Epic: Migrating pipelines to Japan ‘difficult’

During a panel session at CEDEC 2009, Epic’s VP of business development, Jay Wilbur, discussed the initial difficulties experienced when the company brought Unreal Engine 3 to Japan.

"There was certainly a difficulty in migrating our pipelines over to Japan," said Wilbur. "Some people grabbed the idea really quickly, others had problems with it. We learnt that we really had to be flexible."

Pointing out that most Japanese studios have, for a long time, modelled entire levels in 3ds Max or Maya, Wilbur said that UE3 had a lot going on under the hood that really made it better for levels to be assembled within UnrealEd, using parts modelled in external applications.

"It’s tough, but if you adopt a middleware solution, it’s made with a pipeline in mind. It’s best to use their best practices."