GDC 13: Unreal Engine 3 comes to the web

Epic is bringing web support to Unreal Engine 3.

Through its partnership with Mozilla, which has been working on a "highly-optimised" version of JavaScript, developers will soon be able to export some of their UE3-developed titles to the web.

The web browser outfit said that engineering teams at Mozilla and Epic ported the development platform to the web in four days using Emscripten and asm.js, which included over one million lines of code.

It added that this new version of JavaScript has been designed to rival native coding, allowing developrs and publishers to bring high-performance ames to the web without the need for plugins.

Mozilla said that proof of the concept in bringing these high-performance games to the web was shown off in its BananaBread demo, a 3D FPS built using WebGL and Emscripten, which you can view below.

The web browser giant said that as well as bringing Unreal Engine 3 to the web, it was also working with the likes of Disney, EA and ZeptoLab to help optimise their web-based games.

You can view the trailers for Unreal Engine 3 on the web and the BananaBread demo below.

"Today, we are excited to unlock this technology for high-performance games, by teaming up with Epic Games," read a statement on Mozilla’s blog.

"By leveraging this new JavaScript optimisation technology, Mozilla has been able to bring Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 to the Web. With this port, developers will soon be able to explore limitless possibilities when it comes to porting their popular gaming titles to the Web."

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