The Top 10 Game Engines â?? No. 8: Bigworld Technology Suite

The top 10 game engines as selected by Develop continues today with Viscious Engine 2. We will be revealing a new entrant to the list every day until June 26th, so keep checking back to see which other tech providers you should be looking at for your next project…

Bigworld Technology Suite

Developer: BigWorld
Platforms: PC, Xbox 360, PS3, iPhone, PSP, DS, mobile devices
Browser support: No
Cost: Available on request
Published titles: Hokuto no Ken Online (GungHo), Tian Xia 2 (Netease)
Titles in development: Unannounced titles from Gazillion and 38 Studios
Middleware integrations: BitRaider, Exigent, FMOD, Gni, Hypernia, Scaleform UI, Speedtree, Vivox, Umbra Software

BigWorld’s Technology Suite has proved pretty popular in China and Japan – admittedly the main MMO market – but with version 2.0, out towards the later end of this year, the company is integrating a raft of features that could see it stake out a bigger claim in the face of rivals like HeroEngine and the Monumental Technology Suite.

Version 2.0 offers performance increases due to improved multi-threading support on the client side, various special and post-effects that enable a wide range of real-time filters to be applied to the graphics engine, including sophisticated motion blur, depth of field and colour correction and distortions. On the server side, the architecture has been rolled over onto 64-bit, enabling much greater memory addressability – and therefore larger, more complex worlds – and further revisions to server scalability, reliability and general performance.

In answer to numerous client requests, BigWorld has also implemented in-game browser support (including JavaScript and Flash) and instant messaging protocols (MSN, AIM, ICQ, GoogleTalk and Twitter via XMPP) to facilitate the next generation of ‘always connected’ social experience worlds, blurring the line between in-world experiences and exterior information services and content. The firm is also interested in applications on mobile devices, community management, and user generated content. Further enhancements to the client rendering engine – specifically lighting, shadows and physics extensions – are planned for next year.

The work BigWorld has also done supporting teams releasing games has also forced the company to work with other partners to fill in the gaps, meaning that established relationships are available for billing and community management.

Contact: Canberra Technology Park, Phillip Avenue Watson ACT 2602, Australia
Tel: +61-2 6162 5120
Web:www.bigworldtech.com