Game Engine: Difference between revisions

This may sound like a [[Game Maker]], but there is a difference. A [[Game Maker]] is limited to a specific style within a genre. This limitation is what allows them to be easier to use. Game Engines cover a wide range of possible game types. ''[[Super Mario World (video game)|Super Mario World]]'' [[Game Mod|level editing]] is effectively a Mario-style [[Game Maker]]. You can never make anything other than that kind of game. The line between the two, of course, is somewhat fuzzy. [[Yoshi's Island|And when you touch that fuzzy, it can get dizzying.]]

----

* SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) by Lucasarts (while it's only possible to make adventure games with it, it's usually considered an engine due to its complexity and wide variety of games): ''[[Maniac Mansion]]'' (obviously), ''[[Monkey Island]]'' series (up to ''[[The Curse of Monkey Island|Curse]]''), ''[[Sam and Max Hit The Road]]'', ''[[The Dig]]'', ''[[Loom (video game)|Loom]]'', the ''[[Indiana Jones]]'' adventure games. [[Humongous Entertainment]] used it for every single game they made, such as the [[Putt-Putt]], [[Freddi Fish]], [[Pajama Sam]], [[Spy Fox]], and [[Backyard Sports]] series. Went through 11 versions, each one adding more features. Also popular for fanmade games, thanks to [http://www.scummvm.org/ ScummVM].

* id Tech engines by [[Id Software]]

** And at around the same time, the Freescape engine from Incentive (now Superscape), designed for the implementation of full-3D games even on 8-bit machines. On those it managed about one frame every two seconds, but hey, the fact that it worked at all was amazing back then.

* The CryENGINE, made by Crytek: ''[[Far Cry]]'', ''[[Crysis (series)|Crysis]]'', ''[[Aion]]''

** If you know what you're doing, you can even make 3D games with it. Those are much less common, though, and with good reason; They are much harder to do than any 2D game.

* [[wikipedia:Build engine|Build engine]] (was written by Ken Silverman), which used in ''[[Duke Nukem 3D]]'', ''[[Shadow Warrior]]'', ''[[Blood]]'' and a couple of lesser obscure games.

** Serious Engine 3: The HD remakes of ''Serious Sam'' (''The First Encounter'' and ''The Second Encounter''), ''Serious Sam III: BFE''

 

* The 007 Goldeneye engine by [[Rareware]], used in both [[GoldenEye 007 (1997 video game)|the game of the same name]], and the spiritual successor ''[[Perfect Dark]]''.

* The MT Framework, made by [[Capcom]]: ''[[Dead Rising]]'', ''[[Lost Planet]]'', ''[[Devil May Cry]] 4'', ''[[Resident Evil 5]]'', ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom 3]]''

* UbiArt Framework by [[Ubisoft]]: ''[[Rayman Origins]]''

 

* [http://www.havok.com/ The Havok "Engine"]. This is not an engine; [[Wreaking Havok|it is a physics library.]]

* Renderware, developed by Criterion Games and bought out by [[Electronic Arts]] (notable for making [[PlayStation 2]] development a lot easier). This is not in the most technical sense an engine, because it does not provide a means for using it without modifying the source code. It is a codebase, a large code library that serves as a useful starting point for making games, but it has no ''inherent'' extensibility built into it besides writing code. Games made using this codebase include ''[[Burnout]]'' (Criterion's flagship series), ''[[Grand Theft Auto]] ([[Grand Theft Auto III|III]], [[Grand Theft Auto Vice City|Vice City]], and [[Grand Theft Auto San Andreas|San Andreas]])'', ''[[Sonic Heroes]]'' and ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants (video game)|SpongeBob SquarePants]]: Battle for Bikini Bottom''.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:How Video Game Specs Work]]

[[Category:Game Engine]]