The UbiArt Framework is a 2.5D

video game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games which generally includes relevant libraries and support programs such as a level editor. The "engine" terminology is akin to the term "software engine" us ...

developed by

Ubisoft Montpellier Ubisoft Montpellier is a French video game developer and a studio of Ubisoft based in Castelnau-le-Lez. Founded in 1994 as Ubi Pictures, it is best known for developing the ''Rayman'' and ''Beyond Good & Evil (video game), Beyond Good & Evil'' s ...

. Its function is to organize 2D animated

vector graphics Vector graphics are a form of computer graphics in which visual images are created directly from geometric shapes defined on a Cartesian plane, such as points, lines, curves and polygons. The associated mechanisms may include vector displ ...

into a playable

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

without extensive coding.

History

In 2010,

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...

announced ''

Rayman Origins ''Rayman Origins'' is a 2011 platform game developed and published by Ubisoft. It is the fourth main installment in the '' Rayman'' series and the first main installment since '' Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc'' (2003). The game was released for the P ...

'', first an episodic video game designed by

Michel Ancel Michel Ancel (; born 29 March 1972) is a retired Monégasque-French video game designer. He is best known for creating the ''Rayman'' franchise and was the lead designer or director for several of the games, including ''Rayman Origins'' and its ...

and developed by a small team of five people, but it was announced that it transformed into a full game. The title uses the UbiArt Framework developed by

and Ancel. UbiArt is a developer platform that allows artists and animators to easily create content and use it in an interactive environment. The engine is optimized for HD resolutions and is capable of running games at 60 frames per second in resolutions exceeding

1080p 1080p (1920 × 1080 progressively displayed pixels; also known as Full HD or FHD, and BT.709) is a set of HDTV high-definition video modes characterized by 1,920 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 1,080 pixels down the sc ...

. Ancel has expressed his desire for the framework to be available for anybody to develop games with. However, no public release or licensing option has been made available. On April 9, 2019, in an interview with IGN, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot explained why the engine was not being used as initially planned, stating that the "tools were difficult to use". The plan was to distribute the engine to other studios with Guillemot saying "at one point we wanted to give them to everybody n Ubisoft” However, they decided not to as they wanted to “spend a lot of time with a lot of people to actually help people to use it.” But the engine is not abandoned as Guillemot explained “It’s still there, and you will see other things using it, but it’s not as predominant as it used to be.”

Games developed with UbiArt Framework

References

{{Video game engines Ubisoft Video game engines