learn 3D math. (There are other resources too, but one way or another you should know literally all the content in that book, because you will be asked 3d math questions during the interview, and if you're not you should keep interviewing.)

Learn how your computer works, from the ground up. Learn how to write extremely performant C++. This includes bitbashing, SIMD, caches, concurrency, etc. Not theory; real world experience. Learn how the GPU works. Learn computer graphics. Learn computer graphics for real. Learn collision detection.

Make a large number of small demos quickly. Decreasing development time is extremely important in the games industry. Make A*, a raytracer, a fibers threading engine, a shadow mapper, a FSM engine, etc.

Here is a recent question my friend asked me (as a brain teaser; he had already solved it):

> quickly check whether a uint64_t x is equal to any of 16 unique other uint64_ts

> bool f(uint64_t x, uint64_t a[16]);

> it will be called with the same a[16] every time, but varying x

Hint: you expect >99% of calls to this function to return false. Post your answer and I'll tell you what's wrong with it. The obvious solution is incorrect. Same is true for anyone else, by the way.

He recently came to me with a different problem: using all the time and compute in the world, encode a unit quaternion into 32 bits such that decode on the GPU is extremely fast, and minimize the max error possible. We managed to improve on the state of the art in both respects. No hints here, but I know some people you should talk to if you can show me a better solution. :)

Study games. Play games. Critique games. Love and breathe games. Because that industry will eat you up and chew you out, so you better be prepared to love every single second of crunch time. If you love it, you can do it, but it will torture you if you don't.

It is hard, but if you love it, and not just the idea of it, you can do it. However, as you can probably guess by my breakdown engine developers tend to be very experienced. My friend is an extreme anomaly at being as young as he is and an engine developer. It is more the type of thing you start trying to interview for with ~decade of experience.

That is the best answer.

There's also No Bullshit Guide to Linear Algebra, Vulkan Programming Guide, Physically Based Rendering, Game Engine Architecture

Dont listen to the people that comment about not making your engine. Making one is a great learning excersise and highly recomended to become a better developer.

I recomend you make sure your C++ is on point, and check this books:

• Game Engine Architecture Link : Overview of more or less anything about how a entire game engine works. Written by a lead at Naughty Dog and highly educational.
  
• Opengl Superbible Link : The best way to learn OpenGL (a graphics API). You can follow this book to learn how to draw stuff in 3d.
  
• Real Time Rendering Link : Amazing book about GPU graphics. Its API agnostic, and very in-depth. Explains techniques and effects.
  
  If you dont want to do the 3d route, you can just do 2d games using the libraries SFML or SDL. SFML is easier to use, for C++, while SDL is a lot more C oriented and runs literally anywhere (including things like nintendo DS or PS4). With those you can try to make some simple games like Snake, which is a great learning project.
  
  If you are inexperienced, try to avoid OOP designs (do not use inheritance). It will just make things more complicated than they should.

I'm not a professional graphics programmer, but I am a CS grad and a senior developer for about 10 years. I haven't yet had the time to dive into fully committing myself, however, here was my personal plan for when that moment came.

This gave some great advice and was my starting point:

https://interplayoflight.wordpress.com/2018/07/08/how-to-start-learn-graphics-programming/

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Then I was going to read this to learn about game engine architecture:

https://www.amazon.com/Engine-Architecture-Third-Jason-Gregory/dp/1138035459/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1539093840&sr=1-3&keywords=game+engine

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I have heard that this book is the actual implementation of a game engine and a good follow up to reading game engine architecture:

https://www.amazon.com/SFML-Development-Example-Raimondas-Pupius/dp/1785287346/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1539093789&sr=1-1&keywords=SFML

https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-SFML-Development-Raimondas-Pupius/dp/178646988X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1539093813&sr=1-2&keywords=SFML

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Then I was going to start diving into the 3D and mathematics

Read first:

https://www.amazon.com/Math-Primer-Graphics-Game-Development/dp/1568817231/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539094027&sr=8-1&keywords=3d+math

Read next:

https://learnopengl.com/

Then I was just going to try and build my own 3D engine and figure it out as I went along.

I've also heard that implementing actual siggraph papers is super helpful and once you're at that point, you've kind of arrived as far as graphics programming is concerned.

I think what you're experiencing with the analysis paralysis is very normal. I'm going to say that you have this fear because you're thinking about all the things you're going to have to do and it freaks you out. Don't think about all the books and all the work you're going to have to do to reach your destination. Simply sit down each day and work on something. Just improve upon what you did the day before and have a weekly goal or something in mind. This breaks up what you're trying to accomplish into smaller steps and isn't nearly as intimidating. Don't look at everything on the horizon. Just start writing code.

John Carmack said it best when he gave someone advice on becoming a programmer "You should write hundreds of programs".

Link: http://d3dvortex.blogspot.com/2005/07/programming-advice-from-john-carmack-i.html

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IF you need tutorials, remember that XNA applies a swell and it doesn't matter if it's 10 years old. But if you have been doing this for awhile then focus on general game dev information. A lot of good resources are written in c++ and are not about monogame. One of my favorite resources is http://gameprogrammingpatterns.com/ . It has a free web version.

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Keep in mind that monogame is a frame work and it handles all of the low level stuff but you still are creating an engine. I really enjoy https://www.amazon.com/Engine-Architecture-Third-Jason-Gregory-dp-1138035459/dp/1138035459/ref=mt_hardcover?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1557547565

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This is my current favorite

https://www.amazon.com/Game-Development-Patterns-Best-Practices-ebook/dp/B01MRP7SPA/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Game+Development+Patterns+and+Best+Practices&qid=1557547682&s=books&sr=1-1

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But in the end, it comes down to any job. You reach a problem and search for a way to solve it.

Disclaimer, I haven't personally built a full functioning game engine from scratch but I've been interested in game engine architecture. I recommend two books I'm currently reading, Game Engine Architecture and Game Coding Complete.