Game Engine Culture(s) - Paperback

by Matteo Bittanti (Author), Paolo Ruffino (Author), Valentino Catricalà (Author)

Game Engine Culture(s) examines game engines as cultural infrastructures rather than neutral production tools. Across studies of Unity, Unreal, RAGE, RPG Maker, Minecraft, asset stores, higher education, live simulations, glitch, modding, and contemporary art, the volume traces how engines shape workflows, aesthetics, labour, memory, agency, and imagination. Its contributors show how these systems enable creativity while imposing defaults, constraints, and platform logics that organise what can be made, seen, taught, and contested. Bringing together game studies, media theory, softwar e studies, and art criticism, the book offers a critical account of the engine as a central apparatus of contemporary visual culture.