A game engine is the base code and basic underlying platform of a video game, and provides the interface and much of the corresponding systems critical to gameplay.

The engine may have several components associated with it, including but not limited to, A.I., pathfinding, lightning, texture and 3D support, language display, and model animation and movement support. The game engine also provides interfaces with the operating system, and can use technologies and APIs such as DirectX in order to facilities graphical display or networking support.

Game engines may also rely on third-party libraries, middleware or tools to provide additional, often superior, functionality over what would be achieved in-house. Many games use Bink Video (formerly of the combined tool Bink and Smacker), the Havok Game Dynamics, and the Miles Sound System. Other software may be used that include MP3 support, and Ogg Vorbis support.

Game engines are often modified versions of older engines, which makes lineages. Over time, proprietary engines became expensive and rare, used predominantly by big companies, for example Dunia Engine of Ubisoft or Frostbite (game engine) of Electronic Arts. Most of recent games run on Unity, Unreal Engine 4 and Unreal Engine 5, they are an indie developer's choice because they got free to use in 2016, 2015 and 2021 respectively, and the royalties are paid from a specific revenue.

The spread of certain engines can lead to the fact that many games give a similar impression.

Examples

• CryENGINE
• CryENGINE2
• Dark Engine
• Delta3D
• id Tech (1,4,5)
• Infinity Engine
• Game Blender
• Game Maker
• GoldSrc Engine
• MUGEN
• Odyssey Engine
• OpenRA
• OpenMW
• Pie in the Sky
• Quake Engine
• Quake II Engine
• Reality Engine
• RenderWare
• Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE)
• RPG Maker
• Source Engine
• Spring
• Unreal Engine (2,3,5)

See also

• List of game engines

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