UE3 games too similar, says PAX10 winner

Too many Unreal Engine developers are not taking advantage of the tech’s flexibility, an indie developer using the engine has said.



Australian games designer Alexander Bruce has demonstrated that the technology can create distinctive, abstract worlds with his new award-winning project, called Antichamber.

He said he wanted to do something different with the Unreal Engine as he believes too many use the tech to create similar looking games.

"If we think of what the engine was traditionally made for, you can get to the stage where you’re kind of like ‘everything looks like an Unreal Engine game!” Bruce said to ShackNews.

“You know, they’ve all got the same shaders, and they’ve all got the same lighting, etc. They’re just using this really good tech to do the same thing."

Antichamber displays a striking wireframe world mixed with harsh lighting and vibrant colours.

He explained that the game’s unique look came from using one light source and then subtracting from areas he wanted to be darker, rather than the usual illuminated unreal engine 3 levels with multiple light sources.

"I kind of screwed up in how I implemented it. But that was more interesting, in itself, it gave me these interesting colour-bands around the place, and I’d effectively given myself a subtractive palette,” said Bruce.

“So if you see a really vibrant red, that’s actually because I’ve subtracted away blue and green. If I turn lighting off, this whole world is just white. If I turn post-processing off, you can’t see anything at all.

“It gives me a style that’s completely unique, and I can just start putting down these simple structures; really visually popping."

Antichamber has already won industry recognition and awards including being votes as an Indiecade 2011finalist and a 2011 showcase winner at PAX10.

The puzzle game began development as a mod for Unreal Tournament 3 and was originally titled Hazard: The Journey of Life.