The Drag[en]gine is an free software project with a highly modular structure based on the GLEM System. Its design is similar to an operating system. The entire functionality is provided by Modules comparable to device drivers. The engine itself acts like a system kernel managing modules, resources and abstracting the underlying system. Due to the loose coupling of the modules with the system and other modules it is very easy to exchange or improve them without interfering with the rest of the engine. As a result the modularity extends from the developer to the end user who can now choose the optimal module combination for his personal computer even down to per game setups ( and even while running a game ) if required. Developers do not have to worry anymore about low level concerns keeping them concentrated on their game. In contrary to other engines (including high-end commercial ones) the Drag[en]gine provides true 0-Day portability of games with no extra costs and no troubles neither for the developer nor the end user.
Legal Information
The Drag[en]gine Game Engine is dual licensed under L-GPL (for commercial projects and proprietary use like on consoles) and GPL (for free game project). This affects only game engine modules, launchers and IGDE editors. Game projects do not link against the game engine and thus are not affected by the license.
In short: By using Drag[en]gine you do not have to worry about licensing at all.
Advantages of the Drag[en]gine
... for the Game Designer:
- Use your Scripting Language of choice.
- Hardware is fully abstracted. You only have to know how your chosen Scripting Language works
- Updating the engine and modules is handled by the respective teams. You only have to worry about updating your game
- No need to write specific content for specific systems. The users choice of modules takes care of this for you
... for the Module Coder:
- Play around with individual parts of the engine without disturbing any other part. Test easy and fast new algorithms or features
- Various debugging features help to debug fast and easy modules even during run-time
- Loose coupling and high encapsulation yields in a more stable game engine
- Platform specific code is only handled in modules increasing portability
... for the Customer:
- Choose the optimal combination of modules for your system. The Drag[en]gine adapts to match your system not the other way 'round!
- Open standards and free file formats ensure unrestricted and easy modding using free software applications
- Various Launchers allow you to use the Drag[en]gine for more than just gaming
- The Crash Recovery System prevents a game from crashing to desktop. While CRS is running change parameters or entire modules and continue your game from where it went out for lunch.
For more information check out the Drag[en]gine Wiki.
Features
Due to the modular nature a fixed list of engine features as other engines provide is not possible since it all depends on the customer's choices. To avoid cluttering the summary find the features list in this article:
Related Articles
This year had been quite a ride in many ways as I'm certain many can agree with.
One of the major tasks had been to release the Drag[en]gine Game Engine to the public which hit version 1.4 recently. Once the most pressing bugs had been resolved the focus shifted back to the public demo.
For this the player feedbacks from the booth had been taken into account. Various parts of the game had been revised and improved. This required some extra work but it has been worth it. The playability improved a lot.
The main plan had been to get the public demo ready by the end of this year. This has been pushed back by a few weeks due to the above reasons. As a tooth sweeter in the mean time here a little pot-pourri from the public demo.
Don't forget to vote for Epsylon in the IOTY to show your support.
Also vote if you want to support the Drag[en]gine Game Engine. It's a combi package. You get all in one.
![Drag[en]gine Game Engine Relese 1.4](https://media.indiedb.com/cache/images/articles/1/289/288274/crop_120x90/dragengine-release-1-4.png)
Drag[en]gine Game Engine Relese 1.4
NewsThe new Drag[en]gine Game Engine Release 1.4 is ready for action.
Camera Adapted Emissivity Intensity
NewsImproved Tone-Mapping and added "Camera Relative Emissivity Intensity" solving lighting problems.
KDevelop DragonScript Language Support
NewsSimplifies using KDevelop to develop games with using the Drag[en]gine Game Engine together with the DragonScript Language.
![Drag[en]gine Game Engine Relese 1.3](https://media.indiedb.com/cache/images/articles/1/286/285844/crop_120x90/dragengine-release-1-3.png)
Drag[en]gine Game Engine Relese 1.3
NewsFeeding the Dragon with a new Release to make stronger and bigger with this new game engine release.
Games
Epsylon
AdventureEpsylon - The Guardians of Xendron takes the player on a journey to a futuristic world investigating a very special Science-Fiction setup. With a team...
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Mod SDK & Community
Built a game for Drag[en]gine and want to support mods? Try mod.io, a cross-platform mod SDK created by Indie DB which makes it easy to get a mod community up and running in-game. Currently seeking games to integrate and promote
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Editor's too complex, cluncky
Can you explain where you have troubles?
Hey, I'd like to ask, I remember a feature that randomizes textures so that vast open space doesn't look artificial. Really useful for oceans or deserts and something that plagues many AAA games.
What was the name of said feature again?
This can be done using the "variation.u" and "variation.v" texture properties: Developer.dragondreams.ch .
If enabled you can use layered textures (3D textures) for individual texture properties (like color). Right now *.png3d is supported or using constructed textures: Developer.dragondreams.ch .
*.png3d is by the way just a *.tar file with "zX.png" files inside where X is the layer/depth (0,1,...).
License is awful.
Can you please elaborate why?
1) LGPL allows your project to be GPL (for FOSS projects) or any license you want (commercially, proprietary).
2) The game engine is using launchers. This way your project does not link against the game engine. You are free to use whatever license you want on your project.
As you see no license type is forced upon you. This can not be said about any other game engine.
I have been looking forward to seeing this engine working and downloadable but after all these years I do not see this happening. On a number of occasions you have stated you only have to clean up a few things and finalize before release, that was nearly 2 years ago.
Don't worry. The release is slated for within 2-3 weeks from now. What's left currently is brushing up the example project so people get a grasp of what can be done as well as brushing up the documentation (Wiki side). Then the public GIT repo will be set up with an initial cast of builds (linux and windows for the time being).
Thanks for the great news looking forward!
Hello. Can someone point me, where can I download Drag[en]gine? I can not find it on theyr website, can't find on their Wiki, nor could I find it here. No prebuilt engine, no modules, no sources, nothing. How can I try it?
It's not available to the public yet. There are a few things I need to clean up and finalize first before I open up the repository. I prefer a solid first release than endless patchwork.