If you’ve ever played a modern video game then you’ve used the product of a game engine. It’s basically an artificial three-dimensional environment (doesn’t have to be three dimensions) that renders in real time, enabling you to explore the world of the game and interact.
I have been looking closely at some of the more powerful ones, trying to gauge trends in computing and also trends in game design for platforms versus PCs, and I essentially narrowed down my choices to two: the Unreal Engine and CryENGINE 3. While both are powerful I have taken the initiative to learn CryENGINE 3 because it seems slightly more forward thinking, newer, and more in line with my personal and professional needs. Nothing against Unreal, it’s also fantastic!
To go a bit deeper, these engines enable a designer to assemble assets such as music, landscapes and water, lighting, CGI meshes, weapons, sound effects, partical effects, all with interactivity, to create artifical worlds. Now as I said most people associate these with games, and rightly so, but they are now being used for military/strategic/combat simulators and can be used for other research and visualization as well.
My personal interest in this is based on establishing an entertainment franchise and being able to produce work for the defense industry, as well. It also useful for advertising, interactive architectural visualization, and it also really fits perfectly with the direction of IFDM.
Eric Chamberlain 