Before you read this, I would just note that I am still learning and on my path to learning - I'll like to help those that are in a state of confusion. I remember the fogginess inside my head of what a game, game engine and game editor is. I've conducted some research and sat down and pondered a bit. I have to admit I still have to ponder a lot more.

After you read this, perhaps you can comment if this thread was at least helpful. This would be great because if I can help you I also helped myself in my learning experience.

Everone has played the game Chess, right? What is Chess - a strategy game where the player has to corner the other player's king to win. If this doesn't help with a basic Game idea...How about Mario Brothers? Mario Bros is about what? About defeating King Kupa and rescuing the princess.

So, a Game would be the story or visual story telling part. Donkey Kong a very simple Game idea of saving the woman from the angry gorilla. What does this angry gorilla do? He puts up obstacles such as throwing down barrels to prevent the player from winning. If the player succeeds onto the next level, if the player fails then Angry Gorilla wins and player has to start over again.

So hence, a Game has challenges to create a more exciting feel to it. Cinderalla is a book as well as a movie - there's parts of the movie that tells the story and motivations of Cinderalla and other characters inside the movie. Same with a Game. Back to Donkey Kong, The Angry Gorilla is someone preventing the Player (hero) from reaching the woman. Cinderalla, the step mother and step sisters place obstacles in Cinderalla's path to prevent her from going to the dance.

So, the examples show how a Game has it's story and who's in the way to prevent the hero from winning.

Onward to the Game Engine. As a car has a game engine - without a car engine, the car would remain motionless and do anything exciting. A car can be thought of as a Game and the Car Engine could be thought as a Game Engine. How does the Angry Gorilla even know how many barrels to throw? How does the player know what input to press to jump over the barrels? How does the player know if the player hasn't bumped into a barrel? This is when the logic side comes into play.

As the player presses a button the game engine tells the animation of the player to jump. IF barrel hits player then player does the dying animation. So, the game engine itself does most of the heavy lifting in regards to how the game should look, feel and be seen by the player. The game and Game Engine work along each other - co-existing with each other to help the player see how the game story unfold.

The Game Engine handles the Artifical Intelligence for instance, in Doom the AI checks to see if player is spotted then fires fireballs or whatnot. So, animations; HUD, and everything a player sees is done via Game Engine to depict how the Game should look feel and respond.

Game Level Editor - usually comes with the Game Engine to help a designer go through how the Game should feel and look like. I think of it almost like a animation artist in the movie Cinderalla; what does the characters look like, how does the scene look like; is there anything the scene can tell the viewer. A Game Level Editor makes everything much simpler and come to a live. When ID Software created Commander Keen - they showed how easy it was to develope a game within a short period of time. Mario Brothers didn't have a game level editor. I'm not sure but I'm guessing they didn't - this is why I think that ID Software has gave a huge break to many developers out there.

The Game Engine and Game Level Editor co-exist with each as well; almost like pages of a story being told to the player. Donkey Kong Level 1 looks a bit different from Level 2 and so on as I can remember. Mario Brothers Level 1 looks different from other levels and worlds. Each level and each time the game progresses the difficulty of the level is. So, hence a level editor is to place obstacles, paths and what to achieve in a game for the player to succeed or fail. Game Level Designer helps the story move in motion. So, hero defeated Donkey Kong then we move to the next level - how does the game know when the Player has succeed? Through the Game Engine.

If thie thread was anything helpful then awesome and again remember, I am still learning.

Alright, everyone have a great day and look forward to a good weekend.

Your definition of what a game is seems very focussed on stories, but in many games the story isn't particularly important, and some games don't have a story at all. Consider for example Tetris, Breakout, and your own example of chess. These are all great games which have no story at all. You also highlighted visual elements, but a game doesn't necessarily have to be visual either. Consider text adventures, or simple games such as "guess the number".


Personally, I would say that a game is an interactive challenge in which one or more players operate within the bounds of a set of rules to try to achieve an object. All games are interactive, all games have rules, and all games have one or more goals. Not all games have a story, and not all games are visual.

It's worth noting that you can create a fun product that is interactive and might impose certain rules but has no goal: this would be a toy rather than a game.

Games as interactive stories seem to be an offshoot from older mediums. Notice how now big budget games try to mimic the feel of movies, which is a bit premature in hindsight, because some early movies tried to mimic the experience of watching a live play.

The hybrid transition is necessary to make more people get accustomed to new forms of media, though. Long before technology was capable of bringing a rich story-telling experience through visuals, they did it with text. The Odyssey was the first home console and didn't attempt to tell stories with its games, but it bridged the transition from table games to video games by including physical game pieces with the console.

There are also the definitions of a game jbadams pointed out which is important. There are indeed some "games", or at least game modes that have no goal at all. Minecraft is a popular example. I'm aware of its survival mode, but its creation mode is far more popular with players, so it's played more like a virtual Lego set.

Your definition of what a game is seems very focussed on stories, but in many games the story isn't particularly important, and some games don't have a story at all. Consider for example Tetris, Breakout, and your own example of chess. These are all great games which have no story at all. You also highlighted visual elements, but a game doesn't necessarily have to be visual either. Consider text adventures, or simple games such as "guess the number".

Yes, I agree with you that I am focused on story telling; because now adays I see storylines inside games like Amnesia, Rage and other games. Tetris, break out are challenging and pepole don't need a story behind it - you're right! You're right on the text adventures, though I can't remember playing one of them.

Personally, I would say that a game is an interactive challenge in which one or more players operate within the bounds of a set of rules to try to achieve an object. All games are interactive, all games have rules, and all games have one or more goals. Not all games have a story, and not all games are visual.

It's worth noting that you can create a fun product that is interactive and might impose certain rules but has no goal: this would be a toy rather than a game.

I understand your point of view, entirely - most of games like Gods of War, Call of Duty have some information that tells the player what has happened and what the player has to achieve. Ninja Gaiden from Nintendo has the same role. Perhaps, Cinderalla threw a lot of people off....