Game Engine

 I am going to discuss what are the advantages and disadvantages of the most popular and current game engines used? I’m very keen to start using UDK (Unreal Development Kit) for the first time as I can finally see my assets in a playable level.

What is a game engine?

This is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. The purpose of a game engine is to provide a suit of visual development tools essential for progressing in completion of a level with such things as sound, scripting, animation and 3d graphics for example.

The most popular game engines currently used are UDK, developing games such as

·         Borderlands

·         Devil May cry

·         Bioshock

And Cryengine, which have been successful in releasing

·         Crysis

·         DRIVE

·         Enemy Front

Unfortunately I have not had a chance to use Cryengine, so from doing research from users I have found the following pros and cons..

Game Engines	Pros	Cons
UDK	Similar interface to 3ds Max Widely used for easy access Variety of rendering Physics engine Great interior detail	Limited lighting effects Exteriors seem to be less effective Outdoor scenes lack detail
Cryengine	Free to use Cheaper licence if making a game Fastest high end render Sandbox gives full control of creations Edit everything in time	Relies on custom export tools in 3ds and Maya   No custom shaders in material editor

 

UDK – Developed by Epic Games in 1998 this is the most used game engine in the current industry. Although primarily developed for first person shooters it has been successful in a variety of game genres including stealth and RPG’s.  UE3 (Unreal Engine 3) has also seen adoption from other non-

gaming projects for example the popular children’s TV show ‘Lazy Town’.  Personally I think UDK is user friendly with a comfortable interface to navigate around, moving assests is very simple as is assigning textures. I give a positive opinion but I must take into consideration I haven’t used any competing software, once I have successfully used both programs I can then review them again.

 

Cryengine – A game engine designed by Crytek in 2006, there is now Cryengine 1,2 and 3 successfully developing Far Cry and Crisis. Not as widely used as UDK but the rendering scenes I have seen from playing such games as Crysis seem super realistic in comparison. The Sandbox (level editor) has emphasis on large terrains which means that it uses an algorithmic form of painting textures and objects onto the landscape.

I will be using UDK a lot more this year essentially with the group projects so I will have a better understanding of the software however I definitely refuse to rule out even trying to use Cryengine. From the footage I have seen, especially within environments I must at least try developing something of my own using it. Once I have tried both I will make a personal decision on what engine I think would suit me best.