Unreal Engine 4 - A letdown?

Xbigy Games' Kamran Draeger writes:

"Last night GTTV unveiled the Unreal Engine 4 tech demo the public has been anticipating, since its first showcasing at GDC. In comparison to many other tech demos however, the public didn't quite react as impressed as one would expect."

[chak_]

Yeah, the square enix luminous engine (or whatever its name is) was much more impressive to me.

This one just felt the same, just a little bit better. Brown, darkness and plastic render. Meh.

SE got it right.

[Lucretia]

exactly.

Cliffy wanted us to say that we would call the stuff from UR4 engine fake....but naaaaah. It does look good and we would be spoiled to say it looks like crap.

but square's was insane. I think the engines graphics were better the their CG movie Advent Children, i cannot wait for that to be used on home consoles.

to be honest though, it seems more realistic for consoles to handle UR4 engine next gen. Square's seems 2 gens ahead

[DeadlyFire]

Demo was alright, but Square Enix made me wanna license their game engine even if I only made useless bad looking crap with it.

Epic just showed me they can have swirling sprites! OMG swirling sprites!!!

Although the graphics received a decent bump up, and physics of debris falling everywhere without framerate drop means there is hefty potential to destruction in games with that engine. The lighting wasn't bad either. Its up to par I say with most modern engines. Problem I believe is that Epic thought they were the only ones coming to the show. Never realizing how much others have risen up with their own engines. They have competition now and its time they tried to face it.

E3 2013 we will receive the ultimate demonstration of their engine though. This was just an appetizer. As they aim for 2014.

[Mariusmssj]

Most of you missed the point completely, if you watch the full interview with EPIC on gametrailers you can see why this engine is so great.

It allows people who have no programming background to create games easily, artists now have the power to manipulate in game values that were out of reach for them before.

Next gen is not only Graphics, it's much more than that.

[DeadlyFire]

I didn't miss that at all. I am enthusiastic about their engine, but CryEngine 3 already does this. It is alas their main competition.

Lots of people are really underestimating the power of this demo.

As well with Square-Enix as a competitor. Although their engine I assume is still like the old ones without in-game drop in for manipulating it.

Visuals across the board will max with hardware limits. Square did more than just visuals. They showed lots of animation and the swirling sprites that are possible now as well.

Their is so much power in the air that they want to just wave their hands through the air to feel the game engine with these swirling sprites.

CryEngine needs a swirling sprites demo to match up to them. Maybe with Cryengine 4 in 2013.

[GamingPerson]

Square enix blew them out the water.

Even the Star Wars 1313 as more impressive and that was unreal 3! I am sure the engine is fine and can do more but the demo was kinda lame to me.

Crytek is ready to take them on.
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[Yangus]

I think luminous engine(Square-Enix)more impressive.
UE4 cool,but not big difference Unreal Engine 3 with The Samaritan Demo..

[h311rais3r]

Samaritan was unreal 4....

[LucianT]

UE4 will not be ready until 2014.We'll have to wait for any comparison.

[Hufandpuf]

I'll wait for them to show more demos, if the Samaritin demo looked that good, then I'm sure EPIC could do better.

[Tachyon_Nova]

I just about reckon CE3 is already better except for overall texture quality, and that is more a technology limitation not an engine limitation. Lighting and particles in that demo were pretty weak.

[meowthemouse]

I wouldn't know its unreal 4 if they didn't say its unreal 4..

[Optical_Matrix]

It wasn't impressive at all. The particle effects were nice, as was the lighting but I've seen better. If Square Enix hadn't shown off Luminous Engine the day before, I might have been more impressed but I didn't see anything that was above and beyond what we have this generation.

The textures and bump mapping on surfaces was atrocious. I've seen better examples this generation in fact. Maybe when we see it used in an actual game it'll look good but the Samaritan demo was far more impressive.

[Human Analog]

As far as I can tell the biggest difference is that it can do all that in real time rendering. That not only makes it more user friendly for the designers, but more adaptable to many uses. I was mildly impressed. I just don't want another generation of games that all look the same. If too many developers use it then we will be saturated. I like some diversity. Look at what 4A games does with their 4A engine. It blows away what the unreal 3 does, and it looks different. The same goes for a game like Skyrim. Now granted it is not as "good" looking and polished as an unreal 3 game, but it has it's own style. I personally hope they never license an engine.

[Anonagrog]

So many people seem to think that a new engine is all about next-gen visuals - simply, nope. An 'engine' is just as much for the public as it is for the developers who need to utilise the features of an engine.

The tool-chain you can see in that 10 minute UE4 'tech walkthrough' vid is also considered part of the engine, and that was a just a small part. Epic have a load of supporting software they've created to work as part of the engine interface. Designers and artists have to get what they want out of the engine and they need that to do so without worrying about what's going on inside it. It's about making life easier for the team members that aren't coders. It's about speeding up iteration and development progress. Artists and designers not having to keep going to the team's programmers to ask for more of 'this' and more of 'that' is the perfect ideal. That's what I can see UE4 providing.

You also have to look at the requirements both engines are trying to satisfy. I mean, the Luminous engine is specifically suited for Square Enix's internal development, as it's not licensable, and will be focused on the typical game types SE tends to go for. Unreal Engine 4, on the other hand, is going to target pretty much all platforms it can, whilst attracting as many potential licensees as possible by demonstrating how easy it is to use UE4 for all manner of games genres and studio types (triple A, small indie, etc).

By all means compare them graphically. Just know that the 'be all and end all' of an engine isn't limited to what it provides graphically. That's only a chunk of the whole.

[Mkai28]

Yet the unreal engine 4 looked more " believable" then the luminous engine..

[CYBERHATER]

To early for that comment.

[ChunkyLover53]

I don't know how anyone could be disappointed with that demo. Honestly, it looked amazing! I think gamers in general like to complain and thats okay with me, but I think we have been so spoiled lately that we don't know when to actually show a bit of praise.

[rodiabloalmeida]

Average users could not understand how powerfull UE4 is. But developers sure did. The average user only saw what the eyes can perceive. UE4 is as so powerfull as SE engine, if not more. But if you never developed nothing or even didn't ever saw how a 3D model works in the inners, then the SE Engine will impress you more... for now. Just watch the Samaritan demo and have a glimpse of what UE4 have to offfer. And be in mind that Samaritan is one year old.

[kmanmx]

Am I the only one that thinks UE4 looked better than Luminous Engine ?

Also, it's worth bearing in mind Square Enix have never stated the system specs for the PC demonstrating that engine, and you couldn't control anything, it was basicly a cut scene rendered in real time. Show me the same level of graphics running on one GTX 680 like UE4 demo, and let me wonder around that environment, and then I will be as impressed as I was with UE4.

The art style plays a huge role as well. Some games on UE3 look way better than others, the same will apply to UE4.

[tripprowe13579]

To me there are already better looking and better running engines then unreal 4 on current gen systems. They just weren't avaible for mass use. (naughty dogs engine, and guerilla games)