Epic Games just announced that they were able to get the Unreal Engine to run on the iPhone/iPod Touch. This is quite amazing considering the limited resources available on the iPhone and the massive requirements of Unreal. The guys from AnandTech got a private tech demo from Epic Games to demonstrate how it works. Currently there are no announcements about licensing or availability to the public, but supposedly there is more to come in 2010. They are working on optimizing the graphics and the controller scheme, OpenGL ES 2.0 is now being used for the graphics engine. The video above shows control with a touchscreen in a classic d-pad interface, but Mark Rein from Epic says they are trying out other options.
It is exciting to see an engine as powerful as the Unreal Engine running on the iPhone. It shows that mobile platforms are becoming viable for realtime 3d gaming, and that game engines can be streamlined enough to run on them. Each generation of the iPhone is going to be more powerful, it won’t be too long before mobile processors can compete with current gen consoles.
We here at Engine Audio have been working tirelessly for the past couple of months on new curriculum for Full Sail University. We have developed a full course called “Advanced Interactive Audio” which discusses game audio topics ranging from sound design and technology to implementation and testing. The students are using industry standard tools to develop their own custom sounds for a demo game. The students are taught about the structure of a game team and how to get a head start in the industry. They are lead through the complete process of creating audio for games, from the concept and design stage to creating their own sounds for an interactive audio system.
Asset creation is done in Pro Tools, with access to an amazing sound library, which can be used to supplement their own sounds they have recorded. The introduction to an interactive audio system and prototyping is done with the FMOD Designer. Students learn about the basics of an interactive game audio system including 3d positioning, randomization, and real time parameters. Students also learn about preparing assets for mobile platforms using the iPhone Simulator and the FMOD Designer. They create FMOD soundbanks specifically for the the iPhone, then test them out by manipulating them with real-time parameters and randomization. The student are then required to implement all of the assets they have developed into a custom level using the UDK toolset provided by Epic Games.
Material Created for the Class:
Over 70 hours of class time in a month long series of Lectures and Labs
Hours of instructional videos on the use of FMOD audio system and the UDK engine
Over 100 pages of information on using and mastering the FMOD Designer and the UDK engine
Custom UDK sound design level with environments like a cave, factory, snowstorm, and cityscape.
An iPhone Simulator app for testing soundbanks created from the FMOD designer
A BIG THANKS to all the great developers of the tools that we use for the class. FMOD by Firelight Technologies is a total audio solution for games that is available freely for educational and non-commercial purposes. It is one of the most widely used audio engines on the market and their people are a very friendly and helpful bunch. Epic Games recently released their extremely popular Unreal Engine to the public as the Unreal Developers Kit. It contains the same set of tools that the professionals use to make hit video games. This gives our students the chance to stay current on the most popular tools for game audio developement.
A partnership between Audiokinetic and McDSP has brought two new real-time plugins to the WWISE game audio pipeline. The ML1 is a brick-wall limiter, and the FutzBox is a distortion and speaker simulation. These tools are providing sound designers with more choices during the production of their game. Many times to get the sound that you want the effect has to be “baked in” to the file to maintain a certain quality. With the development of more real-time plugin effect options it gives an opportunity for the asset creator to that mimic how they work in a DAW and leave decision like these to later in the process.
“McDSP plug-ins are a staple for many game developers as essential audio production tools. With the release of Wwise 2009.3, McDSP effects will be available in the Wwise audio engine for sound rendering, and as real-time effects on a variety of gaming consoles. We’re pleased to be a part of Audiokinetic’s growing platform”, says McDSP founder and CTO Colin McDowell
Welcome to the new Engine Audio site redesign! As we attempt to expand our reach we come up with a couple of new way to keep in touch.
All of our latest videos are available through our YouTube Channel. We will keep this up to date with not only our video content the best links to the best videos from across the net.
Follow us on twitter @engineaudio. For all of the thoughts that don’t quite make it quite to the from page of this site.
Our RSS feed can bring the news from the front page of our site direct to your favorite news reader. Stay informed on the latest from Engine Audio.
As always you can reach us by email at info@engineaudio.com. Send us an email and let us know what you think of the redesign.
Beyond our home here on the the net. Here are some of the other great sites that we frequent. They are some of the most helpful resources discussing audio for game on the web. The group of people that frequent these site are industry professionals. We try to contribute any way we can, but mostly we are there to learn something new.
Welcome to the Engine Audio Blog. We are a community of audio developers interested in gathering all of the latest news on game audio topics. SFX, field recording, sound design, music, implementation, it is all gathered here. Check out our podcasts and RSS feeds below, or contact us at info@engineaudio.com.
