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<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>nCine: a world with custom in-house engines is possible</title>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<style>
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<textarea id="source">
class: middle, center
# nCine: a world with custom in-house engines **is** possible
Angelo "_Encelo_" Theodorou
---
# The author 👴
- Born in 1983, grown up with C= Amigas for ten years (1991- 2001)
- Fell in love with Amiga games and its demoscene
- An everyday desktop *nix user for almost 25 years
- Using Arch Linux daily since 2005
- Interested in low-level coding and computer graphics
- Engine and graphics programmer for mobile and console games
- Natural Motion's Echo engine (Clumsy Ninja, Dawn of Titans)
- EA Frostbite (FIFA 18-20, Battlefield V, Battlefront II, Anthem)
- Bethesda's Creation Engine 2 (Starfield)
- Developing the nCine since June 2011
---
## What is a custom in-house engine? 🤔
- Custom: developed alongside a game to serve its needs
- In-house: tech and game teams work under the same roof
--
- With lots of **exceptions**:
- Can be reused for multiple games (RAGE)
- Can be licensed to other studios (id Tech)
- Can be developed by a specific division within a company (Frostbite)
--
- The **opposite** of this is a generic software technology
- Can be used to develop different types of games
- Distributed or sold by a specialized (sometimes non-game) company
- Think of Unreal, Unity, CryEngine, Godot, GameMaker, …
--
- Custom engines are especially employed in AAA games
- But there are some notable indie exceptions 💪
---
## Can't you just use Unity/Unreal like everyone else?
### Yes, but also no. 😏
---
## Can't you just use Unity/Unreal like everyone else? #0
Well, we all know how well it went... 😅
---
## Can't you just use Unity/Unreal like everyone else? #1
Articles on this theme:
- [On the Perceived Inevitability of Unreal](https://alextardif.com/Unreal.html) by _Alex Tardif_
- [Ships, Icebergs, Game Engines](https://www.rfleury.com/p/ships-icebergs-game-engines) by _Ryan Fleury_
- [A case for building your own tech | Opinion](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/a-case-for-building-your-own-tech-opinion) by _Dan Baker_
- [Handmade Network](https://handmade.network/)
List of game engines and frameworks:
- [Custom Game Engines: A Small Study](https://gist.github.com/raysan5/909dc6cf33ed40223eb0dfe625c0de74) by _raysan5_
- [Indie Bookmarks: some indie games and their technology](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1z1RV6w4HjPODFcao34h72Vw-9KxtQ9rv0ZM7folTUMU/edit#gid=0) by _Encelo_
---
## Can't you just use Unity/Unreal like everyone else? #2
The author is a Lead Graphics Programmer at ZeniMax Online Studios.
- In-house engine development has declined over the last decade
- The pool of game engine and graphics talent is shrinking
- Independent game middlewares are dead (bought by Unity/Epic)
- The framework and tooling infrastructure is too much work
(From "_On the Perceived Inevitability of Unreal_" by Alex Tardif)
---
## Can't you just use Unity/Unreal like everyone else? #3
Written just after _The Machinery_ was obliterated from the face of the Earth.
- When you give up ownership, you give up your rights
- You lose your agency over time, money, professional development
- Something that is more abstract exposes fewer capabilities
- Not everything you could do in your own engine is possible in a pre-built game engine
- The "_don't reinvent the wheel_" mantra diminishes ownership and scoffs at self-reliance
(From "_Ships, Icebergs, Game Engines_" by Ryan Fleury)
---
## Can't you just use Unity/Unreal like everyone else? #4
Written by Oxide Games' co-founder and CTO.
- Innovation and unique gameplay: build a game that breaks the mold
- Attract top devs who want to leave a mark, solve novel problems, work on cutting-edge technology
- Custom tech can be initially expensive, but the investments can yield long-term savings
- It seems Unity and Unreal won't stay inexpensive and perpetual
- A custom engine usually compiles faster and runs faster in debug
- Some games have technological requirements that off-the-shelf engines cannot satisfy
- Even off-the-shelf solutions need a technical investment for customization
(From "_A case for building your own tech | Opinion_" by Dan Baker)
---
## Can't you just use Unity/Unreal like everyone else? #5
- Computers are amazing
- So why is software so terrible?
- Slow to load, thirsty on batteries, crashes all the time
- We made it terrible
- We ignored the hardware, we glued together libraries so we didn't have to learn, we built layers on top of layers until no one knew how anything worked
- We're building Rube Goldberg machines, and users are paying the cost.
- But there is another way
- We can build software that works with the computer, not against it. All you need is an open mind and a sense of curiosity.
(From the _Handmade Network Manifesto_)
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal
## Some examples from the indie ecosystem
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #1
**Spelunky Classic**, 21/12/2008 (GameMaker)
**Spelunky HD** and **Spelunky 2** use a custom engine
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #2
**Legend of Grimrock**, 11/04/2012, by _Almost Human Games_ (Custom)
**Legend of Grimrock 2** also made with the same custom engine
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #3
**Little Inferno**, 19/11/2012, by _Tomorrow Corporation_ (Custom)
**World of Goo**, **Human Resource Machine**, and **7 Billion Humans** are all based on a custom engine too
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #4
**Guacamelee!**, 09/04/2013, by _DrinkBox Studios_ (Custom)
**Guacamelee! 2** also on a custom engine
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #5
**Don't Starve**, 23/04/2013, by _Klei Entertainment_ (Custom)
Most of their games are made with custom technology (**Mark of the Ninja**, **Invisible, Inc.**, **Griftlands**), **Oxygen Not Included** is made with Unity 😢
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #6
**Hammerwatch**, 12/08/2013, by _Crackshell_ (Custom)
**Heroes of Hammerwatch** and **Hammerwatch 2** use a custom engine too
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #7
**Banished**, 18/02/2014, by _Shining Rock Software_ (Custom)
His next solo game also runs on custom technology
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #8
**Shovel Knight**, 26/06/2014, by _Yacht Club Games_ (Custom)
**Pocket Dungeon** made with GameMaker Studio, **Mina the Hollower** with a custom engine
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #9
**Crypt of the Necrodancer**, 23/04/2015, by _Brace Yourself Games_ (Custom)
**Industries of Titan** made with UE4 🤷
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #10
**Victor Vran ARPG**, 24/07/2015, by _Haemimont Games_ (HaemimontSol)
All their games are made with their custom engine, including **Surviving Mars**, **Tropico 3-4-5**, **Jagged Alliance 3**
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #11
**Prison Architect**, 06/10/2015, by _Introversion Software_ (Custom)
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #12
**Darkest Dungeon**, 19/01/2016, by _Red Hook Studios_ (Custom)
**Darkest Dungeon 2** runs on Unity 😢
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #13
**Stardew Valley**, 26/02/2016, by _ConcernedApe_ (XNA, then MonoGame)
**Haunted Chocolatier** is in development using MonoGame
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #14
**Celeste**, 25/01/2018, by _Matt Makes Games_ (FNA and MonoGame)
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #15
**Into the Breach**, 27/02/2018, by _Subset Games_ (Custom)
**Faster Than Light** also made with a custom engine
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #16
**Yoku's Island Express**, 29/05/2018, by _Villa Gorilla_ (Custom)
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #17
**Dead Cells**, 06/08/2018, by _Motion Twin_ ([Heaps](https://heaps.io/))
All _Shiro Games_ titles are made with Heaps too (**Evoland**, **Evoland 2**, **Northgard**, **Darksburg**, **Dune: Spice Wars**)
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #18
**Wargroove**, 01/02/2019, by _Chucklefish Games_ ([Halley](https://github.com/amzeratul/halley))
**Wargroove2** and **Witchbrook** also on the same engine
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #19
**Pathway**, 11/04/2019, by _Robotality_ (Custom)
[Devlog #18: The Art and Tech behind Pathway](https://steamcommunity.com/games/546430/announcements/detail/1700601856676355706)
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #20
**Factorio**, 14/08/2020, by _Wube Software_ (Custom)
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #21
**Hades**, 17/09/2020, by _Supergiant Games_ ([The Forge](https://theforge.dev/))
Previous games are all made with XNA or MonoGame (**Bastion**, **Transistor**, **Pyre**)
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #22
**Eastward**, 16/09/2021, by _Pixpil_ (MOAI)
"Behind the garage scene. Showing deferred buffers." from [Twitter](https://twitter.com/pixpilgames/status/661845634845020161)
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #23
**The Riftbraker**, 14/10/2021, by _EXOR Studios_ (Custom)
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #24
**Teardown**, 21/04/2022, by _Tuxedo Labs_ (Custom)
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #25
**Return To Monkey Island**, 19/09/2022, by _Terrible Toybox_ (Custom)
**Thimbleweed Park** also made with the same custom engine
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #26
**Balatro**, 20/02/2024, by _LocalThunk_ (LÖVE)
---
# They didn't use Unity/Unreal #27
**Norland**, 16/05/2024, by _Long Jaunt_ (GameMaker Studio)
[The Four Elements and Their Graphic Effects: Exploring Shaders in a 2D Game](https://hackernoon.com/the-four-elements-and-their-graphic-effects-exploring-shaders-in-a-2d-game)
[Simulation of three-dimensional buildings in a 2D game](https://www.norlandgame.com/post/simulation-of-three-dimensional-buildings-in-a-2d-game)
---
# The nCine ⚙️
---
# What is nCine?
- Encelo + engine = nCine 😏
- Cross-platform 2D game framework
- Linux, Windows, macOS, Android, Emscripten, MinGW-w64
- Tested on: Nvidia Shield, Asus ZenWatch 1, Raspberry Pi, Steam Deck
- Supports multiple compilers: GCC, Clang, MSVC, AppleClang
- Suitable for games, prototypes, tools, demos
- [Open source](https://github.com/nCine) with a MIT license
- Small enough to be fully understood by one person
---
# Main Features #1
- Written in C++11 but can be scripted with Lua
- Uses OpenGL 3.3 and ES 3.0 for graphics, OpenAL for the audio
- Can load and save PNG and WebP images (via libpng and libwebp)
- Can also load GPU-compressed formats like ASTC, ETC2, PVR, DXT, etc.
- Can load WAVE sounds or stream Vorbis music (via libogg and libvorbis)
- Automatic culling and batching of sprites
- Sprites can be rectangles or 2D meshes, with spritesheet animations
- Custom user shaders without sacrificing automatic batching
- Multiple viewports (for split-screen or post-processing)
- Bitmap font rendering with kerning pairs and Unicode characters
- Logging system with multiple levels, and console or file output
---
# Main Features #2
- nCTL custom template library used in place of STL
- Containers (arrays, lists, hashmaps, sparse sets), iterators, algorithms
- Unique and shared smart pointers
- Basic math library for vectors, 4x4 matrices and quaternions
- Custom code for strings, atomic operations, monotonic clocks
- Custom memory allocators (linear, stack, pool, free-list)
- Filesystem functions for queries and operations on files and directories
- Thread pool creation, synchronization, and affinity assignment
- Can use GLFW, SDL2, or Qt5 as desktop backends
- Gamepad support with SDL2 gamepad mapping strings on all backends
- Integration with [Dear ImGui](https://github.com/ocornut/imgui) and [Nuklear](https://github.com/Immediate-Mode-UI/Nuklear) for user interfaces
- Integration with [RenderDoc](https://renderdoc.org/) (gfx debugger) and [Tracy](https://bitbucket.org/wolfpld/tracy) (frame profiler)
---
# Main Features (screenshots #1)
Sprite batching, Tracy integration, ImGui debug overlay, Lua scripting
---
# Main Features (screenshots #2)
[](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1XRrK77u6M)
[](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kAoyVvgLyo)
Multiple viewports, custom shaders, custom allocators test, text rendering
---
# Development Tools
- [CMake](https://cmake.org/) and CPack for build and installation on all platforms
- [Google Test](https://github.com/google/googletest) for unit testing and [Benchmark](https://github.com/google/benchmark) for micro-benchmarks
- [Gcovr](http://gcovr.com/) for unit test coverage
- [GitHub Actions](https://github.com/features/actions) for Continuous Integration
- [Cppcheck](http://cppcheck.sourceforge.net/) for static C/C++ code analysis
- [Valgrind](http://valgrind.org/) and AddressSanitizer (ASAN) for memory debugging
- [clang-format](https://clang.llvm.org/docs/ClangFormat.html) for automatic code formatting
- [Doxygen](http://www.stack.nl/~dimitri/doxygen/) for documentation (extracted from source comments)
---
# Development Tools (screenshots)
Gcovr, Doxygen, Google Test, Valgrind
---
# Lines of code
```
/-------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
|Language files blank comment code|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|C++ 376 16634 3186 81469|
|C/C++ Header 343 7334 4097 30250|
|CMake 44 711 386 5648|
|YAML 7 177 12 883|
|XML 2 0 1 722|
|Lua 8 137 5 531|
|GLSL 21 67 0 340|
|Markdown 1 10 0 63|
|Gradle 2 1 0 23|
|INI 1 2 0 10|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|SUM: 805 25073 7687 119939|
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------/
```
Just the main `nCine` repository, not including any external projects
---
# Some projects #1
[](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiZKZnbqo6I)
[Jazz² Resurrection](http://deat.tk/jazz2/), a Jazz Jackrabbit 2 reimplementation by _deathkiller_
---
# Some projects #2
[](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TBFN3VwXZ4)
[JugiMap](http://jugimap.com/), a level editor that integrates with nCine, by _Jugilus_
---
# Some projects #3
[](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKdDtJiIUdo)
[ncJump](https://www.antoniocaggiano.eu/posts/ncjump-devlog/), a platform with Box2D physics and integrated editor, by _Fahien_
---
# Some projects #4
[](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqrigZ-3JoM)
[SpookyGhost](https://encelo.itch.io/spookyghost), a tool to create procedural animations for sprites, by _Encelo_
---
# Some projects #5
[ncTracer](https://github.com/encelo/ncTracer), a simple brute-force multi-threaded CPU path tracer
---
# Some projects #6
[ncTiledViewer](https://github.com/nCine/ncTiledViewer), a loader for the Tiled TMX map format (using `pugixml`)
---
# Some projects #7
[](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLNI5NMCJ1E)
[ncParticleEditor](https://github.com/nCine/ncParticleEditor), an ImGui editor for the nCine particle system
---
# Some projects #8
[](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31k4adykiNA)
[ncInvaders](https://github.com/nCine/ncInvaders), a simple version of Space Invaders
---
# Some projects #9
[](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lSYZtRQhgQ)
[ncPong](https://github.com/nCine/ncPong), an example game also available in Lua
---
# Recent developments
- Latest big features added:
- Binary shader cache (helps with slow shader compilation time with ANGLE on UWP/Xbox)
- OpenAL EAX/EFX audio effects and filters
- On hold but nearly complete:
- [Crashpad](https://chromium.googlesource.com/crashpad/crashpad/) integration for crash reporting (probably with missing Android support 😢)
- Work in progress:
- Multi-threading job system (lock-free queue with job stealing, parent/children jobs, continuations, parallel for)
- What's next:
- An editor? Vulkan support? ECS with data oriented design? a game?
---
# Future tasks and ideas
- Better documentation, tutorials, and site presentation
- Full-fledged ImGui editor
- Graphics API abstraction and Vulkan backend
- Lock-free multi-threaded jobs system and data-oriented ECS
- Bindings for Rust/Haxe, scripting integration with Wren/AngelScript
- A simple free game to release on Itch.io and/or Steam
- Box2D integration for physics and collisions
- Metal backend and thus iOS port
- A game jam with prizes
---
# Links
- Site: https://ncine.github.io/
- GitHub: https://github.com/nCine/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/nCine2D
- Discord: https://discord.gg/495ab6Y
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ncine
- Blog: https://encelo.github.io/tags/#nCine
### Questions?
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