Unreal Engine 2

Last updated
Unreal Engine 2
Initial releaseUnreal Warfare build 633 / January 2001
Stable release
Unreal Engine 2.5 build 3369 / November 2005
Written in C++ , UnrealScript
Platform Microsoft Windows, Linux, OS X, Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube
License Proprietary

Unreal Engine 2 (UE2) is the second version of Unreal Engine developed by Epic Games. Unreal Engine 2 transitioned the engine from software rendering to hardware rendering and brought support for multiple platforms like the PS2. The first game using UE2 was released in 2002 and its last update was shipped in 2005. It was succeeded by Unreal Engine 3.

Contents

History

Killing Floor was built in Unreal Engine 2. Killing Floor Departedscreenshot06.jpg
Killing Floor was built in Unreal Engine 2.

In October 1998, IGN reported, based on an interview with affiliate Voodoo Extreme, that Tim Sweeney, founder of Epic Games, was doing research for his next-generation engine. [1] With development starting a year later, [2] the second version made its debut in 2002 with America's Army , a free multiplayer shooter developed by the U.S. Army as a recruitment device. [3] [4] Soon after, Epic would release Unreal Championship on the Xbox, one of the first games to utilize Microsoft's Xbox Live. [5]

UE2 saw success in its licensing partnerships, a trend that would continue with later versions. [6] Notable games using the engine included Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, Deus Ex: Invisible War, EA's Harry Potter games, Red Steel, BioShock, and Mirror's Edge. [6] UE2 could also support varied game genres and styles, with IGN contrasting its use in America's Army with Domestic, a game that combined "poetry, cinema, and nostalgia into an interactive first person exploration". [6]

A specialized version of UE2 called UE2X was designed for Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict on the original Xbox platform, featuring optimizations specific to that console. [7] In March 2011, Ubisoft Montreal revealed that UE2 was successfully running on the Nintendo 3DS via Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 3D . [8] "The 3DS is powerful, and we are able to run the Unreal Engine on this console, which is pretty impressive for a handheld machine, and the 3D doesn't affect the performance (thanks to my amazing programmers)," said Ubisoft. [8]

UE2 was last updated in 2005 before being replaced by Unreal Engine 3. [9]

Features

GPU acceleration

The rendering code for UE2 was completely reworked from UE1 and made use of new hardware and graphics APIs such the GeForce 3 series. [10] While UE1 was released before the development of mainstream GPU hardware and only employed software rendering in its initial version, UE2 was designed with GPU acceleration in mind from the beginning. [11]

Software rendering was important to us in games up to Unreal Tournament. Now, we can start looking at GeForces and NV20s as the 'baseline' hardware for our next game. We're really focusing on taking advantage of the harware 100%.

— Sweeney, Maximum PC , 2001 [11]

UE2 was also the first version to made use of DirectX 8, which was released in 2000 and was the first DirectX version to support pixel shaders and vertex shaders, which, according to Sweeney, would allow game developers to "customize every aspect of a game's look and feel–especially animation and realistic lighting." [11] Hardware T&L was used to support larger outdoor environments, which Epic Games' Jack Porter described as being greatly improved in UE2. [11]

Multiple platforms

While Unreal Tournament was ported to the PlayStation 2 after its release, [12] Unreal Engine 2 was the first version to make multi-platform support an important focus. [6] UE2 supported the PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Gamecube. [6] According to IGN, Epic's shift in focus to multi-platform was in anticipation of the larger shift from PC to console development that took place in later years within the video game industry. [6]

Other features

The engine integrated a variety of features, including a cinematic editing tool, particle systems, export plug-ins for 3D Studio Max and Maya, and a skeletal animation system first showcased in the PlayStation 2 version of Unreal Tournament. [11] [13] In addition, the user interface for UnrealEd was rewritten in C++ using the wxWidgets toolkit, which Sweeney said was the "best thing available" at the time. [14]

Epic used the Karma physics engine, a third-party software from UK-based studio Math Engine, to drive the physical simulations such as ragdoll player collisions and arbitrary rigid body dynamics. [5] [13] [15] With Unreal Tournament 2004 , vehicle-based gameplay was successfully implemented, enabling large-scale combat. [5] [16] While Unreal Tournament 2003 had support for vehicle physics through the Karma engine, as demonstrated by a testmap with a "hastily-constructed vehicle", it was not until Psyonix created a modification out of Epic's base code that the game received fully coded vehicles. Impressed by their efforts, Epic decided to include it in its successor as an official game mode under the name Onslaught by hiring Psyonix as a contractor. [13] [17] [18] Psyonix would later develop Rocket League before being acquired by Epic in 2019. [19]

See also

Category:Unreal Engine 2 games

Related Research Articles

<i>Unreal</i> (1998 video game) 1998 first-person shooter video game

Unreal is a first-person shooter video game developed by Epic MegaGames and Digital Extremes and published by GT Interactive for Microsoft Windows in May 1998. It was powered by Unreal Engine, an original game engine. The game reached sales of 1.5 million units by 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unreal Engine</span> Video game engine developed by Epic Games

Unreal Engine (UE) is a 3D computer graphics game engine 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, mobiles, console, and virtual reality platforms.

<i>Unreal Tournament 2004</i> 2004 first-person shooter video game

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epic Games</span> American video game company

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital Extremes</span> Canadian video game developer

Digital Extremes Ltd. is a Canadian video game developer founded in 1993 by James Schmalz. They are best known for creating Warframe, a free-to-play cooperative online action game, and co-creating Epic Games' Unreal series of games. Digital Extremes is headquartered in London, Ontario. In 2014, 61% of the company was sold to Chinese holding company Multi Dynamic, now Leyou, for $73 million. In May 2016 Leyou exercised a call option and increased their stake to 97% of Digital Extremes for a total consideration of $138.2 million US. In December 2020, Tencent bought Leyou for 1.3 billion dollars, which included the majority stake in Digital Extremes that Leyou held.

<i>Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict</i> 2005 video game

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PhysX</span> Realtime physics engine software

PhysX is an open-source realtime physics engine middleware SDK developed by Nvidia as a part of Nvidia GameWorks software suite.

<i>Unreal Tournament 3</i> 2007 first-person shooter video game

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.

<i>Gears of War</i> (video game) 2006 video game

Gears of War is a 2006 third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It is the first installment of the Gears of War series, and was initially released as an exclusive title for the Xbox 360 in November 2006. A Microsoft Windows version, developed in conjunction with People Can Fly, was released in November 2007. The game's main story, which can be played in single or co-operative play, focuses on a squad of troops who assist in completing a desperate, last-ditch attempt to end a war against a genocidal subterranean enemy, the Locust, and save the remaining human inhabitants of their planet Sera. The game's multiplayer mode allows up to eight players to control characters from one of the two factions in a variety of online game modes. Gameplay features players using cover and strategic fire in order to win battles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unreal Engine 3</span> Game engine

Unreal Engine 3 (UE3) is the third version of Unreal Engine developed by Epic Games. Unreal Engine 3 was one of the first game engines to support multithreading. It used DirectX 9 as its baseline graphics API, simplifying its rendering code. The first games using UE3 were released at the end of 2006. It was succeeded by Unreal Engine 4.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unreal Engine 4</span> Game engine

Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) is the fourth version of Unreal Engine developed by Epic Games. UE4 began development in 2003 and was released in March 2014, with the first game using UE4 being released in April 2014. UE4 introduced support or physically based materials and a new visual programming language called "Blueprints". It was succeeded by Unreal Engine 5.

Unreal Engine 1 (UE1) is the first version of the Unreal Engine game engine. It was initially developed in 1995 by Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney for Unreal. Epic later began to license the Engine to other game studios. It was succeeded by Unreal Engine 2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ubisoft Anvil</span> Game engine developed by Ubisoft Montreal

Ubisoft Anvil is a game engine created by Ubisoft Montreal and used in the Assassin's Creed video game series as well as other Ubisoft games. The engine is used on Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Stadia. Ubisoft Anvil is one of the primary game engines used by Ubisoft along with Disrupt, Dunia, and Snowdrop.

MT Framework is a game engine created by Capcom. "MT" stands for "Multi-Thread", "Meta Tools" and "Multi-Target". While initially MT Framework was intended to power 2006's Dead Rising and Lost Planet: Extreme Condition only, Capcom later decided for their internal development divisions to adopt it as their default engine. As a result, the vast majority of their internally developed video games for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms were created on it, including four new titles and three remastered ports of past titles in the Resident Evil series. The visuals of the first games built with the engine were well received, and MT Framework has also won a CEDEC award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sega Studios San Francisco</span> American video game developer

Sega Studios San Francisco, formerly known as Secret Level, Inc., was an American video game developer based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in December 1999 by Jeremy Gordon, Otavio Good, and Josh Adams.

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.

<i>Rocket League</i> 2015 video game

Rocket League is a vehicular soccer video game developed and published by Psyonix. The game was first released for PlayStation 4 and Windows in July 2015, with ports for Xbox One and Nintendo Switch being released later on. Rocket League was available on Steam for Windows players and the PlayStation Store for PlayStation 4 players. In June 2016, 505 Games began distributing a physical retail version for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment taking over those duties by the end of 2017. Versions for macOS and Linux were also released in 2016, but support for their online services was dropped in 2020. Epic Games acquired Psyonix in 2019 and made the game free-to-play in September 2020.

Fortnite is an online video game and game platform developed by Epic Games and released in 2017. It is available in six distinct game mode versions that otherwise share the same general gameplay and game engine: Fortnite Battle Royale, a free-to-play battle royale game in which up to 100 players fight to be the last person standing; Fortnite: Save the World, a cooperative hybrid tower defense-shooter and survival game in which up to four players fight off zombie-like creatures and defend objects with traps and fortifications they can build; and Fortnite Creative, in which players are given complete freedom to create worlds and battle arenas, Lego Fortnite, an open world survival game, Rocket Racing, a racing game, and Fortnite Festival, a rhythm game.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epic Games Store</span> Digital video game storefront

The Epic Games Store is a video game digital distribution service and storefront operated by Epic Games. It launched in December 2018 as a software client, for Microsoft Windows and macOS, and online storefront. Android and iOS versions of the store launched in August 2024, with the iOS version only available for European users. The service provides friends list management, game matchmaking, and other features. Epic Games has further plans to expand the feature set of the storefront but it does not plan to add as many features as other digital distribution platforms, such as discussion boards or user reviews, instead using existing social media platforms to support these.

References

  1. ↑ "Tim Sweeney Looks Ahead". IGN . October 23, 1998. Archived from the original on June 27, 2019. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  2. ↑ Herz, J.C. (December 2, 1999). "GAME THEORY; For Game Maker, There's Gold in the Code". The New York Times . Archived from the original on September 19, 2017. Retrieved September 24, 2017.
  3. ↑ McLeroy, Carrie (August 27, 2008). "Improving "America's Army"". U.S. Army . Archived from the original on November 19, 2017. Retrieved August 11, 2017.
  4. ↑ Kennedy, Brian (July 11, 2002). "Uncle Sam Wants You (To Play This Game)". The New York Times . Archived from the original on December 13, 2017. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 Busby, Jason; Parrish, Zak; Wilson, Jeff (July 21, 2009). Introduction to Unreal Technology. InformIT. Archived from the original on September 30, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Thomsen, Mike (23 February 2010). "History of the Unreal Engine". IGN .
  7. ↑ Edge Australia. "The unreal thing". Edge Australia . No. 1. p. 68. Retrieved August 26, 2017.
  8. 1 2 Parrish, Kevin (March 25, 2011). "Ubisoft: 3DS Can Handle Unreal Engine 2". Tom's Guide. Archived from the original on January 21, 2016. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Welcome to the Unreal Engine 2 Documentation". unrealengine.com. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  10. ↑ McLean-Foreman, John (April 6, 2001). "An Interview with Epic Games' Tim Sweeney". Game Developer . Archived from the original on August 22, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 McDonald, Thomas L. "Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!". Maximum PC . No. January 2001. p.  44.
  12. ↑ "Unreal Tournament". IGN . 10 October 2000.
  13. 1 2 3 "Tim Sweeney & CliffyB Interview". Planet Unreal. GameSpy Industries. October 22, 2002. Archived from the original on October 24, 2002. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
  14. ↑ Lightbown, David (January 9, 2018). "Classic Tools Retrospective: Tim Sweeney on the first version of the Unreal Editor". Game Developer . Archived from the original on August 23, 2018. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  15. ↑ Parker, Sam (March 22, 2002). "GDC 2002: Unreal technology, new benchmark". GameSpot . Archived from the original on September 8, 2017. Retrieved January 6, 2022.
  16. ↑ Parker, Sam (March 16, 2004). "Unreal Tournament 2004 Review". GameSpot . Archived from the original on July 11, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
  17. ↑ hal (March 24, 2004). "BU Interviews: Psyonix". Beyond Unreal. Archived from the original on November 15, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  18. ↑ Wawro, Alex (July 21, 2015). "Why some old designs are worth revisiting: A Rocket League story". Game Developer . Archived from the original on May 11, 2019. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  19. ↑ Statt, Nick (May 1, 2019). "Epic buys Rocket League developer Psyonix, strongly hints it will stop selling the game on Steam". The Verge . Archived from the original on May 1, 2019. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.