Game Engines

[scoobyonline200]

ok if this question has been answered please point me to the right place. So here's the question. What exactly does a Game Engine do? & how does it work? I keep hearing about how great a game engine is here and there, but I really dont know what they are talking about, can anyone explain this to me.

 

[Nasadus]

Pure math, in the form of proprietary machine code, calculating distances, animating monsters, coping with things like velocity physics, enemy AI, and, most important, drawing pictures on the screen.

It is the core software component of a computer game.