Tag: Unreal Engine

Getting to Grips with Mobile Gametech

Wow, has mobile gaming changed. Over the decades, it’s transformed from peripheral entertainment niche into enormously significant and lucrative sector within both the mobile app and gaming ecosystems. For several years now, mobile games have generated over half of all global gaming revenues, outperforming both the incumbent console and PC markets – impressive in our eyes, at least!

According to a recent report by Statista, the mobile gaming industry is forecast to hit a value of over $118 billion in 2027 – truly underscoring its dominant status in gaming. 

And the success of mobile gaming is no mere trend! It’s a result of technology utterly transforming the gaming landscape. Exciting advancements in tons of different areas – mobile hardware, software development, and operational tech – have rewritten our sense of what’s possible. Nowadays, you can use your phone to enjoy the kind of experience that you’d once only have expected on high-end consoles and PCs. Plus, have you seen the sheer scale of games available for mobile these days? Cards, bingo, slots, poker, adventures, horror, and more. Users can access everything from casino games to esports tournaments on their smartphones. Want to try your hand at slots or poker without having to do more than pick up your phone and open an app? You can enjoy super high-end graphics and gorgeous functionality in today’s mobile casino games, all from your smartphone! It’s one very clear marker of just how far we’ve come.

And sure, there are plenty of other genres that your mobile can handle, but there’s no question that digital casino games are especially well-suited to this format – supported by their popularity today.

The Mobile Gametech Ecosystem

To fully grasp how mobile gaming thrives, it’s crucial to dissect the technologies that sustain it. The mobile gametech ecosystem can be broadly categorised into three domains: Development, Consumer Tech, and Operations. 

Development

Development is at the heart of any gaming experience, and for mobile developers, the landscape is more competitive than ever. From casual commute-friendly games to AAA multiplayer titles, there’s an ever-increasing demand for new mobile experiences, which makes development tech that can handle the demand essential. 

Consumer Tech

Of course, all the development technologies in the world wouldn’t make a difference if it weren’t for devices. What else would we play the games on? The latest smartphones now come equipped with faster processors, stronger GPUs, and RAM aplenty, making it possible for developers to create games that were once only feasible on games consoles. 

Connectivity also takes a pivotal position in the mobile gametech ecosystem. As controversial as it remains, 5G has been a boon for mobile gamers, offering low latency and lightning-fast download speeds. 

Operations: Monetization, Data, and Maintenance

The operational side of mobile gaming is also crucial to the ecosystem. This includes everything from backend infrastructure to player engagement techniques.

A Deep Dive into Mobile Game Engines

Most app developers today are increasingly turning towards using game engines. It will surprise absolutely no one that using the right software to develop a gaming app is key, but did you know it can make the difference between a mediocre title cluttering up the app stores and a standout hit everyone wants to try? Developers need engines that aren’t just robust, but also flexible enough to handle the unique challenges of the mobile platform – which are not insignificant! 

What is a Mobile Game Engine?

A mobile game engine is essentially a software framework designed to simplify game development. These frameworks provide the necessary tools to create, manage, and optimise all the elements of a game – not just graphics, but also sound and networking. When creating mobile gaming apps, a game engine can be used to render graphics and manage the game’s underlying logic, which ensures a seamless experience across all mobile devices. 

The Best Mobile Game Engines

There are several game engines in existence and, while none are exclusively designed solely for mobile development, a number do stand out for their adaptable feature sets, which make them ideal for the sector. The likes of Unity and Unreal are the market leaders, but don’t stop with them. There are also a couple of up-and-coming tools that deserve your consideration!

Unity

Perhaps the most popular engine for desktop and console games, but that’s not all! It also ranks highly in the mobile world. If you’re creating 2D or 3D mobile games, it’s excellent, and it’s also versatile and super easy to use. Plus, cross-platform capabilities! They mean that developers can build for Android, iOS, Windows, and more at the same time – definitely a win. 

Unreal Engine

Unreal Engine, developed by Epic Games, counts as another major player here. Sure, it’s better known for AAA console and PC games, but does that mean it’s useless for mobile games? No! Its powerful visual scripting tool called Blueprints lets developers build games without needing to write a single line of code, opening up options for folks everywhere. 

Godot

Free and open-source, Godot is swiftly gaining popularity. Like the engines above, it supports 2D and 3D game development, but it’s much more lightweight than Unreal, which makes it ideal for creating mobile games that are compatible with less powerful devices. 

Cocos2d-x

Popular among developers creating 2D and indie games, Cocos2d-x is a lightweight, open-source engine. It’s widely used in the Asian markets, particularly during the development of hypercasual and puzzle games. However, thanks to its support for Android, iOS and Windows, it’s becoming more popular with developers in the UK and Europe. 

 

Why are videogames made with Unreal Engine so successful?

The Unreal Engine has established itself as one of the leading tools in the game development industry. Its advanced graphics and physics capabilities allow for the creation of immersive game worlds with a high degree of detail and realism.

Analyzing successful examples of games that are based on this platform provides immense value for both newcomers and industry veterans. Studying these examples inspires creativity and innovation and helps discover practical methods for overcoming technical and design challenges.

Let’s look at the features of Unreal Engine together with the developers of high-quality games from Stepico, who have also shared successful examples created on this engine.

What is Unreal Engine

Unreal Engine by Epic Games is a leading game engine with high quality and extensive capabilities for developers. It is free to use, but with certain royalty conditions, and offers a full set of tools for creating AAA-level games.

The engine has proved attractive to any unreal game development company due to its development flexibility resulting from open-source code and an active community. It is especially valued for its built-in support for multiplayer modes, making it easier to create online games. 

The advantages of Unreal Engine include:

 

  • focus on large projects with realistic graphics and open worlds;
  • intuitive editing process that makes most operations easy to perform;
  • availability of source code for users;
  • ability to develop games without deep programming knowledge;
  • support from Epic Games, including funding for promising projects with grants ranging from 5 to 500 thousand dollars.

 

Known for the powerful capabilities and quality graphics, Unreal Engine is used not only for creating 3D games for PC and consoles, but also in mobile game development, for which it offers specific tools. 

In addition, Unreal Engine finds application beyond the gaming industry, including VR/AR technologies, creating animations and graphics for cinematography, and adding visual effects in real-time in the television industry.

DISCOVERY game review

DISCOVERY by Stepico is a cinematic first-person shooter set in the distant future of a remote galaxy. The game is developed using the Unreal Engine 5. On the planet Rogax, once covered in water, players encounter a wondrous flora evolved from marine life and hidden deadly predators.

Development features and innovations

Unreal Engine 5 allowed the developers of DISCOVERY to recreate the unique flora of the planet Rogax and its dangerous inhabitants with incredible detail. Advanced technologies were used to recreate a living, realistic world with powerful storms and radioactive dust.

Technical and design challenges

According to the approved concept, developers were tasked with adapting marine flora to the planet’s conditions after a global cataclysm. Stepico’s specialists successfully overcame this complexity, creating unique life forms that became part of the game world. Lighting and atmospheric effects, such as magnetic anomalies, were used to deepen players’ immersion in the exciting experience of exploring Rogax’s mysteries.

BIGFOOT game review

BIGFOOT offers players a unique Survival Horror experience, where they embark on a hunt for the legendary yeti. The game is developed on Unreal Engine 5, allowing one player or a group of up to four to immerse themselves in a world of intense survival in the wild reserves’ forests.

Development features and innovations

The use of Unreal Engine 5 ensured the creation of a realistic environment and a chilling hunting experience. Players are offered to explore locations, track the yeti, set traps, and defend themselves against other dangers. Developers implemented advanced AI for the yeti, making it a smart and formidable opponent.

Technical and design challenges

“Creating a realistic yeti and its changing environment was quite a challenge,” say the Stepico developers, who managed to recreate diverse weather conditions requiring players to adapt and act.

Creating a tense atmosphere was achieved through thoughtful use of sound and visual effects. This makes every encounter with the yeti unpredictable and dangerous.

Unreal Engine’s contribution to the success of the games

The advanced technological capabilities of Unreal Engine 5 were instrumental in creating the games DISCOVERY and BIGFOOT. In particular, developers note such tools:

Nanite and Lumen – allowed for impressive visual and lighting effects in Discovery. These technologies provided realistic and dynamic lighting, as well as high scene detail without significant performance loss.

MetaHuman – the tool was used to create realistic characters in BIGFOOT, providing high detail in facial animation and emotional expression, enhancing realism and immersion in the game.

Interactivity and physics – Unreal Engine 5 provided powerful tools for creating interactive elements and realistic physics modeling, making interaction with the surrounding world in DISCOVERY and BIGFOOT compelling and engaging;

Blueprints – the Blueprints visual scripting system allowed developers of both games to quickly and effectively implement game logic and mechanics;

Virtual production – these technologies in Unreal Engine 5 helped teams visualize and test scenes in real-time, improving the creative decision-making process.

Analyzing successful projects on Unreal Engine 5 demonstrates its significance for the gaming industry, providing developers with a powerful tool for creating games with cutting-edge graphics and innovative mechanics. In fact, Guinness World Records names Unreal Engine, the world’s “most successful videogame engine” in 2014. We hope our examples will serve as inspiration and showcase the prospects for future developments, emphasizing the flexibility and possibilities of Unreal Engine in realizing creative and innovative ideas in games.