If you're going to this year's GDC, you'll be happy to hear that Unreal 3 will feature prominently. The game engine
everyone's talking about will be presented in Epic's private theater. The screening will show off content creation for
next-gen console titles. This is a choice snippet from a press release they sent out yesterday. It touts two new
features of the game engine:
Seamless World Support allows the creation of virtually unending environments through background management of
game levels and assets. Even titles not requiring open world support will benefit from these memory management
techniques on next-generation console platforms. Second, the new UnrealKismet visual scripting system empowers
designers to build and iterate detailed game scenarios and AI behaviors with limited, or even zero, programmer
involvement – thus providing a massive productivity gain over previous generations. Epic will also demonstrate
significant improvements in physics, terrain editing, lighting, material editing, animation, cinematic creation and
particles.
These press releases are hype by nature. But what they're talking about here is impressive; if it delivers
as promised. Huge worlds with less worry about resource management. AI and scenarios that you define, then let loose.
All of it adds up to an attractive package for next-gen game developers.
[Thanks Brad!]
