Grafic or game engine

[joy]

Hi I have a general question about Irrlicht.
I remember someone said that Irrlicht is not a game but "only" a grafic engine because it doesn't support multiplayer mode.
I read that a grafic engine is a subset of a game engine although most of the people use these terms as synonyms. Grafic engines are for example quake and doom.
But I don't understand exactly where the difference between grafic and game engines are. And is it true that Irrlicht is a grafic engine and not a game engine?

[VeneX]

Irrlicht doesn't support networking, and for audio and physics you should use other engines, too. The engine is only for rendering graphics so it is an graphics engine. Doom and Quake are game engines, bescause to make a game the only engine you need is that one.

[Serg Nechaeff]

irrlicht rulez!!!

[saigumi]

Grafic engines are for example quake and doom.

Doom and Quake are not graphic engines.

A graphic engine only does graphics. Not networking, not sound, not physics, not input, just graphics.

Irrlicht is 75% a graphic engine with lightweight physics and input (which can be removed).

The Quake and Doom engines are Game Engines as they include all the parts needed to make a game.

[joy]

Thank you for your reply. I read that Quake and Doom were graphic engines at wikipedia, thats why I was wondering. I was looking for engine definitions in the internet and just found the one in wikipedia and was confused. But it makes sense what you say

[joy]

So why would you choose a graphic engine to develop a game? Are there no open source game engines then? (I know that there were already dicussions why you all use irrlicht : because it is quite easy to learn and well documented)

[bal]

So why would you choose a graphic engine to develop a game? Are there no open source game engines then? (I know that there were already dicussions why you all use irrlicht : because it is quite easy to learn and well documented)

And it's fast. And you're able to choose what physics engine, what sound engine you want. So if you're not happy with the built-in engine of the game engine, you almost can't change it.

[Tyn]

So why would you choose a graphic engine to develop a game?

Because having someone dictate what your game structure will takes away flexability ( and fun! ). By using a graphics engine you are doing the game stuff your own way, not worrying particully about how you are going to render the scene because it's all been sorted out for you. Your game is still your game and noone has dictated what you can and can't do in your game but the nitty gritty is done for you.

Plus, to use a game engine like Quake or Unreal you have to understand how the code is created and what it all does. Using a graphics engine you never need to worry about it, you create your own stuff so you never really have code you don't understand.

[joy]

And in the case you need a multiple player mode can you add an other engine for that or is it recommended to use a game engine then? (just interested)

Does someone knows a good webpage where I can read the development history of game and grafic engine to get deeper into that issue and be more informed?
And I know that Niko started to develop Irrlicht, but I couldn'd find, when he started the engine and when the first time was , when also other people started to use it (sometime last summer ?). I am very curious to know that.

[saigumi]

From Sourceforge:

Project UNIX name: irrlicht
Registered: 2003-02-18 02:41

Instead of the word engine, think library.

There is a huge list in the howto, toolists, etc forum. RakNet is one of many possible networking libraries.

[joy]

@Niko: When did you start to develop the engine ? I mean how long did you work on the engine befor you registered it in Feb. 2003?