École de Technologie Supérieure

SyDRA: An Approach to Understand Game Engine Architecture

The Subsystem-Dependency Recovery Approach, or SyDRA, provides a structured methodology for navigating the inherent complexity of game engine architectures.

• The Subsystem-Dependency Recovery Approach (SyDRA) improves developer efficiency and accuracy in architectural tasks by visualizing complex dependency models derived from file-include relationships.
• Empirical analysis of ten open-source game engines identified that core components, specifically low-level rendering and resource management, frequently exhibit high coupling and poor folder-level cohesion.
• SyDRA functions as a diagnostic tool that enables teams to predict the downstream impacts of code modifications and identify specific refactoring opportunities more effectively than manual inspection.