ESSENTIAL ENGINES GUIDE | BUILD UNREAL ENGINE
CREATOR: EPIC GAMES PLATFORMS: PC, IOS, MAC, ANDROID, PS VITA, XBOX 360, PS3, WII SEEN IN: INFINITY BLADE, MASS EFFECT, BIOSHOCK
WWW.UNREALENGINE.COM
The Unreal Engine is one of the best known and most used game engines in the industry. Now on version 3, it has been used in many top triple-A franchises such as Mass Effect, Gears of War and the Infinity Blade series on iOS. The engine is integrated
with more than 20 middleware technologies, and features visual scripting system Unreal Kismet and the Unreal Matinee cinematic system, as well as coming complete with the full Scaleform package, enabling developers to create flexible user interfaces using Flash. Epic also provides a free version of the engine, the Unreal Development Kit, which can be downloaded
CRYENGINE
CREATOR: CRYTEK PLATFORMS: PLATFORMS: PC, XBOX 360, PS3, NEXT-GEN CONSOLES SEEN IN: CRYSIS, WARFACE, AION
WWW.CRYTEK.COM
Crytek’s popular CryEngine 3 middleware is the powerhouse behind the company’s hit triple-A franchise Crysis. Also available as a free SDK,
the tech features support in AI, physics, networking, audio and ‘high-end’ effects, and can be used for development on PC,
Xbox 360 and PS3. “With the combination of scalability and efficient
development with the Crytek graphics and rendering, we believe this makes CryEngine 3 the maximum game development solution,” says CryEngine director Carl Jones. “With no pre-calculation or loading times though using the platform, there are now no delays to
HAVOK VISION ENGINE
CREATOR: HAVOK PLATFORMS: WINDOWS, XBOX 360, PS3, WII, PS VITA, IOS, ANDROID SEEN IN: STRONGHOLD 3, ORCS MUST DIE!, THE SETTLERS 7: PATHS TO A KINGDOM
WWW.HAVOK.COM
Formerly known as the Trinigy Vision Engine, Havok acquired the platform in August 2011, integrating its own software into the tech. The tool provides a ‘versatile’ multi-platform runtime technology that its creators say is capable of rendering
complex scenes at smooth frame rates, whilst having a set of integrated features such as streaming, scripting, audio and physics solutions. Product management head Andrew Bowell says that both runtime and tools have “clean, well- structured” plugin API’s, which he explains allows for features and modules to be easily added without having to change the engine’s source code.
DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET
“With regard to optimisation, developers still do not want to relinquish control of the hardware to the engine. With that requirement they are looking for flexible, modular and open game engines coded in C++ they can easily customise where needed, but also rely on already provided highly optimised code. In terms of tools and workflow, it’s clear that rapid iteration, fast build times and on-target editing are also key requirements.” The tech firm supports both big budget titles and small development teams through its Havok Strike Program, and Bowell believes that supporting everyone in the development community is a key part of the company’s success. “We have seen some really great games being
developed by independent developers and small studios over the past couple of years,” he says.
developers seeing their creations in-game – therefore there’s faster overall project progress.” Jones believes that the engine space is currently in
great shape due to a hugely competitive market and high demand from developers for Crytek’s own platform, which has recorded almost half a million installs of the free SDK to date. He adds that the sector will continue to grow, as
engines need to provide ever-increasing power for users as games come closer to the quality of CG movies, whilst also keeping apace with the demand for faster tools and pipelines. As well as providing a high performance tech for
the current generation of consoles, with indies also taking advantage of the engine for downloadable content, Jones confirms that Crytek’s platform is also currently being used for next-gen development.
“We’ve been planning for next-gen development
since we started CryEngine 3,” he says. “We don’t need to rebuild our engine to deal with higher spec gaming devices, which will come on line in the next few years. “In fact, developers are already using CryEngine 3
for games with target platforms significantly higher in power than the current-gen consoles. We’ll be showing more on this during 2012.”
and used for free, with a commercial license after royalties reach $50,000 in sales. “Our focus is on providing the best possible tools
for everyone, on every important platform, at any given point in time, period,” says Epic Games vice president Mark Rein. He also says that the company is gearing up for
the next generation of consoles, as seen by its Samaritan demo at GDC last year, which gave a hint of the potential of UE4, which he hopes will ease any fears over the move to new platforms. “Naturally, people are concerned about the
console transition,” says Rein. “Epic built Samaritan with UE3, to not only show what we want to see in the next generation of games, but also to show developers that they can license UE3 now if they want to ship a game for those systems on day one.
“As we get further into the next-gen cycle, more
developers will migrate to Unreal Engine 4. We’ll talk to each studio to see how we can best help them. We have great options for everyone.” Rein also reveals that it will be showing Unreal
Engine 4 to “select developers” interested in the platform behind closed doors at GDC.
“With the evolving needs of the games development
community, we are always looking for ways to help developers push the game-play experience to its limits. “Last year, Havok developed the Strike Program as
a way to offer small studios innovative licensing options, enabling them more freedom to execute their creative visions, regardless of their budgets.”
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