Register now for our GamesBeat 2015 event, Oct. Gaming is in its golden age, and big and small players alike are maneuvering like kings and queens in A Game of Thrones. Make a change, click a button, and the change shows up in Stingray.
A bit of a pause still exists in the process to allow the asset to load, but no convoluted file manipulation is required. Portions of the demo I saw showed how the artist could manipulate a character’s 3D model in Maya and have the changes show up in Stingray in just a few seconds. Stringray’s first big feature is how its editor can work in conjunction with Maya. Autodesk happens to develop a good chunk of the programs involved in this pipeline, which gives the company an advantage when it comes to improving this process. So, we have a procedure that requires a lot of jumping from program to program, reloading files, and reinitiating a game engine to check the work. Then I want you to creep out the hi-res version in Mudbox. Then go to Photoshop and paint in some creep. Go back to Maya and add some creepy crap. So the artist spends a lot of time refining the object, bouncing back and forth between the game engine and these other programs to tweak it.Ībove: “The producer said the car isn’t creepy enough. Usually, when the asset reaches the game engine, it still isn’t complete. High-resolution sculpting programs like Pixologic’s ZBrush and Autodesk’s Mudbox are used to create pre-render level models and to generate special in-game textures (such as normal maps).Īn in-game object as simple as a crate, in a current generation game, can have a lot of different elements to it, which require multiple programs to generate. Then, 2D raster programs like Adobe’s Photoshop are used to tweak and paint texture maps. The current pipeline for an artist is crammed with several different programs, all acting as self-contained environments locking down an art asset at different stages:Īll-purpose 3D programs, such as Autodesk’s Maya and 3ds Max, are primarily used for basic polygon modeling, skeletal rigging, and animation. The big-picture idea that Autodesk is shooting for with Stingray is cross-program integration. Above: A subway scene built for Stingray. ^ "Changes to Autodesk Stingray FAQ | Stingray | Autodesk Knowledge Network"."Autodesk targets small studios with its Stingray game engine". "Autodesk's Stingray may be a big threat to Unity and Unreal in the game-engine wars". "Autodesk acquires Bitsquid and its engine". ^ "Autodesk Launches Stingray Game Engine at GDC Europe 2015".^ "Autodesk Acquires Bitsquid" (Press release)."Bitsquid bringing its proprietary game engine to PlayStation 4". ^ "Building Warhammer Vermintide with Stingray"."Bitsquid: a high-end game engine focusing on performance, flexibility and productivity". The Stingray engine however lives on in the re-branded 3DS Max plugin 3DS Max Interactive released in June 2017. Autodesk offered Stingray on a monthly subscription basis, and an educational and commercial 3-year subscription basis.Īutodesk announced Stingray's end of sale and development as a standalone product, effective as of January 7, 2018. They also rebranded the engine Autodesk Stingray, hoping to compete with other low-cost-to-enter game engines like Unreal Engine, Unity, and CryEngine. Games built with the engine include Escape Dead Island, Hamilton's Great Adventure, Krater, Gauntlet, Helldivers, Magicka: Wizard Wars, Magicka 2, The Showdown Effect, War of the Vikings, War of the Roses, Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide and Warhammer: Vermintide 2.īitsquid was acquired by Autodesk in June 2014 the company integrated the engine and related middleware into their games development toolchain, including 3ds Max, Maya, Mudbox, and Maya LT. Fatshark have used the engine in a number of their games. The company was founded in Stockholm, Sweden, by two engineers who had previously worked at game studio Grin, and by the owners of game developer Fatshark.
( Learn how and when to remove this template message)īitsquid is a discontinued 3D game engine with support for Linux, Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Android and iOS. JSTOR ( April 2015) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article needs additional citations for verification.