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Massively Interview: Burning Dog on Origin of Malu's do-over
When last we heard of the the indie sandbox Origins of Malu, Burning Dog Media had gone back to the drawing board for a do-over. The studio switched game engines, effectively starting the development process over again (again). But despite what some fans may fear, that isn't nearly as bad as it sounds! In fact, it's rather good news because players will be getting a far better game, and they won't have to wait very long to get it. I sat down with Producer Michael Dunham to talk about the changes and get a look at the progress the team has made.
MJ Guthrie11.30.2014
Unreal Engine Marketplace opens, UE4 free to educators
*You enter a building marked with the Epic Games and Unreal Engine logos. As you do, a cheerful voice comes over the intercom.* Greetings, shoppers! Welcome to the just-opened Unreal Engine Marketplace, where Unreal Engine 4 developers can peruse and purchase all of their community-created needs. Need a sci-fi themed environment for your in-development top-down shooter game, but lack an environment artist or don't have the know-how to create one yourself? Simply subscribe to Unreal Engine 4 for $19 per month and you'll be able to buy and download said environment for its listed price. Teachers and education administrators, please enjoy Unreal Engine 4 free of charge when you register your school information with Epic. Students, you too can enjoy the benefits of a free game development engine by having your teacher request a student license for you. Teacher copies are to be installed on school-owned computers, while students must be enrolled in an accredited video game development, computer science, art, architecture, simulation or visualization program. Thank you for visiting the Unreal Engine Marketplace, where there's a helpful, computer-rendered smile in every aisle. [Image: Epic Games]
S. Prell09.06.2014
The Stomping Land is switching to Unreal Engine 4
Dino-delay or evolutionary upgrade? The situation might be both for The Stomping Land, which has been on the down low while its developer works to bring it to a new game engine after the old engine lost studio support. "It has been quiet in The Stomping Land community but that is certainly not the case behind the scenes!" Developer Alex "Jig" Fundora told Kotaku. "The game is being moved to Unreal Engine 4 to take advantage of technical and creative opportunities, and while the game was so early in development, I didn't want to keep working for years with a game engine (UDK) that had officially lost support by Epic. The move has put a bit of more work on my plate, but the already discovered opportunities using UE4 are exciting, and I'm confident fans will be satisfied with the long-run decision." The dinosaur-themed survival sandbox went into early access this past May 30th.
Justin Olivetti08.06.2014
Epic debuts concept footage from next Unreal Tournament
In a lengthy, official video preview, members of the Epic Games development team have unveiled the first look at the upcoming Unreal Tournament sequel. Jump to the 1:30 mark in the above video for a brief tour. Keep in mind, the above video includes very early, work-in-progress footage taken from within the engine that will power the upcoming Unreal Tournament. There are no guarantees that the final game will look this good, though at this early stage of development it's entirely possible that the final product will look even better than what Epic has shown us here. While the final version of Unreal Tournament is still a ways off - Epic has yet to announce a release date, or even a vague release window - the developer is still seeking input from fans on how best to craft this latest entry in the long-dormant series. If you're interested, register an account on the official Unreal Engine forums and give the developer a piece of your mind. [Image: Epic Games]
Earnest Cavalli07.24.2014
Revolution 60: All-female action adventure
What happens when a mostly female development team comes together to create an action-adventure game staffed entirely by female characters? Revolution 60 by Giant Spacekat (US$5.99/try-then-IAP-buy) happens. It's a touch-based iPad story-driven take on Heavy Rain and Mass Effect. You play Holiday, an assassin faced with a more morally complex landscape than you normally encounter in gaming titles. Should Holiday support her friends or fix her attention on the mission? It's a little bit transgressive, a little bit feminist. The stakes are high. I was particularly drawn to this title based on its feminine novelty. A mom to girls, I found the notion of a female actioner exciting. Although the reality was a little more boobs-and-bullets than can-do girl-power, I found Revolution 60 entertaining and well made. The acoustics of the game are superb. iOS has a bit of a bad rep for users switching off sounds. Do that in Revolution 60 and you'll be missing out on one of the game's highlights -- a well designed audio system that really brings the game to life. It helps you feel the experience as well as see it. The character graphics are really well done, built with full facial animation using the Unreal engine. Holiday's hair swings around as she walks, and her interaction with her world feels solid and multi-dimensional. The sets are nicely detailed, if a bit generically textured, and you feel immersed in an exciting drama. Where the game fell flat for me was its combat system. Admittedly, I played on the easiest level in order to progress as quickly as possible. The touch-based fighting felt tedious and I never really enjoyed those moments. However, the strength of the story outside of the combat kept me invested in following through with the adventure. The novelty of building emotional connections with characters provided the best part of the experience. The game offers excellent replay as your choices drive the story. Revolution 60 (iTunes link is not yet live) will be released on July 24th. You can try the basic game for free. A single in-app purchase of $5.99 unlocks the the full title. Giant Spacekat will also sell a companion book, "Revolution 60: The Chessboard Lethologica" in the iBooks store (iTunes link, not yet live, $3.99).
Erica Sadun07.17.2014
Mortal Online upgrades its graphics engine
If you log into Mortal Online today, you'll be treated to a vastly upgraded game. The team switched the game's visuals to an updated Unreal graphics engine, including new lighting, better grass, Oculus Rift support, and "countless gameplay improvements." "Myrland has been remade, from the ground up, in a new modern terrain system," Star Vault wrote in a newsletter. "This means not only does the terrain look much better and less jagged, but also performs loads better." Today's changes mean that players should start seeing faster updates in the future. The patch notes for V1.80.00.03 are up for your perusal. [Thanks to Dengar for the tip!]
Justin Olivetti06.11.2014
Graphical upgrades en route for Age of Wushu
How do you feel about Age of Wushu's graphics? Do you think that they could really use an upgrade? It seems that they'll be getting one. Shi Hai, CEO of Snail Games, was recently interviewed in China, and a translation of that interview reveals that graphical upgrades are definitely in the works. While he declined to specify exactly what sort of upgrades would be coming, he did joke that the rumors about the Unreal 3 engine might well be true. Shi Hai also commented on the potential of a subscription server for Age of Wushu, noting that while several free-to-play games have dabbled with the idea, they seem to inevitably wind up going back to the free-to-play model in time. He stated that the company is currently focusing on porting the game to home consoles rather than exploring the possibility of any sort of subscription server. You can read a few more translated statements at MMOCulture.
Eliot Lefebvre06.08.2014
APB: Reloaded team details Unreal Engine upgrade
APB: Reloaded's Unreal Engine upgrade is detailed in the latest dev blog at GamersFirst. In it, we get word that progress is slow but steady as the current version (from 2008) needs to be stripped and rebuilt due to the custom-built additions made in the original engine. Think of it like when you have to manually update your mods every time World of Warcraft has a new patch. Although the latest version of Unreal will aid with performance and compatibility improvements, the Reloaded team says that you may not even notice much of a difference visuals-wise. GamersFirst hopes to roll the new upgrade out soon, although a release estimate is still to come. Check out the full dev blog for more details on the Unreal Engine upgrade.
Shawn Schuster03.27.2014
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding March 16 - March 22, 2014
Last week's new entry MyDream met its $100,000 Kickstarter goal, and it did so with over two weeks left in its funding drive! Aside from that bit of good news, it was fairly quiet on the crowdfunding front. GoblinWorks made waves with some interesting class reveals for fantasy sandbox Pathfinder Online (say hello to the Aristocrat, the Commoner, and the Expert in addition to usual suspects like the Barbarian, Paladin, Sorcerer, and Bard). And superhero project City of Titans announced that it's moving its assets from Unreal 3 to Unreal 4, which will enable greater ease, flexibility, and detail during the game's development cycle. Click past the cut to catch up on the rest of the crowdfunding... er, crowd.
Jef Reahard03.26.2014
Daily Roundup: Sony Project Morpheus hands-on, new Oculus Rift dev kit and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Andy Bowen03.19.2014
Firefox stops being polite, starts getting Unreal Engine 4 in tech demo
Mozilla offered up a new trailer this week that shows Unreal Engine 4 tech demos running in Firefox. The games shown are seemingly running without the use of plugins in the popular browser. The software company added Unreal Engine 3 support to the browser last June.
Mike Suszek03.12.2014
Silicon Knights loses appeal for ruling on lawsuit with Epic Games
A United States Court of Appeals judge has upheld a lower court's decision concerning the legal battle between Silicon Knights and Epic Games. The post-trial motions for the previous ruling ordered Silicon Knights to destroy all unsold copies of their games that used Unreal Engine 3, which included Too Human and X-Men: Destiny. Epic was also awarded more than $9 million in the ruling - $4.45 million for damages, with the rest covering the studio's legal fees and prejudgment interest. The dispute began back in 2007, when Silicon Knights claimed Epic delivered Unreal Engine 3 six months late while withholding a superior version just to be used for Epic's internal projects. Epic Games Vice President Mark Rein described the allegations as "unfounded and without merit," noting Epic's intention to defend themselves. Silicon Knights' ability to pay the sentence is currently uncertain, as the studio followed the initial ruling by laying off "a small number of people." A report from last May also stated that the Silicon Knights offices were empty, with former studio head Denis Dyack gone and involved with a sequel to Silicon Knights' Eternal Darkness called Shadow of the Eternals. That project is an effort from Precursor Games and is uninvolved with Silicon Knights, but Precursor noted its team was "taking a break" in September and that the project is on hold after failing to meet funding goals.
Thomas Schulenberg01.12.2014
Leaderboard: Do you play around with game development tools?
For some reason that I can't quite fathom, I now have the Unreal Development Kit installed on my computer. I'm certainly no developer, nor would I make much of a designer I'm afraid, but something nonetheless compelled me to download the toolset and muck about with its documentation and various tutorials. Call it curiosity, or boredom, or whatever you like, really, but there it is. What about you, Massively readers? Do you play around with game development tools (assuming that you're not really a developer), or does your obsession only extend to finished games? Let us know after the cut. Ever wish that you could put to rest a long-standing MMO debate once and for all? Then welcome to the battle royal of Massively's Leaderboard, where two sides enter the pit o' judgment -- and only one leaves. Vote to make your opinion known, and see whether your choice tops the Leaderboard!
Jef Reahard11.20.2013
City of Heroes spiritual successor plans Kickstarter for Sept. 8th
One of the candidates vying to be the spiritual successor to City of Heroes will be moving into its fundraising stage come this September. Missing Worlds Media's The Phoenix Project, is preparing a Kickstarter campaign for September 8th. The team says that if all goes well (read: the project gets the moolah it needs), the title could be launched by the end of 2015, although it's hoping to get an avatar creator in our hands by next summer. In an interview with Polygon, Technical Director Nate Downes said that the project is 25% to 33% done, although the game is being made completely by 136 volunteers who have other jobs or are full-time students. The Phoenix Project is being built using the Unreal Engine, as Epic has licensed the engine to Missing Worlds with no money down until the team gets funded. Downes hopes that fans will continue to rally to the cause: "This project has grown out of the community that was left behind when City of Heroes closed, so it's really just a lot of passionate people getting together to rebuild that home for themselves."
Justin Olivetti07.24.2013
Firefox update adds support for Unreal Engine
Today's release of Firefox 22.0 introduces official support for 3D gaming via Epic's Unreal Engine, among other significant additions. Mozilla outlines the update at its official blog, noting that a "supercharged subset of JavaScript" (asm.js) powers high-performance applications like 3D games. Mozilla previously demonstrated asm.js's power with an HTML5 version of the Unreal Engine tech demo "Epic Citadel." Firefox 22.0 also adds support for video and voice calls, and enables file sharing without requiring third-party plugins. BananaBread, a free multiplayer FPS that demonstrates WebGL, Emscripten, asm.js, and WebRTC, can be played in a Firefox browser window here.
Danny Cowan06.25.2013
Get 7 Unreal-powered hits in Steam's Unreal Indie Bundle
Today's Steam Spotlight deal is the Unreal Indie Bundle, a steeply discounted collection of seven standout titles created using the Unreal Engine.Priced at $19.99, the compilation features the multiplayer tower defense game, Dungeon Defenders, dinosaurian online shooter Primal Carnage, and first-person puzzle game Q.U.B.E. (Quick Understanding of Block Extrusion). The Unreal Indie Bundle also includes a second tower defense darling, Sanctum, along with the first-person adventure game, The Ball, side-scrolling puzzler Unmechanical, and twin-stick shoot-'em-up Waves.Purchased individually, these games would normally set you back $79.93, making this a solid deal all around. The Unreal Indie Bundle will be available through May 6th.
Danny Cowan04.29.2013
Unreal Engine 4 not designed to work on Wii U [Update]
Epic Games' Unreal Engine 4 won't support the Wii U, Epic VP Mark Rein said during GDC. During a theater presentation of the Infiltrator demo, Rein laughed and said "no" when asked if UE4 would run on Wii U."Our goal for Unreal Engine 4 console-wise is next-gen consoles," he explained to Kotaku. "That's really what our energies are focused on. If you want to make a Wii U game, we have Unreal Engine 3, and it's powering some of the best games on the Wii U already."Battlefield series executive producer Patrick Bach told Eurogamer this week that not only is Battlefield 4 not coming to Wii U, the new Frostbite 3 engine on which it runs is also not designed for Wii U. "We right now don't have support for the Wii U in the Frostbite engine," he said. "The reason for that is it takes development time."Update: Rein spoke with Engadget and clarified his comment from the presentation, noting that it's totally possible to run Unreal Engine 4 games on Wii U. "You heard the stupid gaffe yesterday about the Wii U," he said. "If someone wants to take Unreal Engine 4 and ship a game on Wii U, they can! If they wanna ship an Unreal Engine 4 game on Xbox 360, they could make it happen."
JC Fletcher03.30.2013
See Ultima X: Odyssey in glorious action
One of 2004's most anticipated MMOs, Ultima X: Odyssey, was struck down by parent studio EA near to its completion date. The strong interest in this title coupled with the advanced state of its development has always been one of the most maddening "what if?" scenarios in the industry. While it is slightly outside of our power to restore the Ultima X project and push it out the door, the folks over at Ultima Codex unearthed a 34-minute gameplay video to at least show us how this title looked in action. Clear out a half-hour and check out what could have been with the following footage! [Thanks to John for the tip!]
Justin Olivetti02.25.2013
This Unreal Pokemon Center is unreal
Environment Artist Evan Liaw recently had some fun with the Unreal engine, and used it to create a Pokecenter from Nintendo's Pokemon series with a realistic twist.Head over to Liaw's site to see more pictures of the fantastic interpretation of the Pokemon clinic. We can't tell if we're more or less excited for Pokemon X and Y now. It certainly makes us want a different Pokemon game.
Mike Suszek01.13.2013
The Astronauts is new studio from People Can Fly vets
People Can Fly vets Adrian Chmielarz, Andrzej Poznanski and Michal Kosieradzki are back with new studio The Astronauts. Showing that there is no bad blood between the trio and their former overlords at Epic Games, the team is creating an unannounced game for 2013 using Epic's Unreal Engine 3."We've worked with UE3 for the last six years, and we know its power," said Astronauts co-founder Chmielarz. "Choosing Unreal Engine technology for our future was the textbook definition of a no-brainer."The trio's former colleagues at People Can Fly are currently working on Gears of War: Judgment, the latest in the chest-high walls franchise, which will leave cover for retail on March 19, 2013.PS: We can't unsee the Obama logo, so join in our madness.
Alexander Sliwinski10.11.2012