Interview
May 6, 2026
Oceanhorn 3 charts a course for RPG success with UE5
Cornfox & Brothers is an independent game developer based in Finland, with a passion for delivering memorable, story-driven entertainment experiences for gamers of all kinds.
It’s been thirteen years since the first Oceanhorn game set sail on mobile, and now the hit action-adventure series returns with a new voyage: Oceanhorn 3: Legend of the Shadow Sea.
For this latest chapter, Finnish indie studio Cornfox & Brothers were determined to pull out all the stops. Their ambitious plans included a new battle system, deeper RPG mechanics, a rich narrative, and bigger, better boss fights.
It would be an epic journey for the team of just nine.
To undertake it, they put their trust in Unreal Engine, relying on out-of-the-box features including Blueprint visual scripting, Mobile Previewer, and Sequencer to empower every member of the team to pull their weight—and more.
For this latest chapter, Finnish indie studio Cornfox & Brothers were determined to pull out all the stops. Their ambitious plans included a new battle system, deeper RPG mechanics, a rich narrative, and bigger, better boss fights.
It would be an epic journey for the team of just nine.
To undertake it, they put their trust in Unreal Engine, relying on out-of-the-box features including Blueprint visual scripting, Mobile Previewer, and Sequencer to empower every member of the team to pull their weight—and more.
Meet Cornfox & Brothers: The indie studio behind Oceanhorn 3
Set one thousand years after the events of the second game, Oceanhorn 3: Legend of the Shadow Sea challenges players to navigate the treacherous Shadow Sea with Em, the infamous technopirate and her rugged crew of Warlock’s Revenge.
It’s an epic odyssey where players explore lost islands, battle titans, and unlock the secrets of a vast, visually stunning world.
Inspired by the Zelda-likes and JRPG titles beloved by the team, Oceanhorn 3’s Skill Drawer battle system brings an extra dimension to the action, adding a tactical layer that requires players to use skills, attacks, and spells.
When it came to choosing an engine for the project, Cornfox & Brothers knew the approach they’d take straight off the bat. They’ve been using Unreal Engine for over ten years, developing the first Oceanhorn game in a custom engine before swapping over to Unreal Engine 4 for the sequel.
This new title would be built on the most recent version of the engine, UE5.
Images courtesy of Cornfox & Bros.
“Unreal Engine has been a solid backbone throughout our development process,” says Antti Viljamaa, Co-Founder of Cornfox & Brothers and Lead Programmer on Oceanhorn 3. “It really lets us be creative; we know the technical foundation is reliable, so we can just trust it. That’s allowed us to implement our vision for the look and feel of our games.”
Antti focuses on gameplay programming on Oceanhorn 3, including building out the game’s combat mechanics. As someone who’s hands on with the engine every day, he values tools and workflows that are as frictionless as possible.
“I like that Unreal Engine doesn’t get in the way—quite the opposite,” he explains. “It inspires us to try out new things.”
As a small studio, every member of Cornfox & Brothers has to wear multiple hats. The ability to maximize productivity isn’t just a nice to have—it’s a must.
Antti focuses on gameplay programming on Oceanhorn 3, including building out the game’s combat mechanics. As someone who’s hands on with the engine every day, he values tools and workflows that are as frictionless as possible.
“I like that Unreal Engine doesn’t get in the way—quite the opposite,” he explains. “It inspires us to try out new things.”
As a small studio, every member of Cornfox & Brothers has to wear multiple hats. The ability to maximize productivity isn’t just a nice to have—it’s a must.
Images courtesy of Cornfox & Bros.
“It's funny—people often seem amazed when they play our games and then learn that we're only a nine-person studio,” says Antti. “They’re always curious how we're able to pull off these extensive RPG adventures. And honestly, I think Unreal Engine has been a central piece of that puzzle; it allows us to be incredibly efficient in our development.”
Cornfox & Brothers Co-Founder and Lead Programmer Jukka Viljamaa explains that a key part of the team’s efficiency comes from how they bridge programming and design.
“I was responsible for the quest mechanics and the logic driving our puzzles,” he says. “By implementing these core systems in C++ and exposing them through a flexible Blueprint layer, I empowered our level designers to apply these concepts directly within the game world. These kinds of solutions allow a team of our size to deliver an experience that feels truly grand.”
Jukka used Blueprints extensively to manage the gameplay logic layer, from tracking quest progress and narrative design to triggering cinematic sequences, managing music transitions, setting up puzzles, and spawning enemies.
By implementing the core systems in C++ and making them available via Blueprint, non-programmer level and audio designers could access them and bring the game to life.
Cornfox & Brothers Co-Founder and Lead Programmer Jukka Viljamaa explains that a key part of the team’s efficiency comes from how they bridge programming and design.
“I was responsible for the quest mechanics and the logic driving our puzzles,” he says. “By implementing these core systems in C++ and exposing them through a flexible Blueprint layer, I empowered our level designers to apply these concepts directly within the game world. These kinds of solutions allow a team of our size to deliver an experience that feels truly grand.”
Jukka used Blueprints extensively to manage the gameplay logic layer, from tracking quest progress and narrative design to triggering cinematic sequences, managing music transitions, setting up puzzles, and spawning enemies.
By implementing the core systems in C++ and making them available via Blueprint, non-programmer level and audio designers could access them and bring the game to life.
Images courtesy of Cornfox & Bros.
How UE5 enabled cinematic combat with Sequencer Attacks
Efficiency and creativity go hand in hand. Time saved on workflow can be spent exploring, testing, and iterating on new ideas. In an imaginative process like developing games, teams need tools that are fast and intuitive, freeing them to focus on the fun, creative work that matters.
Oceanhorn 3 is testament to that.
During the game’s development, Cornfox & Brothers started experimenting with how to use Sequencer in the battle system, building an innovative gameplay mechanic they’re calling Sequencer Attacks.
Essentially, these involve programming enemy attacks—especially for bosses and mini-bosses—directly with Level Sequences. “That allows us to incorporate these really cool cinematic features into the battles,” says Antti. “We got really excited about these features and they’ve actually become quite central to Oceanhorn 3's battle system.”
Jukka says moments like this underline why Unreal Engine is the right choice for the studio. “To me, the beauty of the engine lies in its ability to provide a reliable foundation that allows us to focus entirely on the creative process,” he explains. “Because we can trust the technical framework, we are free to pour our energy into realizing the game's unique vision.”
Images courtesy of Cornfox & Bros.
A core part of that vision is the realization of the game’s unique visual style. Blending vibrant fantasy aesthetics and technological detail, the team has developed an idiosyncratic look they’ve coined ‘techno-fantasy’.
Unreal Engine 5's new tools haven’t fundamentally changed the team’s art direction, but they have dramatically amplified its impact and efficiency, enabling them to realize a visual fidelity previously unattainable without substantial overhead.
“In concrete terms, even if we’ve been using traditional Unreal Engine features such as baked lighting, global illumination, and LODs, it’s the various little improvements in the engine that have enhanced the experience for us,” says Heikki Repo, Co-Founder and Creative Lead at Cornfox & Brothers. “We couldn’t be happier.”
The team also made changes to UE’s code base which enabled them to proceduralize aspects of rendering to achieve their desired art style.
“Having access to Unreal Engine’s source code has been incredibly valuable,” says Jukka. “We ported significant custom rendering modifications from our Oceanhorn 2 engine work into UE5, and the ability to directly modify the engine is fundamental to our workflow.”
Access to the source code gives the team confidence in their ability to make fixes, changes, optimizations, and improvements on short notice as needed—for example, to satisfy publisher requirements or to support new devices.
“With custom changes, we can also achieve the best possible performance on each device,” notes Jukka.
Unreal Engine 5's new tools haven’t fundamentally changed the team’s art direction, but they have dramatically amplified its impact and efficiency, enabling them to realize a visual fidelity previously unattainable without substantial overhead.
“In concrete terms, even if we’ve been using traditional Unreal Engine features such as baked lighting, global illumination, and LODs, it’s the various little improvements in the engine that have enhanced the experience for us,” says Heikki Repo, Co-Founder and Creative Lead at Cornfox & Brothers. “We couldn’t be happier.”
The team also made changes to UE’s code base which enabled them to proceduralize aspects of rendering to achieve their desired art style.
“Having access to Unreal Engine’s source code has been incredibly valuable,” says Jukka. “We ported significant custom rendering modifications from our Oceanhorn 2 engine work into UE5, and the ability to directly modify the engine is fundamental to our workflow.”
Access to the source code gives the team confidence in their ability to make fixes, changes, optimizations, and improvements on short notice as needed—for example, to satisfy publisher requirements or to support new devices.
“With custom changes, we can also achieve the best possible performance on each device,” notes Jukka.
Images courtesy of Cornfox & Bros.
Optimizing game development workflow and iteration speed
Cornfox & Brothers has always strived for state-of-the-art visuals. But on Oceanhorn 3, it wasn’t enough for the game to merely look good.
Like its predecessor Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm, the third game is an Apple Arcade exclusive, playable not only on handheld devices but also on bigger screens like Apple TV.
The team’s goal was complete visual parity across all these platforms, identical from mobile to Mac. “Unreal Engine is essential for achieving this, allowing us to build once and confidently scale down,” says Antti.
They ported their entire UE4 code base into UE5 specifically to leverage this capability alongside cutting-edge features while still maintaining mobile-optimized workflows.
“We continue to use traditional baked lighting techniques for optimization, but we’ve significantly benefitted from features like Niagara particle systems and MetaSounds, which really elevate the audio-visual experience,” Antti continues.
Bringing a high-fidelity RPG to mobile platforms comes with unique challenges, particularly when targeting a wide range of devices. To get the best results across the full spectrum of hardware, the team relied on the optimization tools in Unreal Engine.
While their final performance passes are always conducted on physical hardware, during the creative back and forth of development—when scene adjustments need to be reviewed and potentially tweaked—they relied on Unreal Engine’s Mobile Previewer.
Images courtesy of Cornfox & Bros.
“The Mobile Previewer is an invaluable time-saver for visual iteration,” says Jukka. “It allows us to instantly verify the look and feel of our shaders and lighting within the editor, ensuring that our artistic vision translates correctly to the mobile feature set without the need for constant, time-consuming cooking and deploying.”
Device Profiles are another crucial plank for optimization. These configuration files enable developers to set specific rendering, quality, and optimization settings for different hardware, ranging from low-end mobile to high-end PCs and consoles.
“Device Profiles are a cornerstone of our device variation management,” explains Jukka. “We use them extensively to manage the vast range of performance tiers across the Apple ecosystem. By leveraging Device Profiles, we maintain strict visual consistency while granularly adjusting settings—such as resolution scales, shadow quality, and post-processing effects—to ensure a smooth, high-fidelity experience on everything from the latest iPhone to older Apple TV models.”
Device Profiles are another crucial plank for optimization. These configuration files enable developers to set specific rendering, quality, and optimization settings for different hardware, ranging from low-end mobile to high-end PCs and consoles.
“Device Profiles are a cornerstone of our device variation management,” explains Jukka. “We use them extensively to manage the vast range of performance tiers across the Apple ecosystem. By leveraging Device Profiles, we maintain strict visual consistency while granularly adjusting settings—such as resolution scales, shadow quality, and post-processing effects—to ensure a smooth, high-fidelity experience on everything from the latest iPhone to older Apple TV models.”
Images courtesy of Cornfox & Bros.
This enables the team to push the hardware to its limits on high-end devices—without compromising playability on entry-level hardware.
Having used UE4 for the previous game, Cornfox wanted to take advantage of the improvements in UE5 that had been made to the optimization tools. The Mobile Previewer now enables developers to emulate specific device profiles and 16-bit float shaders for improved testing, for example.
That’s where UE’s comprehensive bank of learning resources became invaluable.
Having used UE4 for the previous game, Cornfox wanted to take advantage of the improvements in UE5 that had been made to the optimization tools. The Mobile Previewer now enables developers to emulate specific device profiles and 16-bit float shaders for improved testing, for example.
That’s where UE’s comprehensive bank of learning resources became invaluable.
Images courtesy of Cornfox & Bros.
“The Unreal Engine documentation is in constant use across our team,” says Jukka. “When we initially transitioned to UE5, we leaned heavily on it to understand the new feature set—specifically evaluating which tools were applicable to and performant on mobile platforms.”
He goes on to explain that since then, they have regularly revisited both the documentation and the Epic Developer Community for technical reference and creative inspiration.
“Being an indie developer is about constantly learning new things and that is one of the best parts of our field of work,” states Antti. “Unreal Engine is a treasure trove for a small developer. If we need a feature, it is most likely available and there’s plenty of tutorials and user cases available, guiding us on their use.”
He goes on to explain that since then, they have regularly revisited both the documentation and the Epic Developer Community for technical reference and creative inspiration.
“Being an indie developer is about constantly learning new things and that is one of the best parts of our field of work,” states Antti. “Unreal Engine is a treasure trove for a small developer. If we need a feature, it is most likely available and there’s plenty of tutorials and user cases available, guiding us on their use.”
Images courtesy of Cornfox & Bros.
Advice for indies embarking on a project
Oceanhorn 3 is proof of what’s possible when indie game developers can get their hands on the same powerful tools used by AAA studios.
Team size becomes irrelevant—the only limits on how far it’s possible to go are ambition and creative vision. For developers considering Unreal Engine, Cornfox & Brothers’ advice is straightforward: take advantage of the tools available.
“We’re a small team, and we have proven what small teams can achieve,” concludes Heikki. “It has never been easier to get into game development with the same tools used in the best studios around the world. Unreal Engine is free to download—and it’s the most complete set of tools there is.”
To learn more about ‘Oceanhorn 3’, follow Cornfox & Brothers on Facebook, Instagram, X, and YouTube. You can also download the game in Apple Arcade now.