Thread: what's an engine?

  1. #1
    Registered User blight2c's Avatar
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    what's an engine?

    i've seen it mentioned a few times

  2. #2
    Just because ygfperson's Avatar
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    it's part of an enviroment usually, or just a piece of code that does something, like an object. a 3d engine is the code that makes the picture 3d. i'm sure you can find other examples by searching this forum

  3. #3
    Has a Masters in B.S.
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    ok i posted this a while back

    this is on a Game Engine BTW... but the concept s the same for most engines, hope its helpful

    heres how i see it.

    In truth there are many engines to a game i'll explain those then i will tell you what the real(i guess) "Game Engine" is.

    Some of you may argue that many of these are or are not engines or their grouped wrong or i missed some, thats not the point this is just to give the idea of game composition and what if anything the engine truely is.

    there many parts(engines) to a game:

    Graphics Engine: Renders graphics,

    Input Engine: Handles Game input,

    Game Logic And Physics Engine: Usually grouped but they need not be, they handle the Logic(AI, game flow, ect...) and Physics(you know what they are),

    Particle Engine: Handles the control of Particles(eg. Snow, Fire, Rain, Fog(sometimes),ect...),

    Sound Engine: Handles sound,

    Game Inteface Engine: Handles Game Interface ,Menuing, User Interface,

    etc,etc...

    so the "Real Engine" is what brings these all together, and allows them to communicate and interact.

    basiclly a "Game Engine" is an interface for all the other engines between one another.
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  4. #4
    Registered User OxYgEn-22's Avatar
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    yep yep,

    there is usually a main engine to controll all of the other engines. this is all done in a W32 enviroment, because it would not be the same to code this in a console, due to the fact that win32 programming has that whole GUI thing going for it, and etc.
    Is that air you're breathing?

  5. #5
    Registered User blight2c's Avatar
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    thanks

    so would this be true then: an engine is a grouping of code dedicated to a single purpose? if that's true what makes an engine different from anyother function (say void print() )? is it a difference in scale? where can i read more about this?

  6. #6
    Registered User Dual-Catfish's Avatar
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    An engine is not just one function... it's a collection of functions, classes, structs etc. that all have a unified purpose, to do the job they're built for!

    For example, I'm working on the tiling engine for a 2D RPG.

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