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.
Unreal Engine powers everything from Fortnite to Game-of-the-Year winners. Here’s how UE5’s Nanite and Lumen work, the games it built, Unreal vs Unity, pricing, and how to start.
CryEngine powered Far Cry, Crysis, Hunt: Showdown, and Kingdom Come II. Every version, every game, and where Crytek’s engine really stands today.
HeroEngine powered Star Wars: The Old Republic with a pioneering cloud-based collaborative model. Here’s its history, the games built with it, its features, and its current status.
Paradox’s Clausewitz engine has powered grand strategy games since 2007. Here’s its version history, how the Jomini layer fits in, every game built with it, and its key features.
UbiArt Framework turned hand-drawn art into games like Rayman Legends and Child of Light. How Ubisoft’s 2D engine worked — and why it quietly faded.
Ubisoft’s Anvil engine has powered Assassin’s Creed since 2007. Here’s its full version history from Scimitar to Ubisoft Anvil, every game built with it, and its modern ray-tracing features.
The Dunia Engine powered the Far Cry series for over a decade. Here’s its history as a CryEngine fork, the games built with it, its standout features, and whether you can download it.
The Frostbite engine powers EA’s biggest games, from Battlefield to EA Sports FC. Here’s how DICE’s technology works, the games it drives, and why you can’t download it.
The IW Engine has powered nearly every Call of Duty for two decades. Here’s how it evolved from id Tech 3 into the technology behind the franchise.
Aleph One is a cross-platform open source game engine. Aleph One is the continuation of Bungie Studios’ Marathon 2: Durandal. The project started in early 2000 when Bungie launched the source code before being acquired by Microsoft, encouraging fans to develop it further.
Antiryad Gx is a unified cross-platform and multi-core 2D and 3D game engine developed by Arkham Development, a French company near Paris specializing in game services and real-time 2D and 3D solutions. The engine’s development began in 1992 and has since evolved to rival and even surpass many commercial game engines in terms of features, optimization, and stability.
Delta3D is an open-source multi-platform game development engine. Written in C++, the engine is available to users under the license of LGPL (Lesser General Public License). Community-supported, Delta3D is widely prevalent among developers around the globe. The engine is used for multipurpose including training, education, visualization, and of course entertainment.
