The original Oregon Trail is a classic. As an iconic educational game, it has been a constant teaching tool in schools for generations. Decades later, the series' roots are still solid, and Gameloft's Brisbane Studios has put on the classic with the 2021 mobile version of the same name for the popular and acclaimed game.
After more than thirty years, how to present the game in a modern way and retain its appeal? This became a major problem for Gameloft's Brisbane studio. They believe that the key is to maintain its authenticity, provide players with options, and maximize the replayability of the game. With Unreal Engine's suite of tools, working in tandem with various departments in the studio, the Gameloft team is confident in achieving their goals.
"We tried to think of ourselves as first-time makers of it," says senior designer Rowan Ryder, "but we also followed the same guidelines as the 1985 version." "Gameloft is a classic and has brought The Way of Oregon into the modern world in a number of ways. The most notable is the game's new art style, which integrates pixel characters into 3D scenes. Gameloft has specifically designed these two very different art styles, combining them well while presenting a refined pixelated art and a 3D environment. Unreal Engine's Terrain tools and Mesh Drawing tools make team collaboration faster and more efficient.
"It's really important to be able to work like we did in Unreal Engine," says Hannah Crosby, a senior 3D artist, "and Unreal Engine's various natural environment terrain tools really speed up the process because we only have a very small art team to create environments." She adds, "Speed is really important, and Unreal Engine's vegetation tools and the various mesh drawing tools are really important for creating fast pipelines and creating a lot of content quickly." ”
Another important new element is the studio's quest for historical authenticity. For example, the art team studied the actual topographic types of Oregon and recreated the vegetation that was actually distributed in the area at that time. It is equally important for developers to more accurately portray Native Americans in the game.
"We noticed that native Americans weren't depicted much in the original," explains art director Liz Ballantyne, "and it's interesting that the developer of the original game also pointed this out in reddit's post and said that if he could add a few more things to the game, he would tell more of these kinds of stories." ”
Unreal Engine's Blueprints bring the entire project together effectively. Blueprint features allow teams to quickly test ideas, turn them into reality, and iterate quickly.
"There are nearly 400 events in Oregon Road," Ryder said, "and if we use any of the inferior systems, we can't even do half of them." ”