Top Tips for Rust Game Development

Rust is a powerful and versatile programming language that has gained popularity in recent years as a great choice for game development. With its emphasis on performance and safety, it’s no wonder that many game developers are turning to Rust to build their games. In this article, we will share some top tips for getting started with Rust game development.

Understanding the Basics of Rust

Before you can start building games with Rust, you need to have a good understanding of the basics of the language. Here are a few key things you should know:

Rust is a Systems Programming Language
Rust has a Compiler
Rust Has a Great Community
Rust Has Great Documentation

Getting Started with Game Development in Rust

Now that you have a good understanding of the basics of Rust, let’s look at some tips for getting started with game development in Rust.

Choose a Game Engine

The first step in building a game with Rust is to choose a game engine. There are many game engines available for Rust, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Some popular options include:

Godot
LazyDev
Piston

Choose a Game Development Framework

In addition to a game engine, you will also need a game development framework to help you build your game. Some popular options for Rust include:

GGEZ
RustyGL
Rust SDL

Choose a Game Development IDE

An integrated development environment (IDE) can help you write and debug your code more efficiently. There are many IDEs available for Rust, including:

Visual Studio Code
Sublime Text
Atom

Best Practices for Rust Game Development

Now that you have some tips for getting started with game development in Rust, let’s look at some best practices that will help you write clean and efficient code.

Use Ownership and Borrowing Correctly

Ownership and borrowing are two key features of Rust that make it safe and performant. By using ownership and borrowing correctly, you can write code that is both safe and efficient.

Write Efficient Code

Efficiency is key in game development, as even small improvements can have a big impact on performance. Here are some tips for writing efficient code in Rust:

Use the <no_mangle> attribute to avoid naming conflicts with C libraries.
Use the assert_eq! macro to assert that values are equal.
Write unit tests for each function and module in your game.

Write Testable Code

Testing is an important part of the development process, as it helps you catch bugs and improve the quality of your code. Here are some tips for writing testable code in Rust:

Use the assert_eq! macro to assert that values are equal.
Use the panic! macro to cause a runtime error when conditions are not met.
Write unit tests for each function and module in your game.

Case Studies in Rust Game Development

Now let’s take a look at some real-world examples of games that have been built with Rust. These case studies will help you see how Rust can be used to build games in practice.

Minecraft: Education Edition

Minecraft: Education Edition is a version of the popular game Minecraft that has been adapted for use in schools. The game was built using the LazyDev game engine and is written in Rust. By using Rust, the developers were able to write efficient and safe code that could be easily maintained and extended.

Spelunky

Spelunky is a classic platformer game that was originally written in C. In 2015, the game was rewritten in Rust by a team of volunteers. By using Rust, the developers were able to write clean and efficient code that was easier to maintain and extend than the original C codebase.