game-development

Engine selection depends on your target: Godot for open-source 2D, Unity for cross-platform and large teams, Unreal for AAA 3D visuals. The pc-games sub-skill provides a decision tree comparing Unity 6, Godot 4, and Unreal 5 by cost, learning curve, and team size.

For 2D browser games use Phaser for full engine features or PixiJS for raw rendering. For 3D use Babylon.js for a full engine with XR support or Three.js for lightweight rendering. New projects should target WebGPU with a WebGL fallback.

Use a fixed timestep pattern: read input, update game logic at a fixed rate such as 50Hz, and render as fast as possible with interpolation between states. This keeps physics deterministic while visuals stay smooth regardless of frame rate.

VR requires a consistent 90 FPS minimum, giving an 11.11ms frame budget. A single dropped frame causes visible judder and motion sickness. Quest 2 targets 72-90 FPS, Quest 3 targets 90-120 FPS, and PCVR targets 90 FPS or higher.

Start with a state machine for 3-5 discrete states like player idle, walk, and jump. Add ECS only when performance demands it, such as simulating thousands of similar entities like RTS units or particle systems.

Never trust the client; the server must be the authority. Validate movement to stop speed hacks, validate sight lines against aimbots, keep inventory server-owned to prevent item duplication, and avoid sending data about hidden entities.