The hardware technology landscape is always changing so video game designers have to constantly try to stay up. The constant effort to make better games with better hardware is a never ending race. Since it takes one to two years to completely finish a game… that game could already be obsolete before it ever hits the shelves.
In general management we all know that if we can reuse what we already have that it can speed up our timelines. However, the issue with the gaming industry is the ever changing improvements on hardware. So once one project is finished and a new one started, everyone starts from ground zero again to learn what’s new in the industry.
How to get around this?
Years ago the software company EPIC released ‘Unreal’. It was truly amazing first person shooter that used an engine that Epic named “Unreal”. Years go by and EPIC developed and refined this engine into what it’s currently referred to now: “Unreal 3”.
EPIC did realized the dilemma with the state of video games and development and went several steps further to help cut down on development time. They created a set of tools that would help developers create unique video games that ran on the Unreal engine. They would then sell these tools and engine to other software companies. This eliminated the issue of other companies having to design from scratch.
As of present, we have games like Borderlands, Gears of War, Unreal Tournament III all created with the Unreal 3 engine .
It is truly remarkable.
The Unreal 3 engine and tool kit has been around for a while. If you could afford the large sum of money that was required for licensing you could create your own game.
However, several months ago EPIC decided to release the Unreal 3 engine to the public – for free. There is some licenses verbiage if you do create and sell stuff using this engine. Non the less, it’s free. So you and I can play around with it. EPIC bundled the engine and tools in a package called the UDK (Unreal Development Kit).
UDK
You can download it and install it from www.UDK.com
For years I’ve always wanted to create my own games. Recently, I’ve gotten heavy into Machinima. The UDK addresses both of those issues.
So, I decided to use my blog to document my adventures with the UDK.
There are 100s of YouTube videos already in existence that cover a wide range of functions in the UDK. Plus, on the UDK website there is articles, forums, and a ton of other help files that are available. I’m not going to rehash any of that. At least, I’ll try not too. J
The tool is easy to install and really doesn’t have an issue running on what I call a moderate build machine (little extra memory, decent graphic card, etc). It runs on my laptop ok but I have an issue viewing my graphics from time to time.
EPIC did a good job providing a lot of documentation online. In my opinion the online repository is poorly designed. It took me forever to find any beginners documentation. Maybe it’s just me.
This part is getting way to long so I’ll cut it off here and start a new topic. However, there is one piece of parting advice I’d like to give. These tools we not created for just 1 person to design himself a game. It was created and used by teams of people. So, keep that in mind when tackling the UDK.