![]() Bullet and Box2D are free, open source projects. The most popular physics engines used for games are Bullet, NVIDIA PhysX*, and Box2D. Your game may need a physics engine to give your animations natural-looking movement that simulates the forces of gravity, friction, inertia, and restitution on constrained, rigid-body geometry in motion and to detect collisions. These are good options if your app is limited in scope and doesn’t require all of the services of a typical 3D game or you need the source code for customization. But open source game engines generally import content from a range of authoring tools, free or otherwise, in several industry-standard file formats for 3D asset exchange, such as Autodesk 3ds Max* object files or Collada.įinally, some middleware solutions are not complete game engines but provide many of the pieces required to build custom game engines, such as the Imagination Technologies PowerVR* SDK and LWJGL, at little or no cost. Some game engines are tightly integrated with proprietary authoring tools, and you may have to pay licensing fees to use the tools or the engine when the game is published. Of course, you can expect better support when paying licensing or subscription fees, whereas your only support for free software may be online user forums. The pricing is usually tiered based on the functions you require, how many different platforms you’re targeting, the size of your development team, and the amount of revenue from your game’s sales. The most complete solutions even provide portability for your game through OpenGL ES to game consoles, Apple iOS* devices, Linux*, and Windows, which can help get your app to a wider market more quickly-but at a cost. Some are more comprehensive and mature (such as Unity* 3D) but also larger and more costly, while others are completely open source and free (such as the Lightweight Java* Game Library and jMonkeyEngine). Most game engines originated on the Windows* platform and have been ported to Android fairly recently. They also provide essential services beyond the scope of OpenGL ES, such as rendering text fonts, detecting touch input, and providing audio and video integration. 3D Game EnginesģD game engines run on the Android device, parse the content from your authoring tool, and render the graphics through OpenGL ES*. Part 1 of this series introduced the essential concepts and categories of game engines, authoring tools, and middleware for software development kit (SDK) and Android Native Development Kit development and listed the best solutions for 2D game development. I also note which have native support for x86 Intel® processors. In the conclusion of this two-part series, I detail the best 3D game engine and middleware solutions for Android* tablets, including free, open source, and proprietary options.
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