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What Does C++ Do?
C++, like other programming languages, is used to write lines of code that give a computer instructions on what to do. Every video game, website, or piece of software uses these programming languages.
Though your average person may never see them, every time you hit a button on your controller, there are lines of code interpreting your button presses and producing a programmed response.
Written in 1998 by Bjarne Stroustrup as an improvement to the C language, C++ was created to be relatively easy to learn, highly adaptable to even modern programming standards, and most importantly: able to run high-level programs incredibly quickly. This explains why there are so many C++ games in the market nowdays.
It’s this speed that is its biggest selling point. How much of a selling point is it? Well, consider that Spotify, Google Chrome, and Youtube all use C++, and you begin to get an idea of its importance to the programming world. Some other benefits of game programming in C++ include:
Object-Oriented Programming
Object-Oriented Programming, or OOP, is a part of the language that allows you to reuse code you have already written, by organizing it into different segments called “objects” or “Classes”.
This is a huge time saver when creating C++ games, as developers can quickly copy huge walls of code that they’ve already spent the time to write. You can even make subclasses within those classes so that you already have presets of written code, and how it interacts with other code, ready to go.
Is C++ the Perfect Language for Game Programming?
Even with all of these benefits, C++ in gaming isn’t the be-all and end-all. Most video games use several coding languages.
Developers switch to the programming language that works the best for the task they’re doing. For example, the Python programming language is widely considered to be the easiest programming language to learn. But, due to the shortcuts in the language that reduce the amount of code that programmers need to write, the computer has to do a lot more work to process what’s written, and it is a much slower language as a result.
In other words, C++ game development is often used when speed is the top priority, while other languages may be a better choice for developers when it is not.
Why is C++ Used for Games
Well, C++ has great performance. It is a compiled language, instead of an interpreted coding language, which makes it nearly as fast as the computer’s speed itself.
That’s mainly why C++ game development has nearly become the default for embedded code.
The Influence of C++ in Gaming
Video games can sometimes have hundreds of thousands of lines of code being processed by the games engine, and if the programming language used to write this code is too slow, it can impact a game’s experience.
Due to its speed, C++ has had the greatest impact on the creation of game engines. Unity, Unreal, and Frostbyte were all created using C++ game programming.
Anyone who’s even taken a passing interest in game development knows how influential Unreal and Unity have been to game makers. On top of that, most game engines can use C++ as well, making it possible not only to develop a video game engine, but a game to run off of it.
Examples of C++ Video Games
Well, the team at Blizzard was very familiar when it comes to creating games coded in C++ when they made World of Warcraft, the PC gaming sensation that took the world by storm.
Similarly, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City in particular a few examples of C++ video games.
Counter-Strike, Diablo 2, Doom–essentially if it is a AAA gaming title, the creators used C++ at some point during the development process. Games always want to run as fast as possible, and games made with C++ are looking exactly for that.
Here’s a list of popular games made in C++:
- Mortal Kombat 11
- Batman Arkham Origins
- Fortnite
- Splinter Cell
- Unreal Tournament
- Half-Life 2
- Portal
- Killing Floor
- Left 4 Dead
- Team Fortress
