New publisher, new engine, new release: Unawake will be much more ambitious than expected. Yet the studio consists of just two developers! We talked to them about how they plan to tackle this mammoth project.
Just a few weeks ago, the publisher Toplitz Productions presented the upcoming survival game Serum. Now another title follows directly: The already announced Unawake not only gets a new publisher, but also changes from the Unreal Engine 4 to the technically impressive UE5. The aim is to achieve the same quality as in AAA games – and there are only two developers working on the title! The small Turkish studio RealityArts tells us exclusively how they intend to accomplish this almost impossible task.
What to expect in Unawake
In a world of fallen angels you have to face demonic enemies in Unawake. The focus is on all kinds of medieval melee weapons: The arsenal of weapons includes axes, maces and swords. Studio co-founder Ismael alias Ismail Kemal Ciftcioglu wants to ensure that Unawake offers a completely new gameplay experience:
“With Unawake, we aimed for a good, fast and dynamic, but beginner-friendly gameplay style, but we didn”t want to create a medieval version of Doom. We want players to feel like they”re fighting medieval combat without having to sacrifice fast, catchy mechanics ”
The tactical component is not to be neglected, even if it will not take on the scale as in Chivalry or Kingdom Come: Deliverance. However, the enemies are not stupid either and will run you into the knife, as Ismael reveals to us:
“A Berserker, for example, can throw his two-handed weapon and draw quick double daggers to fool you. Or he can simply flee the fight and regroup with another enemy, coming back and dropping bombs on you while keeping you busy with the new enemies. Players should expect intense and constantly changing combat. Nothing stays the same in the world of Unawake, and players must always be vigilant ”
The gloomy game world is also slightly reminiscent of Doom, but Isamel and his colleague took most of the inspiration for the setting from a completely different game: Diablo 2.
“Diablo has an incredible story and fantastic world-building, and before we started developing Unawake, we kept talking about what a 3D Diablo game could be like. These conversations led to the development of Unawake. But the project is not a 3D Diablo, because the games differ in many aspects. But Diablo 2 was the starting point that inspired us ”
AAA-Quality with two developers – how can that be done?
Unawake was supposed to be released this summer – but the new publisher and the change to Unreal Engine 5 have pushed the schedule back a bit. Instead, the UE5 opens up completely new possibilities for developers.
“The best new feature of UE5 for us is the Nanite technology. It has changed our game design enormously. Before UE5, our maps were much smaller and less detailed to guarantee a passable frame rate on all systems. The 3D models and textures consumed so much memory that we had to keep the level of detail below what we wanted to do.
Thanks to UE5, I can design impressive worlds without thinking about how many models I am using now, how many millions of polygons those models have, etc. As a designer, I feel incredibly free and our world-building has benefited a lot from that. Now Unawake is more of a semi-open-ended game with lots of side locations as well as huge dream landscapes to explore”.
Yet the development team consists of just two people! Ismael already benefits from 17 years of work experience in the film and visual effects industry, but that”s not the only thing that should help to master this Goliath task:
“As far as programming goes, we have our own main plugin-based systems that we developed in C++ for the Unreal Engine. We spent two years developing our basic structure and modifying the engine. This base gives us the speed of a 20-person coding team in a fraction of the time needed.”
Unreal Engine 5”s marketplace assets also help a lot in maintaining the tremendous speed, Ismael says. While these are still being heavily modified, they still give an advantage that should not be underestimated. But Ismael and his colleague still have enough time for these changes: the new release is targeted for the end of 2023.
If you are looking for more fancy games in Unreal Engine 5, we have a whole (list of beautiful projects in UE5 for you).
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