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| RenderWare | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer | Criterion Software |
| Initial release | 1993 |
| Written in | C++ |
| Operating system | |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | renderware.com (archived) |
RenderWare is avideo game engine developed by British game developerCriterion Software.
Released in 1993,[1] RenderWare was a3DAPI and graphics renderingengine used invideo games,Active Worlds, and someVRML browsers. RenderWare was developed byCriterion Software Limited, then a subsidiary ofCanon. It originated in the era of software rendering onCPUs prior to the appearance ofGPUs, competing with other libraries such asArgonaut Games'sBRender andRenderMorphics'Reality Lab (the latter was acquired by Microsoft and becameDirect3D). Renderware 4 was revealed at GDC 2004.[2]
RenderWare was licensed over 200 times. The scope went towards an integratedmiddleware withlow-level APIs for rendering, physics, audio, and AI, all of which are extensible through plug-ins which also serve the official high-level API. The aim was to reduce the learning curve by also including service and support for licensees. WithRenderWare Studio, anintegrated development environment including a debugger was included.[3] RenderWare themselves claimed a 70% marketshare across studios that choose an external engine in 2003.[4]
In May 2002, Criterion Games announced that they would acquireMathEngine PLC, a UK-based studio based in London.[5] Criterion Games eventually integrated theKarma physics engine from MathEngine into RenderWare (also utilized inUnreal Engine 2) for real-time physics interactions, collisions, and ragdoll physics in their games.[6][7][8]
RenderWare's principal commercial importance was in providing an off-the-shelf solution to the difficulties of PS2 graphics programming. As such, the engine was often described as "Sony's DirectX" during this era, in reference to its surrounding framework and toolchain middleware.[clarification needed] RenderWare 2 implemented its own internal scripting language, RWX (RenderWare script); previous versions of RenderWare had required use of an external scripting language. RWX support was removed in RenderWare 3. This next iteration focused on a binary model file format. As with the previous version increment, Criterion removed support for RenderWare 3's formats in RenderWare 4.
RenderWare iscross-platform: it allows for the creation of games that work withWindows,AppleMac OS X, and many video game consoles of the time, such as theGameCube,Wii,Xbox,Xbox 360,PlayStation 2,PlayStation 3, andPlayStation Portable. RenderWare is no longer available for purchase, althoughElectronic Arts still honors old contracts, meaning that external developers who licensed the technology before the Criterion acquisition may still use the software. What was RenderWare 4 has dissolved into the rest of EA internal tech. During a 2007 Gamasutra interview,Bing Gordon, EACCO, stated that RenderWare did not graphically perform well enough for next-gen hardware, and that it no longer stood up to its competition, namelyEpic Games'Unreal Engine. He also said at the time that the RenderWare team was "mostly a dev house".[9]
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