The State of Unreal 2023 presented by Epic Games introduced some amazing updates to Unreal Engine, Fortnite and many more!
What is the State of Unreal?
State of Unreal, a showcase brought to us by Epic Games, took place earlier this week at the Game Developers Conference(GDC). The highlights are intended to keep everyone who creates video games up to date on what the industry-leading Unreal Engine has in store, but they are also clearly fascinating to anyone who enjoys playing video games or technology in general. Both Epic and other external studios used the chance to show off some of the items they’ve been working on with Unreal Engine 5.
Below you can find the entire stream on the official Unreal Engine Youtube channel:
That being said, let’s see some of the highlights and what could possibly the game engine improve.
New tools in Unreal Engine 5.2
Remember the Unreal Engine 5.1 update? What could possibly be improved? Well, get ready for the answer. With feature enhancements and stability improvements, Unreal Engine 5.2 pushes the boundaries of what creators may anticipate, bringing creative new capabilities with cross-industry applications.
The Procedural Content Generation Framework (PCG), a new feature of the editor and runtime, enables users to specify rules and parameters for populating big scenes with specific UE components. The team states that this makes the process of large-world creation fast and efficient.
The new Substrate system’s launch is another significant development. In real-time applications like games and the development of linear content, it allows “Unreal Engine users more control over the look and feel of objects used in real-time applications such as games and linear content creation.”
New shot creation and scene control tools in Unreal Engine 5.2 Preview enhance virtual production operations in numerous ways. For example: shooting with numerous VCams is now possible, allowing filmmakers to benefit from increased creative power.
See all the details on the official Unreal Engine forums here.
Next-Gen Character Deformation with the help of machine learning
Current technology for deformation is based on joints and blendshapes. This technology is quick and kind of acceptable for games. Having deformations that look realistic uses more resources the closer it gets to reality. The improved technology is based on three layers for characters: bones, muscles and skin.
The complexity of the deformation improves with model training that is processed with the help of machine learning. Two model types are present for the Neural Morph Model – local and global. The local model is fast and needs less training data and the global one can handle more complex deformations. The entire workflow might feel a little complicated but the conclusion is that we will soon enjoy improved deformation in Unreal Engine.
To better understand this, check the presentation of the deformation right here.
Unreal Editor for Fortnite & The Verse language
UEFN offers most of the features Epic uses to produce Fortnite, the company stated. You’ll be able to import custom elements to build landscapes that might not wind up resembling Fortnite’s typical cartoonish aesthetic. In a live demo onstage, Epic displayed a grungy, mainly brown planet, which sharply contrasted with the brightly-coloured Fortnite player characters. Epic also wants interoperability between Fortnite and Unreal Engine assets so that you may bring your work across projects.
As for The Verse, it is a programming language created by Epic Games that you may use in the Unreal Editor for Fortnite to build your own games, including modifying your gadgets for Fortnite Creative.
MetaHuman – Senua’s Saga: HellBlade II
Epic presented a breathtaking demo of a MetaHuman animation captured with just an iPhone. This incredible tool is scheduled to launch later this summer.
This really paves the way for facial animation and facilitates the development of game characters. This is strengthening the player-character bond by helping us feel their so-called emotions.
Have a look at this video for a glance at some of the inspiring things the community is creating with MetaHuman.
Technical Showcase – Lords of the Fallen
This Lords of the Fallen preview showcased the character creator, which the developer built using both Unreal Engine 5’s own character customization technology and 3D scans of actual people.
Infinitesimals – Gameplay demo
The following video is a gameplay demonstration for the backyard bugs game Infinitesimals, which is still under production despite the fact that it was probably first revealed years ago. This video demonstrates how Unreal Engine 5 manages the scope of a vast open environment while being a little more developer-focused.
Creator Economy 2.0 – Sharing 40% with creators
Another thing worth mentioning is that Epic reiterates the way game developers are paid. No less than 40% of Fortnite’s revenue will be pushed into a pool where it will be shared with creators. This is quite an amazing initiative because Fortnite is generating millions maybe even billions.
Previously, Epic creators engaged in the company’s “Support-A-Creator” program. Through the initiative, creators were granted individual codes, and if anybody bought something in the Fortnite marketplace with that code, that creator would gain 5 percent of the purchase. Yet the big negative of such a strategy is that producers would have to publicize their code and only hope that customers would remember to use it when making purchases.
FAB – merging marketplaces
Later this year, Unreal Engine Marketplace, Quixel Bridge, ArtStation Marketplace, and Sketchfab will all be integrated into one marketplace, Fab. But as an alpha plug-in for the Fortnite Unreal Editor, you can actually check out the market a little earlier.
If you can dream it, you can build it. https://t.co/VUuICbC3z6 pic.twitter.com/NJ5y2Pf4BI
— Fab (@fab) March 22, 2023
State of Unreal 2023 brought a lot of things
In conclusion, we want to add that we are really excited about everything that was presented in this year’s State of Unreal. All the Unreal Engine 5.2 tools, character deformation, MetaHuman, and basically everything presented here brings us one step closer to the state of perfection in terms of virtual quality.
Epic Games did a great job and we want to congratulate and say a warm “Thank you!” to everyone involved in these projects.
