Gustavo Pezzi – C++ Game Engine Programming

Description Of C++ Game Engine Programming

Learn the fundamentals of 2D game engine development and create a simple game engine using C++ SDL and Lua scripting

This C++ Game Engine Programming course is a gentle and comprehensive introduction to the fundamentals of 2D game engine architecture. We’ll discuss several of the most popular programming patterns used in game development and try to put all the theory we learn into context by coding a small 2D game engine using modern C++, SDL, and Lua.

We will write, together, a small ECS framework from scratch to manage our entities, components, and systems. We will discuss how engine programmers design their code and how we should think of organizing game objects in memory with performance in mind.

The tools you’ll need

• C++ is a powerful compiled language
• SDL2 is a library for cross-platform rendering and input
• GLM is a math helper library
• Dear ImGui is a library to create UI for engine tooling
• Sol is a binding library for modern C++ & Lua

Lua is fast and easy to use scripting language

We’ll try to write most of our engine code from scratch. All these libraries and tools are cross-platform, so you’ll be able to code along with either Windows, macOS, or Linux!

Is this C++ Game Engine Programming course for you?

The target audience for this C++ Game Engine Programming course are beginner programmers that wish to learn more about how C++ works in the context of game development. Therefore, students must already know how to code and be familiar with basic concepts of programming and logic. You should be able to write if-else statements, loops, functions, and classes using simple OOP.

You do not need to know C++ before enrolling; many successful students have a background in web, mobile, and game development, working with languages like Java, Python, Ruby, Go, Swift, JavaScript, Ada, Zig, Kotlin, and many others.

How is this C++ Game Engine Programming course different?

This C++ Game Engine Programming course is not just a simple tutorial on how to create a game with C++. This is the opportunity for you to think about the abstraction of what a “game” really is and all the pieces that need to interact to make them happen. More than that, this C++ Game Engine Programming course allows you to write from scratch the code of a small C++ engine that can be used to create many types of games.

We will also touch other important topics like ECS, data-oriented design, STL containers, C++ templates, game loop, SDL rendering, event systems, asset management, memory management, and performance. And finally, we’ll also learn how to embed the Lua language into our native C++ code to add scripting power to our engine.

While there are other resources about game engine development out there, they are either too theoretical or overwhelmingly long. If you are looking for a gentle introduction to the world of game engine programming and want to learn how games really work under the hood, then you should definitely take this C++ Game Engine Programming course!

What you’ll learn in C++ Game Engine Programming

Course content

1. Introduction

• Motivations & Learning Outcomes
• How to Take This Course

2. Libraries and Dependencies

• Project Technologies and Libraries
• Configuring Linux Dependencies
• Configuring macOS Dependencies
• Compilation
• Linking
• Makefiles
• Configuring Visual Studio on Windows
• Quiz: Compilation and Linking
• Static vs. Dynamic Libraries

3. Displaying the Game Window

• Game Loop
• Game Class
• Creating an SDL Window
• Polling SDL Events
• Rendering the SDL Window
• Fullscreen SDL Window
• Fake Fullscreen vs. Real Fullscreen
• SDL GPU Acceleration and VSync
• Quiz: SDL Window

4. Rendering SDL Objects

• Drawing an SDL Rectangle
• Double-Buffered Rendering
• Loading PNG Textures
• Quiz: Game Loop and SDL Window

5. Game Loop Timestep

• Object Movement and Velocity Vectors
• Fixed Game Framerate
• SDL Delay
• Variable Delta Time
• Uncapped Framerate
• Game Loop and Determinism
• Quiz: Game Loop Timestep

6. Logging

• Logger Class
• Exercise: Logging Game Information
• Coding the Logger Class
• Popular C++ Logger Libraries
• Quiz: Logger

7. Project Folder Structure

• Project Subfolders
• Makefile Variables

8. Organizing Game Objects

• Creating C++ Objects
• Examples of C++ Object Creation
• Organizing Game Objects
• Object Inheritance Design
• Quiz: C++ Objects

9. ECS Design

• Component-Based Design
• Entity-Component-System Design
• ECS Folder Structure
• System Component Signature
• Working with C++ Templates
• Component Type Template
• Understanding Component<T>
• Exercise: System Functions
• Adding and Removing Entities from Systems
• The Erase-Remove Idiom
• Operator Overloading for Entities
• Quiz: ECS Design

10. ECS Implementation

• Pool of Components
• The Pool Class
• Coding the Pool Class
• Registry Systems & Entity Signatures
• Entity Creation
• Adding Components
• Removing Components
• Implementing System Functions
• Quiz: ECS Implementation

11. Creating Entities and Components

• Creating our First Entity
• Smart Pointers
• Converting ECS Code to Use Smart Pointers
• Raw Pointers for SDL
• Quiz: Smart Pointers
• Adding our First Component
• Careful with Types size_t and int
• Exercise: Entity Class Managing Components
• Entity Class Managing Components
• Warning About Cyclic Dependency

12. Creating Systems

• Movement System
• Movement System and Delta Time
• Render System

13. Managing Assets

• Managing Game Assets
• The Asset Store
• Displaying Textures in our Render System
• Exercise: Displaying the Tilemap
• Displaying the Tilemap
• Rendering Order
• Sorting Sprites by Z-Index

14. Animation System

• Animated Sprites
• Animation System
• Identifying Animations By Name

15. Collision System

• Entity Collision Check
• Implementing the Collision System
• Exercise: Rendering a Collider Rectangle
• Quiz: 2D Collision

16. Killing Entities

• Killing Entities and Re-Using IDs
• Implementing Entity Removal

17. Event System

• Introduction to Event System
• Event System Design Options
• Event Handlers
• Emitting Events & Subscribing to Events
• Exercise: Key Pressed Event
• Event System Design Patterns
• Quiz: Event System

18. Other Components and Systems

• Keyboard Control System
• Camera Follow System
• Sprites with Fixed Position
• Projectile Emitter Component
• Projectile Duration
• Health Component
• Exercise: Shooting Projectiles
• DRY Code

19. Entity Tags and Groups

• Tags & Groups
• Optimizing Access of Tags & Groups
• Projectiles Colliding with Player/li>
• Projectiles Colliding with Enemies
• Compilation Times

20. Data-Oriented Design

• Data-Oriented Design
• Cache Hits and Cache Misses
• Avoiding Data Gaps
• Packed Pool of Components
• Array of Structs vs. Struct of Arrays
• Cache Profiling with Valgrind
• Popular C++ ECS Libraries

21. Displaying True-Type Fonts

• Adding Fonts to the Asset Store
• Render Text System
• Exercise: Rendering Health Value

22. Dear ImGui

• Introduction to Dear ImGui
• Dear ImGui and SDL
• Dear ImGui Demo Window
• Immediate-Mode GUI Paradigm
• Render GUI System/li>
• Button to Spawn Enemies
• Exercise: Customization of New Enemies
• Quiz: Dear ImGui

23. Culling and Map Control

• Killing Entities Outside Map Limits
• Flipping Sprites on Collision
• Invisible Entities & Obstacles
• Exercise: Keeping the Player Inside the Map
• Culling Sprites Outside Camera View

24. Lua Scripting

• Game Scripting
• The Lua Scripting Language
• Using Sol as a C++ Lua Wrapper
• Lua State
• Reading Lua Tables
• Fetching Missing Table Values with Sol
• Lua Functions
• Level Loader Class
• Reading Assets from a Lua Table
• Handling Multiple Objects in a Lua Level
• Scripting for Night/Day Tilemap
• Scripting Entity Behavior with Lua
• Script System
• Lua Bindings
• Binding Multiple Lua Functions
• Loading Different Lua Levels
• Division of C++ and Lua Code
• Quiz: Lua Scripting

25. Conclusion

• Finishing our Code
• Next Steps

26. Bonus: Tilemap Editor

• Proposed Project: Tilemap Editor

27. Moving Forward

About Gustavo Pezzi

Gustavo Pezzi is a university lecturer in London, UK. He has won multiple education awards as a teacher and is also the founder of pikuma.com.

Gustavo Pezzi teaches fundamentals of computer science and mathematics; his academic path includes institutions such as Pittsburg State University, City University of London, and University of Oxford.

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