Elements of game technology: game engines.

Gaming engines are the fundamental source of any project. There are several around which serve different purposes and offer unique benefits to their operators. Take the Unreal engine for example, As a student I have hands on experience with this software but I was never fully aware of its functionality until I performed a little research. It is often seen as a leading engine, used in a number of blockbuster and Indie titles on the market such as Gears of War, BioShock, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Mass Effect. The Unreal Engine is widely known for its licensing option. Many gaming engines do not provide an editor never mind make it commercially accessible to the public. It provides its audience with instant access to Industry standard tools and capabilities, narrowing the distance between developer and consumer. As well as being available so easily, unreal has a high degree of portability, is available on a number of different gaming platforms and capable of utilizing the latest texture and shader techniques.

As popular as Unreal is, there are other engine platforms which provide a completely different service that Epic cannot provide. For example Cryteks, Cryengine which offers a wide amount of options for sandbox based games and gameplay, along with a vast array of lighting and shader support. Often seen as the most visually impressive engine on the market.

Other Engines such as Rockstars RAGE and Valves Source offer similar services but they each diversify in particular areas of development to produce games different to their competitors. Personally I find that an engine which is the most accessible for people, offering tools to create games that are only limited to the operators imagination, the most efficient on the market.