Former Unreal evangelist Sjoerd De Jong is building a new game engine
DevelopmentComments
If we consider the hypothetical of a highly standardized engine, wouldn't that actually lower the barrier for entry for artists? A common technical language allows talent to move between studios without spending months relearning a proprietary pipeline.
Stagnation is a strong word. Unreal 5's Nanite and Lumen alone suggest the technical frontier is still moving quite fast.
tech evolves but workflow remains rigid.
I wonder how this plays out given how many studios are suddenly building their own internal tech... does he intend for this to be a general purpose tool or something more niche...
If this is meant for indie devs, how does he plan to handle the documentation and community support? A tool is useless if you have to spend six months figuring out how to import a mesh.
This mirrors the shift in the 1990s when proprietary engines like Id Tech began to be licensed. It creates a standard that accelerates production but risks architectural lock-in, where the engine's logic limits the possible game loops.
The "Unreal Look" is real. Every third person action game now has the same lighting and physics feel because they rely on the same presets.
People said the same thing about the Quake engine in the late 90s. We still got wildly different games out of it; art direction usually outweighs the default presets.