1. Rapid Prototyping using UDK
Munjuluri Chaitanya
Game Architect
Sierra Atlantic – A division of Hitachi Consulting Corporation

2. About this talk Broadly introduce various tools in UDK
Share experiences
Not a tutorial on UDK/Unreal Engine
Talk about specific productivity gains
Talk about the disclaimer

3. Agenda Introduction Various tools Timelines Pros and Cons
Suggestions/Hints

4. Introduction About Sierra Atlantic About Gaming Vertical
About the game
Sierra Atlantic is a division of Hitachi Consulting
Gaming Vertical within SA is 150 strong. We have made multiple games on multiple platforms – NDS, iOS and Android, Facebook
The game is a playable demo for making high end games on mobile devices (currently iPad)
The game is not yet balanced
Motivation: Share experiences and provide you with an alternative
What is UDK?

5. That’s the name of the working prototype

6. Concept Art

7. The mandatory graph Don’t we all want to do things faster?
Isn’t that the graph everyone wants to see?
Communication is the biggest hurdle
Then why don’t people invest in tools (keeping costs within the range)?
Took us a total of 4 weeks to get this game up and running (including training and learning)
Typically an idea takes 5-6 hrs to implement

8. Tools of trade

9. Kismet Quick fire idea prototyping Visual Coding
Eliminates the need for programmers to listen, understand, develop an
Quick fire idea prototyping
Visual Coding
Technical Artist Friendly
Complete game play implementation

10. Material Editor
Material editor generates a shader for the target platform
Incredibly useful when generating target specific shaders (cooking)
Incredibly useful for artists
Material editor generates a shader for the target platform
Incredibly useful when generating target specific shaders (cooking)
Incredibly useful for artists

11. Matinee Material parameter’s controllability.
Building animated sequences such as sliding doors, pop ups etc…
Camera sequences
Linking with kismet for execution

12. Audio Editing Flexibility Enriched Audio experience.
Easy snap and link
Script control.
Easy kismet linking.

13. Unreal script High-level programming language Java like syntax
Perfect for state machines
Tight integration with editor and Kismet
Serialization
Network integration
Execution speed
The only programming interface for UDK
Execution speed is as much as 20x slower compared to C++
Having said that, go and implement a state machine in C++ - all the best and have fun

14. Compiling, Cooking, Packaging and Deploying
Save packages in an optimal format
Packaging for distribution
Packaged game to connected mobile devices

15. Pitfalls Too much “stuff” Starting point Platforms and computing power
Facebook
Quality pressures
Competition – Unity, CryEngine

16. Suggestions Use Unrealscript when you want a new node
Use Kismet to rapidly develop/rule out your ideas
Multi sub-object materials
Shader complexity
Dynamic vs Static Lighting
The “foreach” trap
Single vs grouped objects (collision, render calls)
Fill rate issues with particles
Number of objects (cull distance, visibility range)
Design level in UnrealEd, model/texture objects elsewhere

17. My colleagues are available to answer them offline too
Thank you & Questions
My colleagues are available to answer them offline too
Haven’t we all heard – “I have a brilliant idea I want someone else to develop it for me”. Now you have one less excuse