I have recently been getting into video game development, and I have used different softwares since. However Unreal Engine 3(UDK) is the only one I have really liked. There is just something about UDK that is different, a good different, and it's not that way in other free game engines. Anyways, there is still things that I believe UDk and UE3 could benefit from. So here is a list of ideas, for improvements of the engine that could be made. Warning: This list may be long, so do not say TLDR, I don't care, and no one else in the forums cares, ALSO, if you do not agree with my points, or think I am wrong, explain why. Do not just inform me that I am wrong, and I need to do more research and/or get a better knowing of Unreal to make a post like this. People are all ready being asses. So don't stoop down to that level. I know you all can be mature.
Physics:
PhysX, is a great physics engine in my opinion. And I am enjoying learning it. However, I think it would be great if the Unreal Engine was compatable with other 3rd party engines such as: Havok, Euphoria, Bullet, ect. And it would also be nice to combine up to two different physics engines. EG. Rockstar utilize bullet, and Euphoria. It would be nice to have the option to use, say, PhysX for environment phsyics, and Euphoria,for character physics.
Worlds:
Unreal Engine is limited to 6.6 miles (or so I am told, correct me if I am wrong) of land, and to have an open world you would have to either A. Mod the engine, or B. Use level streaming. The Unigine Engine has, hypthetically, endless worlds, using dynamically streaming data. This comes to a problem in Unreal Engine, as 6.6 miles is not very big. In fact, my town is around 15 miles in sqaure diamiter, and it is still really tiny, and that is just the town it self. Not counting, the mountains near by, farms, back-roads, the adobes(four-wheeling ground) and other places owned by the city. One of my game projects, features a similiar town to mine, and similiar in size, and that is somewhat of an hassle. I really don't wanna use level streaming, and code multiple levels together. At least give the option for a sandbox. Nobody really needs "endless" worlds, but in total, the world size a BIG bottleneck for the engine.
Terrain:
While there is programs specifically made for terrain, many of which are Unreal compatible, Unreal has a horrid terrain editor. The best you can make with it is snow mounds, and dunes. This would make it easier on indie developers, as there wouldn't be any problems, more specifically money problems, licensing different softwares such as Grome. The terrain editor doesn't need much done. But the things that need to be done, are somewhat serious. Foliage generation system: The engine I can think of here is the CryeEngnine, there is foliage generator system. I have worked on many maps in UDK, and forests, or other types of maps are my arch nemesis. It is a pain in the *** to put trees on the map one by one, or by duplicating and arranging them. My life would be complete if I could just select the different SpeedTrees I wanna use, select the radius, how thick the brush will be, ect, and just hold control and mouse, and generate the trees. I mean who would disagree with that? On the other hand I need to create terrain for those trees right? Well, to do that, I either go purchase a license for Grome,(still waiting for that UDK exporter!) Or try to make terrain in a modeling program like Blender, or Maya. Neither of the last two, are what you wanna use when creating terrain, there just a bit to difficult, for a task that shouldn't be. Adding things such as: Road, and river tools, improved terrain sculpting tool, then the option to modify the terrain you just made by, making a section flat, where certain textures will go on the terrain, make a cliff stick out while still keeping a rough, and rugged look, not just making it 100% smooth, and many other things that Epic could do to improve the terrain editor. A texture painter is also something that is really useful for saving time.
Polygons:
Unreal Engine, is known for having great looking games, at really high performance, utilizing interesting tech. There is still tech that I think the Unreal Engine is missing out on. PolyBump, I do know that Zbrush uses PolyBump, however it would be nice to have that feature in the unreal engine, as not everybody uses Zbrush. I think enough is said there. Another technology I have noticed in a few engines, is disappearing polygons, I really don't know what it is called, but the basically it gets rid of unnecessary polygons when you are behind, or in front of, a building or other object, improving performance. I'm sure Epic could do a bit more research, and find even more ways to improve performance. Performance is one of the big sellers on the Unreal Engine.
Multi Developer Engine(MDE?):
This is an idea, I have, that I do not think any 3-D program or engine has. But, correct me if I am wrong. The Idea is to simplify the whole process by using a trick, similar to how an MMO works. But instead of players raiding dungeons, developers will be able to edit the engine simultaneously. Still confusing? Think of halo's forge, making a map with friend online, except forge is Unreal engine, and you have the whole tool-set for making a game. Hope that makes sense. I think it is a very interesting concept.
A/I:
In the Batman Arkham Asylum E3 videos, the guy(not sure of his importance in the role, or his name) said that Batman used dynamic A/I. I thought that was cool, excpet when I played the game. I think he meant that they created different paths for the A/I and used a script for the A/I to dynamically use the different paths... lol. But really. Unreal Engine A/I is good. But needs some improvements, such as truly dynamic A/I, A/I that interacts with the environment, ect.
Foliage:
Okay, I know I covered some of the foliage problems in the terrain part. But, regardless, there is other problems with the foliage. 1.) The engine undoubtedly needs a better foliage renderer. I often find my trees created in SpeedTree look half as good in UDK. Why? Shouldn't the trees look the same? 2.) On top of that, trees are rendered fairly low res. It just looks bad. I know the engine isn't really geared towards PC's, however the option to have high res textures in trees, for PC development wouldn't hurt. Grass just looks plainly awe full. Unless you make dry brown grass, your grass will just be a fake looking dark green color. Not only that, but grass looks like plastic? I think you could do much better epic.
Volumetric's:
Volumetric effects are slowly, but surely beginning to be the future. Unreal Engine, however, misses out on them. Effects like: Volumetric fire, smoke, wind, explosions, water, ect. Are all really cool, and save developers time. The Unreal Engine does use Dx9, and Dx10, and I have seen youtube videos of Dx10 features, including volumetric effects, so possibly, volumetric effects are possible. So I may be wrong. But, as far as I know, the Unreal Engine doesn't support volumetric effects.
Lighting:
The vertex lighting is nice, But I would much rather see real-time lighting. The only thing I have against real-time lighting is with UE3's lighting, being baked into vertex lighting, you can place as many lights as you want without affecting performance. Another problem that needs to be improved in lighting, is how it looks. The main draw back of Unreal Engine, is night time isn't as dark as it should be. Not much I can think of on this, but I just think the lighting needs to be improved.
Well. This is all I can think of for now. If you have any ideas, just reply and tell me them. Please support. Hopefully Epic will read this. Good day
Physics:
PhysX, is a great physics engine in my opinion. And I am enjoying learning it. However, I think it would be great if the Unreal Engine was compatable with other 3rd party engines such as: Havok, Euphoria, Bullet, ect. And it would also be nice to combine up to two different physics engines. EG. Rockstar utilize bullet, and Euphoria. It would be nice to have the option to use, say, PhysX for environment phsyics, and Euphoria,for character physics.
Worlds:
Unreal Engine is limited to 6.6 miles (or so I am told, correct me if I am wrong) of land, and to have an open world you would have to either A. Mod the engine, or B. Use level streaming. The Unigine Engine has, hypthetically, endless worlds, using dynamically streaming data. This comes to a problem in Unreal Engine, as 6.6 miles is not very big. In fact, my town is around 15 miles in sqaure diamiter, and it is still really tiny, and that is just the town it self. Not counting, the mountains near by, farms, back-roads, the adobes(four-wheeling ground) and other places owned by the city. One of my game projects, features a similiar town to mine, and similiar in size, and that is somewhat of an hassle. I really don't wanna use level streaming, and code multiple levels together. At least give the option for a sandbox. Nobody really needs "endless" worlds, but in total, the world size a BIG bottleneck for the engine.
Terrain:
While there is programs specifically made for terrain, many of which are Unreal compatible, Unreal has a horrid terrain editor. The best you can make with it is snow mounds, and dunes. This would make it easier on indie developers, as there wouldn't be any problems, more specifically money problems, licensing different softwares such as Grome. The terrain editor doesn't need much done. But the things that need to be done, are somewhat serious. Foliage generation system: The engine I can think of here is the CryeEngnine, there is foliage generator system. I have worked on many maps in UDK, and forests, or other types of maps are my arch nemesis. It is a pain in the *** to put trees on the map one by one, or by duplicating and arranging them. My life would be complete if I could just select the different SpeedTrees I wanna use, select the radius, how thick the brush will be, ect, and just hold control and mouse, and generate the trees. I mean who would disagree with that? On the other hand I need to create terrain for those trees right? Well, to do that, I either go purchase a license for Grome,(still waiting for that UDK exporter!) Or try to make terrain in a modeling program like Blender, or Maya. Neither of the last two, are what you wanna use when creating terrain, there just a bit to difficult, for a task that shouldn't be. Adding things such as: Road, and river tools, improved terrain sculpting tool, then the option to modify the terrain you just made by, making a section flat, where certain textures will go on the terrain, make a cliff stick out while still keeping a rough, and rugged look, not just making it 100% smooth, and many other things that Epic could do to improve the terrain editor. A texture painter is also something that is really useful for saving time.
Polygons:
Unreal Engine, is known for having great looking games, at really high performance, utilizing interesting tech. There is still tech that I think the Unreal Engine is missing out on. PolyBump, I do know that Zbrush uses PolyBump, however it would be nice to have that feature in the unreal engine, as not everybody uses Zbrush. I think enough is said there. Another technology I have noticed in a few engines, is disappearing polygons, I really don't know what it is called, but the basically it gets rid of unnecessary polygons when you are behind, or in front of, a building or other object, improving performance. I'm sure Epic could do a bit more research, and find even more ways to improve performance. Performance is one of the big sellers on the Unreal Engine.
Multi Developer Engine(MDE?):
This is an idea, I have, that I do not think any 3-D program or engine has. But, correct me if I am wrong. The Idea is to simplify the whole process by using a trick, similar to how an MMO works. But instead of players raiding dungeons, developers will be able to edit the engine simultaneously. Still confusing? Think of halo's forge, making a map with friend online, except forge is Unreal engine, and you have the whole tool-set for making a game. Hope that makes sense. I think it is a very interesting concept.
A/I:
In the Batman Arkham Asylum E3 videos, the guy(not sure of his importance in the role, or his name) said that Batman used dynamic A/I. I thought that was cool, excpet when I played the game. I think he meant that they created different paths for the A/I and used a script for the A/I to dynamically use the different paths... lol. But really. Unreal Engine A/I is good. But needs some improvements, such as truly dynamic A/I, A/I that interacts with the environment, ect.
Foliage:
Okay, I know I covered some of the foliage problems in the terrain part. But, regardless, there is other problems with the foliage. 1.) The engine undoubtedly needs a better foliage renderer. I often find my trees created in SpeedTree look half as good in UDK. Why? Shouldn't the trees look the same? 2.) On top of that, trees are rendered fairly low res. It just looks bad. I know the engine isn't really geared towards PC's, however the option to have high res textures in trees, for PC development wouldn't hurt. Grass just looks plainly awe full. Unless you make dry brown grass, your grass will just be a fake looking dark green color. Not only that, but grass looks like plastic? I think you could do much better epic.
Volumetric's:
Volumetric effects are slowly, but surely beginning to be the future. Unreal Engine, however, misses out on them. Effects like: Volumetric fire, smoke, wind, explosions, water, ect. Are all really cool, and save developers time. The Unreal Engine does use Dx9, and Dx10, and I have seen youtube videos of Dx10 features, including volumetric effects, so possibly, volumetric effects are possible. So I may be wrong. But, as far as I know, the Unreal Engine doesn't support volumetric effects.
Lighting:
The vertex lighting is nice, But I would much rather see real-time lighting. The only thing I have against real-time lighting is with UE3's lighting, being baked into vertex lighting, you can place as many lights as you want without affecting performance. Another problem that needs to be improved in lighting, is how it looks. The main draw back of Unreal Engine, is night time isn't as dark as it should be. Not much I can think of on this, but I just think the lighting needs to be improved.
Well. This is all I can think of for now. If you have any ideas, just reply and tell me them. Please support. Hopefully Epic will read this. Good day
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