Ubisoft is making a new Star Wars game called Star Wars Outlaws, and it seems really cool. They say it’s the first Star Wars game where you can explore a big open world. In the gameplay trailer, they showed some things you can do that look super fun.
You can fly from a planet to space without any loading screens, sneak around quietly, and even have a cute little furry friend who can do things in the game world. The game uses a special game engine called Snowdrop, which makes everything look really good.
A video game engine is like a special software that helps game makers create video games. It’s kind of like a toolbox that has lots of useful things inside, such as pictures, tools for designing game levels, and tools for creating characters.
Game developers use this toolbox to build their games from scratch and make them work. Ubisoft has been using its own special software called Snowdrop for some of its big projects.
They’re going to use an updated version of Snowdrop in a new game called Star Wars Outlaws. But Snowdrop has been around for a long time, even though not everyone may know about its history.
The Snowdrop Engine in Star Wars Outlaws
Massive Entertainment started making the Snowdrop engine in 2009. They wanted it to be a tool that game developers could use to make games faster and easier.
The first game to use Snowdrop was The Division, which was shown at E3 in 2010. People were impressed by some of the engine’s features. One of the best things about it was the lighting system, which made the game look very realistic.
The way the light worked with objects in the game was really cool. The engine also had great physics for destroying things in the game, and people liked that too.
Right from the beginning, it was obvious that the Snowdrop engine made by Massive was really good. The company let Ubisoft use it for many different games. The first game that used Snowdrop after The Division was Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, which came out in 2017 and got great reviews.
Other games like South Park: The Fractured but Whole, Starlink: Battle for Atlas (which didn’t get as much attention but was still good), and The Division 2 also used the Snowdrop engine.
Over time, a computer program called Massive’s Snowdrop engine has been getting better with each new version. In 2021, the company Ubisoft said they were making it even better for a game called Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.
The new Snowdrop engine will make things in the game look more real by using a special lighting technology called ray tracing. It will also make the computer-controlled characters in the game act more like real people, and it will make the game world look even more detailed.
The Snowdrop engine got a makeover for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. This improved engine will probably be used for Star Wars Outlaws too. Star Wars Outlaws will make the most of the engine’s great lighting, which suits Star Wars’ colourful places.
But it’s not just Star Wars Outlaws; Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell remake will also use the Snowdrop engine, and it’s a great match because lighting is super important in Splinter Cell games.