"I am a young game designer (well at least I want to be) and what I am wondering is what engines or programs do you use to make strategy games. If i'm going to make games, I want to start off by making strategy games."

Submitted by: Mike Bunka

Answered by: Graeme Bayless (designer/producer, Sierra On-Line)

"Mike,

"The process of building a strategy game takes three parts, all of which are equally critical. Not only must you consider the game engine (the software), but you must also carefully construct a design and thoughtfully craft your art design. All of these elements combine to make a great game.

"Regarding the software game engine, we create these engines using C and C++ programming languages. Though you can take some shortcuts by using such tools as DirectX, it is still quite a chore to write a game engine. Generally, a team of 4 software engineers (programmers) creates the base game engine over a six month period... obviously this is a LOT of work. Of course, this may take longer or less time depending on the complexity of the engine, but believe me, there is a lot to do in completing a software engine that represents the core of a good strategy game. It must handle unit movement, weapon and combat effects, terrain, and an interface that allows the user to control the game. If the game will support multiple players, there is also a large multiplayer element that must be programmed in.

"The design is another key part that takes much time. Not only must you design the framework of the game, you must also know how every element in the game interacts with every other element. How do weapons work? Are there defenses? If so, how do they work? How do units move? Can they fly? Jump? On top of this, you must design a system that allows you to playbalance your game without years of effort. This too takes careful thought and planning. Design takes months of work, and is one of the hardest parts of creating a game.

"The art design is often overlooked, but without it a game never sees the light of day. A game needs a cohesive art design so that the game looks consistent. Obviously, you need to decide how much art there will be... will you have one type of terrain, or many? Will you have cool 3D sequences? Non-interactive AVIs? Many decisions go in here to shape the final game. We generally have four artists working for six to nine months doing the art for an average strategy game... obviously that’s quite a bit.

"The bottom line is doing a strategy game takes a lot of hard work and dedication... but it also takes planning. I’d recommend that if you want a career doing this, build your communication skills, your programming and/or art skills, and your mathematics skills. All of these will help you greatly.

"I wish you luck in your goal!"

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