Game news The Witcher: CD Projekt explains its choice of Unreal Engine 5 for the new game!
On March 21, CD Projekt took the stage to announce that development of a new The Witcher game had begun, and that many positions were open. An announcement expected after the dissemination of many rumors, and which was accompanied by some interesting information.
Firstly, CD Projekt indicated that this new license opus The Witcher will not not developed using RedEngine engine, but Unreal Engine 5. The in-house engine, which has been in use for many years and is currently used for the development of the expansion of Cyberpunk 2077no longer seems able to follow.
The Witcher A New Saga Begins, a still very mysterious project
The partnership signed with Epic Games will also allow get help with tool developmentand to relieve themselves of the heavy task of internal engine maintenance. Shortly after the announcement, CD Projekt was forced to clarify things stating that the new game The Witcher n’est pas The Witcher 4, in the sense that it will be a new beginning for the franchise. The image accompanying the development announcement supports this statement, showcasing a witcher medallion never seen before (except in a fan-fiction), and which represents a lynx.
Engine choice explained by two directors of CD Projekt Red
But while waiting to learn more about the game, which will not happen for many months or even yearswe were able to learn a little more about the reasons that motivated the studio to abandon its engine in favor of the one developed by Epic Games.
Yesterday, that is to say Tuesday, April 5, Epic officially released the Unreal Engine 5 from its early access phase, an opportunity for many studios using it to express themselves. Among them, therefore, is CD Projekt, which is returned to this choice, in particular through statements by Jason Slama, the game director, and Jakub Knapik, artistic director.
There was a demo last year, the medieval environment one, where there was a billboard that looked suspiciously like things we’ve done in the past. There’s even a sign that said, “We Want A Monster Slayer.” We thought, “Are they trying to tell us ‘go to Unreal Engine, look how great your games could look with that’? Was this whole demo made for that nefarious purpose (your humorous, editor’s note) I don’t know, but it definitely caught my attention, said the game director.
On the side of the artistic director, in particular in charge of lighting, we focus instead on the tools offered by the Epic engineas well as the overall flexibility of the engine and the experience gained over the years by the industry:
The fact that Unreal is already used by many teams around the world, that there are many perspectives in the design of the tools, helps to have a much more agile tool. (…). Overall, it’s really, really cool technology for prototyping very fast, really beautiful, and very realistic environments. (…) It’s a toolbox that has a lot of functionality, and a lot of solutions are already there to allow teams to simply try new things.
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By MalloDelicJournalist jeuxvideo.com
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