Game Engine for School Project

Tulkamir

Hey, here at my school we do a game design as our final project, and for this the UT2k4 engine is taught and used. However I'm wondering if the engine might not be a bit dated? The reason I bring this up is that we have to do our demo reel as well, so it seems to me that we should be using assets from our game project in our demo reel. So really what I'm wondering if art assets created for UT2k4 won't be too out of date to really get us a job. And if this is true what engine should we be looking at using?

MoP

Well, AFAIK, UT2k4 doesn't support normalmapping on models, so you wouldn't be able to do next-gen stuff.

However, it's still the case that companies will hire people who don't have normal-mapping experience or high-poly modelling skills.

You should be fine building low-poly stuff and working on your texturing skills... if you can show quality at that level, it's entirely valid for a portfolio.

I guess it depends where you're aiming. Obviously if you want a job doing next-gen cutting edge characters, you'll need to show you can do high-poly and normalmapping, but similarly if you want to do DS/PSP stuff, showing normalmapping and high-poly will be next to useless.

So yeah, depending on your targets should determine what engine to use. If you wanna go next-gen, use Quake4 or Doom3 (Q4 is probably better) - it's fairly well-documented and quite easy to get models and textures in if you can export to .LWO or .ASE format.

cholden

If you want to use UT and next gen materials, get SWAT4. It's a bugdet game so it's cheap, yet it includes everything you need. Lee3dee directed this to me a while back, and I picked up a copy. Haven't finished anything worth showing, but it works perfectly for building and viewing next gen props and materials in an unreal editor.

MoP

Sweet, I didn't know about that, Chris. That sounds like the best of both worlds, then!

Joao Sapiro

didnt pariah had normal maps in unreal engine 2 ?

Tulkamir

Thanks guys, was just what I'd needed to know. Q4 engine is something I hadn't even thought about, thanks for that, I'll look into it.

And that's awesome Chris, thanks for letting me know. I'd never even heard of it. I didn't know that UE2 could support normal mapping and the such.

Thanks a bunch guys.

kat

Keep in mind that the tool chain may be easier for the Unreal based games so if you've never done this type of editing to any degree you might find Unreal the better choice (I say that as a heavy D3/Q4 user btw).

Take a look at the toolset before deciding on which one to use.

oXYnary

The new torque shader engine supports normal maps. That might be another option.

If you want access to UED 3 (is Swat 4 a UED 3 title?) the IGEIA Physics card comes with a physics demo that has a earlier build of UED 3.

cholden

Just wanted to add: I bought Swat4 and had a working (room) level within thirty minutes of install. I've never even played the game. Ran SwatEd, looked over a tutor oh a basic room, and it worked great. Unreal tools are so refined and easy to use. Again, I haven't had the chance to make my own props and materials, but as soon as I get the time, I'll be doing this for sure!

I'm sure Lee3dee can add to this.

Lee3dee

Glad its working out for you cholden Actually, you can thank Ivalice for showing me swat4 & normal mapping

Swat4 tools were very helpful for making normal mapping work in unrealed. There were a few things problems that I encountered with the editor and normal maps, but luckily TheGodZero was there to help me fix the problems in my normal maps.

Try and avoid using the photoshop plugin for detailed work because it looked terrible in the swat4 engine