why is unreal engine so popular suddenly

[vss1980]

Sorry to go on a slight tangent, but whatever happened to the 'Serious' Sam based game engine??

Surely it had to be one of the best ever at maintaining good playability over huge maps, and having huge maps/levels constantly flowing one into the other, etc.
At the time also it's graphics were pretty slick.

As for Unreal, I remember when it originally appeared and had the good fortune to see it running on supporting 3D hardware (only worked on 3dfx or PowerVR at the time) and it's main appeal was that even without this it looked stunning (for the time). I have to say that original gameplay and feel wasn't the best. Unreal Tournament though was great in both look and feel and again I was lucky enough to be able to see and play it using S3's Metal API using compressed textures, etc.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: vss1980
Sorry to go on a slight tangent, but whatever happened to the 'Serious' Sam based game engine??

Surely it had to be one of the best ever at maintaining good playability over huge maps, and having huge maps/levels constantly flowing one into the other, etc.
At the time also it's graphics were pretty slick.

As for Unreal, I remember when it originally appeared and had the good fortune to see it running on supporting 3D hardware (only worked on 3dfx or PowerVR at the time) and it's main appeal was that even without this it looked stunning (for the time). I have to say that original gameplay and feel wasn't the best. Unreal Tournament though was great in both look and feel and again I was lucky enough to be able to see and play it using S3's Metal API using compressed textures, etc.

have you checked out the brand new just-released-today Demo for Serious Sam2 [not SS 2nd Encounter]? You can check out the shiny new engine yourself . . . i'm on dialup and will have it tomorrow . . .

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: Strk

Originally posted by: crazydingo
Epic did a great job on their Unreal 3 engine, thats why. Technically it IS superior to Doom3 & HL2 in many areas. Coinciding with the release of xbox360 and ps3 was jackpot for Epic as both microsoft & sony signed them up.

Unreal 3 engine excites me but after looking at the video of the new engine by Crytek, I've switched sides. :evil:

Yeah, but Crytek's new engine will be going against the Unreal4 Engine, right?

Cryteks new engine will be out shortly after UE3.

 

[DidlySquat]

Originally posted by: DidlySquat

Originally posted by: coomar
a lot of that was the work of a ppu, directx10 no longer is tied to vista, xp users will be able to use it

unreal tournament is coming out this year, its supposed to be around november so calling it vapourware is pointless

and it will probably run medium settings on my 6800gt

where did you hear it's going to be out in november ? gamespot says 2006 but I would love to have it this year....

 

[Drayvn]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: ExarKun333

Originally posted by: crazydingo
Epic did a great job on their Unreal 3 engine, thats why. Technically it IS superior to Doom3 & HL2 in many areas. Coinciding with the release of xbox360 and ps3 was jackpot for Epic as both microsoft & sony signed them up.

Unreal 3 engine excites me but after looking at the video of the new engine by Crytek, I've switched sides. :evil:

unreal 3.0 is "vaporware" at this point, who cares until they can actually play it? it's not even "superior" to Doom1 engine when you cant even play it...unreleased engines are worthless until you can use them...

WRONG. NOT Vapourware! Unreal3 Engine is FINISHED and we will see the FIRST game using it THIS year.

i care.
:roll:

:thumbsdown:

That is true. The Engine is actually finished as Epic themselves have said they are working on the game itself now.

 

[imported_Rampage]

Because all things considered, the Unreal Engine is the best engine.

Source didnt really take off, but will have its own little mod scene like HL1 had.
The Doom3 engine is more likely to compete against Unreal than anyone, but the netcode appeared to be crap in D3 (the game). Also I'm not sure how developing on D3 compares with UE2/3.

Key thing to remember is that D3 works cross platform due to being OGL based. Thats its major advantage.
Also, D3 is the most advanced engine that is in a game currently on shelves.

So if you want to get technical about it, D3 is the most advanced engine out. It is probably the best example of pushing visual quality while still performing very well on older hardware.
It is probably the most efficient of all the "new" engines, and does near or close (or sometimes beyond) the visual quality of the unreleased engines with less hardware.


I'm a Unreal Engine fan, AND an id engine fan. I see benefits in both directions.
UE3 for having a great engine and marketing it well (getting it in games), and great netcode as well, and traditionally good performance with older hardware.
And D3 engine for being actually out, Linux/mac compatible due to its OGL nature, very forgiving on old hardware, and image quality level that rivals and sometimes beats engines soon to be released.
Not so much a fan of Source. Its ok though.

I tend to only purchase UE games or id powered games, because I can generally rely on their netcode, quality and stability.

I wish BF2 was based on an UE or D3. :thumbsdown:

 

[Drayvn]

Originally posted by: southpawuni
Because all things considered, the Unreal Engine is the best engine.

Source didnt really take off, but will have its own little mod scene like HL1 had.
The Doom3 engine is more likely to compete against Unreal than anyone, but the netcode appeared to be crap in D3 (the game). Also I'm not sure how developing on D3 compares with UE2/3.

Key thing to remember is that D3 works cross platform due to being OGL based. Thats its major advantage.
Also, D3 is the most advanced engine that is in a game currently on shelves.

So if you want to get technical about it, D3 is the most advanced engine out. It is probably the best example of pushing visual quality while still performing very well on older hardware.
It is probably the most efficient of all the "new" engines, and does near or close (or sometimes beyond) the visual quality of the unreleased engines with less hardware.


I'm a Unreal Engine fan, AND an id engine fan. I see benefits in both directions.
UE3 for having a great engine and marketing it well (getting it in games), and great netcode as well, and traditionally good performance with older hardware.
And D3 engine for being actually out, Linux/mac compatible due to its OGL nature, very forgiving on old hardware, and image quality level that rivals and sometimes beats engines soon to be released.
Not so much a fan of Source. Its ok though.

I tend to only purchase UE games or id powered games, because I can generally rely on their netcode, quality and stability.

I wish BF2 was based on an UE or D3. :thumbsdown:

If BF2 was on those engines.... mmmmm

And just announced Gearbox have licsensed the UE3 engine for Brothers in Arms 3 and a next gen unanounced title for the PS3.

And they said they would use the engine in any upcoming games also. So for now rack up 2 more games for UE 3 with more to come.

 

[imported_Rampage]

Originally posted by: Drayvn
If BF2 was on those engines.... mmmmm

And just announced Gearbox have licsensed the UE3 engine for Brothers in Arms 3 and a next gen unanounced title for the PS3.

And they said they would use the engine in any upcoming games also. So for now rack up 2 more games for UE 3 with more to come.

I dont know how D3 could handle all that stuff going on in BF2 with its (apparantly) crappy netcode. But Q4 must have made big improvements there, or something.
Because Quake Wars is the same concept as Battlefield and somehow it must pull it off.

Since I first loaded up EA's buggy game and slow game browser I thought "boy, it might not look quite as good but this would be 10X more enjoyable if this used the UE2 engine".

 

[sandorski]

I've always hated discussions on best Engines. Mainly because most people don't look past the Graphics Rendering and ignore other aspects of a good game Engine. Thus many have held the Quake Engines as superior for the longest time and now Doom 3 as well.

IMO, the Unreal Engine became the superior all round Engine when it first arrived. Graphics, Audio, Networking, Modability, and more just made for a better overall Engine to work with. Over the years it has only improved in all areas.

OTOH, the Quake/Doom series has mostly improved only Graphically with other areas barely improved and in some even degraded at times(A3D removed from Q3 for eg).

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: makken

Originally posted by: jiffylube1024
If by 'suddenly' you mean in the last 5 years or so, it's because Epic has been constantly working on improving and updating their unreal engine, not only having clear generations of the Unreal Engine but games based on the engine 'up to that point' (improvements/refinements are ongoing).

Here's a (surprisingly long) list of most of the games using the Unreal or Unreal 2 Engine (borrowed from the Unreal forums):

...
Rune
America's Army
Splinter Cell
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
...

Wow, never knew those games used the Unreal engine. Usually when I play a game based on another engine, I can immediately tell, there are just certain things that just jump out, but those games seemed to hide it very well.

I'm surprised no one has really jumped on the source engine, that one seems really well designed.

One tell tale sign in the file names and directory structure, although Splinter Cell hides it fairly well. It's a bit of a cheat, but it can be fun.
It's also nice to see how each game renames its map extensions (Default is .ut2, games like SC use .scl etc etc)
Graphically though Splinter Cell does seem very different, but I think they used their own lighting model which may account for a lot of why it *looks* different, because obviously lighting affects how things look a lot.

 

[bersl2]

Originally posted by: southpawuni
Because all things considered, the Unreal Engine is the best engine.

Source didnt really take off, but will have its own little mod scene like HL1 had.
The Doom3 engine is more likely to compete against Unreal than anyone, but the netcode appeared to be crap in D3 (the game). Also I'm not sure how developing on D3 compares with UE2/3.

Key thing to remember is that D3 works cross platform due to being OGL based. Thats its major advantage.
Also, D3 is the most advanced engine that is in a game currently on shelves.

So if you want to get technical about it, D3 is the most advanced engine out. It is probably the best example of pushing visual quality while still performing very well on older hardware.
It is probably the most efficient of all the "new" engines, and does near or close (or sometimes beyond) the visual quality of the unreleased engines with less hardware.


I'm a Unreal Engine fan, AND an id engine fan. I see benefits in both directions.
UE3 for having a great engine and marketing it well (getting it in games), and great netcode as well, and traditionally good performance with older hardware.
And D3 engine for being actually out, Linux/mac compatible due to its OGL nature, very forgiving on old hardware, and image quality level that rivals and sometimes beats engines soon to be released.
Not so much a fan of Source. Its ok though.

I tend to only purchase UE games or id powered games, because I can generally rely on their netcode, quality and stability.

I wish BF2 was based on an UE or D3. :thumbsdown:

The Unreal Engine itself is easily portable as well. UT{,2k[34]} are available on Linux and Mac, and so will UT2k7 be. Porting the rest of a given game based off of either engine is relatively simple.

All hail Icculus!

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: southpawuni

Originally posted by: Drayvn
If BF2 was on those engines.... mmmmm

And just announced Gearbox have licsensed the UE3 engine for Brothers in Arms 3 and a next gen unanounced title for the PS3.

And they said they would use the engine in any upcoming games also. So for now rack up 2 more games for UE 3 with more to come.

I dont know how D3 could handle all that stuff going on in BF2 with its (apparantly) crappy netcode. But Q4 must have made big improvements there, or something.
Because Quake Wars is the same concept as Battlefield and somehow it must pull it off.

Since I first loaded up EA's buggy game and slow game browser I thought "boy, it might not look quite as good but this would be 10X more enjoyable if this used the UE2 engine".

Doom 3 has good netcode, its the physics that weigh in so hard on bandwidth and server-end cpu cycles.

 

[DidlySquat]

Originally posted by: DidlySquat

Originally posted by: DidlySquat

Originally posted by: coomar
a lot of that was the work of a ppu, directx10 no longer is tied to vista, xp users will be able to use it

unreal tournament is coming out this year, its supposed to be around november so calling it vapourware is pointless

and it will probably run medium settings on my 6800gt

where did you hear it's going to be out in november ? gamespot says 2006 but I would love to have it this year....

Answer you little misinformation spreading fool (=coomar)

 

[tcsenter]

I remember reading an article way the heck back around 2001 or 2002 about how advanced the Unreal engine was then, the military was interested in it for simulations and virtual training.

 

[DidlySquat]

Originally posted by: coomar
a lot of that was the work of a ppu, directx10 no longer is tied to vista, xp users will be able to use it

unreal tournament is coming out this year, its supposed to be around november so calling it vapourware is pointless

and it will probably run medium settings on my 6800gt

People I would like to point your attention to the bold text in the qoute above. The little shrimp claims that UT2007 will be released in two months. Now every other website and gaming magazines all say the game will be released mid year 2006 at the earliest, or even as late as 2007. So lets ponder the question of why the little idiot farted out this misinformation.

The possiblities are

1. The little sh!t likes to spread false rumors and see how people react, for his own twisted amusement. Prognosis: coomar is a sick individiual which should be locked up.

2. The little pr!ck really believes the game is coming in two months, either because he got the wrong information from another bad source, or that he misunderstood the info (e.g. confusing 2005 with 2006). Either way the prognosis is that this guy is a complete more on because he was so gullable to believe this without confirming it by cross checking other sources (which all agree it's not coming out this year).

I wonder which of these possibilites above is the right one which explains the behavior of this retarded individual. How shameful for AT community to have people like that here.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: DidlySquat

Originally posted by: coomar
a lot of that was the work of a ppu, directx10 no longer is tied to vista, xp users will be able to use it

unreal tournament is coming out this year, its supposed to be around november so calling it vapourware is pointless

and it will probably run medium settings on my 6800gt

People I would like to point your attention to the bold text in the qoute above. The little shrimp claims that UT2007 will be released in two months. Now every other website and gaming magazines all say the game will be released mid year 2006 at the earliest, or even as late as 2007. So lets ponder the question of why the little idiot farted out this misinformation.

The possiblities are

1. The little sh!t likes to spread false rumors and see how people react, for his own twisted amusement. Prognosis: coomar is a sick individiual which should be locked up.

2. The little pr!ck really believes the game is coming in two months, either because he got the wrong information from another bad source, or that he misunderstood the info (e.g. confusing 2005 with 2006). Either way the prognosis is that this guy is a complete more on because he was so gullable to believe this without confirming it by cross checking other sources (which all agree it's not coming out this year).

I wonder which of these possibilites above is the right one which explains the behavior of this retarded individual. How shameful for AT community to have people like that here.

Who cares man? He may have been wrong, but big woop.

 

[AmberClad]

Originally posted by: jiffylube1024
If by 'suddenly' you mean in the last 5 years or so, it's because Epic has been constantly working on improving and updating their unreal engine, not only having clear generations of the Unreal Engine but games based on the engine 'up to that point' (improvements/refinements are ongoing).

Here's a (surprisingly long) list of most of the games using the Unreal or Unreal 2 Engine (borrowed from the Unreal forums):

Unreal 1
Return to Na Pali (expansion pack for Unreal 1)
Adventure Pinball
Rune
Nerf Arena Blast
Wheel of Time
Deus Ex
Klingon Honor Guard
DS9: The Fallen
Unreal Tournament
Mobile Forces
Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone
America's Army
Undying
Raven Shield
Unreal 2
Unreal Championship
Splinter Cell
Deus Ex 2
Unreal Tournament 2003
Unreal Tournament 2004
Devastation
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
New Legends (XBOX)
Desert Thunder
XCOM: Enforcer
XIII
Magic: The Gathering Battlegrounds
TNN Pro Hunter
Thief: Deadly Shadows
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict
Advent Rising
Pariah
Lineage 2
Dead Mans Hand
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
Raindow Six Athena Sword
Shadow Ops: Red Mercury
Tribes: Vengeance
Men of Valor
Brothers in Arms
Star Wars: Republic Commando
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

Pretty impressive eh? When a developer chooses to use the Unreal Engine technology, they get to use the most current build of the Engine available, so someone using the Unreal 2 engine in 2004 would have some improved features/graphics/etc. over someone using Unreal 2 technology in 2003.

The Unreal 3 engine, with games based on it to come out in late 2006/2007, looks to be the most impressive yet, too!

Edit: here is the official list of games/Engine generations/etc. Pretty interesting...

Republic Commando was particularly impressive. I would have to assume that it's using an upgraded/improved version of the Unreal 2 engine. The player models and animations look amazing and noticeably more detailed than UT2k4 (you can see each individual dent in the metal armor that the clone commandos wear). The shadows aren't quite as on the level of Doom 3, but it still looks much improved.

 

[Stretchman]

I'm a big fan of the Unreal Engine. It scales well and looks good on most resolutions. I'm not a big fan of the Doom 3 engine, which, IME, tends to run erratically on machines with different specs.

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: jiffylube1024
Btw, Doom3 is the game with the engine; Quake4 is simply a game based on this engine.

Here is the list of Doom3 engine games that I have heard announced so far:

Doom3 (no brainer)
Doom3: resurrection of evil
Quake 4
Prey
a sequel to Return to Castle Wolfenstein

You missed "Quake Wars" and I think a "Soldier of Fortune" sequel? In any case, we don't know what games are being developed on the D3 engine or what licensing deals have been made.

In any case, Quake 4, Quake Wars, Prey, and RTCW are enough to make it an important consideration for any gamer. Carmacks engines rock, and shooter devs icense them. It's always been that way.

 

[Jeff7181]

From what I've read, the Unreal 3 engine is pretty versitile. It allows for more detail as hardware becomes more capable. The Doom 3 engine is supposed to be the same way... allowing very large texture sizes and very high polygon counts. Not to mention the physics capabilites of the PhysiX engine when paired with a PPU.

I wonder if HDR could be added to the Doom 3 engine...

 

[zmaster]

Adding my $0.02, the jedi knight series is based on the unreal engine, and academy really is one hell of a swordfighting game...

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: zmaster
Adding my $0.02, the jedi knight series is based on the unreal engine, and academy really is one hell of a swordfighting game...

JK2 uses the Quake3 engine. RTCW uses the Quake3 engine. RTCW2 will probably use the Doom3 engine.

 

[klah]

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/654/654077p1.html

September 27, 2005 - In a joint announcement made out of Raleigh, North Carolina and Burbank, California today, Buena Vista Games confirmed that it has licensed the Unreal Engine 3 technology from Epic Games for multiple next generation projects. The first title in the agreement will be the next installment of the Turok franchise...

 

[Reapsy00]

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: jiffylube1024
Btw, Doom3 is the game with the engine; Quake4 is simply a game based on this engine.

Here is the list of Doom3 engine games that I have heard announced so far:

Doom3 (no brainer)
Doom3: resurrection of evil
Quake 4
Prey
a sequel to Return to Castle Wolfenstein

You missed "Quake Wars" and I think a "Soldier of Fortune" sequel? In any case, we don't know what games are being developed on the D3 engine or what licensing deals have been made.

In any case, Quake 4, Quake Wars, Prey, and RTCW are enough to make it an important consideration for any gamer. Carmacks engines rock, and shooter devs icense them. It's always been that way.

I hope you are right about soldier of fortune 3 I really want to play it

 

[Drayvn]

Originally posted by: Reapsy00

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: jiffylube1024
Btw, Doom3 is the game with the engine; Quake4 is simply a game based on this engine.

Here is the list of Doom3 engine games that I have heard announced so far:

Doom3 (no brainer)
Doom3: resurrection of evil
Quake 4
Prey
a sequel to Return to Castle Wolfenstein

You missed "Quake Wars" and I think a "Soldier of Fortune" sequel? In any case, we don't know what games are being developed on the D3 engine or what licensing deals have been made.

In any case, Quake 4, Quake Wars, Prey, and RTCW are enough to make it an important consideration for any gamer. Carmacks engines rock, and shooter devs icense them. It's always been that way.

I hope you are right about soldier of fortune 3 I really want to play it

IF there is an SOF3 id actually probably rather it be on the UE3 engine, the D3 engine is great but release of UE3 to the public is getting closer and closer while D3 is getting older and older.

Also we can add another game to the UE3 list, which is getting even longer than the UE2 list . A new Turok game is coming out using the UE3 engine so chalk up another one...