I''m just curious: if one license a 3d-engine (e.g. the quake3-engine), what do one get ? Just a kind of editor and the right to use it for one''s own game or the sources or what ? And what are the prices ?

It depends, most of the time you''ll want the code, the engine and the tools + support from ID Software. (In the case of Quake engine)

Cost maybe has high as 250 000 USD and maybe even more.
(Lithech engine cost if I remember well)

(I suggest you look for such information in Yahoo you may get answers)

-* So many things to do, so little time to spend. *-

SDK
Documentation (+source )
Dev tools (+source)
License to use .
tech support.

LithTech starts at $50K, Unreal starts at $225K. You can get the LithTech SDK for about $500 if you go through RealArcade. What they did was basically license the LithTech engine, modified it for streaming media and then license developers to use it under their license. That means you can''t distribute what you create with it unless you buy the full license from LithTech. You can distribute it through RealArcade since it is under their license from LithTech. As near as I can tell RealArcade''s main interest is in generating content. They are a publisher, not a charity, but they have basically no advertising and low distribution costs.

quake1 costs 10000 I think.

What you get? Well that probably varies. You''re likely to get everything you need though.

Thanks for the answers. Probably i''ll prefer to code my own engine instead of robbing a bank to be able to license Quake3 !