Photo: Muhammed Yaylali/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
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“Epic Games” develops popular games such as “Fort Knight”, but its essence is not just a game company. The 3D graphics engine “Unreal Engine 5” developed by the company has leapt beyond the boundaries of game companies and is about to evolve into a leading player in the Metaverse era. The American business magazine “Fast Company” explores that possibility.
This article is part 1 / all 3 parts
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“I want you to let me use that game engine.”
Epic Games has achieved such a great success that its name is engraved in the history of games. Founder and CEO Tim Sweeney grew up in the suburban town of Potomac, Maryland, in the 1980s. He wasn’t particularly a gamer kid. I was more interested in the game itself: the software, the internal circuitry that hums in the background while you play, the mechanics that make the game work.
At that time, Sweeney was enthusiastic about self-taught programming with “Apple II”, and eventually created his first game with the skills he learned. He later went on to develop his own game engine.
In the 1990s, he began writing code that would eventually be featured in Unreal, the first-person shooter game released by Epic Games in 1998. When other developers saw a teaser video for Unreal and started asking to use the game engine, Sweeney agreed.
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Epic Games began developing Unreal Engine in 1995, and began licensing it in 1996. Since then, using this ever-evolving toolset, new titles such as “Gears of War”, “Infinity Blade” and “Fortnite” have been released one after another.
Any object in the real world can be represented digitally
In April 2022, Epic Games released the latest version “Unreal Engine 5” with the fifth major upgrade. Game developers and other creators can design 3D objects, surfaces, and people with increased realism, and feel the natural lighting and the spread of space with the engine, which is full of the latest functions and more advanced functions. It is now possible to create sound effects that make
The experience is tool-generated and doesn’t exactly “reproduce” reality, but it might make you forget you’re in a simulation for at least a few seconds. do not have.
“With the latest version, we can reproduce not only the shades of an object, but the shape itself, as precisely as we see it with the naked eye.” Sweeney and I sat at a table in the courtyard of Epic Games’ headquarters in Cary, North Carolina.
“It also incorporates the effects of light in the real world, so it’s flexible. The more technology can reproduce reality, the more human intuition and experience will accelerate it. “
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Now in its fifth generation, the latest version comes with new software tools and marketing in partnership with the team behind the Matrix trilogy. There is no doubt that this engine will enable a more realistic gaming experience in the future. No, it’s possible to do more than that.
The tech world is currently buzzing with immersive “spatial” computing in a world called the Metaverse. In that respect, Unreal Engine’s ability to simulate reality has interesting implications. The new features are meant to empower digital creators across a wide variety of industries to create their own immersive virtual experiences.
“We’re seeing a convergence of different industries and technologies because we can now have the same high-fidelity graphics that we see in movie sets and video games,” says Sweeney.
“Also, in architecture and automobile design, 3D buildings and cars are actually being constructed. Both of these involve reproducing in digital space all kinds of objects that exist in the world, as well as all kinds of objects in companies and movies. It is possible to build
Moreover, the Internet’s origins predict that such experiences won’t remain fragmented forever. Sweeney believes the day will come when everyone will realize that there is something good for consumers and businesses to piece together. Then, in the end, a world like the Metaverse in the true sense of the word will be realized. (to be continued）
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