Star Wars: The Old Republic to Use HeroEngine

Star Wars: The Old Republic, BioWare's upcoming MMO based on the Star Wars license, will use Simutronic's HeroEngine. Simutronics is known as one of the leading creators of online game development platforms.

The company's HeroEngine "provides a complete technology solution for MMO developers, which takes years off time to market by providing a streamlined creative pipeline and a complete toolset in an integrated turnkey solution," read an official statement.

"Our goal was to partner with a platform developer that knows online gaming and virtual world development, and the team at Simutronics has an excellent track record in that respect," said Gordon Walton, Co-studio Director at BioWare. He added, "Their HeroEngine was specifically created for building MMOGs and it allows for a great amount of flexibility in the way our entire team collaborates."

According to the official statement, "The unique collaborative design platform of the HeroEngine allows for development in real-time, enabling teams in different geographic locales to build the world and play the game live on the server simultaneously. Updates and changes to the game environment are instantaneous, negating the need for nightly builds and code crunching, which significantly reduces the notoriously long MMOG development cycle."

"The team at BioWare is creating an incredible experience, and we're honored that they've selected our tool to help them build this epic world," said David Whatley, Simutronics' Chief Executive Office and HeroEngine Chief Designer. "We've invested years of experience and our passion for virtual world entertainment into developing HeroEngine, and we're confident that fans and online gaming enthusiasts alike will be happy with the finished product."

http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/937/937190p1.html