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Leadwerks 3 begins closed beta test

Leadwerks 3 is a new game engine purpose-built for mobile. By building the entire platform on pure native code, Leadwerks aims to bring a new level of performance and flexibility to 3D mobile games.   After two years of development, the team is now beginning a closed beta test. Select members of the community will provide feedback and testing so that final bug fixes and refinements can be made.   You can sign up to our mailing list for up to date information as we finish up development o

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Leadwerks Game Engine 3.2 Unveils Steam Workshop

Leadwerks Software today announced the release Leadwerks Game Engine 3.2, the newest version of their game development software on Steam. This update brings integration with Workshop, Steam’s system for user-generated content. The Leadwerks Workshop gives developers a head start by launching with more than 50 free packages of content ready to be used to make games.   “Leadwerks was created to give people who love games the freedom to create something of their own”, said Leadwerks CEO Josh.

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Announcing Leadwerks Game Engine Enterprise Edition

Today we are pleased to announce the release of Leadwerks Game Engine: Enterprise Edition, a standalone version of our popular 3D development software. The Enterprise Edition allows business users to install and use Leadwerks without the need for the Steam client. The new product joins the existing Standard Edition with Lua scripting and the Professional Edition with C++ and Visual Studio support, both sold on Steam. The Enterprise Edition has already been approved for sale through N

Josh

Josh

Leadwerks Game Engine 4 Preview Available

A preview build of Leadwerks Game Engine 4 is now available on the default branch on Steam, with a new vegetation management system and other features.   We completely rethought how large-scale scene management should work to bring you a one-of-a-kind vegetation system for handling massive amounts of foliage. Instead of storing each instance in memory, our new system uses a distribution algorithm to dynamically calculate all relevant instances each frame for rendering and physics. This allows

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Blender exporter for Leadwerks now available

Leadwerks Software has released an official Blender exporter for the Leadwerks model format. This allows Blender artists to export their models to Leadwerks with automatic materials generation and full animation, without going through the FBX format. The Blender exporter comes as the fulfillment of a stretch goal reached during the Leadwerks for Linux Kickstarter campaign, which achieved over 200% its goal of $20,000.     The Leadwerks exporter for Blender can be downloaded on the Leadwerks

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Leadwerks Game Engine 5 Alpha Zero Released

I'm happy to announce the very first alpha release of Leadwerks 5 is now available. What's New String commands now accept a unicode overload. Add "L" in front of a string to create a wide string in C++. Now using smart pointers. Simply set a variable to nullptr to delete an object. There is no Release() or AddRef() function. Exclusively 64-bit! Global states are gone. There is no "current" world or context. Instead, the object you want is passed into any function

Josh

Josh

Leadwerks 3 Update Available

This update brings the addition of lightmapping across curved surfaces with smooth groups. The image below is a set of lightmapped CSG brushes, not mesh lighting. You can read a detailed account of our implementation of this feature here.     The project manager now includes an "Update" button, so you can easily update your project any time we modify files in the template folders. Although we tested with no problems, it is recommended you back up your project before using this feature.

Josh

Josh

Procedural Terrain

I wanted to add some default procedural generation tools in the Leadwerks 3.1 terrain editor. The goal is to let the user input a few parameters to control the appearance of their terrain and auto-generate a landscape that looks good without requiring a lot of touch-up work. Programmers commonly rely on two methods for terrain heightmap generation, Perlin noise and fractal noise. Perlin noise produces a soft rolling appearance. The problem is that Perlin noise heightmaps look nothing like re

Josh

Josh

You're Making your Visual Studio C++ Projects Wrong

Visual Studio gives two options for creating C++ applications. Console applications use printed text to communicate with the user, harkening back to the pre-GUI days of DOS. The other option is a windowed application with a GUI interface, simply called "Win32 Project" in the Visual Studio project creation dialog.     A console application will use the regular old main function you know and love: int main(int argc,const char *argv[])   This is cross-platform compatible and runs on an

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Introducing Leadwerks Marketplace

Steam Workshop was a compelling idea to allow game asset authors to sell their items for use with Leadwerks Game Engine. However, the system has turned out to have some fundamental problems, despite my best efforts to work around it. Free items are not curated, causing the store to fill with low quality content. Some people have reported trouble downloading items. The publishing process is pretty tedious. The check-out process requires adding funds to Steam Wallet, a

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Lightmapping curved CSG objects

I'm a big fan of constructive solid geometry because it allows people without advanced modeling skills to design a game level that looks great. In fact, I originally got my start in game development using the Quake and Half-Life modding tools, making game maps.   One of the criticisms of CSG has been that it only allowed creation of faceted objects. (Valve's Hammer Editor has a workaround for this that lets you set smooth groups, but you can't see the results until they are run in the game.)

Josh

Josh

4.5 Beta Now Available

A beta build of version 4.5 is now available on the beta branch on Steam.  This updates the engine to the latest Newton 3.14.  Versions 4.5 and 5 beta are now compiling side-by-side with the same source code.  Because of major engine changes in version 5, some bugs may need to be resolved before the final release.  Some preliminary information on updating C++ projects can be found in this thread. Version 4.5 is planned to include official support for VR (both Vive and Oculus) and a new impr

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Leadwerks Summer Games Tournament 2016

Now that you've had time to get acquainted with Leadwerks, it's time for the Summer 2016 Game Tournament.   WHEN: The tournament will start Monday, July 25, and end Sunday, August 21th at 11:59 P.M. (Pacific Standard Time).   HOW TO PARTICIPATE: Publish your summer-or-other-themed game to Steam Workshop or upload it to the games database before the deadline. You can work as a team or individually. Use blogs to share your work and get feedback as you build your game. If you need models for

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Leadwerks Game Engine 4.4 Released

Leadwerks Software today announced the release of version 4.4 of their topselling game engine on Steam.  This version adds a new GUI system, support for inverse kinematics, and enhanced visuals.  The free update goes out today to over 20,000 paid users on Steam. Leadwerks Game Engine 4.4 sees the introduction of Leadwerks GUI, a system for creating resolution-independent in-game menus.  Custom GUI elements can be created with Lua script, or an item can be selected from a number of pre-built

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Ultra Engine Early Access is Here

Ultra Engine unlocks the full power of your GPU to deliver up to 10x faster performance for your game. Ultra Engine is now available in Early Access, both in our store and on Steam. Use coupon code "LAUNCH" to receive a discount before January 1. Ultra Engine is a huge leap in technology that provides a new future-proof foundation, while keeping the strengths and general design philosophy we developed in Leadwerks. There were many major underlying changes made to create a better development

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Leadwerks Winter Games Tournament Kicks Off

The first Leadwerks Winter Games tournament has begun!   How to Enter Submit your playable game to the Leadwerks Games Catalog, before January 15th. You can use any Christmas or non-Christmas related ideas. You can work together in teams or on your own. On the day of January 15th, a review of submitted games will be posted. Prizes Rather than a competition, this tournament is a "co-opetition". The community is encouraged to help one another make fun playable games. Everyone who participat

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Leadwerks 3.1 Enters Beta; Heading to Steam Dev Days

Leadwerks 3.1 has entered the beta testing phase on schedule according to our development plan laid out in the Leadwerks for Linux Kickstarter campaign. Supporters who chose the SUPER BACKER reward have been granted access to try the early builds of Leadwerks for Linux.   We chose to use the excellent Code::Blocks IDE for Linux development. Beta testers can access the full Leadwerks API to program graphics, physics, and gameplay, along with a few new functions like Camera::SetMultisampleMode

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Leadwerks interviews Frictional Games co-founder Thomas Grip

Frictional Games is the developer of puzzle horror games like Penumbra and the new Amnesia: The Dark Descent. We sat down with Frictional Games co-founder Thomas Grip to learn more about their development process.   Josh: I'm a big fan of the Penumbra series. What can we look forward to in Amnesia: The Dark Descent?   Thomas Grip: There is a lot to of new stuff in the game. First of all the game is a more streamlined experience both in terms of general gameplay and interaction. For the gam

Josh

Josh

Rewerking the Asset Class -or- Back that Asset Up

Since you guys are my boss, in a way, I wanted to report to you what I spent the last few days doing.   Early on in the development of Leadwerks 3, I had to figure out a way to handle the management of assets that are shared across many objects. Materials, textures, shaders, and a few other things can be used by many different objects, but they consume resources, so its important for the engine to clean them up when they are no longer needed.   I decided to implement an "Asset" and "AssetRe

Josh

Josh

Vehicle WIP in Leadwerks 4.6

Here's a look at the new vehicle system that is being developed. The API has been simplified so you simply create a vehicle, add as many tires as you want, and start using it. The AddTire() command now accepts a model and the dimensions of the tire are calculated from the bounds of the mesh. class Vehicle { int AddTire(Model* model, bool steering=false, const float spring=500.0f, const float springrelaxation = 0.1f, const float springdamping = 10.0f); void SetGas(const float accel); void

Josh

Josh

Summer Game Tournament

Summer is here, and you know what that means! Yes, it is time for another LEGENDARY game tournament. This year the theme is "Retro Gaming". Create a modern take on an arcade game hearkening back to the days of NES, Neo Geo, Sega, or just make anything you want. Either way, you get this totally radical poster as a prize! How does it work?  For one month, the Leadwerks community builds small playable games.  Some people work alone and some team up with others.  At the end of the mont

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Ultra Engine Beta Update

The Turbo Game Engine beta is updated! This will allow you to load your own maps in the new engine and see the speed difference the new renderer makes. LoadScene() has replaced the LoadMap() function, but it still loads your existing map files. To create a PBR material, insert a line into the material file that says "lightingmodel=1". Blinn-Phong is the default lighting model. The red and green channels on texture unit 2 represent metalness and roughness. You g

Josh

Josh

Leadwerks Software Announces .NET Support

Leadwerks Software has released version 2.5 of their game development software Leadwerks Engine, featuring enhanced graphics and support for the Microsoft .NET application framework. Josh, CEO of Leadwerks said, “.NET support fits in with our goal of making game development simple and more approachable for programmers. We have an energetic community of coders who have been requesting .NET support for some time, and we’re happy to deliver that in Leadwerks Engine 2.5 along with enhancements to ou

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Leadwerks Game Engine 4.1 Released

Leadwerks Game Engine 4.1 is now available on Steam. This release cranks up the already legendary Leadwerks visuals to new levels of awesome.   Environment Probes The new environment probe entities can be used to add global illumination and reflections to any scene.  Volumetric Lighting Each light in Leadwerks can now display an adjustable volumetric effect using a ray-marching technique to give your game dramatic visuals.  Enhanced Post-Processing Effects Leadwerks 4.1 includes

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Leadwerks Winter Games Tournament 2016

At last, it is time for the 2016 Leadwerks Winter Games Tournament! This is going to be a big one, for a few reasons. We're very likely to reach 100 games in Leadwerks Game Launcher, which means it will be ready to move out of early access mode and be an official release on Steam. As an experiment, you're getting two extra weeks to polish your games, with an extended deadline lasting until January 15th.     WHEN: The tournament begins Monday, December 5, and ends Sunday, January

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