Unreal Engine 5 is widely seen as the best game development software when it comes to 3D realism, and various developers have shifted from in-house engines to Epic's platform. These moves are often not without controversy, however.
Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is a prime example. The game's graphics are squeaky clean, with a realistic cartoon look. But all those textures, processing and lighting inevitably have an impact on performance, and some have complained that the title has some pretty hefty minimum hardware requirements for what's essentially a kids' game.
TT Games revealed some insights into the making of Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight at Develop: Brighton earlier in the year. Now Jonathan Smith, Vice President, Product, has expanded on the studio's justification for using Epic's engine in an interview over on the Unreal Engine blog.
Jonathan says TT Games opted for UE5 because it's developer friendly and allowed quick migration.
In terms of the specific tools used in the latest Lego Batman, he highlights the World Partition system. This allowed many team members to work on one large-scale map at the same time to develop content in the Gotham City open world environment. They were able to minimise the content active at any one time, allowing the creation of a large, dense open world.
"Building on this system, we have been able to create a living, breathing Gotham City—alive, with pedestrians, traffic, and fun gameplay," Jonathan says.
The team also used UE5's Gameplay Ability System (GAS) as the basis for the player abilities system, including the traversal mechanics. There was a degree of customisation to suit the specific needs of Lego games, but GAS provided the starting point, speeding up the process.
Jonathan also highlights the animation framework in Unreal Engine, saying it gave more creative power and freedom to technical animators while maintaining a consistent interface for coders. A customised version of Sequencer and motion warping were used to help create the combat and environmental interactions.
You can read the full interview on the Unreal Engine blog. If you need a device that can handle working in Unreal, see our guide to the best laptops for game development.
Warner Bros Games has recently released the new Mayhem Collection DLC starring The Joker and Harley Quinn as new playable characters. There’s a new story mission and a new Mayhem Mode with time-limited runs.
