The 'game engine' is
essentially, what makes a game work, it brings all the individual
designs of characters, environments and throws them all together into
a working world for people play. The use of game engine Editors
allows us as game artists to take the artwork and 3d designs we
create and apply them under game and playable conditions, and see how
our concepts and ideas as games are ultimately adapted into a
finished, interact able product. It allows us to apply our basic
ideas as still objects to an interact able environment, where we can
see our characters move about and our worlds come to life with
lighting and weather conditions.
As the current stage of
the course is how we adapt our creations to in-game engines, im going
to look at a few examples of engine's used in the industry today.
UNREAL Engine
The most popular and
widespread games engine used in the industry today, beginning in 1998
it has been constantly updated and developed to meet the demands of
each generation of software since. It is its ability to adapt to
varying platforms that has made it so popular and as the multi-format
engine of choice amongst developers, both in smaller and more
renowned game studios. It is its adaptability that has made it so
popular, and has been utilised by multiple companies in a varying
genre of games, from shoot-em-ups to sports simulators. It is this
adaptability for use in many types of game genre that sets it apart
from other engines, and makes it both invaluable and affordable for
games developers in the current gen market.
Demo showcasing the new elemental effects utilised in UNREAL 4
CryENGINE
Fairly new on the scene
compared to other engines, the CryENGINE has been incredibly
impressive so far with revolutionary graphics and physics displayed
in their shoot em ups, Far Cry and Crysis. The CryENGINE is notable
that it was released while pc gamers were waiting for other big name
pc releases, and so its release of such amazing looking games in the
lull was what was needed for game developers to up their game and for
Crytek to establish a name fro themselves. Though utilised in the FPS
genre and its own games, the CryENGINE is being utilised more and
more over other competitors, and the latest version, CryENGINE 3, is
unique in that it is being developed with all current gen consoles in
mind. Another advantage it has is that it handles all its own
physics, animation and sound, without support from other third party
developers, making it self reliant and have an advantage in an ever
competitive field.
Demo showcasing the graphical power and physics of CryENGINE 3
RAGE Engine
Up until the current
generation of consoles, Rockstar have always relied on other
developers to supply their engine to power their brilliant run of
games, such as GTA 3, Vice City, San Andreas and Bully (In the Form
of Criterion's Renderware). It was with the high concept behind their
sequel to red dead revolver that would lead them to developing their
own in-house engine though, in the form of the Rockstar Advanced
Games Engine. The RAGE Engine plays to the strengths to the games
Rockstar specialise in, by being able to generate massively immersive
streaming worlds, with smart A.I and weather effects thrown in for
good measure. Its also notable for working incredibly well with other
third-party engines, such as Euphoria which they have used to power
their animations.
Demo of the world of Red Dead Redemption, brought to life by the RAGE Engine
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