The project involves creating a simulation of an autonomous car, where we use Bevy to render the environment, visualize paths, and manage interactions within the simulation. This has led me to explore and experiment with various aspects of Bevy and Rust.
One of the best aspects of Bevy is its Entity-Component-System (ECS) architecture, which provides a highly efficient way to develop games. ECS works by separating data (components) from behavior (systems), allowing for efficient parallel processing and making it highly scalable. In comparison to class-hierarchy-based game engines, Bevy’s ECS keeps objects as independent components managed by systems, thus it is more versatile and efficient when dealing with heavy simulations. However, the worst aspect of Bevy is its UI system, which feels underdeveloped and lacks the intuitiveness of other UI frameworks. Simple tasks such as creating buttons or overlays require significant effort compared to established UI libraries like React or Unity’s UI tools. This limitation makes integrating UI-heavy elements more challenging than it should be.
When I first started using Rust, it was one of the most difficult languages I had ever worked with. Its strict memory management and borrow checker were initially frustrating, especially coming from more forgiving languages like Python or JavaScript. However, as I got more used to it, I started to appreciate the safety and performance guarantees it provides. Rust forces developers to think carefully about memory allocation and data ownership, thus leading to more robust code. This discipline has significantly improved my overall programming skills.
If I were to do this project again, I would strongly consider using a simpler game engine like Unity. The main goal of this project is the vision system, and game development is secondary. A more beginner-friendly engine like Unity could have reduced time taken and allowed me to focus more on the core functionality rather than overcoming Bevy’s learning curve. There are many advantage to Unity such as comprehensive documentation, established community, and ready-to-use assets, which could have significantly accelerated development. That being said, Bevy offers long-term benefits in terms of performance and flexibility.
Working with Bevy and Rust has been both a challenge and a rewarding experience. The modularity, performance, and parallel processing capabilities of Rust make it a fantastic choice for systems-heavy simulations. After this experience, I would definitely use Rust again.
