Seven stories of switching to Unreal Engine
August 28, 2024
Unreal Engine is not just for AAA shooters or photorealism. With more and more indie games, stylized graphics, and mobile experiences being developed in Unreal Engine, we thought it would be a good time to explore the stories of seven developers that have made the move across from other engines.
In this article, we’ll hear from the studios about why they made the change, what the benefit has been, and how it’s set them up for success.
If you’re looking to switch to Unreal Engine for your projects, check out this webpage first.
In this article, we’ll hear from the studios about why they made the change, what the benefit has been, and how it’s set them up for success.
If you’re looking to switch to Unreal Engine for your projects, check out this webpage first.
Infinity Nikki | Infold Games
Infinity Nikki sees the protagonist from the popular Nikki series step out of her display window and into a vast, imaginative open world.
Developed by Infold Games, Infinity Nikki marks the studio’s first project since switching to Unreal Engine. The series is renowned for its exquisite lighting and detailed textures that bring the dress-up genre to life.
Transitioning to an open world meant adapting to a larger scale of scene production and integrating numerous technical details, necessitating the use of Unreal Engine 5.
Nikki games focus heavily on the stunning and often intricate attire worn by our hero. By leveraging the cloth creation workflow in UE5, Infold Games is able to create cloth, paint weights, and adjust properties in real time, significantly improving production efficiency.
Infold also relies on the powerful lighting systems in Unreal Engine to hit the high standards for lighting demanded of the Nikki franchise, using global illumination to develop high-quality shadows specifically for characters to achieve detailed self-shadowing.
You can read more here about Infold Games’ use of Unreal Engine on Infinity Nikki and watch the video below.
Transitioning to an open world meant adapting to a larger scale of scene production and integrating numerous technical details, necessitating the use of Unreal Engine 5.
Nikki games focus heavily on the stunning and often intricate attire worn by our hero. By leveraging the cloth creation workflow in UE5, Infold Games is able to create cloth, paint weights, and adjust properties in real time, significantly improving production efficiency.
Infold also relies on the powerful lighting systems in Unreal Engine to hit the high standards for lighting demanded of the Nikki franchise, using global illumination to develop high-quality shadows specifically for characters to achieve detailed self-shadowing.
You can read more here about Infold Games’ use of Unreal Engine on Infinity Nikki and watch the video below.
Squirrel with a Gun | Dee Dee Creations
When a video of a realistic squirrel was posted on social media two years ago, it attracted a lot of attention—and not only because it was created entirely in Unreal Engine. Twenty two seconds in, our fluffy protagonist picked up a gun and started squeezing the trigger.
“It exploded over Twitter and lots of other social media,” said Dan DeEntremont, Game Director on Squirrel with a Gun and owner of Dee Dee Creations. “At that point, we were almost obligated to make an entire game out of the concept.”
“It exploded over Twitter and lots of other social media,” said Dan DeEntremont, Game Director on Squirrel with a Gun and owner of Dee Dee Creations. “At that point, we were almost obligated to make an entire game out of the concept.”
Having worked in Unity on previous projects, Dan DeEntremont made the switch to Unreal Engine for Squirrel with a Gun.
“Probably the number one reason I switched to Unreal was because of Blueprints for visual scripting,” says. “It’s fantastic for rapid prototyping, and the Event Graphs help me keep a ‘bigger picture’ in my head versus code. But once I got into UE itself, it was an absolute trove of game dev modules.”
DeEntremont also made a lot of use of Epic Games free assets to help with level design in the game. “The monthly free assets that are available on the Unreal Engine Marketplace are great for a small development team to stay focused on core mechanics and world layout,” says DeEntremont.
He points out that having production-ready tools at his disposal is a massive advantage. “I'm glad I don’t have to deal with the nitty-gritty of features like the terrain’s dynamic LOD, navigation mesh generation, or distance field generation, and they simply work.”
Read more about Squirrel with a Gun and watch the video below.
“Probably the number one reason I switched to Unreal was because of Blueprints for visual scripting,” says. “It’s fantastic for rapid prototyping, and the Event Graphs help me keep a ‘bigger picture’ in my head versus code. But once I got into UE itself, it was an absolute trove of game dev modules.”
DeEntremont also made a lot of use of Epic Games free assets to help with level design in the game. “The monthly free assets that are available on the Unreal Engine Marketplace are great for a small development team to stay focused on core mechanics and world layout,” says DeEntremont.
He points out that having production-ready tools at his disposal is a massive advantage. “I'm glad I don’t have to deal with the nitty-gritty of features like the terrain’s dynamic LOD, navigation mesh generation, or distance field generation, and they simply work.”
Read more about Squirrel with a Gun and watch the video below.
Wuthering Waves | Kuro Games
Wuthering Waves is a cross-platform title for PC and mobile that boasts a unique post-apocalyptic theme, fluid combat mechanics, and expansive open-world gameplay.
Having previously developed titles in other engines, Kuro opted to develop Wuthering Waves in Unreal Engine due to its stability, maturity, and suite of powerful tools that allowed the team to meet its specific needs for the project while maintaining a steady flow of content production.
Read more about Wuthering Waves and watch the video below.
Having previously developed titles in other engines, Kuro opted to develop Wuthering Waves in Unreal Engine due to its stability, maturity, and suite of powerful tools that allowed the team to meet its specific needs for the project while maintaining a steady flow of content production.
Read more about Wuthering Waves and watch the video below.
Empire of the Ants | Tower Five
Based on the Bernard Werber bestseller, upcoming real-time strategy (RTS) game Empire of the Ants will offer a strategic experience close to the iconic book series.
Players will experience immersive adventures and defend their lands through tactical battles in a microscopic world of epic proportions. The game features a photorealistic forest and a variety of animals to encounter thanks to the capabilities of Unreal Engine 5.
After using Unity for previous projects, Tower Five switched to Unreal Engine to push the boundaries of photorealistic plants and wildlife on the project,
Watch the video below to find out more about Empire of the Ants.
Players will experience immersive adventures and defend their lands through tactical battles in a microscopic world of epic proportions. The game features a photorealistic forest and a variety of animals to encounter thanks to the capabilities of Unreal Engine 5.
After using Unity for previous projects, Tower Five switched to Unreal Engine to push the boundaries of photorealistic plants and wildlife on the project,
Watch the video below to find out more about Empire of the Ants.
Strayed Lights | Embers
Strayed Lights thrusts you into the glowing, colorful world of a newborn flame as it faces its inner demons on the journey to restore its light.
Indie studio Embers opted to create the game in Unreal Engine—in large part to enable its artists to handle more complex VFX and animation on the project.
Indie studio Embers opted to create the game in Unreal Engine—in large part to enable its artists to handle more complex VFX and animation on the project.
“We’ve previously worked with Unity for mobile games so we had experience with this engine,” says Maxime Philipp, co-founder of Embers and Game Director. “However, for Strayed Lights (and the next games we plan to make), we needed to create some complex animation systems, VFX, and shaders that not only developers can use but also our team of artists.
“Unreal Engine is the leading engine for the scope of projects we’re making, so we decided to give it a go, and it fulfilled pretty much all our needs. UE also provides a lot of flexibility for teams to create their own custom tools that will help their specific processes.”
With a relatively small team of nine, Embers relied on features like Blueprint visual scripting in Unreal Engine for it to hit well above its weight.
“In such a small team, everyone has to be polyvalent and autonomous,” says Philipp. “Unreal Engine helped us by removing the intermediate ‘integration people;’ the artists could integrate their work on their own and tweak everything the way they felt was the best.
“Programmers were able to easily integrate their logic on top of it and have it working remarkably fast using the available tools and a set of custom-made ones.”
Read more about Strayed Lights and watch the video below.
“Unreal Engine is the leading engine for the scope of projects we’re making, so we decided to give it a go, and it fulfilled pretty much all our needs. UE also provides a lot of flexibility for teams to create their own custom tools that will help their specific processes.”
With a relatively small team of nine, Embers relied on features like Blueprint visual scripting in Unreal Engine for it to hit well above its weight.
“In such a small team, everyone has to be polyvalent and autonomous,” says Philipp. “Unreal Engine helped us by removing the intermediate ‘integration people;’ the artists could integrate their work on their own and tweak everything the way they felt was the best.
“Programmers were able to easily integrate their logic on top of it and have it working remarkably fast using the available tools and a set of custom-made ones.”
Read more about Strayed Lights and watch the video below.
Kvark | Latest Past
Set in a fictionalized version of the Czech Republic, retro shooter Kvark’s has a low-poly look and ’80s vibe driven by a local’s understanding of the country.
Created by high school friends Radovan Šťastný and Petr Pavlík, Kvark was nearly created in Unity before the developers opted to take a different path. “I was thinking about Unity but Unreal Engine appealed to me because of its features and easy coding using Blueprints,” explains Pavlík.
The team liked the look of the new technologies and features in Unreal Engine 5 and decided to use the engine for Kvark. “We also went with Unreal because it’s really user-friendly with Blueprints and we can quickly iterate on puzzles designs, mechanics, and more,” says Pavlík. “Overall, Unreal seems like the best fit for our style of the game and development needs.
Kvark is a very distinct looking game, drawing heavily from the feel of early shooters like Half-Life, but using the cutting-edge technology of Unreal Engine 5. The artstyle takes the retro-games look and gives it a modern twist.
“So we have very low-poly models with pixelated textures and we needed an engine that would be able to give us great lighting, materials, and post-processing. Unreal was quite an easy choice for us because of this. We can easily create great-looking scenes with amazing light and effects.”
Read more about Kvark here
Created by high school friends Radovan Šťastný and Petr Pavlík, Kvark was nearly created in Unity before the developers opted to take a different path. “I was thinking about Unity but Unreal Engine appealed to me because of its features and easy coding using Blueprints,” explains Pavlík.
The team liked the look of the new technologies and features in Unreal Engine 5 and decided to use the engine for Kvark. “We also went with Unreal because it’s really user-friendly with Blueprints and we can quickly iterate on puzzles designs, mechanics, and more,” says Pavlík. “Overall, Unreal seems like the best fit for our style of the game and development needs.
Kvark is a very distinct looking game, drawing heavily from the feel of early shooters like Half-Life, but using the cutting-edge technology of Unreal Engine 5. The artstyle takes the retro-games look and gives it a modern twist.
“So we have very low-poly models with pixelated textures and we needed an engine that would be able to give us great lighting, materials, and post-processing. Unreal was quite an easy choice for us because of this. We can easily create great-looking scenes with amazing light and effects.”
Read more about Kvark here
Layers of Fear | Anshar Studios & Bloober Team
The latest Layers of Fear is a remake that combines the original Layers of Fear with Layers of Fear 2 and stitches those works together in a neat, spine-chilling package.
The first Layers of Fear was built in Unity and Layers of Fear 2 in Unreal Engine 4. This latest game is built in Unreal Engine 5. As Damian Kocurek, Creative Director at Anshar Studios, explains, it was the visual fidelity achievable that convinced the studio to move to UE5.
“When we saw the visual effects that Unreal Engine 5 enables us to achieve, we were knocked off our feet,” he says. “This is something we very much wanted for the new game. UE5 presents us with a multitude of ways to create an immersive, visceral horrorscape with lighting.”
Read more about Layers of Fear.
The first Layers of Fear was built in Unity and Layers of Fear 2 in Unreal Engine 4. This latest game is built in Unreal Engine 5. As Damian Kocurek, Creative Director at Anshar Studios, explains, it was the visual fidelity achievable that convinced the studio to move to UE5.
“When we saw the visual effects that Unreal Engine 5 enables us to achieve, we were knocked off our feet,” he says. “This is something we very much wanted for the new game. UE5 presents us with a multitude of ways to create an immersive, visceral horrorscape with lighting.”
Read more about Layers of Fear.
At Epic, we’ve been working hard to come up with ways to help teams of all sizes succeed.
If you’d like to move to an engine built by devs, for devs, we’re here to help you learn the foundations; transition your projects; and get support from hundreds and thousands of devs on the Epic Developer Community—so that you can do what you do best: building great games.
If you’d like to move to an engine built by devs, for devs, we’re here to help you learn the foundations; transition your projects; and get support from hundreds and thousands of devs on the Epic Developer Community—so that you can do what you do best: building great games.
Ready to switch to Unreal Engine?
Making the move to Unreal Engine is easier than you think: we’ve put together a host of resources and docs to help you.
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