SAN JOSE, CA—Tim Sweeney, who founded Epic Games 17 years ago in his Mom's basement, has watched as his company become one of the leading game creators in the world and the leading technology licensor with Unreal Engine 3. Sweeney spent an hour at Nvision 08 discussing the latest features in UE3 by showcasing levels from Gears of War 2. After speaking for an hour in front of a capacity ballroom audience, Sweeney sat down to talk about Gears of War 2, the growth of Epic Games and what impact UE3 is having in Hollywood today.
GameDaily BIZ: Just how large is Unreal Engine 3 today?
Tim Sweeney: It consists of over 2 million lines of C++ code for the engine and 150,00 lines of UnrealScript. We give all of our licensees direct access to the source code as we update it.
BIZ: How have consoles impacted your technology over the years?
TS: We're in our 10th year of shipping games with this engine. Unreal was one of the first engines to have a visual toolset to give artists a real-time visual preview of what they were doing. We started with Xbox and PS2 and now we're supported PS3 and Xbox 360. We've seen significant leaps over the years. UE3 has been out for this entire console generation. Now the second round of games is shipping with Gears of War 2. Second gen games now shipping this fall. After shipping the first generation of UE3 we've really added a huge amount of additional features.
BIZ: What are some of those new features that we'll see in Gears of War 2?
TS: We've added a lot of new features and tools to Unreal Engine 3. There's an ambient tool system in lighting, which allows you to see real-time shadows in scenes. We have a real-time destruction system, which allows you to make holes in walls. We have a crowd system, which causes thousands of characters to run around on screen – each with their own shadows cast on them. This all creates a more realistic and compelling game. The objects seem to fit more realistically with the environment. We've greatly improved the cinematic editor.
BIZ: How large have your teams been for the Gears of War games?
TS: Gears of War 1 and 2 we started out with a relatively small team of about 35 people. In the last six months we ramped up to almost the entire company focusing on and improving the game. We had 60 people the first time around and we'll have over 80 for Gears 2 because we've grown quite a bit and have a lot more resources to apply to the game.
Gears of War 2 Screens
Gears of War 2 continues the story of Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad. Locked in an increasingly desperate battle against the nightmarish Locust Horde, Gears of War 2 is an epic saga of survival, loss and retribution.
Gears of War 2 is the eagerly anticipated sequel to the 4.5 million selling blockbuster third-person tactical action game that became one of the most popular Xbox 360 games in history. This time, Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad are poised to deliver a bigger, badder, and more intense experience.
Microsoft/Epic Games
Gears of War 2 continues the story of Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad. Locked in an increasingly desperate battle against the nightmarish Locust Horde, Gears of War 2 is an epic saga of survival, loss and retribution.
Gears of War 2 is the eagerly anticipated sequel to the 4.5 million selling blockbuster third-person tactical action game that became one of the most popular Xbox 360 games in history. This time, Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad are poised to deliver a bigger, badder, and more intense experience.
Microsoft/Epic Games
Gears of War 2 continues the story of Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad. Locked in an increasingly desperate battle against the nightmarish Locust Horde, Gears of War 2 is an epic saga of survival, loss and retribution.
Gears of War 2 is the eagerly anticipated sequel to the 4.5 million selling blockbuster third-person tactical action game that became one of the most popular Xbox 360 games in history. This time, Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad are poised to deliver a bigger, badder, and more intense experience.
Microsoft/Epic Games
Gears of War 2 continues the story of Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad. Locked in an increasingly desperate battle against the nightmarish Locust Horde, Gears of War 2 is an epic saga of survival, loss and retribution.
Gears of War 2 is the eagerly anticipated sequel to the 4.5 million selling blockbuster third-person tactical action game that became one of the most popular Xbox 360 games in history. This time, Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad are poised to deliver a bigger, badder, and more intense experience.
Microsoft/Epic Games
Gears of War 2 continues the story of Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad. Locked in an increasingly desperate battle against the nightmarish Locust Horde, Gears of War 2 is an epic saga of survival, loss and retribution.
Gears of War 2 is the eagerly anticipated sequel to the 4.5 million selling blockbuster third-person tactical action game that became one of the most popular Xbox 360 games in history. This time, Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad are poised to deliver a bigger, badder, and more intense experience.
Microsoft/Epic Games
Gears of War 2 continues the story of Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad. Locked in an increasingly desperate battle against the nightmarish Locust Horde, Gears of War 2 is an epic saga of survival, loss and retribution.
Gears of War 2 is the eagerly anticipated sequel to the 4.5 million selling blockbuster third-person tactical action game that became one of the most popular Xbox 360 games in history. This time, Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad are poised to deliver a bigger, badder, and more intense experience.
Microsoft/Epic Games
Gears of War 2 continues the story of Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad. Locked in an increasingly desperate battle against the nightmarish Locust Horde, Gears of War 2 is an epic saga of survival, loss and retribution.
Gears of War 2 is the eagerly anticipated sequel to the 4.5 million selling blockbuster third-person tactical action game that became one of the most popular Xbox 360 games in history. This time, Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad are poised to deliver a bigger, badder, and more intense experience.
Microsoft/Epic Games
Gears of War 2 continues the story of Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad. Locked in an increasingly desperate battle against the nightmarish Locust Horde, Gears of War 2 is an epic saga of survival, loss and retribution.
Gears of War 2 is the eagerly anticipated sequel to the 4.5 million selling blockbuster third-person tactical action game that became one of the most popular Xbox 360 games in history. This time, Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad are poised to deliver a bigger, badder, and more intense experience.
Microsoft/Epic Games
Gears of War 2 continues the story of Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad. Locked in an increasingly desperate battle against the nightmarish Locust Horde, Gears of War 2 is an epic saga of survival, loss and retribution.
Gears of War 2 is the eagerly anticipated sequel to the 4.5 million selling blockbuster third-person tactical action game that became one of the most popular Xbox 360 games in history. This time, Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad are poised to deliver a bigger, badder, and more intense experience.
Microsoft/Epic Games
Gears of War 2 continues the story of Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad. Locked in an increasingly desperate battle against the nightmarish Locust Horde, Gears of War 2 is an epic saga of survival, loss and retribution.
Gears of War 2 is the eagerly anticipated sequel to the 4.5 million selling blockbuster third-person tactical action game that became one of the most popular Xbox 360 games in history. This time, Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad are poised to deliver a bigger, badder, and more intense experience.
Microsoft/Epic Games
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