What is an “engine” in video games

Question

I hear it everywherere “this game is gonna use that engine” … Google doesn’t seem to give me a good explanation, so here I am…

In: 1094

Answer 1

It is similar to cooking. If I buy an already made lasagna, and add an extra layer of cheese, I used the ‘engine’ of someone else doing the majority of it and added a small change. If I made everything from scratch, from the noodles to the sauce, then I created something from a recipe. When doing this method, it takes more time and effort, but also have control of all the details which can have larger impacts.