Epic Games debuted the first footage of its next-generation engine on GameTrailers TV, and yes, it looks awesome.
We don’t expect to play games that look like this anytime soon, as Epic expects developers to stick with Unreal Engine 3 for early games in the next console generation, and then use Unreal Engine 4 for their next projects.
Key Points
- Real-time dynamic global illumination: Lighting looks much more realistic, taking into account every light source (such as a blinding noonday sun or lava’s soft reddish glow) and surface (like dull stone or a gleaming, reflective statue) and calculating a scene’s appearance on the fly.
- Environmental and particle effects: Whether it’s a raging bonfire, the tiny sparks leaping from it, or the thick smoke billowing off it, the vast increase in the possible number of particles will allow for better-looking effects in both obvious and subtle ways.
- On-the-fly development iteration: Developers will be able to spend much more time making tweaks instead of waiting for code to re-compile every time they do, which is better for their productivity and, ultimately, for the games themselves.
