The term motor can be used as a noun or as an adjective. In the first case, the concept refers to the machine that, making use of an energy source, can generate movement.
Engines are responsible for producing mechanical energy from fossil fuels, electricity, or other resources. In this way, they allow the realization of a job.
Cars, for example, use an internal combustion engine. In this context, the engine uses a fuel (which can be naphtha or gasoline; diesel, diesel or gas oil; or compressed natural gas) that produces chemical energy, which is transformed into mechanical energy to activate all the gear necessary for the vehicle moves.
In external combustion engines, as the name implies, the combustion process takes place outside the machine. Typically, water is heated to obtain steam. Throughout history, many ships and trains used this class of engines.
It is important to note that the engines can use non-renewable energy (which comes from exhaustible sources) or renewable energy (which is inexhaustible as they regenerate). While oil is not renewable, the wind that makes it possible to obtain wind energy is.
On the other hand, motor or motor are adjectives that qualify what displaces or mobilizes: "Pain can be a driving force to act in search of changes" , "Love is the most important motor feeling that human beings have" .
In the field of computer science, it is called game engine or game to a group of algorithms or routines that allow the creation of a video game, from its design to its own operation. It is a very complex concept, which is subdivided into several parts and components, such as a graphics engine, a physics engine, animation systems, artificial intelligence, sound and memory management, among others.
There is a lot of confusion about the exact definition of this concept, even within the professional field of video games. This is due in large part to the speed with which programming-related technologies have evolved in recent years: while in the early 1990s consumers marveled at the presence of a rotating three-dimensional object on the screen, as of 2020 the level of graphical fidelity of video games mimics reality to a surprising level.
One of the concepts that is often confused with engine is development kit, which is also known simply as SDK. It is an engine plus a series of complementary tools that may be necessary for the design of a video game. In some cases, the names of the best-known products are used interchangeably and this fuels the confusion.
For example, one of the most used engines in the world is called Unreal Engine; however, the company that distributes it, Epic, also offers the UDK, a kit that includes the motor and other applications. In a conversation between programmers, one can say that "you are using the Unreal engine" even though you actually have the UDK.