As soon as I read the news that Unreal Engine is now free for academic use, I sat up and took notice. Any concerned gamer who pays a bit of attention to the industry would recognize Unreal Engine and know how widespread its use is. Now, it's free for academic purposes! So, as someone who is always intrigued about the potential of video games for the purpose of learning, this news perks me up. Other industries owe the electronic entertainment industry (which is widely known as the video game industry) so much, yet so many people fail to notice. Let's talk a little bit about Unreal Engine.
History of Unreal Engine
Unreal Engine is courtesy of Epic Games, based on the C++ programming language. It was first used in the first-person shooter Unreal back in 1998. That was around 16 years ago! The very first version incorporated many functionality including collision detection (which is vital in first person shooters), artificial intelligence (for multiplayer bots or single-player NPCs/enemies), scripting and file system management (to save your progress, for instance), to name a few.
Although it had a poor network performance, it was not that bad for a start. Some of the games that used the first version of Unreal Engine include Deus Ex, X-COM: Enforcer, the conversion Tactical Ops as well as survival-horror Clive Barker's Undying. Later on, came the second version, followed by the third, and that was when the popularity began growing.
Flexibility, Popularity and Legacy
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| The latest Bioshock Infinite of the popular Bioshock series were developed using Unreal Engine. |
Unreal Engine has been used extensively and widely in various interactive applications and software across all platforms, and is not only limited to the video game industry. Its flexibility also makes it extremely prominent among modders, for instance, the previously mentioned Tactical Ops is a total conversion made using Unreal Engine. Killing Floor, too, is based on this game engine.
Didn't I say that Unreal Engine is very popular? Most of the games that we play were developed using the Unreal Engine, including some of the big game series such the Bioshock series, the sci-fi Mass Effect franchise, the Gears of War series, the Brothers in Arms series, the Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell franchise, the Batman Arkham series as well as the Borderlands games (my favorite by the way). Other popular games that use Unreal Engine include stealth first-person shooter Dishonored, Homefront, Spec Ops the Line, tactical XCOM: Enemy Unknown, parkour-inspired Mirror's Edge (also a favorite of mine, so underrated), the comic-based game Deadpool and kick-and-shoot Bulletstorm.
I can go on and on listing games that are developed using Unreal Engine and it's probably harder to name games that are not because most of the games I've played were all developed using this very popular engine. Besides that, the engine also found its use by various academic institutes, military forces for training simulation (US Army, the Chinese Army, even the FBI), CG animation for film (Warner Bros, Sony Pictures, Columbia Pictures) and many other industries/institutes.
Free for Academic Use
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| The US Army also used Unreal Engine to develop military-simulator series, America's Army. |
Unreal Engine is already a very popular engine used by various companies from various industries/fields, and now it's made free for the public, so you can imagine how many more individuals will benefit from it from now on. Which is exactly what I feel like talking about here, briefly.
The first thing that crossed my mind, when I first read the news, was the interactive learning that Unreal Engine can provide. Of course, interactive learning is not new and it's been employed in schools ever since it was possible to do so, but the application and softwares used were not so sophisticatedly developed. Where I'm from, interactive learning has been kind of stale, and so educators lost interest in it and now they're back to blackboards and papers.
It's Time for Academia to Catch Up
Let's face it: we're now approaching what I'd like to call the IT-dependent era. Everywhere I go, I see people staring at their phones. It worries me, sometimes. I myself, although not that obsessive with gadgets and always try to avoid being too dependent on technology and the social-media (because the real world is too beautiful to be ignored while staring at phones all day long), too use my laptop a lot for both learning and recreation.
If you think about it, this new generation has grown so used to phones and gadgets. Regardless, at school they're still taught using blackboards and exercise books. Simply put, the methods and equipments being employed by educators today are falling behind. Kids need new radical method of teaching. They need to be spatially engaged by responsive materials. In my opinion, Unreal Engine will provide just that. It is famous, and just like I mentioned much earlier, any concerned gamer would be accustomed to the fact that this engine can reach very far when it comes to realism (simulating environments and real-world physics).
Of course, it's not too publicly available: you'll need a good reason to use it and you'll have to register, so I hope I don't sound too ambitious, although I am quite hopeful. But hey, this is a good first step for the gaming industry to boost their contributions to other industries, fields and sectors, this time: academia.
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