Unreal Engine

So you say Unreal Engine to someone in the games industry and it's a certainty that they'll have a few wars stories to tell, and this term I’ve had the 'pleasure' of getting acquainted with this destroyer of minds.

Well to be honest I don’t think it's as bad as all the talk, like any program really it has it's moments, and yes I’ve lost my temper with it once or twice...maybe thrice, but it has some really nice effects, and gives a more accurate display of models than max does.

At this week in GDC they've been showing of some of the new engines toys and gadgets, and they do look really really nice, the only thing I’d be worried about is it might be making it too easy for people to do. What I mean by this is people who use it may do things not really understanding what’s going on, they'll end up with something pretty, but unless you understand you'll never get that step further. That applies to a lot of things in general, if someone tells me do this this and this to make this I’m always wanting to know why, and what happens if you do this instead of this, this is the only way you'll truly learn. Anyway back to the point I was getting to, one of the new things was a realistic bounce light system, now yes this will give great feel and life to levels, but unless you understand bounce light you'll never get that step further.



This is a nice shot where the light hitting the red drapes bleeds onto the surrounding objects, in the current engine if you wanted that effect you'd have to figure it out for yourself, and these are things you only learn from seeing it in real life and trying to recreate it yourself, that’s the point I’m trying to make, you only learn something if you actually try and do it your self, not just reading about, it's why practical sessions are quite often the most effective.

Anyway talking about unreal, I’m almost finished in putting my environment from last term into the engine. I wanted to improve upon it, although I did like it I always felt it was lacking slightly, so I’ve tried to create more of a mood by making it night time, putting in some realistic lights, and just all round trying to make it better. Just needs going over with a fine comb now, enjoy!