im a noob and a lot of game programming terms confuse me. im not entirley sure what a game engine is, and wether you have to make your own one or not. also, game library and game framework. i know these are really pathetic questions but its really confusing me

Compiler/Library/Engine/API/SDK/IDE ?
Game Engines

The definition of a game engine is very vague. It is hard to know whether or not something is a game engine. I like to think you could make an entire game with a game engine without a single piece of 'code' other than scripts. You might have to have alot of scripts, but its not necessary to write anything that gets compiled into assembler(aka: computer talk). However, writing code would definately give you more power, just its not necessary. This is by no means a usual definition, but if this is the case, it is, almost undisputedly, a game engine.

A more standard definition would require it to have input, graphics, possibly physics, and sound.

As for whether you write your own or license another, that is totally up to you. There are *many* topics on this forum about it, search about a bit.

A game library is exactly that, a library used to make games. A library is a collection of functions and classes that can be accessed from outside code. A game engine would, most of the time, have a 'game library'. For example, Ogre3D is a game/graphics engine, but the actual .lib file in it would be a game library. A game framework would be similiar. Not really sure what the difference would be.

All of these terms are vague. There's no real need to know what they mean exactly, becuase they don't have an exact definition.

ok thanks dudes