Ok, for example....
A car has an engine (well most do) right? Could it function without the engine? The engine in a car regulates and tells the rest of the car what to do right?
Ok, well in a game's case, the engine is made up of code, instead of car parts heh.
You
could say it is parameters or a set of rules for a game, but it is more than just that. It is not just one thing, it has many parts.
It is the way the graphics are displayed, how the menus work, the ai, the level system, the physics, and etc.
Depending on what kind of game you make your engine would need different things. Say, for instance, that you wanted to build a FPS (first person shooter).
This engine would need code for...
1.) Movement(straffing, climbing, crouching)
2.) Shooting/Explosion (there is the physiscs)
3.) Enemy AI
4.) Taking damage (self/enemies)
5.) A menu layout (options, items, inventory)
This is coming from the top of my head right now heh, I'm sure I missed a few things. If you need anymore help, email me:
epidemicz@myrealbox.com
I am the very disease you pretend to be.