Game Programming with C

Can C Be Used for Game Programming?

Yes, C can be used to make games but it is not popular and well-suited for scripting in Game Development.

The C programming language is very useful for making Game Engines but not very useful for scripting during game development.

Since its creation by Dennis Ritchie at Bell Labs in the 1970s, C gained a lot of popularity and has been used in developing operating systems, device drivers, embedded systems, protocol stacks, control systems, and more.


C remains widely used and influential to this day.

According to a Stack Overflow survey of 2023, C is the 10th most popular programming language, it is used by 19.34% of developers.

However, most of these developers use C for low-level system programming than for game development.

IS C GOOD FOR GAME DEVELOPMENT

C was not designed for scripting, it is well-suited for low-level system programming.

C was used to develop game engines such as Blend4Web, GoldSrc, ORX, Build Engine, Qfusion, M.U.G.E.N, and many others.

Although C has been used for developing game engines, it is rarely used for scripting.

The risk of memory leaks and unsafe type casting among other things makes C undesirable for Game development.

If you plan on making games, using the C programming language is not the best choice, there are very few C resources for game development.

Plus, there are not many game engines that support C for scripting, which makes it hard to develop games quickly and efficiently.

GAMES MADE WITH C

mobile game

There are not many games written in C, some of the notable ones include Quake, Pie in the Sky, Aliens of Gold, Doom, Blake stone, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, etc.

Other programming languages such as C++, C#, or Lua are preferred for making games.

Most modern games and game developers do not use C for game development, if you seriously want to develop games efficiently, using C++, C# or Lua is the best approach.

There are a lot of resources available for these languages to help you build your games quickly and efficiently.

C GAME ENGINES

Some of the popular C game engines include:

  • lend4Web,
  • GoldSrc,
  • Blender Game Engine,
  • ID Tech 3,
  • ORX,
  • Build Engine,
  • Qfusion,
  • Jedi Engine,
  • M.U.G.E.N, and many others.

WHAT ARE ALTERNATIVES TO C FOR GAME DEVELOPMENT?

There are many programming languages and platforms that you can use as alternatives to C for game development.

Here are some of the popular ones:

UNITY (C#)

Unity is one of the most popular platforms for developing 2D and 3D games.

Unity uses the C# programming languages for game logic, there are also other features that can be implemented with drag and drop.

Unity has a marketplace called Asset store, where you can download free and paid game assets to quicken your development process.

Unity is regarded as a beginner-friendly platform, it is used by big companies as well as indie developers.

Some of the popular games made with Unity include Pokemon Go, Monument Valley 2, Tempo Run, Robocraft, Angry Birds, Sonic Dash, Marvel Strike Force, Iron Man VR, Lara Croft Go, Super Mario Run, and many others.

Unity supports many platforms, once you are done developing your game, you can deploy it to different platforms such as Android, iOS, tvOS, macOS, Windows, Linux, Playstations, Xbox, Nintendo, Stadia, WebGL, Oculus VR, PSVR, ARCore, Magic Leap, etc.

platforms supported by Unity
Platforms supported by Unity

Unity is also used in other industries such as Film, Automotive, Architecture, Military, Engineering, Construction, etc.

UNREAL ENGINE (C++)

Unreal Engine is one of the most advanced, powerful, and popular platforms for making 2D and 3D games, it uses the C++ programming language for programming the game logic.

Unreal Engine has also a marketplace that has a lot of resources ranging from art assets to models, sounds, environments, code snippets, and more. Some of them are free while others can be paid for.

Some of the popular games made with Unreal Engine include Fortnite, Brothers in Arms, Golden Eye: Rogue Agent, Medal of Honor, Shadow Ops, Shrek 2, Star Wars, Spider-man 2, Batman Arkham City, DC Universe Online, Mortal Kombat, Transformers, Crash Bandicoot, and many others.

Unreal supports many platforms, once you are done developing your games, you can deploy to different platforms such as Android, iOS, tvOS, macOS, Windows, Linux, Playstations, Xbox, Nintendo, Stadia, WebGL, Oculus VR, PSVR, ARCore, etc.

Unreal Engine is also used in other industries such as Film & TV, Architecture, Simulations, Automotive & Transportation, Broadcast & Live Events, Engineering, medicine, etc.

GAMEMAKER STUDIO (JAVASCRIPT, C++, GAME MAKER LANGUAGE)

GameMaker Studio is an easy-to-use game engine for making 2D games and offers a limited use of 3D graphics.

It has a drag-and-drop feature that makes game development easy. You can also use programming languages like Javascript, C++, and Game maker language for advanced features.

GameMaker Studio has also a marketplace that has a lot of resources ranging from animations to sounds, backgrounds, fonts, objects, paths, sprites, scripts, shaders, and more. S

ome of them are free while others can be paid for.

Some of the popular games made with GameMaker Studio include Undertale, Forager, Hyper Light Drifter, Samurai Gunn 2, Webbed, The Tarnishing of Juxtia, Destructivator 2, Fields of Mistria, Flynn: Son of Crimson, Katana Zero, Battleships Forever, Tower of Heaven, and many others.

GameMaker Studio supports many platforms, once you are done developing your games, you can deploy to different platforms such as Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, Tizen, Playstations, Xbox, Nintendo, WebGL, Amazon Fire TV, etc.

Others include Godot (C++, C#) Panda3D (Python), Amazon Lumberyard (Lua), CryEngine (Lua), Phaser (Javascript), Blend4Web (Javascript), and many others.

These alternatives will help you to build games for many platforms and they have a huge community of developers.

C does not have a big game development community compared to C#, C++, or Lua, a big community around a language is helpful in case you have challenges during development.

It can be seen that C can be used for Game development and there are a few games made with C, but it is not popular and well suited for scripting in Game Development.

The C programming language is very useful for making Game Engines but not very useful for scripting.

If you want to make games for many platforms and consoles efficiently, using Unity (C#) or Unreal Engine (C++) is the best approach.