Steve Polge | |
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Occupation | Game programmer |
Steven Polge is a game programmer, most noted for his work on Epic Games' Unreal series of games. Polge was hired by Epic in 1997 after creating the Reaper Bot, which is recognized by Guinness World Records as the first computer-controlled deathmatch opponent. [1] [2] [3] In addition to programming on the franchise, he served as lead designer on Unreal Tournament 3 , [4] and has been credited on other Epic titles such as Gears of War , Shadow Complex and Fortnite .
Prior to joining Epic, he had worked at IBM after getting his master's degree in computer engineering. [5] [6]
Deathmatch, also known as free-for-all, is a gameplay mode integrated into many shooter games, including first-person shooter (FPS), and real-time strategy (RTS) video games, where the goal is to kill the other players' characters as many times as possible. The deathmatch may end on a frag limit or a time limit, and the winner is the player that accumulated the greatest number of frags.
Unreal Engine (UE) is a series of 3D computer graphics game engines developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter video game Unreal. Initially developed for PC first-person shooters, it has since been used in a variety of genres of games and has been adopted by other industries, most notably the film and television industry. Unreal Engine is written in C++ and features a high degree of portability, supporting a wide range of desktop, mobile, console, and virtual reality platforms.
Unreal Tournament is a first-person arena shooter video game developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes. The second installment in the Unreal series, it was first published by GT Interactive in 1999 for Windows, and later released on the PlayStation 2 and Dreamcast by Infogrames in 2000 and 2001, respectively. Players compete in a series of matches of various types, with the general aim of out-killing opponents. The PC and Dreamcast versions support multiplayer online or over a local area network. Free expansion packs were released, some of which were bundled with a 2000 re-release: Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition.
Unreal Tournament 2003 is a first-person arena shooter video game developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes, and published by Infogrames under the Atari brand name. The game is part of the Unreal franchise, and is a sequel to 1999's Unreal Tournament. Like its predecessor, the game is designed mainly for multiplayer gaming.
Unreal Tournament 2004 is a first-person arena shooter video game developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes. Part of the Unreal franchise, it is the third game in the Unreal Tournament series and the updated version of Unreal Tournament 2003.
Epic Games, Inc. is an American video game and software developer and publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney as Potomac Computer Systems in 1991, originally located in his parents' house in Potomac, Maryland. Following its first commercial video game release, ZZT (1991), the company became Epic MegaGames, Inc. in early 1992 and brought on Mark Rein, who has been its vice president since. After moving the headquarters to Cary in 1999, the studio changed its name to Epic Games.
Cliff Bleszinski, popularly known as CliffyB, is an American video game designer, known for his work on the Unreal and Gears of War series while at Epic Games. After leaving Epic in 2012, he co-founded Boss Key Productions in 2014 which closed in 2018 after the commercial failure of the multiplayer shooter LawBreakers. Since Boss Key's closure, Bleszinski has spent his time with theater and writing.
Timothy Dean Sweeney is an American video game programmer and businessman. He is the founder and CEO of Epic Games, and the creator of Unreal Engine, a game development platform.
Tactical Ops: Assault on Terror is a first-person shooter video game developed in 2002 by Kamehan Studios and published by Infogrames as a MicroProse title. The game is a standalone retail version of a multiplayer modification of the same name published by Kamehan Studios in 1999 for the game Unreal Tournament. The game features match-based missions in which two teams, themed as Special Forces and terrorists, battle to complete mission objectives and kill their opponents. Upon release, Tactical Ops received mixed to average reviews, with critics faulting the game's similarities to the non-commercial version and lack of defining features compared to other multiplayer first-person shooters.
Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict is a first- and third-person arena shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Midway Games. It was released in April 2005 for Xbox. The game is part of the Unreal franchise, and is a direct sequel to 2002's Unreal Championship. Unreal Championship 2 was designed from the ground up to take full advantage of the Xbox Live gaming service.
Unreal Tournament 3 (UT3) is a first-person arena shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Midway Games. Part of the Unreal franchise, it is the fourth game in the Unreal Tournament series, and the eighth and final game overall; its name is in reflection of the game being the first in the franchise to use Unreal Engine 3. It was released on November 19, 2007, for Microsoft Windows, December 10 for the PlayStation 3, and on July 3, 2008, for the Xbox 360. OS X and Linux ports were planned, but they were eventually cancelled. A free-to-play version, entitled Unreal Tournament 3 X, was leaked in late 2022 and cancelled in 2023.
Michael V. Capps or Mike Capps is an American video game designer who was the president of Epic Games, based in Cary, North Carolina from 2002 to 2012. In 2018, he co-founded a new artificial intelligence company called Howso. He has been described as "a legendary figure in the video game industry."
Infinity Blade was an action role-playing game developed by Chair Entertainment and Epic Games and released through the Apple App Store on December 9, 2010. It was the first iOS video game to run on the Unreal Engine. In the game, the unnamed player character fights a series of one-on-one battles in a derelict castle to face the immortal God King. When in battle, players swipe the screen to attack and parry, and tap the screen to dodge and block enemy attacks. Upon defeat, the player restarts the game as the character's descendant with the same items and experience level.
Fortnite: Save the World is a cooperative hybrid-third-person looter shooter tower defense sandbox survival video game developed and published by Epic Games, part of the game Fortnite. The game was released as a paid-for early access title for macOS, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One on July 25, 2017, with plans for a full free-to-play release announced in late 2018. Epic eventually opted to move the game to pay-to-play in June 2020. The retail versions of the game were published by Gearbox Software, while online distribution of the PC versions is handled by Epic's launcher.
Unreal Tournament was a first-person arena shooter video game developed by Epic Games. It is the ninth game in the Unreal franchise, the fifth game in the Unreal Tournament series, and the first entry to be released since 2007's Unreal Tournament 3. The game utilizes Epic's Unreal Engine 4 and was released for free on Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux. The game was released as an alpha in 2014, but was never completed due to Epic Games' focus on Fortnite Battle Royale.
Kevin Riepl is an American composer for video games, films and television shows. He is best known for his work on the Unreal series of games, Gears of War and Aliens: Colonial Marines.
Psyonix LLC is an American video game developer based in San Diego. It was founded in 2000 by Dave Hagewood with the team of his Internet-focused company WebSite Machines. After canceling its first two projects, Psyonix created VehicleMOD, a mod that adds vehicles to Unreal Tournament 2003. The game's developer, Epic Games, subsequently hired the studio to recreate this gameplay for a game mode in Unreal Tournament 2004. Psyonix subsisted off contract work and released its first original game, Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars, in 2008. The game was not as successful as anticipated but Hagewood held on to the game's concept and had a small team prototype a sequel while the rest of the company worked on further contract projects. This sequel was released as Rocket League in 2015 and became a commercial success. Epic Games acquired the studio in May 2019.
Rod Fergusson is a Canadian video game producer, best known for overseeing the development of the Gears of War franchise, originally at Epic Games and then as head of The Coalition. More recently, Fergusson moved over to Blizzard Entertainment to oversee development on the Diablo series.
An arena shooter is a subgenre of shooter games and multiplayer games that cover both the first-person shooter and third-person shooter genres. These games emphasize fast-paced movement in enclosed map designs that foster engagement between players.
After I released the Reaper bot for quake, Epic offered me a job working on Unreal. After we shipped the first Unreal game, we realized we wanted to go farther into multiplayer. The bot AI I was developing gave us the opportunity to make a multiplayer focused game that could also be enjoyed stand alone, which was important at that time when not everyone had good internet connections or experience with multiplayer gaming. I was the lead programmer for Unreal Tournament, and focused on AI, networking, player physics, and general gameplay.
The engine-licensing was an epiphany. Sweeney and his pals at Epic realized that they could make money by granting other developers the right to use their tech. He loved it, because deals like that made Epic the money it needed to focus on making games. Sweeney's involvement in the first Unreal Engine diminished after the first Unreal game shipped. Other programmers, including Epic's bright AI wiz Steve Polge moved to the forefront ... Polge was the first programmer that Sweeney worked with who he discovered was as good as him. He's still at Epic and a big Sweeney fan since he joined the company in 1997.