This sounds like a stupid beginner question, but its meant as a serious question! I''ve been talking about this with several people, but no-one (including me) seems to know the EXACT answer! - Whats the difference between a 3D engine and a game engine? - Where do you draw the line between the game and it''s game engine? Are they all the same? Obviously not! But I''m getting lost here...

Why don''t you check one of your tutorial?

People put too much stock in ''Definitions'', just call your code whatever you want, call it ''An interactive grapically enhanced entertainment kit'' for all I care. HEY that is AI GEEK lol



Gyzmo
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Meddle not in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and go well with toast.

Yes, funny isnt it - trying to code engine stuff for a long time, but I still dont know the difference

Maybe its something like:
engine + data = game
Where:
engine = source code
data = textures, models, story text, bsp scene, ...

?

Think of a game engine as set code used to manipulate the graphics and provide functionality to the game .Its responsible for managing game music , networking , manipulating graphics , loading resources , particle system , monitoring game state enumeration of client computer configuration etc . A 3d engine is more concerned with the manipulation of 3d graphics .

Well, to give a better answer I think a 3D engine doesn''t contain any game specific logic, but a game engine contains specific stuff thus limiting the uses for the engine. A 3D engine can also be limiting (only indoor/only outdoor or no voxels/voxels) while a game engine limits you to for example FPS''s or Space-sims.

Well it''s a weird way of defining them (defining by their limits) but maybe it helps.

Oh en Bas, ga slapen het is half drie ''s ochtends!
(Ja ik weet het ik moet ook gaan slapen)




Gyzmo
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Meddle not in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and go well with toast.

- Whats the difference between a 3D engine and a game engine?
3D engine is ambiguous. It seems to imply 3D graphics, but you didn''t state that. If you meant 3D graphics engine, then there''s a lot more to a game engine; input, sound, networking, motion, physics, etc... Or a 3d engine maybe be a game engine, though there are also 2d game engines - depending on what you meant by 3d engine.

- Where do you draw the line between the game and it''s game engine?

The game is the rules, interface, reactions&results, as well as the eye & ear candy (hand? candy now that we have force feedback!?). The rules & interaction code is part of the game, the stuff that gets-the-job-done is the engine.


...
Auran Jet is a 3D game development kit (a step beyond an engine).

An "engine" is a set of code that perfoms some function, but can''t do so on it''s own, it needs to rely on other code to do what it needs to do.

I''d have to say the game engine is the code that processes all the game data and presents it to the user. The game itself is comprised of all the data: graphics, sound, levels, characters, enemies, etc. that the engine processes

This is a little off subject but I think it can belong in this post. I know there is got to be some people here that has downloaded the Half-Life SDK. Well I was wondering where the engine part of the SDK is?