Game engine

As game engine technology matures and becomes more user friendly, the application of game engines has widened in scope. They are now used for [[serious game]]s: visualization, training, medical, and [[military simulation]] applications, with the [[CryEngine]] being one example.{{cite web |url=http://www.gazette.net/stories/083107/businew11739_32356.shtml |title=Video Games Starting to Get Serious |publisher=Gazette.net |date=2007-08-31 |access-date=2011-01-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203174009/http://www.gazette.net/stories/083107/businew11739_32356.shtml |archive-date=2008-12-03 |url-status=dead}} To improve accessibility, new hardware platforms are also now targeted by game engines, including [[mobile phone]]s (e.g. [[Android (operating system)|Android]], [[iPhone]]) and [[web browser]]s. (e.g. [[WebGL]], [[Adobe Shockwave|Shockwave]], [[Adobe Flash|Flash]], [[Trinigy]]'s WebVision, [[Silverlight]], [[Unity Web Player]], [[O3D]] and pure [[DHTML]].){{cite web |url=http://www.m-trends.org/2008/01/mobile-and-wireless-trends-for-2008.html |title=Gaming: Mobile and Wireless Trends for 2008 |publisher=M-trends.org |access-date=2011-01-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110108073502/http://www.m-trends.org/2008/01/mobile-and-wireless-trends-for-2008.html |archive-date=2011-01-08}}

As game engine technology matures and becomes more user friendly, the application of game engines has widened in scope. They are now used for [[serious game]]s: visualization, training, medical, and [[military simulation]] applications, with the [[CryEngine]] being one example.{{cite web |url=http://www.gazette.net/stories/083107/businew11739_32356.shtml |title=Video Games Starting to Get Serious |publisher=Gazette.net |date=2007-08-31 |access-date=2011-01-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203174009/http://www.gazette.net/stories/083107/businew11739_32356.shtml |archive-date=2008-12-03 |url-status=dead}} To improve accessibility, new hardware platforms are also now targeted by game engines, including [[mobile phone]]s (e.g. [[Android (operating system)|Android]], [[iPhone]]) and [[web browser]]s. (e.g. [[WebGL]], [[Adobe Shockwave|Shockwave]], [[Adobe Flash|Flash]], [[Trinigy]]'s WebVision, [[Silverlight]], [[Unity Web Player]], [[O3D]] and pure [[DHTML]].){{cite web |url=http://www.m-trends.org/2008/01/mobile-and-wireless-trends-for-2008.html |title=Gaming: Mobile and Wireless Trends for 2008 |publisher=M-trends.org |access-date=2011-01-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110108073502/http://www.m-trends.org/2008/01/mobile-and-wireless-trends-for-2008.html |archive-date=2011-01-08}}

Additionally, more game engines are being built upon [[high-level programming language|higher-level languages]], such as [[Java (programming language)|Java]], [[C Sharp (programming language)|C#]] and [[.NET Framework|.NET]] (e.g., [[Torque Game Engine|TorqueX]], and [[Visual3D.NET]]), [[Python (programming language)|Python]] ([[Panda3D]]), or [[Lua (programming language)|Lua Script]] (Leadwerks). As most 3D-rich games are now mostly limited by the power of a graphics card, the potential slowdown due to translation overheads of higher-level languages becomes negligible, while productivity gains offered by these languages serve the game engine developers' benefit.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-vifhqAi0SEC&q=gpu-limited+games&pg=PA338 |title=3D Game Engine Programming (book) |isbn=9781592003518 |access-date=2011-01-17|last1=Zerbst |first1=Stefan |last2=Düvel |first2=Oliver |year=2004|publisher=Premier Press }} These recent trends are being propelled by companies such as [[Microsoft]] to support [[independent game development|indie]] game development. Microsoft developed [[Microsoft XNA|XNA]] as the primary [[Software development kit|Software Development Kit]] (SDK) for all video games released on Xbox and their related products. This includes the [[Xbox Live Indie Games]]{{cite web|url=http://www.xboxlivecommunitygames.org/ |title=xboxlivecommunitygames.org |publisher=xboxlivecommunitygames.org |access-date=2013-11-24}} channel designed specifically for smaller developers who do not have the extensive resources necessary to box games for sale on retail shelves. It is becoming easier and cheaper than ever to develop game engines for platforms that support [[managed code|managed]] frameworks.{{cite web | title = Microsoft to Enable User-Created XBox 360 Games | url=http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=10458 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130102181027/http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=10458 | url-status=dead | archive-date=January 2, 2013 | access-date=2017-05-05}}

Additionally, more game engines are being built upon [[high-level programming language|higher-level languages]], such as [[Java (programming language)|Java]], [[C Sharp (programming language)|C#]] and [[.NET Framework|.NET]] (e.g., [[Torque Game Engine|TorqueX]], and [[Visual3D.NET]]), [[Python (programming language)|Python]] ([[Panda3D]]), or [[Lua (programming language)|Lua Script]] (Leadwerks). As most 3D-rich games are now mostly limited by the power of a graphics card, the potential slowdown due to translation overheads of higher-level languages becomes negligible, while productivity gains offered by these languages serve the game engine developers' benefit.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-vifhqAi0SEC&q=gpu-limited+games&pg=PA338 |title=3D Game Engine Programming (book) |isbn=9781592003518 |access-date=2011-01-17|last1=Zerbst |first1=Stefan |last2=Düvel |first2=Oliver |year=2004|publisher=Premier Press }} These recent trends are being propelled by companies such as [[Microsoft]] to support [[independent game development|indie]] game development. Microsoft developed [[Microsoft XNA|XNA]] as the primary [[Software development kit|Software Development Kit]] (SDK) for all video games released on Xbox and their related products. This includes the [[Xbox Live Indie Games]]{{cite web|url=http://www.xboxlivecommunitygames.org/ |title=xboxlivecommunitygames.org |publisher=xboxlivecommunitygames.org |access-date=2013-11-24}} channel designed specifically for smaller developers who do not have the extensive resources necessary to box games for sale on retail shelves. It is becoming easier and cheaper than ever to develop game engines for platforms that support [[managed code|managed]] frameworks.{{cite web | title = Microsoft to Enable User-Created XBox 360 Games | url=http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=10458 | url-status=dead | access-date=2017-05-05}}{{New archival link needed|date=April 2026}}

==Game engines as an industry==

==Game engines as an industry==