Building Fyrox: A Rust Game Engine (with Dmitry Stepanov)
Jan 9, 2025
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Dmitry Stepanov, an independent game developer known for creating the Fyrox game engine in Rust, dives into his fascinating journey. He discusses the challenges of building a game engine solo, the advantages of Rust, and innovations like hot reloading. Dmitry shares insights on game architecture, scripting, and managing complex UI elements. He also touches on community contributions and the financial aspects of pursuing creative projects, highlighting the passion driving the Fyrox development.
Dmitry Stepanov's five-year journey in creating the Fyrox game engine highlights the immense complexity and extensive knowledge required for game engine development.
His choice of Rust over C and C++ for Fyrox stems from the desire for improved memory safety, leading to fewer bugs and enhanced productivity.
The innovative hot-reloading capability in Fyrox's scripting system significantly accelerates development workflows by allowing real-time code updates during gameplay testing.
Deep dives
The Complexity of Building a Game Engine
Building a game engine is an immense and intricate endeavor that encompasses numerous components, including game business logic, networking stacks, rendering engines, and more. Dmitry Stepanov highlights that even with extensive resources, creating a successful game engine is an uncertain proposition, as seen in his own rigorous five-year journey with the Fyrox game engine. He emphasizes the breadth of knowledge required, from graphics programming to game development fundamentals, noting that many developers gain only superficial understandings when using higher-level libraries. Consequently, creating a game engine can lead to a deep comprehension of both game design and computer architecture.
The Passion Behind Development
Dmitry's continuous drive to create a game engine stems from his unwavering passion for games, cultivated since childhood. He embarked on this journey at the young age of 12, reflecting his early interest in programming through languages like Visual Basic and C++. This long-standing enthusiasm motivated him to dive deeper into game development, culminating in his previous experience at Larian Studios where he contributed to notable titles like Baldur's Gate 3. Dmitry believes in the importance of personal investment in a project, which keeps him fueled even when faced with the daunting challenges of solo game engine development.
Choosing Rust for Fyrox
The decision to use Rust for the Fyrox engine stemmed from Dmitry's frustration with C and C++ languages, particularly their management of memory. Rust's memory safety features and strict control over memory access led to fewer bugs and a more manageable development experience. Dmitry initially started Fyrox in C but quickly realized the potential advantages of Rust, leading to a shift that has significantly improved his productivity and code reliability. The transition was not without its challenges, as adapting to Rust's paradigms took time, but ultimately it provided a more robust foundation for building a game engine.
Integrating Scripting and Hot Reloading
One of the standout features of the Fyrox engine is its implementation of a scripting system that allows developers to write game logic in Rust, complete with hot reloading capabilities. This feature enables developers to alter game code and see changes instantly, significantly speeding up development workflows. Dmitry overcame considerable challenges in achieving reliable hot reloading, from ensuring compatibility between engine versions to managing complex memory pointers. This means that developers can tweak game mechanics on the fly, offering a substantial advantage in iterative game design and testing.
The Future of Fyrox
Looking ahead, Dmitry envisions further enhancements for Fyrox, including additional features for world streaming and refining the engine's capability to support more complex game types. He aims to empower developers to create anything from simple 2D platformers to large-scale open-world games. As he continues to maintain and evolve Fyrox, he recognizes the importance of community engagement, hoping to attract contributors who can help improve the engine further. Dmitry's ultimate goal is to see Fyrox adopted widely in the gaming industry, ideally allowing him to transition more fully to game development using the engine he built.
To kick off 2025 we’re looking at Fyrox a game engine built in Rust, largely by one person - Dmitry Stepanov. For an individual project, it’s covered an incredible amount of ground, covering the rendering and animation features you’d expect from a game engine, with some features that might surprise you - like Rust scripting support with hot-reloading.
As we dive into Fyrox, Dmitry explains what it takes to build a game engine, why he chose Rust (and why he’s happy with the choice), and how one person can hope to build a project of that size.
