The Unreal Admins Page

Kotaku summarizes Mark Rein's presentation of the new Unreal Engine 3 features at the GDC. Among the surprises are Mercury Cubes and a city-building on-the-fly exercise. Kotaku rightly points out that Unreal Engine demonstrations are often indications of things that will soon make their way into new Epic Games.

Another demo showed a floating blob of liquid medal that warbled fluidly. "Remember last year we had the meat cube?" Epic Games vice president Mark Rein asked his audience here. He was referring to a GDC demonstration of Unreal from two years ago when a bloody cube of flesh was shown, getting shot up and chopped away, a precursor to some of the gore in Gears of War 2."This is the mercury cube."

In another demonstration, an Epic engineer zipped through a city scene, showing off how quickly he could drop in new buildings and construct a vast and detailed city.

Rein pointed out this was just programmer art, even though it already looked passable. "One day we'll show you what we're doing with this. When you see what we're doing with this, it's going to blow your mind."

In related news Gamespot points out the announcement Epic Games made today regarding the integration of NVIDIA's 3D Vision into Unreal Engine 3.

News from the GDC: Epic Games announces that Unreal Engine 3 now provides full Steamworks integration for licensees. Here's hoping that encourages more developers to go that route instead of the deficient Games for Windows LIVE platform. The press release follows:

CARY, N.C., March 11, 2010 - Epic Games, Inc. and Valve Software LLC, two of the PC industry's leading technology and content development studios, have inked an agreement to deliver Valve's Steamworks suite of services to all licensees of Epic's industry-leading Unreal Engine 3 for use in their products, free of any additional fees.

"Valve has created a world-wide phenomenon with Steam and we're excited to be able to have the Steamworks suite of services available to Unreal Engine 3 licensees so they can take full advantage of all that Steam has to offer," said Mark Rein, co-founder and vice president of Epic Games. "With Valve offering these services free of charge, the idea of providing the Steamworks SDK to all Unreal Engine licensees was a no-brainer."

"Epic's technology is one of the most widely used engines in the industry and has powered many of the best games created in the past 10 years, on multiple platforms," said Gabe Newell, co-founder and president of Valve. "It's an honor to have Steamworks included in the technology offered to all Unreal Engine 3 licensees. It's hard to think of a larger, better targeted group of developers who could derive more benefit from the Steamworks services."

Unreal Engine 3 is a complete game development framework for next-generation consoles and PCs, providing the vast array of core technologies, content creation tools, and support infrastructure required by top game developers. Every aspect of the Unreal Engine has been designed with ease of content creation and programming in mind, with the goal of putting as much power as possible in the hands of artists and designers to develop assets and gameplay in a visual environment with minimal programmer assistance; and to give programmers a highly modular, scalable and extensible framework for building, testing, and shipping games in a wide range of genres.

Steamworks is a complete suite of publishing and development tools that offers PC game developers and publishers access to the game features and services available through Steam. These include product key authentication, copy protection, auto-updating, social networking, matchmaking, anti-cheat technology and more. The features and services available in Steamworks are offered free of charge and may be used for both electronic and tangible versions of games.

The March version of the Unreal Development Kit has been released. Loads of new and updated documentation as well.

Autodesk FBX format support (FBX version 2010.2)

• Static meshes, skeletal meshes and animations can now be imported from FBX files
• The FBX format is supported by many 3D modeling packages including 3ds Max, Maya, and MotionBuilder.
• Download FBX plug-ins from Autodesk

Interactive Static Meshes

• Static meshes can now be configured so that all instance of that mesh placed in a level can become dynamic and react with physics when shot or pushed, giving the environment a more interactive feel.
• The advantages of this implementation are:
  • Consistent behavior - all objects using that mesh will be interactive, instead of it depending on level designer set up.
  • Transparent to meshing - L.D.s don't have to do anything special, but they can prevent specific objects from being able to become dynamic when necessary.
  • These meshes are lit like any other static meshes until they move so there is no visual impact to using this system.
  • No additional performance or memory cost to these meshes except during the short period when a mesh is being physically simulated.
• This system is intended for use with small decorative meshes that don't have any gameplay implications.
  • The interactivity is client-side and is not replicated.

New Attachment Editor

• For displaying and modifying object relationships
• Lets you view and edit the attachment graph for a selected set of actors

mipmap sharpening

• Increases perceived resolution of textures w/o memory or performance impact

Property window favorites

• Simply mark a property as a favorite and it will always be displayed at the top of your property window.
• Combined with the search capability, this will greatly stream-line data access in the Unreal Editor.

Declaring that the Borderlands DLC would become a template for future games, Take-Two CEO Ben Feder also let slip that they would "continue to support the title with more digital content" Eurogamer has more.

Coming this summer to Xbox 360 (LIVE Arcade), PS3 (PlayStation Store) and PC is Blacklight: Tango Down, an Unreal Engine 3 title from Ignition Entertainment and Zombie VR Studios.

Today we’re announcing a new game set to ship this summer – Blacklight: Tango Down – a multiplayer-focused first person shooter that brings AAA quality and production values (like an Unreal Engine 3 powered core) and delivers it through downloadable channels like Xbox LIVE Arcade and the PlayStation Store, and on personal computer.

You can also find a teaser trailer of the downloadable game at Gamespot

Waaay back in July 2008 the 3D Buzz "Old School Level Design Contest" wrapped up and an attractive level called DM-WhiteRealm was declared the winner. One of the prizes to be delivered was a video review of the map by none other than Cliff "don't call me CliffyB" Bleszinski.

At long last... Cliff Bleszinski reviews DM-WhiteRealm.

3D Palace is running a contest called Guns for Games, with the end-goal of - drumroll please - awarding prizes for the best user-created in-game weapons. The mighty ShockRifle serves as inspiration and the rules are as follows:

Guns in Games. A Staple of the modern gaming industry, what can make a game work where others fail is the guns it uses - the Shock Rifle for example is a well known weapon that is a signature of the Epic Unreal III game engine.

What 3D-Palace STA wants of you is a gun inside a next generation game engine. You can use UDK, the Doom3 engine, the Source Engine, we dont mind at all. There are three levels and three prizes - depending on your level of competence. It doesnt have to be steampunk however it does have to be cool!

• LEVEL 1. You will create your gun model suitable for a game engine and under 10,000 polygons. You will show a screen capture of your gun - textured or untextured - inside the game engine. You will also show wireframes and final renders in the 3d package you created your gun in.
• LEVEL 2. You will create the gun as above in level 1 however you will also create a multimillion polygon normal map which you will apply to the weapon. The weapon will be shown in game with its normalmap applied as well as renders of the normal and low polygon in your 3d application with wireframes.
• LEVEL 3. You will create your weapon as seen in level 1 and 2 however you will fully texture your weapon and have it shown being held and fired in a game engine.

Rewrote most of the page to add some missing pieces and also include instructions for the 451 patch.

Gamespot is among the first to review Borderlands' SAMOGK (sorry... not spelling it out!) DLC, scoring it a 9/10. The previous two - Zombie Island and Moxxi - scoring an 8 and a 6, respectively, by comparison.

Did I mention they did away with install limits?

It's refreshing to see a developer take notice of feedback and Gearbox apparently listened to the masses groaning about install limits on its previous two Borderlands downloadable additions, Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot and The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned. Yep, that's right, The Secret Armory of General Knoxx was released on the PC today and the Steam version is confirmed to be free of the onerous install limits that saddled the others.

Gearbox employee, ennui, confirms this on the official forum:

That's correct; the activation limit is not present in the Steam version of General Knoxx. I do not know if we will be able to apply this to the previous DLCs, but Knoxx does not contain it on Steam. There was a large amount of response to this, and we took steps to address the concern

I hope Borderlands' owners support this very positive move and make their voices heard with a purchase of this DLC. I know I am.

A complete overhaul of Steam is available as an open beta. Pretty much everything has been updated with an eye towards integrating more friends data into all areas of the application as well as giving you greater flexibility with your games lists. You'll even be able to view applicable game news for each of the games you own. Looks pretty sexy too. Oh yeah, and it might not work. Beta and all. Install at your own risk.

Psst. Don't tell anyone I told you, but Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter is half off ($7.49) until March 2.

Xbox 360 owners can purchase and download Borderlands' third DLC "The Secret Armory of General Knoxx" beginning today, while PS3 and PC owners will need to come back Thursday. The trailer can be viewed below.

Big thanks to the VE3D guys for linking to a new article at IGN chronicling the evolution of the Unreal Engine. Beginning with the days of Tim Sweeney writing code in his parents' house, the lengthy article winds down at the state of the engine today and looks forward.

Geremy Mustard of Chair Entertainment (Epic subsidiary) and Sjoerd "Hourences" de Jong (Toltec Studios/The Ball) contribute:

Chair Entertainment found all the new features in UE3 made it easier for them to transition to small team development after going all out with Advent Rising. "UE2 required programmer support for most gameplay tasks, whereas UE3 moved most of that power into the hands of level designers and artists," Mustard said. "This allowed us to make Undertow with only one full-time programmer in a very short period of time."

de Jong had a similar experience working with UE3. "It allowed us to get going on the game right away," he said. "We got a one-level-long prototype up in two and a half months, with three people on a part time-basis back in Spring 2008. A lot of the tools allow you to quickly see the end result, without touching a line of code."

After having worked with UE3, Mustard said it would be hard to imagine moving back again to UE2. "With [Matinee and Kismet] level designers can prototype almost any scenario in the game without the assistance of a programmer, which allows so much freedom and creativity," he told me. "I would cry if I had to make a game without these tools."

2K rolls out news that downloadable multiplayer and singleplayer content is on the way to BioShock 2. First up is a multiplayer pack. 1Up summarizes it this way:

Is 2K Marin not entitled to the sweat of its brow? No, says the cynical gamer, downloadable belongs on the disc. Nevertheless, the company already announced upcoming DLC for BioShock 2, focusing specifically on the multiplayer aspect. The "Sinclair Solutions Test Pack" will be available for Xbox 360, PC, and PS3 for 400 Microsoft Points, or $4.99. The pack includes a rank increase to level 50, the playable characters that were available as pre-order bonuses, 20 new trials, a third upgrade for each weapon, and five new masks. We have to wonder if raising the level cap for those who buy the DLC will make the game unbalanced, or if they'll simply be filtered into their own game lobbies.

In related news, our friends at Evil Avatar point to an article by veteran game reviewer Tom Chick at fidgit that rips into the entire BioShock 2 multiplayer implementation.

Meanwhile, I can get into multiplayer Bioshock 2 games on the PC with no problem. The "getting in" part is easy. The "playing" part is a whole other kettle of fish. Rotten, stinking, franchise-killing fish. The PC multiplayer is afflicted with insufferable lag. I jump down from the second-story balcony of the Kashmir Restaurant and open fire on the guy hacking the turret, but then I'm suddenly back on the second floor again. I try to walk through a door, but it won't open. I turn a corner and suddenly I'm staring at the wall ten feet short of the corner. What the hell is going on? It's like having a 2400 baud modem.

Gamespot recounts the Chris Taylor (Gas Powered Games) and Mike Capps (Epic) lead discussion on independent game development at the DICE summit. Here the Epic Games President talks about the importance of self-promotion:

"I think it's really important to put your name forward. You want [the marketing] to say 'Epicgames.com' not 'Publishername.com.' I mean you see Infinity Ward, you want to buy it. You see Activision, and you don't."

However, Capps does think that publishers have an important role to play, especially when it comes to marketing a game. "I don't know the first thing about marketing. I slap [Epic design director] Cliff [Bleszinski] onstage and hope he does well. But someone has to buy ads on Hong Kong subways, and I can't do that."

The third, and reportedly largest, piece of DLC for Borderlands is being previewed at Gamespot. In addition to the video below they've got a nice write-up of what to expect. Some of the juicier details:

The content pack will feature several all-new areas to visit, complete with new enemies, weapons, and vehicles. On top of all that, Gearbox is implementing a new level cap of 61 that extends to players and gear, as well as upping the capacity of your backpack via some quest rewards. Finally, you can expect a new dose of achievements and trophies to nab. All told, there's a bunch of sexy stuff that should please fans.

The Grand Prize Winners of the Make Something Unreal Contest have been announced.

The grand prize winners in the Best Game Mod category can be viewed at and are recognized as follows:

First Place: The Haunted by Michael Hegemann and The Haunted Team
Prize: $50,000 + commercial license for Unreal Engine 3

Second Place: The Ball by Toltec Studios
Prize: $40,000

Third Place: Angels Fall First: Planetstorm by the AFF: Planetstorm team
Prize: $30,000

Fourth Place: Prometheus by Rachel Cordone and The Prometheus team
Prize: $20,000

Fifth Place: Hazard: The Journey of Life by Alexander Bruce
Prize: $10,000



The grand prize winners in the Educational category are recognized as follows:

First Place: IT University of Copenhagen (Steam Racers, The Witching Hour, Cubes of Serenity, Chalupa, Takeshi’s Gladiators)
Prize: $10,000

Second Place: Art Institute of California, L.A. (UT2D Killing Time, vCTF-Boilerplate Team Art Mod, Millagun UT2D, Deadman's Tales)
Prize: $5,000

Third Place: Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia (Hazard: The Journey of Life, Steel Halo)
Prize: $5,000

Fourth Place: Högskolan i Skövde, Sweden (Sanctum)
Prize: $5,000

Many exceptional mods are being ported to the recently released Unreal Development Kit (UDK), the free edition of Unreal Engine 3 that provides uncompromised access to the same award-winning toolset used by many of the world’s best game developers. UDK games require no additional software for installation, so anyone can easily try them out. Demo versions of Prometheus and The Ball are available now as free UDK downloads.

And here's the video of the award presentation:

The first trailer for the UDK version of The Ball has been released!

We first reported about this UDK game (Dungeon Defense) in development about 10 days ago and already we've got a look at the first trailer available of the commercial iteration from Trendy Entertainment.

Demonstrating the game's distinct blend of online cooperative Tower Defense & Character Action RPG, this beautiful trailer sets the stage for what the greater game is all about. Stay tuned for more... including news of the game's groundbreaking competitive features!

Unreal Tournament fans will no doubt remember playing a map or two from David Münnich. He returns with an interesting singleplayer UT (also requires Operation Na Pali) experience simply titled "Bob - Everybody needs a friend!"

This map is different from all previous Singleplayer maps for Unreal, because it focuses on solving little puzzles, finding things, maneuvering yourself to certain places with acrobatic skills. When you think you are stuck, don't give up. There is a way!

This is mostly a little nostalgic trip for me, because I haven't made an Unreal Tournament map for 8 years. Looking at all the old maps and seeing, that there are still people playing the old stuff, I felt motivated to do this.