Another fantastic project to enjoy 😀

Not only this project is something spectacular but what is particular it’s that all materials don’t use any diffuse map, which is something rather non conventional ?! Personally, only that is astonishing when looking at the video & I wouldn’t never know diffuse map didn’t been used ! From the author :

It’s a real-time environment that does not use any dedicated RGB diffuse textures. I thought there was an opportunity for us to improve the way we make our games technically, production-wise and maybe even visually to an extent so with this personal project I really pushed the idea of “procedural” materials. As much as I was working hard making a visual work of art I also pushed it to make a technological statement that says “we could do well without diffuse maps”.

Now I’ve composed a whole paper that describes the technology, the concept and the reasoning behind it: both technical and artistic. Please feel free to get it RIGHT HERE and if you have ideas on the subject I’ll be more than happy to discuss them.) I really want to try and figure out why this technology could or couldn’t be implemented on a full scale game and your input would be invaluable.

Andrew Maximov website
Epic thread

This little project is, well, mind blowing to me 😀 It is made by Mike Sneath. Clicking is name will lead you to his webpage

There is the Epic thread. From him : The goal for this project was to learn as much as possible about Unreal/Epic Production with a single project. This room demonstrates or makes use of the following: Baked Lighting – Animated Lights – Post Effect Volume – Modular Construction – Decals – Complex Shader Creation – Particle Creation – Simple Animation with Kismet – Painting of high fidelity textures – High Poly Modeling. Nearly everything in this scene is based on the power of two modular building methods.

I was amazed by David Miranda’s ‘The Lighthouse’ video the last time. Well… he did it again !!! A damn huge WOW. When I watch the video, everything is just so perfectly made, I can’t believe it 😀 Anyway, enough bla bla… lol. From him :

Based on a concept by Jaime Martinez, this image shows the heart of the scene at the end of the movie. I decided to bring his concept to life because of the potential I found on it. A good place to implement cool rendering features and a peaceful place to work on.

David Miranda page

This project is mind blowing, posted by Shalivan on Epic forums. It is not a flyby video but a gameplay video. I share it because I simply love the environment (audio / video / effects / etc) 😀

His words : Last time I spend some of my “after work” hours to prepare production pipeline based on Unreal3 and environment showcase. The Goal was to create realtime level with climate mood and some level design ideas. Level has no typical gameplay elements. It should entertain you itself. All of content (except few small meshes taked from U3 (just cause of time)) was created by me. From conception, concepts, models, materials, scripting, postprocesing, creating build and so on.. The level is fully playable demo (proper collision and optimization (av 85 fps on my pc). Great music was created especially for this project, and was written by my good friend Marcin “Kwazi” Przyłowicz. We are still waiting for mastering to create small EP, with music and some remixes. The all works take 3 months of “after hour” works. Of course there are a lot of stuff which can be improved, and the quality of all models is not best it can be. But most of things was caused by time. Project was closed at March this year. Hope you enjoy.

This project is made by Svoy on Epic forums. I share it because I found it original & well done particularly considering it’s his first project with UDK 😀

Epic link.

Just saw this game developed in UDK. Look, sound & feel awesome. This game use the Kinect system on XBox.

Official game page link and
Official company link.

Saw the previous demo on Epic forums in February which was already a big WOW ! But now the project as a new video with more features & such so I’m please to share it 😀 From the site :

“The Solar System” is a simulation/educational program designed to help make the experience of learning more enjoyable. Even if facts aren’t your interest, it’s a great way to explore the universe around us. It has been designed from the ground up with the distinct intent to make exploring and learning about the solar system fun, entertaining, informative and very natural. What makes this different from most outer space applications out today is that never before have you been able to explore the solar system with such freedom and beauty. It isn’t enough to simply read about the world around us, you need to experience it.

Offical page

Epic Games has teamed up with Virtual Heroes, a firm specializing in interactive learning simulation software for the healthcare, federal and corporate markets, announcing a long-term agreement that will see their new Unreal Engine 3 technology used for law enforcement training purposes.

That means the gaming engine behind Gears of War 3 and Mass Effect 3 titles is set to be used to assist with training of new recruits in various law enforcement agencies, including the FBI Academy.

Virtual Heroes, a division of Applied Research Associates Inc, will be licensing the UE3 technology to various agencies of the US government, as well as their allies. The announcement also detailed that support for the game engine will be expanded for use in web browsers, as well as consoles and handheld devices.

“We recognize the growing market needs of our government customers and are excited to have Virtual Heroes provide a full spectrum of focused services and support using our game engine technology,” said Epic Games president and board member Michael Capps, who was also the lead programmer and producer of recruitment video game America’s Army.

UE3 will be used to build training tools like “multiplayer crime scene training simulations” for the FBI and other government agencies as part of a new project called the Unreal Government Network (UGN).

“Virtual Heroes is committed to providing world-class support to our licensees to ensure that all UE3 solutions achieve the best possible results across multiple platforms,” said Jerry Heneghan, founder of Virtual Heroes. He continued, “our technical and creative staff is uniquely qualified to provide a new standard of responsive, personalized service to government customers worldwide.”

More information including the latest UE3 features available for developers is set to be revealed by representatives of both companies at the Defense GameTech Users’ Conference.