Game Engines are the core libraries which is used as the architecture to develop the game. It cuts down the pressure on development teams as all the complex coding is already written in the engine. The core functions that Game Engine provides are rendering(2d or 3d), physics engine or collision detection, sound, scripting, artificial intelligence. They provide all the core functionalities needed to develop a game while reducing the costs, complexities and time.

There are libraries that are developed to provide only one specific functions, called Middleware. Like Havok is a middleware which offers developers the foundation for creating realistic physics simulation.

Developers  license the engines like id tech, unreal to develop their titles. Some developers use their in-house proprietry engines created by themselves for their own titles. And their are also some free open source engines out there like OGRE, JMonkeyEngine.

Now i’ll discuss about some very well known Game Engines, Middleware And Engines used in making next-gen games.

Unreal Engine:

Unreal is a game engine developed by Epic Games. The games made by this engine are Gears of War franchise, Bioshock, splintercell, MassEffect and many other. This Engine has won the Game Developer’s Front Line awards in engine category for three consecutive awards. This Engine is Game Developer’s Front Line Awards 2008 Hall Of Fame winner. You can read Why Unreal Engine was the Hall Of Fame Winner.

Gears of War 2 made with Unreal engine

Havok

Havok is a physics engine developed by Havok. Havok offers developers the foundation for creating realistic physics simulation through efficient and optimized calculation. The Titles that used Havok engine are Crackdown, Assassin’s creed, F.E.A.R 2:Project Origin, Fallout 3, Halo 3 and many more. Havok won the Game Developer’s Front Line Awards 2008 in Middleware category. Read why Havok won the award ?.

Company of Heroes using Havok engine

cryEngine

Developed by CryTek is the force behind those killer graphics of crysis. They set a new standard for visuals. CryTek released a GDC demonstration movie for their latest all-in-one game development solution using cryEngine 3, premiered at GDC 2009 in san fransisco. cryEngine 3 is the first development platform for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, MMO, DX9/DX10 and includes cryEngine 3 Sandbox level editor and “What you see is what you play” tool designed for professional developers. 3 comes with significant feartures for consoles and next-gen game development.

crysis made with cryEngine

R.A.G.E (Rockstar Advanced Game Engine)

R.A.G.E is a game engine developed by a team called “Rage Technology Group” at Rockstar san diego. Rockstar has integrated a few third party middleware like euphoria character animation engine and Bullet physics engine. GTA4 was developed with this cool engine. Rockstar are working on a game Red Dead Redemption which uses R.A.G.E engine. The trailer of Read dead Redemption looks really cool with realistic horses, towns, prairies….with ralistic weather. R.A.G.E engine provides functionalities to handle realistic weather effects, complex A.I, large worlds..etc

Check this video of Red Dead Redemption, its jusshows you what R.A.G.E is capable of doing.

Grand Theft Auto 4 made with R.A.G.E engine

Naughty Dog Game Engine

This Engine is developed by Naughty Dog. This year naughty Dog showcased their upcoming title Uncharted 2 at sony playstation 3 conference, E3 2009 . I was awestruck by watching the trailer and demo. I had never seen such a cinematic game(demo) before, graphics looked so awesome and cool. Naughty Dog with Uncharted 2 really showed the world what Ps3 is capable to do. So i would say Naughty Dog maxed out the Ps3 with Uncharted 2. The demo showcased realistic environments, smooth animation-interaction, cinematic feel with cinematic camera work …seamless transition between cinematic and gameplay.

So there are other engines also that i haven’t mentioned like Valve’s Source engine which gave titles like half-life franchise, left 4 dead, Infinity Ward’s IW engine which gave Call Of Duty franchise(not all sequels), Ubisoft’s Anvil engine which was used for Assassin’s creed….and many more engines. I have just  quickly looked at just some good engines that took my interest. This post is not on best engines but tells about good engines.

Gracias.