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Just a question about what exactly a game engine is... i've never really tried to make a game, or done anything that would require something more advanced, but i just need to get what an engine is straight...

So, what is an engine? Would blender 3d be considered a modeling engine? or, say, if the tools in blender were put into .dll format, then would that be an engine?

This question is so tough to answer. Simply because a game engine doesn't have any one true definition. We all know what it is, or what they are, and we could even give you link upon link to numerous engines. Yet any one description someone tries to give doesn't really get any closer to answering your question. There are so many variations of what is needed for something to be considered an engine.

So, here is a general wiki link to get you started.

There are a number of good links at gamedev.net and gamasutra.com as well as books on game engine design.

Zenassem is right. There is not one right definition for a game engine. Some would say that DBP is a game engine, but some would say that it's just a DirectX wrapper in BASIC. When I'm making game engines in DBP and what not I usually make them very high-level, in other words they do a LOT of the work for me. However for this reason, I can only usually use them for like one game and its sequel before I must make a new one. Some people prefer to make them much more flexible so they can use them for several different projects. Also, take note that a game engine is not necessarily just a library of functions or something that you can only use if you're programming; most of the time game engines have tools (such as CryEngine's Sandbox) and sometimes they ARE tools (such as FPS Creator).

To answer your question, actually Blender DOES contain an engine: Blender Game Engine. But BGE does not run Blender, and Blender in itself is not an engine.

You did a much better job of answering it AndrewT!!!

In fact you said what I wanted to say...

Or, at least after reading what you wrote... It's what I wanted to say!