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

Think of it like a motored vehicle. You have an engine which is attached to whatever you want to do with the motion it generates. You can add some wheels ant turn it to a car, or add some spinning blades and wings to turn it to a plane. The videogames would be the car and the plane, but both are using the same engine for different purposes.