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I'd call something an engine if it were reasonably general and could be repurposed. In the same way I can take the engine out of one car and plumb it into anoth

I'd call something an engine if it were reasonably general and could be repurposed. In the same way I can take the engine out of one car and plumb it into another. I'd also say an engine has to provide a relatively complete set of functionality otherwise you're building a library or framework. SDL as a classic example of that. I also think it's fine to think in terms of the game you're making between "game stuff" and "engine stuff" where the "engine stuff" is essentially things that could reasonably be repurposed. In the example of The Witness I'd not call it anything as it doesn't exist separately to it as far as I'm aware. I'd still understand someone who referred to it as the game engine though. The main point IMO is that making an engine implies more than just making the tech needed to power a game.

klodolph 7y ago
> The main point IMO is that making an engine implies more than just making the tech needed to power a game. Then I think we have a very fundamental disagreement here. Your definition for “engine” is definitely not mine. If we can’t talk about the engine for The Witness we are at a loss, because there isn’t a different word that we could reasonably use, besides “engine”.
- meheleventyone 7y ago
  I said I’d understand if you talked about the engine of The Witness. I think that is a fairly common colloquial expression. Engine is a fairly fuzzy concept at best. That you think there isn’t a different word like ‘tech’, ‘framework’, ‘libraries’ or the myriad of alternatives is by the by. For example some of the framework for The Witness was ported to Jai for the sokoban game Thekla is working on.