Build (game engine)

Build Engine
Developer(s)Ken Silverman
Initial releaseSeptember 30, 1995 (1995-09-30)
Repositoryadvsys.net/ken/buildsrc/
SuccessorBuild 2
LicenseSource-available[1]
Websiteadvsys.net/ken/build.htm

The Build Engine is a first-person shooter engine created by Ken Silverman, author of Ken's Labyrinth, for 3D Realms. Like the Doom engine, the Build Engine represents its world on a two-dimensional grid using closed 2D shapes called sectors, and uses simple flat objects called sprites to populate the world geometry with objects.

The Build Engine is generally considered to be a 2.5D engine, as the basic world geometry is two-dimensional with an added height component, allowing each sector to have a different ceiling height and floor height. Some floors can be lower and some can be higher; the same is true with ceilings (in relation to each other). Floors and ceilings can hinge along one of the sector's walls, resulting in a slope. With this information, the Build Engine renders the world in a way that looks three-dimensional, unlike modern game engines that create actual 3D environments.

Though the Build Engine achieved most of its fame from powering the 1996 first-person shooter Duke Nukem 3D, it was also used for many other games.

  1. ^ "buildlic.txt". 2000-06-20. Archived from the original on 2017-05-12.

Developed by StudentB