US studio Terminal Reality puts proprietary tech on the market for licensing
The studio behind Atari's upcoming Ghostbusters game, Terminal Reality, has this week announced plans to start third party licensing of its proprietary engine.
The Infernal Engine, which powers the hotly-tipped title based on the '80s movies, 'offers excellent cross platform support and is compatible with all of the leading gaming systems as well as the PC' the studio says.
Terminal Reality is currently demoing the tech behind closed doors to attendees of DICE in Las Vegas. The demo showcases the engine and features a character from the studio's 1999 property Nocturne.
Features include 'an advanced physics solution, powerful particle system, and rendering features that provide ultra-realistic environments and characters. On top of a great feature set, the Infernal Engine comes with best-in-class support and a streamlined content pipeline to maximize productivity'.
“Terminal Reality’s Infernal Engine is a breakthrough in efficiency for game development middleware. Our licensees can leverage their work across more platforms, in less time, than any other engine – giving them a competitive edge critical for success,” said Joe Kreiner, VP of sales and marketing with Terminal Reality.
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“Our licensees get stunning visuals, fast time to market, and the support of Terminal Reality - one of most experienced independent game developers in the industry.”
Threewave Software is one team already using the Infernal Engine.
"Infernal's integrated toolset and speedy build process help us prototype levels and gameplay quickly. Our artists have a lot of control over the look of the game compared to other popular engines. Additionally, the pipeline allows painless model importing and their material system is easy to use. The built-in scripting system and object tools allow designers and artists to be more flexible with limited resources, while the cross-platform nature of Infernal reduced our overall multi-SKU development risk," said Dan Irish Threewave CEO.
Yadda yadda yadda - everyone is claiming cross-platform this, cross-platform that - but frankly so what. What these guys aren't saying is whether you can use their engine to make anything other than a clone of the game it was spun off from albeit with different artwork. Can you use it to make a racer? A sports game? RPG? Kids titles? Does it work on the Wii even?
Bottom line - spun off game engines are never built for iother developers to use they're always built for the original dev team and then mucked around with to make them a nice little revenue earner from studios who should know better...
It does mention that it works on the wii and it doesn't need to mention what sort of games you can make with it, because my guess is they're marketing it to people who actually know what an engine is. And the studio has put a lot of time and effort into this, it's not just a scheme to make a quick buck. But hey, why do I even bother? Your opinion is shared by millions of intellectually challenged commenters.
If you are actually an industry professional, that just makes things much, much worse...
