Software Type: Game Engine

Developer: Ensemble Studios

Release Date: 1997​

The Genie Engine is a game engine developed by Ensemble Studios and used in several computer games, such as 

Age of Empires, Age of Empires II and its expansions

The Genie engine was developed as the basis for Ensemble Studios' first game, Age of Empires which had the development

name of "Dawn of Man". The designers received much of their inspiration from the game Civilization, with its proven historical setting; this was noted among reviewers as something positive. Age of Empires was designed by Bruce Shelley, Tony Goodman (in charge of the game's artwork), Dave Pottinger (in charge of the game's artificial intelligence), and Matt Pritchard (in charge of the game's graphics). The game was described as "Civilization II meets Warcraft II" and this shows in the game's engine design. Like Warcraft it is real time strategy but unlike Warcraft and like Civilization II it is historical and has an isometric perspective.

The Genie Engine has several features that are common across all its games, including a scenario editor, campaigns, LAN, serial

and TCP/IP multiplayer, background music amongst others. The engine uses an isometric tile set, unlike other real-time strategy engines such as the one used for Warcraft.

The Genie engine was succeeded by the Age of Mythology engine used by the games in that series as well as Age of Empires III 

and its expansions. The most significant changes are the updated graphics engine and the inclusion of the Havok physics middleware engine as well as the introduction of home cities.

The design of the Genie engine has been mirrored in later game titles such as Empire Earth, Cossacks:

European Wars, Theocracy, Tzar: Burden of the Crown, and Rise of Nations. Most of these games have also been critically successful. The in-development free software real time strategy game 0 A.D. by Wildfire Games started out as an Age of Empires II modification and boasts many similarities to Age of Empires in its current design on top of its new engine Pyrogenesis. Openage is another free software project trying to create a modern re-implementation of the original Genie Engine using C++ and Python.

Wikipedia contributors. "Genie Engine." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 10 Nov. 2023.

List of Genie Engine Games