What is a game engine?

[nanowatt]

Hello there.As the title says i am interested in this subject and i would appreciate any help and any explication.I know something related to game engines but my knowledge related to this subject are small.I know the theme is large and is a lot to explain but if you are kind enough to help me maybe someone else will read this and find it helpful.

To have a start line first of all i am wondering this.Lets take a game 3D game for example Metro 2033.As i know it uses 4A engine.My question is what does an game engine ?What constitutes an engine?(rendering,sound,animation,lighting,physics,3d models....what else?).As i know there are many kind of engines for game as an example Havok engine for physics.I don't know where to start this is why i am so confused.

[JLCitadel]

Hello there.As the title says i am interested in this subject and i would appreciate any help and any explication.I know something related to game engines but my knowledge related to this subject are small.I know the theme is large and is a lot to explain but if you are kind enough to help me maybe someone else will read this and find it helpful.

To have a start line first of all i am wondering this.Lets take a game 3D game for example Metro 2033.As i know it uses 4A engine.My question is what does an game engine ?What constitutes an engine?(rendering,sound,animation,lighting,physics,3d models....what else?).As i know there are many kind of engines for game as an example Havok engine for physics.I don't know where to start this is why i am so confused.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_engine

 

Read through this then through other wikis of types and changes of it.

Then come back & ask specific questions

 

Game engine basically let you visually develop a world through coding.

 

Adding in features functionality etc etc.. in addition to what you listed for sounds animation physics lighting modeling etc..

[nanowatt]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_engine

 

Read through this then through other wikis of types and changes of it.

Then come back & ask specific questions

 

Game engine basically let you visually develop a world through coding.

 

Adding in features functionality etc etc.. in addition to what you listed for sounds animation physics lighting modeling etc..

I did read a part of it well some specific things.I will read it all and as you said maybe then i should ask specific question because the subject is a bit large.

[JLCitadel]

I did read a part of it well some specific things.I will read it all and as you said maybe then i should ask specific question because the subject is a bit large.

 

& your best bet would be the programming subthread. 

[Nineshadow]

The game engine is pretty much the software behind a game.It's the structure on which the game lies on.It consists of rendering, updating, game loop , graphics libraries, shaders, UI(GUI),APIs, AI, etc.

 

The vehicle is your game, and the road is the game engine.

 

There are a lot of game engines out there (Unreal, 4A, etc.).Their purpose is to make the game developers' lives easier, because coding a game engine from scratch takes a lot of time.Nowadays most game developers just modify engines to their needs.

 

Sper ca te-a ajutat.

[beefalo]

Its the framework and tools a game developer can use to build their game on. It allows you to make a game without creating physics, shaders, input, and all of the really complicated things needed to make a game work. Basically every function of a game is built into the engine. Its sort of like the canvas and the paint and a developer can use it to paint whatever picture they want.