ABSTRACT

The production of videogames routinely uses automated techniques to generate content, rig animations, map light, and script behaviors. The automation of programming and artistic functions is increasingly baked into game engines that work with other software applications in 3D production ecosystems, which are laying the foundations for what is being pitched by platform companies as the future metaverse. Platform studies has analyzed automated decision-making through the politics of classification. Game studies has investigated engines such as Unreal and Unity as platform tools that consolidate power through asymmetries of interconnectivity and interoperability. This commentary discusses the automaticity of game engines as platform tools for designing and simulating interactive 3D worlds within and beyond games. Outlining the structuring force of game engines from game development and entertainment media to architecture, engineering, construction, and manufacturing, I speculate on the implications of engines for game workers and game studies.

摘要

视频游戏的制作通常使用自动化技术来生成内容、绑定动画、地图灯光和脚本行为。编程和艺术功能的自动化越来越多地融入到与 3D 制作生态系统中的其他软件应用程序一起工作的游戏引擎中，这为平台公司所宣传的未来虚拟世界奠定了基础。平台研究通过分类政治分析了自动化决策。游戏研究研究了 Unreal 和 Unity 等引擎作为平台工具，它们通过互连性和互操作性的不对称性来巩固力量。本评论讨论了游戏引擎作为平台工具的自动性，用于设计和模拟游戏内外的交互式 3D 世界。