DevLog #2 - New Engine - Back to Square One

Welcome to the second part of our little devlog series! We spent a long time debating whether to switch to the latest Unreal Engine. After an extensive learning phase, however, it became clear that all graphical assets had to be completely reworked — or even recreated from scratch. In the end, very little from the previous titles could actually be reused.

For the artists, this meant:

• Expanding, adjusting, or recreating 3D models

• Creating new UV mappings for the models

• Reworking all textures

• Setting up new materials

• Importing everything into Unreal Engine

• Optimizing assets for lighting with Lumen

What could possibly go wrong? :-)

With a lot of patience, some duct tape, and a bit of shader magic, we finally achieved a result we’re very happy with. The challenge now is maintaining this level of quality — even when deadlines start getting tight again. Here’s a comparison of the three “Notruf” titles that showcases the graphical evolution quite nicely.

The programmers and level designers also had to adapt. Switching from C# to C++, learning the proper use of Blueprints, and exploring the countless implementation possibilities led to a much longer pre-production phase. But spoiler alert: in the end, nothing from pre-production actually made it into the final production build.

At this point, a huge thank you to Aerosoft for making the transition to Unreal Engine and the learning process possible for us.

Your Crenetic Team