CSC News

NC State to Adopt New Epic Games Toolkit into Gaming Curriculum

The North Carolina State University Computer Science Department will be one of the first to incorporate the Epic Games, Inc. Unreal Development Kit (UDK) into its curricula for game development-related courses.  UDK is a free edition of Unreal Engine 3 that provides community access to the award-winning toolset.

Over 100 academic campuses currently use Unreal Technology as part of teaching game development-related courses, but NC State is one of the first to incorporate UDK into their game development curriculum.

“We’ll be using the new toolkit in CSC482 this coming semester,” said R. Michael Young, associate professor of computer science and an expert in serious gaming.  “It will make a big difference in what the students can do, and in their preparation for real world game development jobs.”  CSC482, Advanced Game Development Projects, uses the Unreal engine in semester-long projects where Computer Science and Industrial Design students work in teams to build stand-alone games.

The UDK software release is available to anyone interested in using 3D game engine technology, including game developers, students, hobbyists, researchers, creators of 3D visualizations and simulations, and digital filmmakers. Anyone can start working with the industry-leading Unreal Engine 3 toolset by downloading UDK at www.udk.com, where detailed product features, technical documentation, commercial licensing terms, support resources and more are also available.

The release of the UDK awards free access to the same world-class tools and technology used by many of the world’s best video game developers and publishers. Unreal Engine 3 is a constantly evolving game engine, and UDK contains all the most recently added features and technological enhancements, including many that have yet to be seen in an Unreal Engine game. Furthermore, Epic Games will release ongoing, upgraded builds of UDK for free.

For more information on the NC State gaming curriculum, click here.

For more information about the Unreal Development Kit, click here.

For more information about Epic Games, Inc., click here.

~coates~