Game Engine - Definition, Purpose and Lists of Best Game Engines

Definition

A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. The leading game engines provide a software framework that developers use to create games for video game consoles and personal computers. The core functionality typically provided by a game engine includes a rendering engine (“renderer”) for 2D or 3D graphics, a physics engine or collision detection (and collision response), sound, scripting, animation, artificial intelligence, networking, streaming, memory management, threading, localization support, and a scene graph. The process of game development is often economized, in large part, by reusing/adapting the same game engine to create different games,

Purpose

    Game engines provide a suite of visual development tools in addition to reusable software components. These tools are generally provided in an integrated development environment to enable simplified, rapid development of games in a data-driven manner. Game engine developers attempt to "pre-invent the wheel" by developing robust software suites which include many elements a game developer may need to build a game. Most game engine suites provide facilities that ease development, such as graphics, sound, physics and AI functions. These game engines are sometimes called "middleware" because, as with the business sense of the term, they provide a flexible and reusable software platform which provides all the core functionality needed, right out of the box, to develop a game application while reducing costs, complexities, and time-to-market—all critical factors in the highly competitive video game industry. Gamebryo, JMonkey Engine and RenderWare are such widely used middleware programs.

      Like other middleware solutions, game engines usually provide platform abstraction, allowing the same game to be run on various platforms including game consoles and personal computers with few, if any, changes made to the game source code. Often, game engines are designed with a component-based architecture that allows specific systems in the engine to be replaced or extended with more specialized (and often more expensive) game middleware components such as Havok for physics, Miles Sound System for sound, or Bink for Video. Some game engines such as RenderWare are even designed as a series of loosely connected game middleware components that can be selectively combined to create a custom engine, instead of the more common approach of extending or customizing a flexible integrated solution. However extensibility is achieved, it remains a high priority in games engines due to the wide variety of uses for which they are applied. Despite the specificity of the name, game engines are often used for other kinds of interactive applications with real-time graphical needs such as marketing demos, architectural visualizations, training simulations, and modeling environments

List of 14 Best Game Engines (Alphabetically order) :

1. App Game Kit

Company: The Game Creators

Platforms: Android, iOS, Mac, PC

Used in: Cannon Ball, Hide It Find It, Jumping Jack

2. BigWorld

Company: Wargaming

Platforms: Browser, PC

Used in: World of Tanks, Grandia Online, Heroes: Scions of Phoenix, Moego, Realm of the Titans

3. BlitzTech

Company: Blitz Games Studios
Platforms: 3DS, Android, iOS, Linux, Mac, PC, PS3, PS Vita, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360
Used in: House of the Dead: Overkill, Rayman Raving Rabbids, Puss in Boots, Kumo Lumo, Vitalize

4. CryEngine 3

Company: Crytek

Platforms: Next-gen consoles, PC, PS3, Xbox 360

Used in (All versions): Crysis, Aion, MechWarrior Online, Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2, Cabal Online 2

5. GameBryo

Company: Gamebase USA

Platforms: Android, iOS, PC, PS3, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360

Used in: Catherine, El Shaddai, Epic Mickey, Rocksmith, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning

6. GameMaker

Company: YoYo Games

Platforms: Android, Browser, iOS, Mac, PC, Windows Phone

Used in: Hotline Miami, Mr Karoshi, Reflexions, Spelunky

7. HeroEngine

Company: Idea Fabrik

Platforms: PC

Used in: Star Wars: The Old Republic

8. Havok Vision Engine

Company: Havok

Platforms: Android, iOS, Linux, Mac, PC, PS3, PS Vita, Wii, Wii U, Windows Phone, Xbox 360

Used in: Arcania: Gothic 4, Carnival Island, Orcs Must Die!, The Settlers 7, Soul Worker

9. Infernal Engine

Company: Terminal Reality
Platforms: 3DS, Android, iOS, Linux, Mac, PC, PS3, PS Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360
Used in: Ghostbusters: The Video Game, Kinect Star Wars, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct

10. Marmalade

Company: Marmalade
Platform: Android, BlackBerry OS, iOS, Mac, PC, Smart TVs, Windows Phone
Used in: Call of Duty: Black Ops – Zombies, Cut the Rope, Draw Something, Pro Evolution Soccer, Talisman

11. Rapid2D

Company: Rapid2D
Platforms: PC
Used in: Keep Calm and Kill Aliens, London Breaker, Royal Pigeon

12. Shiva

Company: Stonetrip
Platforms: Android, BlackBerry OS, Browser, Flash, iOS, Linux, Mac, PC, PS3, Wii, Windows Phone, Xbox 360
Used in: Babel Rising, Non Flying Soldiers

13. Unity 4

Company: Unity Technologies
Platform: Android, Browser, Flash, iOS, Linux, Mac, PC, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360
Used in (Any version): Bad Piggies, Castle Story, Dead Trigger 2, République, Wasteland 2

14. Unreal Engine 4 

Company: Epic Games

Platforms (UE4): Consoles (TBA), PC, PS4

Used in (UE3): Gears of War, Infinity Blade, Mass Effect, Dishonored, BioShock Infinite