A game engine is the software layer every game is built on: the renderer, physics, audio, input, scripting and tools that turn assets and code into something playable. Knowing how engines are built — and why some lasted decades while others vanished — is one of the fastest ways to understand real-time C++ programming.
MYCPLUS has been documenting game engines since 2004. This section profiles commercial, open-source and historical engines one at a time. Each one gets a look at its architecture, its scripting model, its license, and a checked list of the games actually built on it, so you don’t have to rely on the attributions copied around the web.
Every profile covers the engine’s status in 2026: whether it’s still maintained, which fork carries it forward, and what to use instead if it has gone. Whether you’re picking an engine for a project, studying engine source code or researching a classic game, start here.
Why MYCPLUS: Engine profiles that check every game attribution against a named source, correct the myths repeated elsewhere, and state each engine’s 2026 status, from the site that has covered game development since 2004. For graphics programming and C++ game code, see the Game Development hub.
Real Virtuality powered Operation Flashpoint, Arma and VBS for over a decade. Here’s how it worked, each generation, what replaced it, and the 2026 open-source release.
Shark 3D was a Munich-made real-time 3D engine best known for Dreamfall and for live editing on consoles. Here’s how it worked, what was made with it, and what replaced it.
OpenClonk is the community’s open-source continuation of the German Clonk series, a 2D game and engine scripted in C4Script. Here’s how it works, a tested script, and its status.
Limon is a one-developer, open-source C++ engine for first-person games, with an editor, physics and Python scripting. Here’s what it does, its new render pipeline and its status.
Armory is a free, open-source 3D game engine that runs inside Blender. Here’s how its Haxe engine works, a tested trait example, its features, and where it stands in 2026.
Gamebryo powered Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Civilization IV. Here’s its history from NetImmerse to Gamebase, how its NIF files work, the games built on it, and its status today.
Stratagus is the free, open-source RTS engine behind Wargus. Here’s its history from FreeCraft, how its Lua game data works, a tested external-AI example, and its status today.
The C4 Engine is Eric Lengyel’s commercial C++ game engine. Here’s its history through the Tombstone years, how it works, its OpenGEX format with a tested example, and where it stands now.
Stockfish is the strongest free chess engine. Here’s its history from Glaurung, how its search and NNUE evaluation work, a tested Python example, and what’s new in Stockfish 19.
Godot is the free, open-source engine behind Slay the Spire 2. Here’s what’s new in Godot 4.7, how scenes, nodes and GDScript work, a tested example and how it compares.
DX Studio was a Windows tool for interactive 3D games and simulations, with editors, JavaScript and DirectX 9. Here’s how it worked, what it cost, and what to use instead.
ClanLib is a long-running open-source C++ toolkit for 2D games. Here’s what ClanLib 4.2 includes, how it changed from version 3, a working example and the alternatives.
