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This 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.
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!
The target audience for this 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.
This 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 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 course!
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 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.
"Great course, full of applicable ideas!
Overall an amazing course. I highly recommend it. I like to code and debug along and this course was great.
- Environment set-up: So many courses or textbooks have hurdles around getting the environment set up properly, or decades-old dependencies not being available anymore. Gustavo does a great job there and over the whole course I don't think I was blocked more than 30 minutes. This might not sound like a big deal, but so often you sink a few hours into a course only to discover half-way through that you have to spend days trying to fix arcane issues with no documentation. None of that nonsense here.
- C++ content: Gustavo is an experienced C++ programmer and it shows. In this course you'll learn about templates, unique pointers, some classic C++ syntax (like avoiding for loops), and function callbacks. The syntax gets ugly, but Gustavo always makes it easy. In terms of prior experience, before this course I had followed Bjarne Stroustrup's Programming Principles book, and before that I have been programming in Python professionally for a few years. I think this course goes a bit fast if you're still learning the basic C++ syntax, but for me it worked great as a "first big project". It was especially helpful for all the industry wisdom Gustavo imparts throughout the course.
- Lua content: Mixing a scripting language with a compiled language is something I knew nothing about before this. Betweem C++, Lua, and the imgui library, I feel like I didn't just learn game design, but a lot of very useful skills for making simple applications in C++. In terms of prior experience, coming from Python Lua felt very familiar.
- ECS and game design patterns: I think because of C++'s syntax quirks, some of the ECS design gets hidden behind difficult to read boilerplate code. That being said, Gustavo does a great job of focusing your attention on the big picture and what really matters. I don't know of another course that teaches the concept so well. To be honest, by the end of the course I felt comfortable enough with C++ and the code base to watch the videos on higher speed.
- Instructor: Gustavo is likable and his personality shines through the whole course. He loves to teach and he empathizes with the students' issues a lot. Often I would think "oh that looks difficult" only for Gustavo to say that just a few seconds later and to focus precisely on the difficult part."
"Awesome!"
"Nice introduction to video game dev! This a great course that teaches game development from scratch. It helps to understand the inner of the game engine.
So this is a course for you if you want any of the following:
- You want to understand how works the game engines.
- You want to learn how to develop video games and have curiosity about how they are done in low-level detail.
- You want to practice C++ focusing on game dev and/or graphics.
This might not be a course for you if:
- You only want to create video games and get the stuff done without worrying about low-level details.
- You already have lots of experience in C++ and videogame development."
"good but hard"
"This course is amazing!
I recommend this course to anyone looking to start learning about game development in C++, and the details behind a simple 2D game engine, also the integration of all the different libraries necessary to give a real functionality to your game engine and final game.
I have learnt more with this course about game engines, game programming, modern C++ programming, scripting integration, some design patterns related to game development, than any other course out there. The most important thing is that you find it all in one place, no need to be jumping from book to book or from one website to the other gathering information. You have it all in this course.
More importantly, Gustavo is a great teacher, and his explanations are very clear. 100% recommended!"
