What is a game engine
Game engines are software designed for the creation and development of video games. Some core functions of a game engine are rendering engines for 2D and 3D graphics, a physics engine or collision detection, sound, scripting, animation, AI (artificial intelligence) and networking.
Functions of a game engine -
As listed above game engines have a wide array of functions, the most common being renderers, physics engine, and AI these will be the main functions covered in the article.
Render Engines -
Rendering the process of generating a 2D or 3D image, rendering gives models geometry, textures lighting and shading to create a realistic looking model.
The model or "scene file" contains objects in a defined language or data structure; this would contain geometry, textures, lighting, and shading information as a description for the final render. The data contained in the scene file is then passed to a rendering program to be processed and outputted as a digital image or raster graphics file.
Physics Engine -
Physics engine provide a simulation of real world physics, certain physics assets are rigis body dynamics (including collision detection), soft body dynamics and fluid dynamics.
The physics engine is one of the most important parts of an engine, as the physics is responsible for ragdolls, gravity, collisions such examples can be seen in games where characters push over objects while running.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) -
Artificial intelligence or AI is used to generate intelligence behaviour primarily to non-player characters (NPCs), these often simulate human like intelligence. In many cases AIs computer abilities must be toned down to give human players a sense of fairness, this for example is true and seen in first person shooter games, where NPC's perfect aiming precision would be beyond human skill.
Unreal Engine -
The unreal engine among others is one of the most known engine in the industry, being host to games such as the Bioshock series, Tom Clancy series, Borderland series, and Batman Arkham Asylum. The Unreal Engine specialises in fast action games, and detailed particle effects, however unlike it's rival; Unity. Unreal does not do so well with vast landscape and areas, it suffers from low frame rate when exposed to large maps with lots of detail, and is more suited to, for example, a first person shooter map like you would see in a Call of Duty or Battlefield game, whereas Unity would be better for a game such as Skyrim or the Witcher.
