Developer(s) | |
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Written in | C++ |
Operating system | Windows |
Platform | |
License | Proprietary |
Website | www |
Snowdrop is a proprietary game engine created by Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft for use on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Stadia, and Luna. It was revealed at E3 2013 with Tom Clancy's The Division , the first game using the engine. [1] [2] Snowdrop is one of the primary game engines used by Ubisoft along with Disrupt, Dunia, and Ubisoft Anvil. [3]
The engine is coded mainly in C++. [4] Rodrigo Cortes, former brand art director at Massive Entertainment, said that development on the Snowdrop engine started in 2009. [5] Initially it was an engine built for PC and next-gen development to "do things better not bigger". [6] The core of the game engine is powered by a "node-based system" and the engine is a dynamic, interconnected and flexible system where developers can create their assets quickly and interact with them in ways that have never been done before. [7] [8] Massive created a lighting and destruction system inspired by film production techniques. [9] [10] Features of Snowdrop include advanced physically based rendering (PBR) and a dynamic global illumination system. [11]
According to the developers, the engine was designed with three pillars: Empowerment, which allows animators, artists and designers to get their work done quicker, Real Time, which allows developers to implement and iterate quickly and Fun, a concept that applies not only to the final product, but to using the engine during development. [12] [13] An improved version of the engine was used for Tom Clancy's The Division 2 . [14] [15]
In February 2016, Massive confirmed that the engine can be used for other Ubisoft games. [16] [17] According to Martin Hultberg, head of IP at Ubisoft Massive, Snowdrop became available to all Ubisoft studios and not just those working on the Tom Clancy's IP. [18] [19] These games include South Park: The Fractured but Whole , [20] Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle , [21] and Starlink: Battle for Atlas . [22] In June 2021, Ubisoft confirmed that the engine will be upgraded for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora . [23] [24] According to senior technical artist Kunal Luthra, thousands of assets can be propagated inside of each frame to create more highly detailed environments. The engine would also support real-time ray tracing as well as improved AI behavior for NPCs. [25] [26] Snowdrop will also be used for Star Wars Outlaws , [27] [28] and the remake of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell . [29] [30] Ubisoft announced they will continue to upscale and develop the engine. [31]
Features of Snowdrop include: [32]
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is a 2002 stealth game developed by Ubi Soft Montreal and published by Ubi Soft. It is the first game in the Splinter Cell series. Endorsed by author Tom Clancy, it follows the activities of NSA black ops agent Sam Fisher. The game was inspired by both the Metal Gear series and games created by Looking Glass Studios, and was built using Unreal Engine 2.
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is a series of stealth action-adventure video games, the first of which was released in 2002, and their tie-in novels that were endorsed by Tom Clancy. The series follows Sam Fisher, a highly trained agent of a fictional black-ops sub-division within the NSA, dubbed "Third Echelon", as he overcomes his adversaries. Levels are created using Unreal Engine and emphasize light and darkness as gameplay elements. The series has been positively received, and was once considered to be one of Ubisoft's flagship franchises. The series had sold 19 million units by 2008. No further installments have been released since 2013. A remake of the first game was announced in December 2021.
Ubisoft Entertainment SA is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, For Honor, Just Dance, Prince of Persia, Rabbids, Rayman, Tom Clancy's, and Watch Dogs.
Massive Entertainment AB is a Swedish video game developer and a studio of Ubisoft based in Malmö. The company has been fully owned by Ubisoft since 2008. The studio is known for Tom Clancy's The Division, The Division 2, Ground Control, and World in Conflict.
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The IW engine is a game engine created and developed by Infinity Ward for the Call of Duty series. The engine was originally based on id Tech 3. Aside from Infinity Ward, the engine is also used by other Activision studios working on the series, including primary lead developers Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games, and support studios like Beenox, High Moon Studios, and Raven Software.
Watch Dogs is a 2014 action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the first installment in the Watch Dogs series. The game is played from a third-person perspective, and its world is navigated on foot or by vehicle. Set within a fictionalized version of the Chicago area in 2013, the single-player story follows grey hat hacker and vigilante Aiden Pearce's quest for revenge after the killing of his niece. An online multiplayer mode allows up to eight players to engage in cooperative and competitive gameplay.
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist is a 2013 stealth action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Toronto and published by Ubisoft. The game is the sequel to Splinter Cell: Conviction and the seventh installment of the Splinter Cell series. Players control Sam Fisher, a highly trained operative working for the Fourth Echelon, in a mission to stop the Engineers, a group of terrorists which is trying to coerce the United States into recalling all of its troops stationed abroad. The gameplay is similar to its predecessors, with players tasked with completing objectives and defeating enemies. Blacklist marks the return of the asymmetrical multiplayer mode Spies vs. Mercs, which was introduced in Pandora Tomorrow.
Tom Clancy's The Division is an online-only action role-playing video game developed by Massive Entertainment and published in 2016 by Ubisoft, for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. It is set in a near future New York City in the aftermath of a viral pandemic; the player, a Special Agent of the Strategic Homeland Division, is tasked with helping the group rebuild its operations in Manhattan, investigate the nature of the outbreak, and combat criminal activity in its wake. The Division is structured with elements of role-playing games, as well as cooperative and player versus player online multiplayer. This game also marks the debut of Massive and Ubisoft's Snowdrop game engine.
The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2015 was the 21st E3 held. The event took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California. It took place from June 16 to June 18, 2015, with 52,200 total attendees.
Tom Clancy's is a branding used by video game company Ubisoft for several video games, some of which feature the works of American author Tom Clancy, while others do not. Various sub-series are often unrelated to each other with a few exceptions, although most are shooters set in modern or near-future military settings.
The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2017 was the 23rd E3, during which hardware manufacturers and software developers and publishers from the video game industry presented new and upcoming products to the attendees, primarily retailers and members of the video game press. The event, organized by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center from June 13–15, 2017. It was the first E3 to allow public access to the event, and as a result, the total attendance was about 68,400 which included 15,000 in public passes.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is a 2023 open world action-adventure game based on the Avatar film series, developed by Massive Entertainment and published by Ubisoft. The game was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on December 7, 2023. It is the second video game released for the franchise after Avatar: The Game (2009) and it received mixed reviews from critics, with unfavorable comparisons to Ubisoft's Far Cry series.
Star Wars Outlaws is an upcoming action-adventure game set in the Star Wars universe developed by Massive Entertainment and published by Ubisoft under license by Lucasfilm Games. The game takes place during the period between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. It is scheduled to release for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S in 2024.