Game logic

How the fuck do they code games so that everything moves smoothly and at a consistent rate regardless of the speed of the machine you run it on, and still have tons of shit interacting with each other somehow?
Maybe I need to find a good open-source candidate to have a look at.

Also, I wish I knew the correct terms to describe what I'm talking about.

>>38
Ah, so "Game Speed dependent on Variable FPS" demonstrates the right solution?  I've read about the problems with GetTickCount() and some other methods of getting the time (ie. GetSystemTimeAsFileTime and QueryPerformanceCounter in Windows) but I don't recall the article saying which method is actually good to use.  Anything you can tell me about that?  If not then I'll see what Ogre3D or one of the other engines does about timing.