The Benefits of Leveraging an Unreal Engine Partner

Making video games has become increasingly fascinating and complex as we've progressed through decades of technological advancement. Especially nowadays, the video game industry has been able to garner more revenue than the film and music industry combined, according to SuperData Research. As more creatives get into the fray as indie developers, one of the first questions asked after coming up with an idea is, "What engine should we use?" While quite a few options are available, including creating a proprietary engine, there are immense benefits to leveraging an established engine like Unreal.

The Unreal Engine by Epic Games, otherwise known as the engine behind genre-defining and radically impressive titles such as Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Fortnite, the Batman: Arkham series, and many more, is a versatile and in-depth game engine that's easily accessible and has been used for a plethora of titles. While its origins link back to the mid-90s, Epic Games has continued to push the envelope on what features are available to developers to create their dreams. However, to really utilize the full power of Unreal, especially as a small developer, collaborating with an Unreal Partner can be a cost-effective and long-term benefit. Experienced Unreal developers can not only offer their technical expertise to deliver impactful resources, guidance, and assistance in the development process but also assist in the maintenance of titles after they've been released and even use third-party assets in tandem with the Unreal library to truly make an amazing game!

Leveling Up the Game Development Cycle

The root of most problems within the development cycle for indie developers is known as "scope creep." A very common occurrence, scope creep, is when ambitions overtake reasonable development decisions and inevitably balloon the project into an overcomplicated, delayed, and ultimately lackluster release. While this is a term that is often used when thinking mechanically about a game, the core concept can be applied to other facets of development. Areas like resources, technical challenges, and funding can be underestimated and underutilized - leading indie developers to cut corners where they shouldn't.

The Unreal Engine offers a myriad of different industry-level features like its advanced graphics capabilities, including real-time ray tracing, photorealistic visuals, and high-quality rendering. There is also an immense community of creators that create assets, plugins, and tools to ensure that your games will be optimized across the board. Aside from that, Unreal provides a visual scripting system known as Blueprints. With this system, mechanics and game logic can be built without extensive coding knowledge and can be an even more impactful tool with said knowledge. This level of versatility can also be applied to actual applications the engine has for other forms of art, as series like The Mandalorian and films like The Batman have used the technology to provide actors and cinematographers visual information and lighting assistance for scenes. These kinds of innovations are also thanks to Epic Games's continued support of the engine as it's now in its 5th version, as they work towards improved content creation, lighting, and advanced Artificial Intelligence.

As a result of these features, game developers can not only jump over some of the greatest pitfalls in development but also reap the reward of efficient content creation and cross-platform development and stand among AAA developers with cutting-edge visual presentation and impressive gameplay.

This notion has rung true recently with the release of Lies of P, an action RPG that has players playing as iconic character Pinocchio. In this title, developers Neowiz and Round8 Studio have created a beautifully grim gothic horror with their setting, set pieces, and character models being astoundingly styled and detailed. They used Unreal Engine 4 to its fullest and provided all of that alongside precise lighting and light reflections without the use of ray tracing. On top of this, the game has practically no bugs or technical issues - a sight for sore eyes in today's gaming landscape. Consequently, Lies of P has been commercially and critically praised, with many outlets calling it "the best souls-like ever made."

Of course, Lies of P isn't an isolated incident. Some of the century's most impactful and adored video games have been made with Unreal; Bioshock, Deus Ex, Borderlands 2, and Mass Effect 2 have all used Unreal as their foundation. Even companies that once used their own engine for their titles, such as Telltale Games, have moved on to using Unreal Engine as a cost-effective and powerful tool.

Making the Most of a Versatile Toolbox

Video game development, to put it simply, is hard. However, you don't have to start from scratch when making a game. Chetu, as an Unreal Engine Partner understands the woes of the development cycle and can provide the much-needed assistance, guidance, and quality assurance that you wouldn't be able to get if you took on the development undertaking on your own. Whether it's technical challenges involving scripting and game mechanics, improving the pace of production with pre-built assets, code snippets and templates, or ensuring that best practices are being done alongside delivering a smooth gaming experience, an Unreal Partner will help you make the most of your ideas and reach your dream game.