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** The [=NintendoWare=] Bezel Engine is used by Nintendo subsidiary Creator/NDCube for all their games from ''[[VideoGame/MarioParty Super Mario Party]]'' onward, and has also been used for titles such as ''VideoGame/Tetris99'' and the ''VideoGame/WarioWare'' series starting with ''VideoGame/WarioWareGetItTogether''.
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** The [=NintendoWare=] Bezel Engine is used by Nintendo subsidiary Creator/NDCube for all their games from ''[[VideoGame/MarioParty Super Mario Party]]'' onward, and has also been used Creator/{{Akira}} for titles their Nintendo projects such as ''VideoGame/Tetris99'' and ''VideoGame/EndlessOceanLuminous'', and Creator/IntelligentSystems has used it for the ''VideoGame/WarioWare'' series starting with ''VideoGame/WarioWareGetItTogether''.
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* The Diesel Engine, originally created by the developer GRIN, and used for all of their games like ''VideoGame/BanditsPhoenixRising'', the PC versions of ''VideoGame/GhostReconAdvancedWarfighter'', and the ''VideoGame/BionicCommando'' remake. Overkill Software, headed by the same people after GRIN's bankruptcy, continues using the engine for ''VideoGame/PaydayTheHeist'' and ''VideoGame/Payday2''. The way the engine is composed makes it ''very'' difficult for a casual modder to work with (mostly due to how the models are rendered and how they are bundled to be used by the game), hence why the developers haven't released a friendly modding tool yet. Granted, the more dedicated modder can easily modify the game's files, as the lua code is pretty easy to decrypt and use. The Windows version uses a 32-bit version of the engine, and the Linux port of ''Payday 2'' uses a 64-bit version of the engine, which essentially means that the Linux port doesn't suffer from the same memory issues Windows users have. The engine is also used in ''VideoGame/RAIDWorldWarII'' by Lion Game Lion, which is composed of former Overkill devs.
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* The Diesel Engine, originally created by the developer GRIN, and used for all of their games like ''VideoGame/BanditsPhoenixRising'', the PC versions of ''VideoGame/GhostReconAdvancedWarfighter'', and the ''VideoGame/BionicCommando'' ''VideoGame/BionicCommando2009'' remake. Overkill Software, headed by the same people after GRIN's bankruptcy, continues using the engine for ''VideoGame/PaydayTheHeist'' and ''VideoGame/Payday2''. The way the engine is composed makes it ''very'' difficult for a casual modder to work with (mostly due to how the models are rendered and how they are bundled to be used by the game), hence why the developers haven't released a friendly modding tool yet. Granted, the more dedicated modder can easily modify the game's files, as the lua code is pretty easy to decrypt and use. The Windows version uses a 32-bit version of the engine, and the Linux port of ''Payday 2'' uses a 64-bit version of the engine, which essentially means that the Linux port doesn't suffer from the same memory issues Windows users have. The engine is also used in ''VideoGame/RAIDWorldWarII'' by Lion Game Lion, which is composed of former Overkill devs.
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* ''UsefulNotes/ClickteamFusion'', formerly known as ''Multimedia Fusion'', formerly known as ''The Games Factory'', [[OverlyLongGag formerly known as]] ''Klik & Play'', developed by [[http://www.clickteam.com/clickteam-fusion-2-5-details French studio Clickteam]]. The bulk of the "programming" is done in the Event Screen for each level, which puts individual conditions into rows, and applies them to gameplay aspects and objects which have columns. The later iterations' functionality can be enhanced with various downloadable plug-ins. Games created with it include ''VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy''[[note]]the original version; the remaster is instead made in [=GameMaker=][[/note]], ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet'', ''VideoGame/TheAngryVideoGameNerdAdventures'', ''VideoGame/WingsOfVi'' and the ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' series.
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* ''UsefulNotes/ClickteamFusion'', ''MediaNotes/ClickteamFusion'', formerly known as ''Multimedia Fusion'', formerly known as ''The Games Factory'', [[OverlyLongGag formerly known as]] ''Klik & Play'', developed by [[http://www.clickteam.com/clickteam-fusion-2-5-details French studio Clickteam]]. The bulk of the "programming" is done in the Event Screen for each level, which puts individual conditions into rows, and applies them to gameplay aspects and objects which have columns. The later iterations' functionality can be enhanced with various downloadable plug-ins. Games created with it include ''VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy''[[note]]the original version; the remaster is instead made in [=GameMaker=][[/note]], ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet'', ''VideoGame/TheAngryVideoGameNerdAdventures'', ''VideoGame/WingsOfVi'' and the ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' series.
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* Creator/{{Konami}} used a modified version of Creator/HideoKojima's VideoGame/MetalGear engine for VideoGame/MissionImpossibleKonami.
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* Creator/{{Konami}} used a modified version of Creator/HideoKojima's VideoGame/MetalGear engine for VideoGame/MissionImpossibleKonami.
VideoGame/MissionImpossible1990.
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internal link, add note
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* ''[[http://www.clickteam.com/clickteam-fusion-2-5-details Clickteam Fusion]]'', formerly known as ''Multimedia Fusion'', formerly known as ''The Games Factory'', [[OverlyLongGag formerly known as]] ''Klik & Play'', developed by a French studio Clickteam. The bulk of the "programming" is done in the Event Screen for each level, which puts individual conditions into rows, and applies them to gameplay aspects and objects which have columns. The later iterations' functionality can be enhanced with various downloadable plug-ins. Games created with it include ''VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy'', ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet'', ''VideoGame/TheAngryVideoGameNerdAdventures'', ''VideoGame/WingsOfVi'' and the ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' series.
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* ''[[http://www.''UsefulNotes/ClickteamFusion'', formerly known as ''Multimedia Fusion'', formerly known as ''The Games Factory'', [[OverlyLongGag formerly known as]] ''Klik & Play'', developed by [[http://www.clickteam.com/clickteam-fusion-2-5-details Clickteam Fusion]]'', formerly known as ''Multimedia Fusion'', formerly known as ''The Games Factory'', [[OverlyLongGag formerly known as]] ''Klik & Play'', developed by a French studio Clickteam.Clickteam]]. The bulk of the "programming" is done in the Event Screen for each level, which puts individual conditions into rows, and applies them to gameplay aspects and objects which have columns. The later iterations' functionality can be enhanced with various downloadable plug-ins. Games created with it include ''VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy'', ''VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy''[[note]]the original version; the remaster is instead made in [=GameMaker=][[/note]], ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet'', ''VideoGame/TheAngryVideoGameNerdAdventures'', ''VideoGame/WingsOfVi'' and the ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' series.
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* SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) by Creator/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): ''VideoGame/ManiacMansion'' (obviously), ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland'' series (up to ''[[VideoGame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland Curse]]''), ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxHitTheRoad'', ''VideoGame/{{The Dig|1995}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Loom}}'', the ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' adventure games. Creator/HumongousEntertainment used it for every single game they made until 2002, such as the ''VideoGame/PuttPutt'', ''VideoGame/FreddiFish'', ''VideoGame/PajamaSam'', ''VideoGame/SPYFox'', and ''VideoGame/BackyardSports'' series. Went through 11 versions, each one adding more features. Also popular for fanmade games, thanks to UsefulNotes/ScummVM.
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* SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) by Creator/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): ''VideoGame/ManiacMansion'' (obviously), ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland'' series (up to ''[[VideoGame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland Curse]]''), ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxHitTheRoad'', ''VideoGame/{{The Dig|1995}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Loom}}'', the ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' adventure games. Creator/HumongousEntertainment used it for every single game they made until 2002, such as the ''VideoGame/PuttPutt'', ''VideoGame/FreddiFish'', ''VideoGame/PajamaSam'', ''VideoGame/SPYFox'', and ''VideoGame/BackyardSports'' series. Went through 11 versions, each one adding more features. Also popular for fanmade games, thanks to UsefulNotes/ScummVM.MediaNotes/ScummVM.
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* SDL and SFML are commonly mistaken for game engines, but they are actually multimedia libraries which can be used to make engines.[[note]]The former was initially developed to make it possible to ''port'' game engines that use UsefulNotes/DirectX exclusively and thus is used for porting Windows games over to *nix.[[/note]]
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* SDL and SFML are commonly mistaken for game engines, but they are actually multimedia libraries which can be used to make engines.[[note]]The former was initially developed to make it possible to ''port'' game engines that use UsefulNotes/DirectX MediaNotes/DirectX exclusively and thus is used for porting Windows games over to *nix.[[/note]]
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* UsefulNotes/TheModdingTree is a UsefulNotes/JavaScript-based engine that lets players develop ''VideoGame/PrestigeTree''-style game and other incrementals, with several features that didn't exist in the original. It's so well-made and comfortable to use that the original game's developer made a remake in it.
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* UsefulNotes/TheModdingTree MediaNotes/TheModdingTree is a UsefulNotes/JavaScript-based MediaNotes/JavaScript-based engine that lets players develop ''VideoGame/PrestigeTree''-style game and other incrementals, with several features that didn't exist in the original. It's so well-made and comfortable to use that the original game's developer made a remake in it.
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* [[UsefulNotes/{{Unity}} Unity 3D]], while not a powerhouse of the likes of Unreal, became quite popular with indie developers due to its low-to-zero price depending on the chosen version, liberal licensing and quick development time, which still holds true today. Like most engines, it handles much of the grunt work required for games (rendering, collision, input, etc). However game entities are completely undefined outside of the concept of a game object, which is little more than a logical representation of a point in space. Everything else - including organizational structure, preservation of player data, and the like, is handled by the creator through a modular, component based system.
* The UsefulNotes/UnrealEngine series by Creator/EpicGames (named for their ''VideoGame/{{Unreal}}'' series). Like with Unity, it has a low-to-zero price for use, and Epic only start taking a cut upon reaching a specific monetary threshold. Currently in its fifth iteration, it has seen a tremendous amount of use for a wide variety of games, particularly from MediaNotes/TheSeventhGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames and on. It's well-known for its technical prowess and adaptability, and has even seen use in some movies and TV shows (most notably ''Series/TheMandalorian''). A cited feature of Unreal 5 is its ability to upgrade Unreal 4 projects to work on Unreal 5, making for an even greater incentive for developers. Unreal Engine has been used in far too many games to list here, but as a taster; ''VideoGame/{{SMITE}}'' ([=UDK=], Unreal Development Kit, soon to be moving to Unreal 5), ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' (UDK), ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'' (Unreal 4, then moved to Unreal 5), ''VideoGame/AHatInTime'' (UDK), and ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange2'' (Unreal 4).
* The UsefulNotes/UnrealEngine series by Creator/EpicGames (named for their ''VideoGame/{{Unreal}}'' series). Like with Unity, it has a low-to-zero price for use, and Epic only start taking a cut upon reaching a specific monetary threshold. Currently in its fifth iteration, it has seen a tremendous amount of use for a wide variety of games, particularly from MediaNotes/TheSeventhGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames and on. It's well-known for its technical prowess and adaptability, and has even seen use in some movies and TV shows (most notably ''Series/TheMandalorian''). A cited feature of Unreal 5 is its ability to upgrade Unreal 4 projects to work on Unreal 5, making for an even greater incentive for developers. Unreal Engine has been used in far too many games to list here, but as a taster; ''VideoGame/{{SMITE}}'' ([=UDK=], Unreal Development Kit, soon to be moving to Unreal 5), ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' (UDK), ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'' (Unreal 4, then moved to Unreal 5), ''VideoGame/AHatInTime'' (UDK), and ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange2'' (Unreal 4).
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* [[UsefulNotes/{{Unity}} [[MediaNotes/{{Unity}} Unity 3D]], while not a powerhouse of the likes of Unreal, became quite popular with indie developers due to its low-to-zero price depending on the chosen version, liberal licensing and quick development time, which still holds true today. Like most engines, it handles much of the grunt work required for games (rendering, collision, input, etc). However game entities are completely undefined outside of the concept of a game object, which is little more than a logical representation of a point in space. Everything else - including organizational structure, preservation of player data, and the like, is handled by the creator through a modular, component based system.
* TheUsefulNotes/UnrealEngine MediaNotes/UnrealEngine series by Creator/EpicGames (named for their ''VideoGame/{{Unreal}}'' series). Like with Unity, it has a low-to-zero price for use, and Epic only start taking a cut upon reaching a specific monetary threshold. Currently in its fifth iteration, it has seen a tremendous amount of use for a wide variety of games, particularly from MediaNotes/TheSeventhGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames and on. It's well-known for its technical prowess and adaptability, and has even seen use in some movies and TV shows (most notably ''Series/TheMandalorian''). A cited feature of Unreal 5 is its ability to upgrade Unreal 4 projects to work on Unreal 5, making for an even greater incentive for developers. Unreal Engine has been used in far too many games to list here, but as a taster; ''VideoGame/{{SMITE}}'' ([=UDK=], Unreal Development Kit, soon to be moving to Unreal 5), ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' (UDK), ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'' (Unreal 4, then moved to Unreal 5), ''VideoGame/AHatInTime'' (UDK), and ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange2'' (Unreal 4).
* The
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* [=Cocos2d=] (along with its cross-platform offshoot, [=Cocos2d-X=]) (2008-present)): It is commonly used for making UsefulNotes/IOSGames, but like [=RenderWare=] above, it is ''not'' an engine in the above definition.
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* [=Cocos2d=] (along with its cross-platform offshoot, [=Cocos2d-X=]) (2008-present)): It is commonly used for making UsefulNotes/IOSGames, Platform/{{iOS}} games, but like [=RenderWare=] above, it is ''not'' an engine in the above definition.
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Modern game engines come with built-in {{skybox}}es, which are likely to be the first thing you see when you load up the development environment.
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In order to understand what a game engine is, it is necessary to first understand what video games are made of.
Video games are composed of two things: code and data. Code is what makes a game function, and data is what makes it fun.
Take ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' as an example. The game's code defines the rules of the game: that Mario can jump; that Mario can run; how fast he runs; that there are monsters, some of which can be stomped on; etc. The game's data defines what Mario looks like, how he animates, and the arrangement of the terrain and placement of objects and monsters, which form levels. Through {{Game Mod}}s, you can change the ''data'' of ''Super Mario Bros.'' and create a Mario-like game that replaces how Mario looks, and how the terrain, objects and monster in levels are laid out. Unless you change the ''code'', however, said game will have certain mechanics completely identical to ''Super Mario Bros.'', such as:
* "{{Fireballs}}" will always go down and forward, bouncing along the ground.
* [[BottomlessPits Falling off the bottom of the screen will always result in death.]]
* [[TimedMission Running out of time will always result in death.]]
* [[LawOfOneHundred Collecting 100 "coins" will always result in an extra life.]]
In short, a game that has its data modified to become another game is still, at the very basic level, the source game.
A game engine is game ''code'' that is designed to be ''data''-driven. Unlike the above example, a proper game engine would allow the behavior of in-world entities to be defined in almost every way through data. Virtually all games have some data component, but only relatively recently has this component become flexible enough that two games built from the same engine can be very different from each other. The game's ''data'' thus defines both the function and the fun, while the ''code'' is just there to make the data do its job.
In a game engine where most features are defined in the game data, the game engine would be expected to carry out functions such managing memory, I/O, rendering the graphics for output to a display, interpreting the game's scripting language if it exists, doing general number crunching to make the game work, and so on.
A ''scripting language'' is effectively data driven code, interpreted by the game engine. The functionality and complexity will vary between game engines, from extremely simple functions such as telling the game to spawn an enemy in or load a new map file when you reach a trigger point, to directing the game engine to achieve more complicated results which may not exist as part of the game's default sandbox, to at its fullest being a feature complete programming language itself, usually based on an existing programming language.
The general goals of a scripting language are to provide level designers with tools to produce the desired gameplay, without needing them to be full on programmers, and without needing to edit the game's source code. Scripting languages are usually kept to a minimum, since they must be interpreted when run, which results in much slower performance compared to the compiled game engine code.
One of the first cases of a true game engine was ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}''. It was a first-person shooter, but the game engine was much more flexible. It did not even make the assumption that the game was first-person; a user of the engine could pull the camera away to a third-person perspective. And the main character would be rendered there in third person with all of the controls intact and functional. With some work, ''Quake'' could have run a game like ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', all without directly changing the code of the engine.
Please note that this is a [[LiesToChildren simplification of a complex topic]], as the amount of data-driven code varies from engine to engine. More often than not, supplementary code must be written for a game engine to be customised as needed. For instance, the Source engine (which powers several Creator/{{Valve}} games, such as ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'') can be modified by loading additional DLL files, which are compiled C/C++ code. Even ''Quake'' mods, written in so-called "[=QuakeC=]" code, were compiled directly into virtual machine assembly code. The entire process can be made more complicated through the use of scripts, which are code that is loaded like data. In that case, a game engine is basically just a library or module that handles 80% of the grunt-work in making a game: collision detection, that things can move, rendering things, etc. It is then up to the user to add the 20% that makes the game unique, whether through data and code, or purely data.
Making all this even more complex is the selling of a license to use a game engine to a third party, with the transaction including the provision of the game engine's source code to said third party. This is how most commercially available game engines are sold—no developer worth their salt will build their game based solely on the engine-maker's assurance that the game engine is bug-free. The inclusion of the game engine's source code allows developers using the engine to actually change the engine code itself, not just layering new code on top of the existing engine, and developers frequently avail themselves of this opportunity. As such, a developer that claims to be using a certain game engine probably made some changes to it in the process of developing their game that runs on said engine.
The general rule of thumb is this: you know it's a game engine if you don't have to actually change the engine's source code to make a game that is substantially different from other games made with this engine. This said, some game engines were originally designed for very specific types of games, such as DICE's ''Frostbite'' engine for the ''Battlefield'' series, and this needed a lot of work to support different game types, such as the RPG ''Dragon Age: Inquisition''. Other modern engines like Unity or Unreal are very flexible, though as mentioned above developers will usually customise the code for their specific requirements.
As a bonus, games that run on a game engine that emphasises more on data-driven code can be modified very easily, and games using the same engine are easy to port if other games using the same engine have already been ported.
Engines can be internal, restricted to a particular development company, or external, which can be licensed for use by others. In-house "engines" are really just common codebases that multiple development teams in a company share. It is impossible to know whether these truly fit the definition of "game engine" because the different teams modify the source code for their own needs. Unless an engine is external, it is difficult to know what you can do with it ''without'' modifying the source code.
It's also worth noting that as game development has evolved over the years, the number of in house engines has reduced in favor of commercially available game engines. One reason for this might be that as development costs continue to rise, using a well known engine like Unreal not only makes it easier to hire and onboard staff which keeps these costs down, but also saves a lot of time not needing to reinvent the wheel, since each game engine is generally trying to solve the same challenges and carry out similar functions.
This may sound like a GameMaker, 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. Nonetheless, a Game Maker is a superset of a Game Engine, as games created on a Game Maker will still need to run on ''something''. Game engines cover a wide range of possible game types. ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' level editing is effectively a Mario-style game maker—you can never make anything other than that kind of game.
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!!External Game Engines:
* [[https://www.panda3d.org/ Panda3D]], which was originally developed by Creator/{{Disney}} in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University, for Disney's VR attractions and several discount casual games, but its main claim for fame is that it was used to power the client side of ''VideoGame/ToontownOnline''. Currently fully open source.
* SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) by Creator/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): ''VideoGame/ManiacMansion'' (obviously), ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland'' series (up to ''[[VideoGame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland Curse]]''), ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxHitTheRoad'', ''VideoGame/{{The Dig|1995}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Loom}}'', the ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' adventure games. Creator/HumongousEntertainment used it for every single game they made until 2002, such as the ''VideoGame/PuttPutt'', ''VideoGame/FreddiFish'', ''VideoGame/PajamaSam'', ''VideoGame/SPYFox'', and ''VideoGame/BackyardSports'' series. Went through 11 versions, each one adding more features. Also popular for fanmade games, thanks to UsefulNotes/ScummVM.
* id Tech engines by Creator/IdSoftware (developed by Creator/JohnCarmack), which they licensed to other companies until id Tech 4:
** ''Wolfenstein 3D'' engine: ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'', ''VideoGame/RiseOfTheTriad'', ''VideoGame/Corridor7AlienInvasion'', ''VideoGame/OperationBodyCount''. A slightly enhanced version was used in the ''VideoGame/BlakeStone'' games.
** id Tech 1 (a.k.a. the ''Doom'' Engine): ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' and ''VideoGame/DoomII'', ''VideoGame/Doom64'' (albeit heavily modified), ''VideoGame/{{Heretic}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Hexen}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Strife}}'', ''VideoGame/ChexQuest''.
** ''Quake'' Engine: ''VideoGame/QuakeI'', ''VideoGame/{{Hexen}} II''
*** ''Darkplaces'' engine: an open-source fork of the above. Used in ''VideoGame/{{Nexuiz}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Xonotic}}'' and ''VideoGame/WrathAeonOfRuin''.
*** [=GoldSrc=] Engine by Creator/{{Valve|Corporation}}, a heavily modified ''Quake'' engine: ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'', ''VideoGame/CounterStrike 1.6''. Was eventually updated piece-by-piece into their Source Engines 1 and 2 below.
** id Tech 2 (a.k.a. the ''Quake II'' Engine): ''VideoGame/QuakeII'', ''VideoGame/SiN1998'', ''VideoGame/{{Anachronox}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Heretic}} II'', ''VideoGame/SoldierOfFortune'', ''VideoGame/KingpinLifeOfCrime'', ''VideoGame/UFOAlienInvasion'' and ''VideoGame/{{Daikatana}}''.
** id Tech 3 (a.k.a. the ''Quake III Arena'' Engine): ''VideoGame/QuakeIIIArena'' (and by extension, ''Quake Live''), ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty1'', ''VideoGame/AmericanMcGeesAlice'', ''VideoGame/ReturnToCastleWolfenstein'', ''[[VideoGame/StarTrekEliteForce Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force]]'' (whose sequel uses a heavily modified version), ''Star Wars: VideoGame/JediKnightIIJediOutcast, Star Wars: VideoGame/JediKnightJediAcademy'', ''007: VideoGame/AgentUnderFire'', ''007: VideoGame/EverythingOrNothing'', ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvilGunSurvivor Resident Evil: Dead Aim]]''.
*** IW Engine (by Infinity Ward, as the name implies): a derivative of id Tech 3 used for the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' series from ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty2'' to ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps4'' and ''007: VideoGame/QuantumOfSolace''.
*** [=ioquake3=]: an open-source fork of id Tech 3. Used in ''VideoGame/OpenArena'' and ''VideoGame/UrbanTerror'', among others.
** id Tech 4 (a.k.a. the ''Doom 3'' Engine): ''VideoGame/Doom3'', ''VideoGame/QuakeIV'', ''VideoGame/Prey2006'', ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein2009''.
%%
%% id Tech 5 to 7 are listed in the Internally Developed Game Engines section below as they are not external game engines. Do not list them here.
%%
* [[UsefulNotes/{{Unity}} Unity 3D]], while not a powerhouse of the likes of Unreal, became quite popular with indie developers due to its low-to-zero price depending on the chosen version, liberal licensing and quick development time, which still holds true today. Like most engines, it handles much of the grunt work required for games (rendering, collision, input, etc). However game entities are completely undefined outside of the concept of a game object, which is little more than a logical representation of a point in space. Everything else - including organizational structure, preservation of player data, and the like, is handled by the creator through a modular, component based system.
* The UsefulNotes/UnrealEngine series by Creator/EpicGames (named for their ''VideoGame/{{Unreal}}'' series). Like with Unity, it has a low-to-zero price for use, and Epic only start taking a cut upon reaching a specific monetary threshold. Currently in its fifth iteration, it has seen a tremendous amount of use for a wide variety of games, particularly from MediaNotes/TheSeventhGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames and on. It's well-known for its technical prowess and adaptability, and has even seen use in some movies and TV shows (most notably ''Series/TheMandalorian''). A cited feature of Unreal 5 is its ability to upgrade Unreal 4 projects to work on Unreal 5, making for an even greater incentive for developers. Unreal Engine has been used in far too many games to list here, but as a taster; ''VideoGame/{{SMITE}}'' ([=UDK=], Unreal Development Kit, soon to be moving to Unreal 5), ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' (UDK), ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'' (Unreal 4, then moved to Unreal 5), ''VideoGame/AHatInTime'' (UDK), and ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange2'' (Unreal 4).
* Creator/{{Valve|Corporation}} licensed the Quake engine from id Software and heavily modified it for their debut game, ''VideoGame/HalfLife1''. When some programmers wanted to continue modifying it while also preparing a release or "gold" build of the game, it was forked into the "[=GoldSrc=]" branch and the "Source" branch.
** Like [[TheseusShipParadox the Ship of Theseus]], the engine would be updated piece-by-piece and become the Source engine that powers ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'', ''VideoGame/CounterStrike: Source'', ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'', ''VideoGame/Portal1'', ''VideoGame/Portal2'', ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', ''VideoGame/Dota2'' (later upgraded to Source 2), ''VideoGame/GarrysMod'', ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'', ''VideoGame/PostalIII'', ''VideoGame/TheStanleyParable'', ''VideoGame/{{Titanfall}}'', ''VideoGame/Titanfall2'' and ''VideoGame/ApexLegends'' (heavily modified for the last three games).
** Source was succeeded by Source 2, employed for ''VideoGame/HalfLifeAlyx'', ''VideoGame/{{Artifact}}'', ''VideoGame/DotaUnderlords'' and ''[[VideoGame/CounterStrike Counter Strike 2]]'' (a in-engine replacement for [=CS:GO=]).
* The Torque Game Engine family by Creator/{{Dynamix}} (later, [[http://www.garagegames.com/ Garage Games]]), first developed for ''[[VideoGame/{{Tribes}} Tribes 2]]'' and later licensed out. It was one of the first affordable engines available to indie developers at a mere $100 in 2002. Powers ''VideoGame/{{Blockland}}'', ''VideoGame/FrozenSynapse'', ''VideoGame/MarbleBlastGold'', ''VideoGame/PennyArcadeAdventures'', ''VideoGame/SpacePiratesAndZombies'', ''VideoGame/ThinkTanks''. A neat feature about maps is that the terrain continues to loop beyond the edge of the map itself, resulting in you finding an exact copy of the map in any cardinal direction sans any "interior" (structure) objects. This makes maps theoretically infinite but travelling far enough from the spawn point causes characters and objects to jitter graphically.
** Later engines included Torque 2D and Torque 3D, the latter allowing even more versatile and flexible in game modification with examples like ''VideoGame/BeamNG.drive''. It still retains many of the admin/debug quirks such as the F11 edit mode and the F7/F8 Drop Player/Camera at Camera/Player.
* The [=NetImmerse/Gamebryo=] engine: ''VideoGame/{{Bully}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}}'', ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' from ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'' to ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'', ''VideoGame/WarhammerOnline'', ''VideoGame/FreedomForce'', ''VideoGame/Fallout3'', ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'', ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia3D'', ''VideoGame/DarkAgeOfCamelot'', ''VideoGame/SimonTheSorcerer 3D'', ''VideoGame/StarTrekBridgeCommander''. The Bethesda-published games have the engine significantly modified for their purposes.
* Creator/{{Infocom}}'s decades old Z-machine, still in use for InteractiveFiction.
* 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. Versions of it were used in ''Driller'', ''Dark Side'', ''Total Eclipse'' and Teque Software's ''Castle Master''.
* Crytek's [=CryEngine=] : ''VideoGame/FarCry1'', ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}'', ''VideoGame/RyseSonOfRome'', ''VideoGame/{{Aion}}'', ''[[VideoGame/MechWarrior MechWarrior Online]]'' and ''[=MechWarrior=] Living Legends'', ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterOnline'', ''VideoGame/StarCitizen'', ''VideoGame/StateOfDecay'', ''VideoGame/SonicBoom: Rise of Lyric'', ''[[VideoGame/TimeSplitters TimeSplitters Rewind]]''
* [=GameMaker=] (1999-present): Started out as a 2D animation program named Animo written by Dutch computer scientist and teacher Mark Overmars, which then slowly but steadily evolved into a GameMaker [[ADogNamedDog simply called]] "Game Maker". In 2007, after several years and six major releases of asking for donations and slowly paywalling advanced features in order to help support development, Mark partnered with the British company [=YoYo=] Games which has developed and supported the engine ever since. In 2012, it was remade with cross-platform support and rebranded as "[=GameMaker=] Studio", and its name has been ''almost'' reverted in 2022 when it was rebranded as "[=GameMaker=]" (this time in [=CamelCase=]). It is now technically complex enough to be considered a full-fledged 2D game engine, not a GameMaker. 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. Examples of games made with this engine include ''VideoGame/AnUntitledStory'', ''VideoGame/{{Iji}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'', ''VideoGame/HyperLightDrifter'', ''VideoGame/RivalsOfAether'', ''VideoGame/PizzaTower'', ''VideoGame/{{Imscared}}'', ''VideoGame/TwelveIsBetterThanSix'', games by Locomalito (including ''VideoGame/MalditaCastilla'' and ''VideoGame/{{Hydorah}}''), as well as earlier versions of ''VideoGame/{{Spelunky}}'' and ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami''.
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Build_engine Build engine]] (written by Ken Silverman), which was used in ''VideoGame/{{Witchaven}}'' (I and II), ''William Shatner's Tekwar'', ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'', the PC version of ''VideoGame/PowerSlave'', ''VideoGame/RedneckRampage'', ''VideoGame/{{Blood}}'', ''VideoGame/ShadowWarrior1997'', ''VideoGame/IonFury'' and a couple of lesser obscure games.
* Until their parent company Creator/ElectronicArts pushed them onto the Frostbite engine (see below), Creator/BioWare made a habit of making a new engine for each Next Big Thing they bring out (except ''Franchise/MassEffect'' and ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic''). The earlier ones have been licensed to other companies:
** Infinity Engine (1998-2002): Originally made for ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' (and sequel), but licensed to Creator/BlackIsleStudios for ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'', ''VideoGame/IcewindDale'' (and sequel) and ''VideoGame/LionheartLegacyOfTheCrusader'' (which actually used the very similar Velocity Engine).
** Aurora Engine (2002-2007): ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'', ''VideoGame/TheWitcher'' by Creator/CDProjektRED.
** Electron Engine (2006-ongoing): An offshoot of Aurora, used by Creator/ObsidianEntertainment for ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2''
** Odyssey Engine (2003-2005): ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' and [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords its sequel by Obsidian]]; also, they used a very similar engine for ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire''
** Eclipse Engine (2009-2011): ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' and ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening''. ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' uses a heavily upgraded version of EE codenamed "Lycium Engine".
[[index]]
* ''VideoGame/BuildYourOwnNetDream'' (BYOND): A 2D tile-based multiplayer game engine. Used by several games with articles on this wiki, with the most famous probably being ''VideoGame/MitadakeHigh'' and ''VideoGame/SpaceStation13''.
[[/index]]
* Serious Engine by Croteam (named for ''VideoGame/SeriousSam''):
** Serious Engine 1: ''Serious Sam'' (''VideoGame/SeriousSamTheFirstEncounter'' and ''VideoGame/SeriousSamTheSecondEncounter''), ''VideoGame/{{Carnivores}}: Cityscapes'', ''Deer Hunter 2003'', ''Bird Hunter 2003: Legendary Hunting'', ''Nitro Family'', ''Alpha Black Zero: Intrepid Protocol''
** Serious Engine 2: ''VideoGame/SeriousSamII''
** Serious Engine 3: The HD remakes of ''Serious Sam'', ''VideoGame/SeriousSam3BFE''
** Serious Engine 4: ''VideoGame/TheTalosPrinciple'', ''VideoGame/SeriousSam4''
* Platform/{{Roblox}} is a game platform itself, but has its own engine in which you can create any kind of game of your own dreams on the platform (which means there'll usually be blocky characters as players) with the software Roblox Studio. It's 3D, but can be used to create 2D games with enough GUI code. Roblox started off as a simple GameMaker where you could build simple games with blocks, but it grew powerful over time.
* The ''VideoGame/RobotOdyssey'' engine was also used in ''Think Quick!'', ''Gertrude's Secrets'' and ''Rocky's Boots''.
* [=PhyreEngine=], engine provided by Sony Computer Entertainment for developing Platform/{{PS3}}, PSP, Platform/PSVita, and (assumedly) Platform/{{PS4}} games. Version 3.70 was leaked to the internet so you too can learn what makes your favorite console games tick. Games built on this engine include: ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptunia'', ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'', ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'', the ''VideoGame/AtelierSeries'' from ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' to ''[[VideoGame/AtelierAyeshaTheAlchemistOfDusk Ayesha]]'', ''VideoGame/Disgaea4APromiseUnforgotten'', and ''VideoGame/Journey2012''. Support for targetting Microsoft's Platform/Xbox360 and Platform/XboxOne, Android, iOS, Platform/NintendoSwitch and even Windows was later added to the game engine, allowing games written on the engine to be easily ported to and from Sony's platform.
* For fans of {{MUD}}s and {{MUCK}}s, there are a plethora of different engines upon which one can build - and with enough work in scripting, one can even turn a MUCK into a MUD.
* ''[[http://www.clickteam.com/clickteam-fusion-2-5-details Clickteam Fusion]]'', formerly known as ''Multimedia Fusion'', formerly known as ''The Games Factory'', [[OverlyLongGag formerly known as]] ''Klik & Play'', developed by a French studio Clickteam. The bulk of the "programming" is done in the Event Screen for each level, which puts individual conditions into rows, and applies them to gameplay aspects and objects which have columns. The later iterations' functionality can be enhanced with various downloadable plug-ins. Games created with it include ''VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy'', ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet'', ''VideoGame/TheAngryVideoGameNerdAdventures'', ''VideoGame/WingsOfVi'' and the ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' series.
* ''[[https://godotengine.org/ Godot Engine]]'', originally an internal engine created and used by the Argentinian developer Okam Studio, released under the MIT license in early 2014. Notable games created with it include the [=iOS=] version of ''VideoGame/{{Deponia}}'', ''Tanks of Freedom'', ''VideoGame/CrueltySquad'', ''Kingdoms of the Dump'', ''EX Zodiac'', ''Your Only Move Is Hustle'', ''Brotato'', ''VideoGame/CassetteBeasts'', and ''[[VideoGame/SonicColors Sonic Colors Ultimate]]'', as well as [[https://okamgames.com/games-2/ Okam Studio's entire game library]].
* The Retro Engine by Christian "The Taxman" Whitehead is a game engine he developed while creating his own ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' fangame, ''Retro Sonic'', which was based on the original Genesis ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games and was notable for its accuracy towards those games instead of being a mod or ROM hack of an existing ''Sonic'' game. It was later used in a few other fan projects, ''Sonic XG'' and ''Sonic Nexus'', which would then be formed into ''Retro Sonic Nexus''. During 2009, Sega asked fans for suggestions of a game to be ported to the [=iOS=] devices, which Christian proposed with a proof-of-concept of a ''Sonic CD'' port using the Retro Engine running on an [=iPhone=]. Impressed by Christian's efforts, Sega hired him to develop an official remaster of ''Sonic CD'' and released it on [=PlayStation=] 3, Xbox 360, PC via Steam, and [=iOS=] and Android devices. The Retro Engine would later be used in collaboration with other ''Sonic'' community members such as Simon "Stealth" Thomley[[note]]Creator of the ''Knuckles the Echidna in Sonic 1'' and lead developer of the ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogMegamix'' ROM hacks; he also developed a proof-of-concept of a proper Game Boy Advance port of ''Sonic the Hedgehog''[[/note]] and [=PagodaWest=] Games[[note]]Comprising of former members of the ''Sonic 2 HD'' fan remake along with its composer, Tee Lopes[[/note]] in later projects with Sega. The engine has since led to the development of the Star Engine, a stylized HD 3D game engine named after the studio name Evening Star, which was founded during the development of ''Sonic Mania''.
** Retro Engine vRS: ''Retro Sonic''
** Retro Engine v1: ''Retro Sonic Nexus'' (''Sonic XG'' and ''Sonic Nexus'')
** Retro Engine v2: The 2011 remaster of ''VideoGame/SonicCD''
** Retro Engine [=vB=]: The 2013 remasters of ''VideoGame/{{Sonic the Hedgehog|1}}'' and ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2''
** Retro Engine v5: ''VideoGame/SonicMania'' and the 2022 remaster of ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles''
* UsefulNotes/TheModdingTree is a UsefulNotes/JavaScript-based engine that lets players develop ''VideoGame/PrestigeTree''-style game and other incrementals, with several features that didn't exist in the original. It's so well-made and comfortable to use that the original game's developer made a remake in it.
* [[https://github.com/moai/moai-dev The Moai Engine]], originally by Zipline Games. It's released under a Common Public Attribution License, meaning it's not fully Open Source, but nonetheless is Freeware. Some notable titles created using the engine include ''Crimson: Steam Pirates'' by Creator/{{Bungie}} and VideoGame/BrokenAge and VideoGame/SpacebaseDF9 by Creator/DoubleFine.
* ''Blender'' used to be able to be used as a game engine as well, and the main program once could be used as a Game Maker. The feature was deprecated due to very few people actually using Blender to write a whole game and the game engine functionality was gone by Blender 3. However, the few people who did care [[StartMyOwn forked the project]] and the end result is [[https://upbge.org/ UPBGE]].
!!Internally Developed Game Engines:
* Creator/{{Nintendo}} has had several proprietary engines over the years, and tend to be pretty secretive about them as well. However, details have been gleaned over time:
** Many of their older engines have no publicly-known names -- assuming they have names at all -- and thus are usually referred to by whichever game was the first identified to use them. For example, the Game Boy ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' games (''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening Link's Awakening]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames Oracle of Ages/Seasons]]'' is said to be using the ''VideoGame/ForTheFrogTheBellTolls'' engine; the Game Boy Advance ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' games (''[[VideoGame/MetroidFusion Fusion]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission Zero Mission]]'') use the ''VideoGame/WarioLand4'' engine; and ''VideoGame/StarFox64'' and ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' use the ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'' engine (which itself is a heavily modified version of the ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' engine.
** ''VideoGame/NintendoLand'', the first two games in the ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'' series, both ''VideoGame/SuperMarioMaker'' games, ''VideoGame/{{ARMS}}'', ''VideoGame/RingFitAdventure'', and ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewHorizons'' all use an engine that internal files refer to as [=LunchPack=].
** ''VideoGame/NintendoSwitchSports'', ''VideoGame/Splatoon3'', ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosWonder'' use an engine known through datamining as [=ModuleSystem=].
** The 3D ''Mario'' games, produced at Nintendo EPD Tokyo, have used some variation of a game engine known as [=ActionLibrary=] ever since ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy''. Creator/NintendoSoftwareTechnology would start using the engine for their own games, like ''VideoGame/FZero99'' and ''VideoGame/MarioVsDonkeyKong'', after becoming a support studio for the 3D ''Mario'' team.
** The [=NintendoWare=] Bezel Engine is used by Nintendo subsidiary Creator/NDCube for all their games from ''[[VideoGame/MarioParty Super Mario Party]]'' onward, and has also been used for titles such as ''VideoGame/Tetris99'' and the ''VideoGame/WarioWare'' series starting with ''VideoGame/WarioWareGetItTogether''.
** Creator/RetroStudios uses a proprietary engine called "RUDE" for all of their games, the first iteration of it dating back to the first ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime''. Creator/MonolithSoft and Creator/NextLevelGames similarly have their own proprietary engines that have seen continuous iteration.
* Starting with id Tech 5, Creator/IdSoftware stopped licensing out their engines, and kept them for their own use and that of other studios under their parent company Creator/{{Bethesda}}.
** id Tech 5: ''VideoGame/Rage2011'', ''VideoGame/Doom4'' (initially), ''VideoGame/WolfensteinTheNewOrder'', ''VideoGame/TheEvilWithin'', ''VideoGame/Dishonored2''
** id Tech 6: ''VideoGame/Doom2016'', ''VideoGame/WolfensteinIITheNewColossus''
** id Tech 7: ''VideoGame/DoomEternal''.
* {{Creator/Bethesda}}'s Creation Engine, used in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', and ''VideoGame/Fallout76''. Based on independent research, it appears to be derived from the same heavily modified Gamebryo engine Bethesda used since ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind''. It would later be succeeded by Creation Engine 2, which is used in ''VideoGame/{{Starfield}}''.
* Creator/{{Capcom}}:
** The MT Framework, used in games like ''VideoGame/DeadRising'', ''VideoGame/LostPlanet'', ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'', ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'', ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3'' and ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterWorld''. There's also a Mobile varient used for their handheld and mobile titles.
** The RE Engine, used in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil7'', ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2Remake'', ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Remake'', ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'' and ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4Remake''. It's also used for non-''Resident Evil'' titles like ''Capcom Arcade Stadium'' and its sequel, ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'', ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterRise'', ''[[VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection]]'' and ''VideoGame/StreetFighter6''.
* Creator/SquareEnix:
** Crystal Tools (originally called the White Engine): ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'', ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'', ''VideoGame/LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII'', ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV''[[note]]Version 1.0 only. For version 2.0 (A.K.A "A Realm Reborn"), the game was completely rebuilt under a completely different engine partially based on Luminous.[[/note]]
** Luminous Engine: ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'', ''VideoGame/{{Forspoken}}''
** Crystal Engine, which was used in the Creator/SquareEnix-published games ''VideoGame/TombRaiderLegend'' and ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution''. Not to be confused with Crystal Tools. [[note]]The tool is named after Square-Enix subsidiary Creator/CrystalDynamics, where the post-Creator/CoreDesign Tomb Raider titles are created[[/note]]
* ''VideoGame/MenOfWar'' has the GEM Engine, previously used for the prequel ''Faces of War''.
* Lithtech: every Creator/MonolithProductions game since October 1998. Was infamous in its early days for being licensed out for cheap budget titles.
** Lithtech 1.0: ''VideoGame/ShogoMobileArmorDivision'', ''VideoGame/{{Blood}} II: The Chosen''. 1.5 licensed for ''VideoGame/KissPsychoCircusTheNightmareChild''.
** Lithtech 2.0/2.2: ''VideoGame/NoOneLivesForever'', ''VideoGame/SanityAikensArtifact''. Licensed for ''Legends of Might and Magic'' and ''Franchise/DieHard: Nakatomi Plaza''.
** [=RealArcade=] Lithtech (in conjunction with [=RealNetworks=]): ''Tex Atomic's Big Bot Battles''
** Lithtech Talon: ''VideoGame/AliensVsPredator2''. Licensed for ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic IX''.
** Lithtech 3.0: the {{Vaporware}} ''Shogo II''
** Lithtech Jupiter: ''VideoGame/NoOneLivesForever 2'', ''Contract J.A.C.K.'', ''VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh''. Licensed for ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorPacificAssault'', ''VideoGame/WolfTeam'', ''VideoGame/CrossFire'' and ''VideoGame/CombatArms''.
** Lithtech Discovery: ''VideoGame/TheMatrixOnline''
** Lithtech Jupiter EX: ''VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon'', ''VideoGame/CondemnedCriminalOrigins'', ''VideoGame/Condemned2Bloodshot'', ''VideoGame/GothamCityImpostors'', ''VideoGame/MiddleEarthShadowOfMordor''.
** Lithtech Firebird: ''VideoGame/MiddleEarthShadowOfWar''
* The [[Creator/TakeTwoInteractive Rockstar]] Advanced Game Engine ([[FunWithAcronyms RAGE]]), which is used in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'', ''VideoGame/MidnightClub: Los Angeles'', ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'', ''VideoGame/MaxPayne3'', ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'', and ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2''. Was first used to make [[CreatorsOddball a table tennis game]].
* The Dark Engine created by Creator/LookingGlassStudios and used in ''VideoGame/ThiefTheDarkProject'', ''VideoGame/ThiefIITheMetalAge'' and ''VideoGame/SystemShock2''.
* [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Hedgehog]] Engine by Creator/{{Sega}}'s Creator/SonicTeam: An engine built to render CGI-quality graphics using global illumination (allowing for complex lighting and directional shadows) very quickly. Used in the HD versions of ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'', ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'' and ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld''. An improved version of the engine, dubbed "Hedgehog Engine 2", was used in ''VideoGame/SonicForces'' and ''VideoGame/SakuraWars2019''.
* Dragon Engine by Creator/RyuGaGotokuStudio: An engine made to take full advantage of the [=PlayStation=] 4's technical prowess for the ''VideoGame/LikeADragon'' series (hence the engine name). Used in ''VideoGame/Yakuza6'', ''VideoGame/YakuzaKiwami2'', ''VideoGame/{{Judgment}}'', ''VideoGame/YakuzaLikeADragon'', ''VideoGame/LostJudgment'', ''VideoGame/LikeADragonGaidenTheManWhoErasedHisName'', and ''VideoGame/LikeADragonInfiniteWealth''.
* Frostbite by Creator/{{DICE}}: Initially used for the ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield}}'' series (from ''Battlefield 1943'' onwards), ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed: [[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedTheRun The Run]]'' and the ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor'' reboot's multiplayer, in 2013, DICE's parent company Creator/ElectronicArts made a [[http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/19/electronic-arts-frostbite-battlefield-mass-effect/ strategic decision]] to move nearly all of its studios' internal development onto the Frostbite rails, even the less shooter-y games like ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition''.
* [=UbiArt=] Framework by Creator/{{Ubisoft}}: ''VideoGame/RaymanOrigins'', ''VideoGame/ChildOfLight'', ''VideoGame/ValiantHearts''
* Snowdrop, also by Ubisoft: ''VideoGame/TheDivision'', ''VideoGame/MarioPlusRabbidsKingdomBattle'', ''VideoGame/SouthParkTheFracturedButWhole'', ''VideoGame/StarlinkBattleForAtlas''
* Creator/LucasArts also has the following, besides SCUMM:
** Grim Engine ([=GrimE=]): ''VideoGame/GrimFandango'', ''VideoGame/EscapeFromMonkeyIsland''
** Jedi Engine: '' Star Wars: VideoGame/DarkForces'', ''VideoGame/{{Outlaws}}''
** Sith Engine: ''Star Wars: VideoGame/JediKnightDarkForcesII'', ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheInfernalMachine'' (which used a modified Sith engine, called the Jones Engine)
* Terminal Reality's Infernal Engine: created for ''VideoGame/GhostbustersTheVideoGame''; licensed for ''Def Jam: Rapstar'', the Wii version of''VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed II'' and ''VideoGame/MushroomMen: The Spore Wars''.
** Terminal Reality's Nocturne Engine: created for ''VideoGame/Nocturne1999''; licensed for ''VideoGame/AloneInTheDarkTheNewNightmare''.
* SSI's VideoGame/GoldBox engine, used for numerous ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' and ''ComicStrip/BuckRogers'' games.
* The Filmation engine, created by Ultimate Play the Game (now Creator/{{Rare}}) and used in their IsometricProjection games ''Knight Lore'', ''Alien 8'' and ''Pentagram''. Its more action-oriented successor Filmation II was used in ''Nightshade'' and ''Gunfright''.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Crusader}}'' games reused the engine from ''VideoGame/UltimaVIII''.
* The "Vision" engine from ''VideoGame/WingCommander Prophecy'' was developed in part to be easily modified. In addition to being used in the sequel, ''Wing Commander Secret Ops'', it's also the basis of several fan {{Game Mod}}s due to the aforementioned ease of modification.
* The HPL Engine (named after Creator/HPLovecraft) by Creator/FrictionalGames:
** HPL Engine 1: ''VideoGame/{{Penumbra}}'' franchise. [=HPL1=] was released as open source to the public in 2010.
** HPL Engine 2: ''VideoGame/{{Amnesia|TheDarkDescent}}'' franchise
** HPL Engine 3: ''VideoGame/{{SOMA}}''
* Lobotomy Software's Slavedriver engine, which was used in the Platform/SegaSaturn versions of ''VideoGame/PowerSlave'', ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'' and ''VideoGame/QuakeI''. Known for being one of the few pieces of software specifically optimized for the unusual 2D graphics-orientated hardware of the Saturn, which allowed Lobotomy to do 3D things on the console that other developers wouldn't dream of.
* [[Creator/ThreeDRealms Apogee Software]] reused the ''VideoGame/CrystalCaves'' engine in ''VideoGame/SecretAgent''.
* Most of Creator/{{Sierra}}'s adventure games were based on AGI (Adventure Game Interpreter) or its successor SCI (Script Code Interpreter/Sierra's Creative Interpreter), which went through several revisions. ''VideoGame/KingsQuestIVThePerilsOfRosella'' marked the transition, and several AGI games were later remade for SCI.
* The Diesel Engine, originally created by the developer GRIN, and used for all of their games like ''VideoGame/BanditsPhoenixRising'', the PC versions of ''VideoGame/GhostReconAdvancedWarfighter'', and the ''VideoGame/BionicCommando'' remake. Overkill Software, headed by the same people after GRIN's bankruptcy, continues using the engine for ''VideoGame/PaydayTheHeist'' and ''VideoGame/Payday2''. The way the engine is composed makes it ''very'' difficult for a casual modder to work with (mostly due to how the models are rendered and how they are bundled to be used by the game), hence why the developers haven't released a friendly modding tool yet. Granted, the more dedicated modder can easily modify the game's files, as the lua code is pretty easy to decrypt and use. The Windows version uses a 32-bit version of the engine, and the Linux port of ''Payday 2'' uses a 64-bit version of the engine, which essentially means that the Linux port doesn't suffer from the same memory issues Windows users have. The engine is also used in ''VideoGame/RAIDWorldWarII'' by Lion Game Lion, which is composed of former Overkill devs.
* Creator/CyberConnect2 has a special "Sensible Art Innovation" Engine that they made for the [[MediaNotes/TheSeventhGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames seventh generation of consoles]] onward. It was first used for the ''VideoGame/DotHackGu'' trilogy movie, and has been used for all future ''Franchise/DotHack'' installments and related projects on consoles, as well as their ''VideoGame/NarutoUltimateNinjaStorm'' installments. However, some of the company's titles from the mid-2010s onward (such as ''VideoGame/AsurasWrath'', ''VideoGame/DragonBallZKakarot'', ''VideoGame/FugaMelodiesOfSteel'' and ''VideoGame/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaibaTheHinokamiChronicles'') have used the Unreal Engine instead.
* Neversoft had an engine best known for its use in the ''VideoGame/TonyHawksProSkater'' series, though it was originally developed for ''VideoGame/{{Apocalypse}}''.
* The X-Ray engine, created by Creator/GSCGameWorld and used in the ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' series.
* ''Striker in the Crypt of Trogan'' reused the engine of the Platform/ZXSpectrum and Platform/AmstradCPC ports of ''VideoGame/{{Switchblade}}''.
* David Perry's Global Gladiators engine, used in ''Mick and Mack as the Global Gladiators'', ''VideoGame/CoolSpot'', ''VideoGame/AladdinVirginGames'', ''VideoGame/EarthwormJim'' and ''Earthworm Jim 2''. The Genesis version of ''ComicBook/RobocopVersusTheTerminator'' also used Perry's engine, despite the game not being developed by him.
* ''VideoGame/{{Dreams}}'' is practically a game engine unto itself, being extremely powerful with a wide range of options available for building scenes, tinkering with logic and AI, making music, and so forth. It is also extremely user-friendly, with the engine's full functionality available to anyone with a [=DualShock=] 4 controller, or two PS Move controllers in tandem.
* Creator/DigitalExtremes made the Evolution engine, which they used for ''VideoGame/DarkSector'', ''VideoGame/StarTrekTheVideoGame'', ''VideoGame/TheDarkness II'' and ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}''.
* 4A Games' eponymous 4A Engine, used for the ''{{Franchise/Metro}}'' series of FPS games (2010's ''2033'', 2013's ''Last Light'', and 2019's ''Exodus'').
* Ensemble Studios' Genie Engine, owned by Creator/XboxGameStudios: ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresI'' and ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresII'' (further modified for their modern system {{updated rerelease}}s long after Ensemble's folding); licensed for ''VideoGame/StarWarsGalacticBattlegrounds''.
* Creator/CDProjekt's [=REDengine=], first used for ''VideoGame/TheWitcher2AssassinsOfKings''. The latest version, [=REDengine=] 4, is used for ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077''.
* Creator/GuerrillaGames developed their proprietary game engine for ''VideoGame/KillzoneShadowFall''. The same engine powered their later breakout success, ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn''. After licensing the engine for Creator/KojimaProductions to be used in ''VideoGame/DeathStranding'', they had to chose a name for marketing purposes as their internal name "the engine" wouldn't cut it. They named it Decima after the island of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dejima Dejima]] which used to host a Dutch trading post in Japan (Guerrilla Games is based in Amsterdam). An updated version of the engine is going to power Guerrilla's upcoming ''VideoGame/HorizonForbiddenWest''.
* After using Sony's [=PhyreEngine=] for several years, Creator/{{Falcom}} decided that it has had enough with the engine's shortcomings and decided to write their own for the next game in the VideoGame/TrailsSeries, ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsThroughDaybreak''.
* Creator/Turn10Studios' [=ForzaTech=], used for their ''VideoGame/{{Forza}} Motorsport'' series and later adapted for open worlds in its sister series, Creator/PlaygroundGames' ''Forza Horizon''. Playground will also use the engine in the upcoming ''VideoGame/{{Fable}}'' reboot.
* Gray Matter's games all use variants on the same engine: ''Wayne's World'', ''James Bond Jr.'', ''The Terminator'', ''The Incredible Crash Dummies'', ''Ren & Stimpy: Veediots!'' and ''[[VideoGame/BOB1993 B.O.B]]''
* Mortar by Creator/HalfbrickStudios, originally created for Platform/PlayStationPortable ports of their ''Halfbrick Fridays'' games, and used for many of their later projects, including ''VideoGame/FruitNinja'', ''VideoGame/MonsterDash'' [[note]]Before both would switch to Unity in 2020[[/note]], ''VideoGame/JetpackJoyride'', ''VideoGame/ColossatronMassiveWorldThreat'', ''WebAnimation/DanTheMan'' and ''VideoGame/BattleRacingStars''.
* ''VideoGame/HeadOverHeels'' took the engine of the isometric ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' LicensedGame and adapted it to work with two player characters.
* Creator/{{Broderbund}} had their own flexible engine which they use for a large number of their titles called the ''Mohawk Engine''. The engine has been used for everything ranging from the Windows ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'' port and point-and-click adventures like the ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}} Adventure Game'' to the ''VideoGame/LivingBooks'' titles and even the ''Franchise/CarmenSandiego'' games. It is also fairly easy to tell if a title is using the engine- those titles will have the titular .MHK files scattered all over the CD.
* Creator/{{Bungie}} has the ''Blam Engine'' which was used for the mainstream ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' games up until ''VideoGame/Halo2''. The Blam Engine also saw use on ''VideoGame/StubbsTheZombie'' by Wideload Games (founded by Bungie co-founder Alex Seropian), which they proudly advertised on the game's box as "Built with the Halo Engine". A upgraded version of the engine called the ''Midnight Engine'' was used from ''VideoGame/Halo3'' up until ''VideoGame/Halo5'', and a further upgraded version of the engine called the ''Tiger Engine'' was used for the VideoGame/{{Destiny}} series of games. A fork of the engine hybridized with the ''[=Saber3D=] engine'' was used for the anniversary edition of the first two Halo games.
* Creator/ThreeFourThreeIndustries created a new engine, the ''Slipspace Engine'', for use with future Halo games after releasing Halo 5. It was initially used in VideoGame/HaloInfinite.
* Creator/{{Konami}} used a modified version of Creator/HideoKojima's VideoGame/MetalGear engine for VideoGame/MissionImpossibleKonami.
!!Things That Are Commonly Called Engines But Aren't:
* [[http://www.havok.com/ The Havok "Engine"]]. This is not an engine; [[WreakingHavok it is a physics library.]]
* [=RenderWare=], developed by Creator/CriterionGames and bought out by Creator/ElectronicArts (notable for making Platform/PlayStation2 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 ''VideoGame/{{Burnout}}'' (Criterion's flagship series), ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' (''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII III]]'', ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity Vice City]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas San Andreas]]''), ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' and ''VideoGame/SpongeBobSquarePantsBattleForBikiniBottom''. It is no longer actively used; Criterion's last game to use [=RenderWare=] was ''VideoGame/BurnoutParadise'' (2008) and ''Burnout Paradise Remastered'' (2018), the latter's use making it the only [=RenderWare=] game on Platform/PlayStation4, Platform/XboxOne and Platform/NintendoSwitch. ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'' (2009) was the last original EA title to use it, ''VideoGame/Persona4 Golden'' for the [=PlayStation=] Vita was the last game to use the vanilla [=RenderWare=], and Taiwanese game ''Chinese Paladin 5 Prequel'' (2013) was the last to use any version of [=RenderWare=] (it used a modified version).
* [=Cocos2d=] (along with its cross-platform offshoot, [=Cocos2d-X=]) (2008-present)): It is commonly used for making UsefulNotes/IOSGames, but like [=RenderWare=] above, it is ''not'' an engine in the above definition.
* The ''[=Box2D=]'' engine. It isn't necessarily a "game" engine more so a stand-alone ''physics'' engine made to make game making easier.
* Old Platform/AppleMacintosh users might remember the Sprite Animation Toolkit (SAT), which was a 2D animation code library, though not a complete game engine.
* SDL and SFML are commonly mistaken for game engines, but they are actually multimedia libraries which can be used to make engines.[[note]]The former was initially developed to make it possible to ''port'' game engines that use UsefulNotes/DirectX exclusively and thus is used for porting Windows games over to *nix.[[/note]]
* XNA and its open source implementation [=MonoGame=] are not engines but frameworks for creating games and engines using .NET/Mono languages like C# and Visual Basic.
----
Video games are composed of two things: code and data. Code is what makes a game function, and data is what makes it fun.
Take ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' as an example. The game's code defines the rules of the game: that Mario can jump; that Mario can run; how fast he runs; that there are monsters, some of which can be stomped on; etc. The game's data defines what Mario looks like, how he animates, and the arrangement of the terrain and placement of objects and monsters, which form levels. Through {{Game Mod}}s, you can change the ''data'' of ''Super Mario Bros.'' and create a Mario-like game that replaces how Mario looks, and how the terrain, objects and monster in levels are laid out. Unless you change the ''code'', however, said game will have certain mechanics completely identical to ''Super Mario Bros.'', such as:
* "{{Fireballs}}" will always go down and forward, bouncing along the ground.
* [[BottomlessPits Falling off the bottom of the screen will always result in death.]]
* [[TimedMission Running out of time will always result in death.]]
* [[LawOfOneHundred Collecting 100 "coins" will always result in an extra life.]]
In short, a game that has its data modified to become another game is still, at the very basic level, the source game.
A game engine is game ''code'' that is designed to be ''data''-driven. Unlike the above example, a proper game engine would allow the behavior of in-world entities to be defined in almost every way through data. Virtually all games have some data component, but only relatively recently has this component become flexible enough that two games built from the same engine can be very different from each other. The game's ''data'' thus defines both the function and the fun, while the ''code'' is just there to make the data do its job.
In a game engine where most features are defined in the game data, the game engine would be expected to carry out functions such managing memory, I/O, rendering the graphics for output to a display, interpreting the game's scripting language if it exists, doing general number crunching to make the game work, and so on.
A ''scripting language'' is effectively data driven code, interpreted by the game engine. The functionality and complexity will vary between game engines, from extremely simple functions such as telling the game to spawn an enemy in or load a new map file when you reach a trigger point, to directing the game engine to achieve more complicated results which may not exist as part of the game's default sandbox, to at its fullest being a feature complete programming language itself, usually based on an existing programming language.
The general goals of a scripting language are to provide level designers with tools to produce the desired gameplay, without needing them to be full on programmers, and without needing to edit the game's source code. Scripting languages are usually kept to a minimum, since they must be interpreted when run, which results in much slower performance compared to the compiled game engine code.
One of the first cases of a true game engine was ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}''. It was a first-person shooter, but the game engine was much more flexible. It did not even make the assumption that the game was first-person; a user of the engine could pull the camera away to a third-person perspective. And the main character would be rendered there in third person with all of the controls intact and functional. With some work, ''Quake'' could have run a game like ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', all without directly changing the code of the engine.
Please note that this is a [[LiesToChildren simplification of a complex topic]], as the amount of data-driven code varies from engine to engine. More often than not, supplementary code must be written for a game engine to be customised as needed. For instance, the Source engine (which powers several Creator/{{Valve}} games, such as ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'') can be modified by loading additional DLL files, which are compiled C/C++ code. Even ''Quake'' mods, written in so-called "[=QuakeC=]" code, were compiled directly into virtual machine assembly code. The entire process can be made more complicated through the use of scripts, which are code that is loaded like data. In that case, a game engine is basically just a library or module that handles 80% of the grunt-work in making a game: collision detection, that things can move, rendering things, etc. It is then up to the user to add the 20% that makes the game unique, whether through data and code, or purely data.
Making all this even more complex is the selling of a license to use a game engine to a third party, with the transaction including the provision of the game engine's source code to said third party. This is how most commercially available game engines are sold—no developer worth their salt will build their game based solely on the engine-maker's assurance that the game engine is bug-free. The inclusion of the game engine's source code allows developers using the engine to actually change the engine code itself, not just layering new code on top of the existing engine, and developers frequently avail themselves of this opportunity. As such, a developer that claims to be using a certain game engine probably made some changes to it in the process of developing their game that runs on said engine.
The general rule of thumb is this: you know it's a game engine if you don't have to actually change the engine's source code to make a game that is substantially different from other games made with this engine. This said, some game engines were originally designed for very specific types of games, such as DICE's ''Frostbite'' engine for the ''Battlefield'' series, and this needed a lot of work to support different game types, such as the RPG ''Dragon Age: Inquisition''. Other modern engines like Unity or Unreal are very flexible, though as mentioned above developers will usually customise the code for their specific requirements.
As a bonus, games that run on a game engine that emphasises more on data-driven code can be modified very easily, and games using the same engine are easy to port if other games using the same engine have already been ported.
Engines can be internal, restricted to a particular development company, or external, which can be licensed for use by others. In-house "engines" are really just common codebases that multiple development teams in a company share. It is impossible to know whether these truly fit the definition of "game engine" because the different teams modify the source code for their own needs. Unless an engine is external, it is difficult to know what you can do with it ''without'' modifying the source code.
It's also worth noting that as game development has evolved over the years, the number of in house engines has reduced in favor of commercially available game engines. One reason for this might be that as development costs continue to rise, using a well known engine like Unreal not only makes it easier to hire and onboard staff which keeps these costs down, but also saves a lot of time not needing to reinvent the wheel, since each game engine is generally trying to solve the same challenges and carry out similar functions.
This may sound like a GameMaker, 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. Nonetheless, a Game Maker is a superset of a Game Engine, as games created on a Game Maker will still need to run on ''something''. Game engines cover a wide range of possible game types. ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' level editing is effectively a Mario-style game maker—you can never make anything other than that kind of game.
----
!!External Game Engines:
* [[https://www.panda3d.org/ Panda3D]], which was originally developed by Creator/{{Disney}} in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University, for Disney's VR attractions and several discount casual games, but its main claim for fame is that it was used to power the client side of ''VideoGame/ToontownOnline''. Currently fully open source.
* SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion) by Creator/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): ''VideoGame/ManiacMansion'' (obviously), ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland'' series (up to ''[[VideoGame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland Curse]]''), ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxHitTheRoad'', ''VideoGame/{{The Dig|1995}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Loom}}'', the ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' adventure games. Creator/HumongousEntertainment used it for every single game they made until 2002, such as the ''VideoGame/PuttPutt'', ''VideoGame/FreddiFish'', ''VideoGame/PajamaSam'', ''VideoGame/SPYFox'', and ''VideoGame/BackyardSports'' series. Went through 11 versions, each one adding more features. Also popular for fanmade games, thanks to UsefulNotes/ScummVM.
* id Tech engines by Creator/IdSoftware (developed by Creator/JohnCarmack), which they licensed to other companies until id Tech 4:
** ''Wolfenstein 3D'' engine: ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'', ''VideoGame/RiseOfTheTriad'', ''VideoGame/Corridor7AlienInvasion'', ''VideoGame/OperationBodyCount''. A slightly enhanced version was used in the ''VideoGame/BlakeStone'' games.
** id Tech 1 (a.k.a. the ''Doom'' Engine): ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' and ''VideoGame/DoomII'', ''VideoGame/Doom64'' (albeit heavily modified), ''VideoGame/{{Heretic}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Hexen}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Strife}}'', ''VideoGame/ChexQuest''.
** ''Quake'' Engine: ''VideoGame/QuakeI'', ''VideoGame/{{Hexen}} II''
*** ''Darkplaces'' engine: an open-source fork of the above. Used in ''VideoGame/{{Nexuiz}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Xonotic}}'' and ''VideoGame/WrathAeonOfRuin''.
*** [=GoldSrc=] Engine by Creator/{{Valve|Corporation}}, a heavily modified ''Quake'' engine: ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'', ''VideoGame/CounterStrike 1.6''. Was eventually updated piece-by-piece into their Source Engines 1 and 2 below.
** id Tech 2 (a.k.a. the ''Quake II'' Engine): ''VideoGame/QuakeII'', ''VideoGame/SiN1998'', ''VideoGame/{{Anachronox}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Heretic}} II'', ''VideoGame/SoldierOfFortune'', ''VideoGame/KingpinLifeOfCrime'', ''VideoGame/UFOAlienInvasion'' and ''VideoGame/{{Daikatana}}''.
** id Tech 3 (a.k.a. the ''Quake III Arena'' Engine): ''VideoGame/QuakeIIIArena'' (and by extension, ''Quake Live''), ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty1'', ''VideoGame/AmericanMcGeesAlice'', ''VideoGame/ReturnToCastleWolfenstein'', ''[[VideoGame/StarTrekEliteForce Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force]]'' (whose sequel uses a heavily modified version), ''Star Wars: VideoGame/JediKnightIIJediOutcast, Star Wars: VideoGame/JediKnightJediAcademy'', ''007: VideoGame/AgentUnderFire'', ''007: VideoGame/EverythingOrNothing'', ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvilGunSurvivor Resident Evil: Dead Aim]]''.
*** IW Engine (by Infinity Ward, as the name implies): a derivative of id Tech 3 used for the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' series from ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty2'' to ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps4'' and ''007: VideoGame/QuantumOfSolace''.
*** [=ioquake3=]: an open-source fork of id Tech 3. Used in ''VideoGame/OpenArena'' and ''VideoGame/UrbanTerror'', among others.
** id Tech 4 (a.k.a. the ''Doom 3'' Engine): ''VideoGame/Doom3'', ''VideoGame/QuakeIV'', ''VideoGame/Prey2006'', ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein2009''.
%%
%% id Tech 5 to 7 are listed in the Internally Developed Game Engines section below as they are not external game engines. Do not list them here.
%%
* [[UsefulNotes/{{Unity}} Unity 3D]], while not a powerhouse of the likes of Unreal, became quite popular with indie developers due to its low-to-zero price depending on the chosen version, liberal licensing and quick development time, which still holds true today. Like most engines, it handles much of the grunt work required for games (rendering, collision, input, etc). However game entities are completely undefined outside of the concept of a game object, which is little more than a logical representation of a point in space. Everything else - including organizational structure, preservation of player data, and the like, is handled by the creator through a modular, component based system.
* The UsefulNotes/UnrealEngine series by Creator/EpicGames (named for their ''VideoGame/{{Unreal}}'' series). Like with Unity, it has a low-to-zero price for use, and Epic only start taking a cut upon reaching a specific monetary threshold. Currently in its fifth iteration, it has seen a tremendous amount of use for a wide variety of games, particularly from MediaNotes/TheSeventhGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames and on. It's well-known for its technical prowess and adaptability, and has even seen use in some movies and TV shows (most notably ''Series/TheMandalorian''). A cited feature of Unreal 5 is its ability to upgrade Unreal 4 projects to work on Unreal 5, making for an even greater incentive for developers. Unreal Engine has been used in far too many games to list here, but as a taster; ''VideoGame/{{SMITE}}'' ([=UDK=], Unreal Development Kit, soon to be moving to Unreal 5), ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' (UDK), ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'' (Unreal 4, then moved to Unreal 5), ''VideoGame/AHatInTime'' (UDK), and ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange2'' (Unreal 4).
* Creator/{{Valve|Corporation}} licensed the Quake engine from id Software and heavily modified it for their debut game, ''VideoGame/HalfLife1''. When some programmers wanted to continue modifying it while also preparing a release or "gold" build of the game, it was forked into the "[=GoldSrc=]" branch and the "Source" branch.
** Like [[TheseusShipParadox the Ship of Theseus]], the engine would be updated piece-by-piece and become the Source engine that powers ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'', ''VideoGame/CounterStrike: Source'', ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'', ''VideoGame/Portal1'', ''VideoGame/Portal2'', ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', ''VideoGame/Dota2'' (later upgraded to Source 2), ''VideoGame/GarrysMod'', ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'', ''VideoGame/PostalIII'', ''VideoGame/TheStanleyParable'', ''VideoGame/{{Titanfall}}'', ''VideoGame/Titanfall2'' and ''VideoGame/ApexLegends'' (heavily modified for the last three games).
** Source was succeeded by Source 2, employed for ''VideoGame/HalfLifeAlyx'', ''VideoGame/{{Artifact}}'', ''VideoGame/DotaUnderlords'' and ''[[VideoGame/CounterStrike Counter Strike 2]]'' (a in-engine replacement for [=CS:GO=]).
* The Torque Game Engine family by Creator/{{Dynamix}} (later, [[http://www.garagegames.com/ Garage Games]]), first developed for ''[[VideoGame/{{Tribes}} Tribes 2]]'' and later licensed out. It was one of the first affordable engines available to indie developers at a mere $100 in 2002. Powers ''VideoGame/{{Blockland}}'', ''VideoGame/FrozenSynapse'', ''VideoGame/MarbleBlastGold'', ''VideoGame/PennyArcadeAdventures'', ''VideoGame/SpacePiratesAndZombies'', ''VideoGame/ThinkTanks''. A neat feature about maps is that the terrain continues to loop beyond the edge of the map itself, resulting in you finding an exact copy of the map in any cardinal direction sans any "interior" (structure) objects. This makes maps theoretically infinite but travelling far enough from the spawn point causes characters and objects to jitter graphically.
** Later engines included Torque 2D and Torque 3D, the latter allowing even more versatile and flexible in game modification with examples like ''VideoGame/BeamNG.drive''. It still retains many of the admin/debug quirks such as the F11 edit mode and the F7/F8 Drop Player/Camera at Camera/Player.
* The [=NetImmerse/Gamebryo=] engine: ''VideoGame/{{Bully}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}}'', ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' from ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'' to ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'', ''VideoGame/WarhammerOnline'', ''VideoGame/FreedomForce'', ''VideoGame/Fallout3'', ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'', ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia3D'', ''VideoGame/DarkAgeOfCamelot'', ''VideoGame/SimonTheSorcerer 3D'', ''VideoGame/StarTrekBridgeCommander''. The Bethesda-published games have the engine significantly modified for their purposes.
* Creator/{{Infocom}}'s decades old Z-machine, still in use for InteractiveFiction.
* 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. Versions of it were used in ''Driller'', ''Dark Side'', ''Total Eclipse'' and Teque Software's ''Castle Master''.
* Crytek's [=CryEngine=] : ''VideoGame/FarCry1'', ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}'', ''VideoGame/RyseSonOfRome'', ''VideoGame/{{Aion}}'', ''[[VideoGame/MechWarrior MechWarrior Online]]'' and ''[=MechWarrior=] Living Legends'', ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterOnline'', ''VideoGame/StarCitizen'', ''VideoGame/StateOfDecay'', ''VideoGame/SonicBoom: Rise of Lyric'', ''[[VideoGame/TimeSplitters TimeSplitters Rewind]]''
* [=GameMaker=] (1999-present): Started out as a 2D animation program named Animo written by Dutch computer scientist and teacher Mark Overmars, which then slowly but steadily evolved into a GameMaker [[ADogNamedDog simply called]] "Game Maker". In 2007, after several years and six major releases of asking for donations and slowly paywalling advanced features in order to help support development, Mark partnered with the British company [=YoYo=] Games which has developed and supported the engine ever since. In 2012, it was remade with cross-platform support and rebranded as "[=GameMaker=] Studio", and its name has been ''almost'' reverted in 2022 when it was rebranded as "[=GameMaker=]" (this time in [=CamelCase=]). It is now technically complex enough to be considered a full-fledged 2D game engine, not a GameMaker. 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. Examples of games made with this engine include ''VideoGame/AnUntitledStory'', ''VideoGame/{{Iji}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'', ''VideoGame/HyperLightDrifter'', ''VideoGame/RivalsOfAether'', ''VideoGame/PizzaTower'', ''VideoGame/{{Imscared}}'', ''VideoGame/TwelveIsBetterThanSix'', games by Locomalito (including ''VideoGame/MalditaCastilla'' and ''VideoGame/{{Hydorah}}''), as well as earlier versions of ''VideoGame/{{Spelunky}}'' and ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami''.
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Build_engine Build engine]] (written by Ken Silverman), which was used in ''VideoGame/{{Witchaven}}'' (I and II), ''William Shatner's Tekwar'', ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'', the PC version of ''VideoGame/PowerSlave'', ''VideoGame/RedneckRampage'', ''VideoGame/{{Blood}}'', ''VideoGame/ShadowWarrior1997'', ''VideoGame/IonFury'' and a couple of lesser obscure games.
* Until their parent company Creator/ElectronicArts pushed them onto the Frostbite engine (see below), Creator/BioWare made a habit of making a new engine for each Next Big Thing they bring out (except ''Franchise/MassEffect'' and ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic''). The earlier ones have been licensed to other companies:
** Infinity Engine (1998-2002): Originally made for ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' (and sequel), but licensed to Creator/BlackIsleStudios for ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'', ''VideoGame/IcewindDale'' (and sequel) and ''VideoGame/LionheartLegacyOfTheCrusader'' (which actually used the very similar Velocity Engine).
** Aurora Engine (2002-2007): ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'', ''VideoGame/TheWitcher'' by Creator/CDProjektRED.
** Electron Engine (2006-ongoing): An offshoot of Aurora, used by Creator/ObsidianEntertainment for ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2''
** Odyssey Engine (2003-2005): ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' and [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords its sequel by Obsidian]]; also, they used a very similar engine for ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire''
** Eclipse Engine (2009-2011): ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' and ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening''. ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' uses a heavily upgraded version of EE codenamed "Lycium Engine".
[[index]]
* ''VideoGame/BuildYourOwnNetDream'' (BYOND): A 2D tile-based multiplayer game engine. Used by several games with articles on this wiki, with the most famous probably being ''VideoGame/MitadakeHigh'' and ''VideoGame/SpaceStation13''.
[[/index]]
* Serious Engine by Croteam (named for ''VideoGame/SeriousSam''):
** Serious Engine 1: ''Serious Sam'' (''VideoGame/SeriousSamTheFirstEncounter'' and ''VideoGame/SeriousSamTheSecondEncounter''), ''VideoGame/{{Carnivores}}: Cityscapes'', ''Deer Hunter 2003'', ''Bird Hunter 2003: Legendary Hunting'', ''Nitro Family'', ''Alpha Black Zero: Intrepid Protocol''
** Serious Engine 2: ''VideoGame/SeriousSamII''
** Serious Engine 3: The HD remakes of ''Serious Sam'', ''VideoGame/SeriousSam3BFE''
** Serious Engine 4: ''VideoGame/TheTalosPrinciple'', ''VideoGame/SeriousSam4''
* Platform/{{Roblox}} is a game platform itself, but has its own engine in which you can create any kind of game of your own dreams on the platform (which means there'll usually be blocky characters as players) with the software Roblox Studio. It's 3D, but can be used to create 2D games with enough GUI code. Roblox started off as a simple GameMaker where you could build simple games with blocks, but it grew powerful over time.
* The ''VideoGame/RobotOdyssey'' engine was also used in ''Think Quick!'', ''Gertrude's Secrets'' and ''Rocky's Boots''.
* [=PhyreEngine=], engine provided by Sony Computer Entertainment for developing Platform/{{PS3}}, PSP, Platform/PSVita, and (assumedly) Platform/{{PS4}} games. Version 3.70 was leaked to the internet so you too can learn what makes your favorite console games tick. Games built on this engine include: ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptunia'', ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'', ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'', the ''VideoGame/AtelierSeries'' from ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' to ''[[VideoGame/AtelierAyeshaTheAlchemistOfDusk Ayesha]]'', ''VideoGame/Disgaea4APromiseUnforgotten'', and ''VideoGame/Journey2012''. Support for targetting Microsoft's Platform/Xbox360 and Platform/XboxOne, Android, iOS, Platform/NintendoSwitch and even Windows was later added to the game engine, allowing games written on the engine to be easily ported to and from Sony's platform.
* For fans of {{MUD}}s and {{MUCK}}s, there are a plethora of different engines upon which one can build - and with enough work in scripting, one can even turn a MUCK into a MUD.
* ''[[http://www.clickteam.com/clickteam-fusion-2-5-details Clickteam Fusion]]'', formerly known as ''Multimedia Fusion'', formerly known as ''The Games Factory'', [[OverlyLongGag formerly known as]] ''Klik & Play'', developed by a French studio Clickteam. The bulk of the "programming" is done in the Event Screen for each level, which puts individual conditions into rows, and applies them to gameplay aspects and objects which have columns. The later iterations' functionality can be enhanced with various downloadable plug-ins. Games created with it include ''VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy'', ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet'', ''VideoGame/TheAngryVideoGameNerdAdventures'', ''VideoGame/WingsOfVi'' and the ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' series.
* ''[[https://godotengine.org/ Godot Engine]]'', originally an internal engine created and used by the Argentinian developer Okam Studio, released under the MIT license in early 2014. Notable games created with it include the [=iOS=] version of ''VideoGame/{{Deponia}}'', ''Tanks of Freedom'', ''VideoGame/CrueltySquad'', ''Kingdoms of the Dump'', ''EX Zodiac'', ''Your Only Move Is Hustle'', ''Brotato'', ''VideoGame/CassetteBeasts'', and ''[[VideoGame/SonicColors Sonic Colors Ultimate]]'', as well as [[https://okamgames.com/games-2/ Okam Studio's entire game library]].
* The Retro Engine by Christian "The Taxman" Whitehead is a game engine he developed while creating his own ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' fangame, ''Retro Sonic'', which was based on the original Genesis ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games and was notable for its accuracy towards those games instead of being a mod or ROM hack of an existing ''Sonic'' game. It was later used in a few other fan projects, ''Sonic XG'' and ''Sonic Nexus'', which would then be formed into ''Retro Sonic Nexus''. During 2009, Sega asked fans for suggestions of a game to be ported to the [=iOS=] devices, which Christian proposed with a proof-of-concept of a ''Sonic CD'' port using the Retro Engine running on an [=iPhone=]. Impressed by Christian's efforts, Sega hired him to develop an official remaster of ''Sonic CD'' and released it on [=PlayStation=] 3, Xbox 360, PC via Steam, and [=iOS=] and Android devices. The Retro Engine would later be used in collaboration with other ''Sonic'' community members such as Simon "Stealth" Thomley[[note]]Creator of the ''Knuckles the Echidna in Sonic 1'' and lead developer of the ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogMegamix'' ROM hacks; he also developed a proof-of-concept of a proper Game Boy Advance port of ''Sonic the Hedgehog''[[/note]] and [=PagodaWest=] Games[[note]]Comprising of former members of the ''Sonic 2 HD'' fan remake along with its composer, Tee Lopes[[/note]] in later projects with Sega. The engine has since led to the development of the Star Engine, a stylized HD 3D game engine named after the studio name Evening Star, which was founded during the development of ''Sonic Mania''.
** Retro Engine vRS: ''Retro Sonic''
** Retro Engine v1: ''Retro Sonic Nexus'' (''Sonic XG'' and ''Sonic Nexus'')
** Retro Engine v2: The 2011 remaster of ''VideoGame/SonicCD''
** Retro Engine [=vB=]: The 2013 remasters of ''VideoGame/{{Sonic the Hedgehog|1}}'' and ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2''
** Retro Engine v5: ''VideoGame/SonicMania'' and the 2022 remaster of ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles''
* UsefulNotes/TheModdingTree is a UsefulNotes/JavaScript-based engine that lets players develop ''VideoGame/PrestigeTree''-style game and other incrementals, with several features that didn't exist in the original. It's so well-made and comfortable to use that the original game's developer made a remake in it.
* [[https://github.com/moai/moai-dev The Moai Engine]], originally by Zipline Games. It's released under a Common Public Attribution License, meaning it's not fully Open Source, but nonetheless is Freeware. Some notable titles created using the engine include ''Crimson: Steam Pirates'' by Creator/{{Bungie}} and VideoGame/BrokenAge and VideoGame/SpacebaseDF9 by Creator/DoubleFine.
* ''Blender'' used to be able to be used as a game engine as well, and the main program once could be used as a Game Maker. The feature was deprecated due to very few people actually using Blender to write a whole game and the game engine functionality was gone by Blender 3. However, the few people who did care [[StartMyOwn forked the project]] and the end result is [[https://upbge.org/ UPBGE]].
!!Internally Developed Game Engines:
* Creator/{{Nintendo}} has had several proprietary engines over the years, and tend to be pretty secretive about them as well. However, details have been gleaned over time:
** Many of their older engines have no publicly-known names -- assuming they have names at all -- and thus are usually referred to by whichever game was the first identified to use them. For example, the Game Boy ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' games (''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening Link's Awakening]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames Oracle of Ages/Seasons]]'' is said to be using the ''VideoGame/ForTheFrogTheBellTolls'' engine; the Game Boy Advance ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' games (''[[VideoGame/MetroidFusion Fusion]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission Zero Mission]]'') use the ''VideoGame/WarioLand4'' engine; and ''VideoGame/StarFox64'' and ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' use the ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'' engine (which itself is a heavily modified version of the ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' engine.
** ''VideoGame/NintendoLand'', the first two games in the ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'' series, both ''VideoGame/SuperMarioMaker'' games, ''VideoGame/{{ARMS}}'', ''VideoGame/RingFitAdventure'', and ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewHorizons'' all use an engine that internal files refer to as [=LunchPack=].
** ''VideoGame/NintendoSwitchSports'', ''VideoGame/Splatoon3'', ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosWonder'' use an engine known through datamining as [=ModuleSystem=].
** The 3D ''Mario'' games, produced at Nintendo EPD Tokyo, have used some variation of a game engine known as [=ActionLibrary=] ever since ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy''. Creator/NintendoSoftwareTechnology would start using the engine for their own games, like ''VideoGame/FZero99'' and ''VideoGame/MarioVsDonkeyKong'', after becoming a support studio for the 3D ''Mario'' team.
** The [=NintendoWare=] Bezel Engine is used by Nintendo subsidiary Creator/NDCube for all their games from ''[[VideoGame/MarioParty Super Mario Party]]'' onward, and has also been used for titles such as ''VideoGame/Tetris99'' and the ''VideoGame/WarioWare'' series starting with ''VideoGame/WarioWareGetItTogether''.
** Creator/RetroStudios uses a proprietary engine called "RUDE" for all of their games, the first iteration of it dating back to the first ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime''. Creator/MonolithSoft and Creator/NextLevelGames similarly have their own proprietary engines that have seen continuous iteration.
* Starting with id Tech 5, Creator/IdSoftware stopped licensing out their engines, and kept them for their own use and that of other studios under their parent company Creator/{{Bethesda}}.
** id Tech 5: ''VideoGame/Rage2011'', ''VideoGame/Doom4'' (initially), ''VideoGame/WolfensteinTheNewOrder'', ''VideoGame/TheEvilWithin'', ''VideoGame/Dishonored2''
** id Tech 6: ''VideoGame/Doom2016'', ''VideoGame/WolfensteinIITheNewColossus''
** id Tech 7: ''VideoGame/DoomEternal''.
* {{Creator/Bethesda}}'s Creation Engine, used in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', and ''VideoGame/Fallout76''. Based on independent research, it appears to be derived from the same heavily modified Gamebryo engine Bethesda used since ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind''. It would later be succeeded by Creation Engine 2, which is used in ''VideoGame/{{Starfield}}''.
* Creator/{{Capcom}}:
** The MT Framework, used in games like ''VideoGame/DeadRising'', ''VideoGame/LostPlanet'', ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'', ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'', ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3'' and ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterWorld''. There's also a Mobile varient used for their handheld and mobile titles.
** The RE Engine, used in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil7'', ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2Remake'', ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Remake'', ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilVillage'' and ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4Remake''. It's also used for non-''Resident Evil'' titles like ''Capcom Arcade Stadium'' and its sequel, ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'', ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterRise'', ''[[VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection]]'' and ''VideoGame/StreetFighter6''.
* Creator/SquareEnix:
** Crystal Tools (originally called the White Engine): ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'', ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'', ''VideoGame/LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII'', ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV''[[note]]Version 1.0 only. For version 2.0 (A.K.A "A Realm Reborn"), the game was completely rebuilt under a completely different engine partially based on Luminous.[[/note]]
** Luminous Engine: ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'', ''VideoGame/{{Forspoken}}''
** Crystal Engine, which was used in the Creator/SquareEnix-published games ''VideoGame/TombRaiderLegend'' and ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution''. Not to be confused with Crystal Tools. [[note]]The tool is named after Square-Enix subsidiary Creator/CrystalDynamics, where the post-Creator/CoreDesign Tomb Raider titles are created[[/note]]
* ''VideoGame/MenOfWar'' has the GEM Engine, previously used for the prequel ''Faces of War''.
* Lithtech: every Creator/MonolithProductions game since October 1998. Was infamous in its early days for being licensed out for cheap budget titles.
** Lithtech 1.0: ''VideoGame/ShogoMobileArmorDivision'', ''VideoGame/{{Blood}} II: The Chosen''. 1.5 licensed for ''VideoGame/KissPsychoCircusTheNightmareChild''.
** Lithtech 2.0/2.2: ''VideoGame/NoOneLivesForever'', ''VideoGame/SanityAikensArtifact''. Licensed for ''Legends of Might and Magic'' and ''Franchise/DieHard: Nakatomi Plaza''.
** [=RealArcade=] Lithtech (in conjunction with [=RealNetworks=]): ''Tex Atomic's Big Bot Battles''
** Lithtech Talon: ''VideoGame/AliensVsPredator2''. Licensed for ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic IX''.
** Lithtech 3.0: the {{Vaporware}} ''Shogo II''
** Lithtech Jupiter: ''VideoGame/NoOneLivesForever 2'', ''Contract J.A.C.K.'', ''VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh''. Licensed for ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorPacificAssault'', ''VideoGame/WolfTeam'', ''VideoGame/CrossFire'' and ''VideoGame/CombatArms''.
** Lithtech Discovery: ''VideoGame/TheMatrixOnline''
** Lithtech Jupiter EX: ''VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon'', ''VideoGame/CondemnedCriminalOrigins'', ''VideoGame/Condemned2Bloodshot'', ''VideoGame/GothamCityImpostors'', ''VideoGame/MiddleEarthShadowOfMordor''.
** Lithtech Firebird: ''VideoGame/MiddleEarthShadowOfWar''
* The [[Creator/TakeTwoInteractive Rockstar]] Advanced Game Engine ([[FunWithAcronyms RAGE]]), which is used in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'', ''VideoGame/MidnightClub: Los Angeles'', ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'', ''VideoGame/MaxPayne3'', ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'', and ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2''. Was first used to make [[CreatorsOddball a table tennis game]].
* The Dark Engine created by Creator/LookingGlassStudios and used in ''VideoGame/ThiefTheDarkProject'', ''VideoGame/ThiefIITheMetalAge'' and ''VideoGame/SystemShock2''.
* [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Hedgehog]] Engine by Creator/{{Sega}}'s Creator/SonicTeam: An engine built to render CGI-quality graphics using global illumination (allowing for complex lighting and directional shadows) very quickly. Used in the HD versions of ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'', ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'' and ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld''. An improved version of the engine, dubbed "Hedgehog Engine 2", was used in ''VideoGame/SonicForces'' and ''VideoGame/SakuraWars2019''.
* Dragon Engine by Creator/RyuGaGotokuStudio: An engine made to take full advantage of the [=PlayStation=] 4's technical prowess for the ''VideoGame/LikeADragon'' series (hence the engine name). Used in ''VideoGame/Yakuza6'', ''VideoGame/YakuzaKiwami2'', ''VideoGame/{{Judgment}}'', ''VideoGame/YakuzaLikeADragon'', ''VideoGame/LostJudgment'', ''VideoGame/LikeADragonGaidenTheManWhoErasedHisName'', and ''VideoGame/LikeADragonInfiniteWealth''.
* Frostbite by Creator/{{DICE}}: Initially used for the ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield}}'' series (from ''Battlefield 1943'' onwards), ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed: [[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedTheRun The Run]]'' and the ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor'' reboot's multiplayer, in 2013, DICE's parent company Creator/ElectronicArts made a [[http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/19/electronic-arts-frostbite-battlefield-mass-effect/ strategic decision]] to move nearly all of its studios' internal development onto the Frostbite rails, even the less shooter-y games like ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition''.
* [=UbiArt=] Framework by Creator/{{Ubisoft}}: ''VideoGame/RaymanOrigins'', ''VideoGame/ChildOfLight'', ''VideoGame/ValiantHearts''
* Snowdrop, also by Ubisoft: ''VideoGame/TheDivision'', ''VideoGame/MarioPlusRabbidsKingdomBattle'', ''VideoGame/SouthParkTheFracturedButWhole'', ''VideoGame/StarlinkBattleForAtlas''
* Creator/LucasArts also has the following, besides SCUMM:
** Grim Engine ([=GrimE=]): ''VideoGame/GrimFandango'', ''VideoGame/EscapeFromMonkeyIsland''
** Jedi Engine: '' Star Wars: VideoGame/DarkForces'', ''VideoGame/{{Outlaws}}''
** Sith Engine: ''Star Wars: VideoGame/JediKnightDarkForcesII'', ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheInfernalMachine'' (which used a modified Sith engine, called the Jones Engine)
* Terminal Reality's Infernal Engine: created for ''VideoGame/GhostbustersTheVideoGame''; licensed for ''Def Jam: Rapstar'', the Wii version of''VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed II'' and ''VideoGame/MushroomMen: The Spore Wars''.
** Terminal Reality's Nocturne Engine: created for ''VideoGame/Nocturne1999''; licensed for ''VideoGame/AloneInTheDarkTheNewNightmare''.
* SSI's VideoGame/GoldBox engine, used for numerous ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' and ''ComicStrip/BuckRogers'' games.
* The Filmation engine, created by Ultimate Play the Game (now Creator/{{Rare}}) and used in their IsometricProjection games ''Knight Lore'', ''Alien 8'' and ''Pentagram''. Its more action-oriented successor Filmation II was used in ''Nightshade'' and ''Gunfright''.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Crusader}}'' games reused the engine from ''VideoGame/UltimaVIII''.
* The "Vision" engine from ''VideoGame/WingCommander Prophecy'' was developed in part to be easily modified. In addition to being used in the sequel, ''Wing Commander Secret Ops'', it's also the basis of several fan {{Game Mod}}s due to the aforementioned ease of modification.
* The HPL Engine (named after Creator/HPLovecraft) by Creator/FrictionalGames:
** HPL Engine 1: ''VideoGame/{{Penumbra}}'' franchise. [=HPL1=] was released as open source to the public in 2010.
** HPL Engine 2: ''VideoGame/{{Amnesia|TheDarkDescent}}'' franchise
** HPL Engine 3: ''VideoGame/{{SOMA}}''
* Lobotomy Software's Slavedriver engine, which was used in the Platform/SegaSaturn versions of ''VideoGame/PowerSlave'', ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'' and ''VideoGame/QuakeI''. Known for being one of the few pieces of software specifically optimized for the unusual 2D graphics-orientated hardware of the Saturn, which allowed Lobotomy to do 3D things on the console that other developers wouldn't dream of.
* [[Creator/ThreeDRealms Apogee Software]] reused the ''VideoGame/CrystalCaves'' engine in ''VideoGame/SecretAgent''.
* Most of Creator/{{Sierra}}'s adventure games were based on AGI (Adventure Game Interpreter) or its successor SCI (Script Code Interpreter/Sierra's Creative Interpreter), which went through several revisions. ''VideoGame/KingsQuestIVThePerilsOfRosella'' marked the transition, and several AGI games were later remade for SCI.
* The Diesel Engine, originally created by the developer GRIN, and used for all of their games like ''VideoGame/BanditsPhoenixRising'', the PC versions of ''VideoGame/GhostReconAdvancedWarfighter'', and the ''VideoGame/BionicCommando'' remake. Overkill Software, headed by the same people after GRIN's bankruptcy, continues using the engine for ''VideoGame/PaydayTheHeist'' and ''VideoGame/Payday2''. The way the engine is composed makes it ''very'' difficult for a casual modder to work with (mostly due to how the models are rendered and how they are bundled to be used by the game), hence why the developers haven't released a friendly modding tool yet. Granted, the more dedicated modder can easily modify the game's files, as the lua code is pretty easy to decrypt and use. The Windows version uses a 32-bit version of the engine, and the Linux port of ''Payday 2'' uses a 64-bit version of the engine, which essentially means that the Linux port doesn't suffer from the same memory issues Windows users have. The engine is also used in ''VideoGame/RAIDWorldWarII'' by Lion Game Lion, which is composed of former Overkill devs.
* Creator/CyberConnect2 has a special "Sensible Art Innovation" Engine that they made for the [[MediaNotes/TheSeventhGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames seventh generation of consoles]] onward. It was first used for the ''VideoGame/DotHackGu'' trilogy movie, and has been used for all future ''Franchise/DotHack'' installments and related projects on consoles, as well as their ''VideoGame/NarutoUltimateNinjaStorm'' installments. However, some of the company's titles from the mid-2010s onward (such as ''VideoGame/AsurasWrath'', ''VideoGame/DragonBallZKakarot'', ''VideoGame/FugaMelodiesOfSteel'' and ''VideoGame/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaibaTheHinokamiChronicles'') have used the Unreal Engine instead.
* Neversoft had an engine best known for its use in the ''VideoGame/TonyHawksProSkater'' series, though it was originally developed for ''VideoGame/{{Apocalypse}}''.
* The X-Ray engine, created by Creator/GSCGameWorld and used in the ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' series.
* ''Striker in the Crypt of Trogan'' reused the engine of the Platform/ZXSpectrum and Platform/AmstradCPC ports of ''VideoGame/{{Switchblade}}''.
* David Perry's Global Gladiators engine, used in ''Mick and Mack as the Global Gladiators'', ''VideoGame/CoolSpot'', ''VideoGame/AladdinVirginGames'', ''VideoGame/EarthwormJim'' and ''Earthworm Jim 2''. The Genesis version of ''ComicBook/RobocopVersusTheTerminator'' also used Perry's engine, despite the game not being developed by him.
* ''VideoGame/{{Dreams}}'' is practically a game engine unto itself, being extremely powerful with a wide range of options available for building scenes, tinkering with logic and AI, making music, and so forth. It is also extremely user-friendly, with the engine's full functionality available to anyone with a [=DualShock=] 4 controller, or two PS Move controllers in tandem.
* Creator/DigitalExtremes made the Evolution engine, which they used for ''VideoGame/DarkSector'', ''VideoGame/StarTrekTheVideoGame'', ''VideoGame/TheDarkness II'' and ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}''.
* 4A Games' eponymous 4A Engine, used for the ''{{Franchise/Metro}}'' series of FPS games (2010's ''2033'', 2013's ''Last Light'', and 2019's ''Exodus'').
* Ensemble Studios' Genie Engine, owned by Creator/XboxGameStudios: ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresI'' and ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresII'' (further modified for their modern system {{updated rerelease}}s long after Ensemble's folding); licensed for ''VideoGame/StarWarsGalacticBattlegrounds''.
* Creator/CDProjekt's [=REDengine=], first used for ''VideoGame/TheWitcher2AssassinsOfKings''. The latest version, [=REDengine=] 4, is used for ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077''.
* Creator/GuerrillaGames developed their proprietary game engine for ''VideoGame/KillzoneShadowFall''. The same engine powered their later breakout success, ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn''. After licensing the engine for Creator/KojimaProductions to be used in ''VideoGame/DeathStranding'', they had to chose a name for marketing purposes as their internal name "the engine" wouldn't cut it. They named it Decima after the island of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dejima Dejima]] which used to host a Dutch trading post in Japan (Guerrilla Games is based in Amsterdam). An updated version of the engine is going to power Guerrilla's upcoming ''VideoGame/HorizonForbiddenWest''.
* After using Sony's [=PhyreEngine=] for several years, Creator/{{Falcom}} decided that it has had enough with the engine's shortcomings and decided to write their own for the next game in the VideoGame/TrailsSeries, ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsThroughDaybreak''.
* Creator/Turn10Studios' [=ForzaTech=], used for their ''VideoGame/{{Forza}} Motorsport'' series and later adapted for open worlds in its sister series, Creator/PlaygroundGames' ''Forza Horizon''. Playground will also use the engine in the upcoming ''VideoGame/{{Fable}}'' reboot.
* Gray Matter's games all use variants on the same engine: ''Wayne's World'', ''James Bond Jr.'', ''The Terminator'', ''The Incredible Crash Dummies'', ''Ren & Stimpy: Veediots!'' and ''[[VideoGame/BOB1993 B.O.B]]''
* Mortar by Creator/HalfbrickStudios, originally created for Platform/PlayStationPortable ports of their ''Halfbrick Fridays'' games, and used for many of their later projects, including ''VideoGame/FruitNinja'', ''VideoGame/MonsterDash'' [[note]]Before both would switch to Unity in 2020[[/note]], ''VideoGame/JetpackJoyride'', ''VideoGame/ColossatronMassiveWorldThreat'', ''WebAnimation/DanTheMan'' and ''VideoGame/BattleRacingStars''.
* ''VideoGame/HeadOverHeels'' took the engine of the isometric ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' LicensedGame and adapted it to work with two player characters.
* Creator/{{Broderbund}} had their own flexible engine which they use for a large number of their titles called the ''Mohawk Engine''. The engine has been used for everything ranging from the Windows ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'' port and point-and-click adventures like the ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}} Adventure Game'' to the ''VideoGame/LivingBooks'' titles and even the ''Franchise/CarmenSandiego'' games. It is also fairly easy to tell if a title is using the engine- those titles will have the titular .MHK files scattered all over the CD.
* Creator/{{Bungie}} has the ''Blam Engine'' which was used for the mainstream ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' games up until ''VideoGame/Halo2''. The Blam Engine also saw use on ''VideoGame/StubbsTheZombie'' by Wideload Games (founded by Bungie co-founder Alex Seropian), which they proudly advertised on the game's box as "Built with the Halo Engine". A upgraded version of the engine called the ''Midnight Engine'' was used from ''VideoGame/Halo3'' up until ''VideoGame/Halo5'', and a further upgraded version of the engine called the ''Tiger Engine'' was used for the VideoGame/{{Destiny}} series of games. A fork of the engine hybridized with the ''[=Saber3D=] engine'' was used for the anniversary edition of the first two Halo games.
* Creator/ThreeFourThreeIndustries created a new engine, the ''Slipspace Engine'', for use with future Halo games after releasing Halo 5. It was initially used in VideoGame/HaloInfinite.
* Creator/{{Konami}} used a modified version of Creator/HideoKojima's VideoGame/MetalGear engine for VideoGame/MissionImpossibleKonami.
!!Things That Are Commonly Called Engines But Aren't:
* [[http://www.havok.com/ The Havok "Engine"]]. This is not an engine; [[WreakingHavok it is a physics library.]]
* [=RenderWare=], developed by Creator/CriterionGames and bought out by Creator/ElectronicArts (notable for making Platform/PlayStation2 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 ''VideoGame/{{Burnout}}'' (Criterion's flagship series), ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' (''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII III]]'', ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity Vice City]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas San Andreas]]''), ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' and ''VideoGame/SpongeBobSquarePantsBattleForBikiniBottom''. It is no longer actively used; Criterion's last game to use [=RenderWare=] was ''VideoGame/BurnoutParadise'' (2008) and ''Burnout Paradise Remastered'' (2018), the latter's use making it the only [=RenderWare=] game on Platform/PlayStation4, Platform/XboxOne and Platform/NintendoSwitch. ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'' (2009) was the last original EA title to use it, ''VideoGame/Persona4 Golden'' for the [=PlayStation=] Vita was the last game to use the vanilla [=RenderWare=], and Taiwanese game ''Chinese Paladin 5 Prequel'' (2013) was the last to use any version of [=RenderWare=] (it used a modified version).
* [=Cocos2d=] (along with its cross-platform offshoot, [=Cocos2d-X=]) (2008-present)): It is commonly used for making UsefulNotes/IOSGames, but like [=RenderWare=] above, it is ''not'' an engine in the above definition.
* The ''[=Box2D=]'' engine. It isn't necessarily a "game" engine more so a stand-alone ''physics'' engine made to make game making easier.
* Old Platform/AppleMacintosh users might remember the Sprite Animation Toolkit (SAT), which was a 2D animation code library, though not a complete game engine.
* SDL and SFML are commonly mistaken for game engines, but they are actually multimedia libraries which can be used to make engines.[[note]]The former was initially developed to make it possible to ''port'' game engines that use UsefulNotes/DirectX exclusively and thus is used for porting Windows games over to *nix.[[/note]]
* XNA and its open source implementation [=MonoGame=] are not engines but frameworks for creating games and engines using .NET/Mono languages like C# and Visual Basic.
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