Unreal Engine 5 is proving to be an impressive game engine.
Not for the incredibly realistic character models, or even the uncanny environment renders. Sure, the next Tomb Raider and The Witcher games will be made in Unreal Engine 5, but who gives a shit. None of these amount to even a smidgen of what you’re about to see.
Dan DeEntremont, also known as QuiteDan, is a VFX artist and ‘occasional game dev’. He’s currently working on a game involving a squirrel using Unreal Engine 5 and Houdini, a 3D animation software application developed by Toronto-based SideFX. In the tweet below, he shows off a short video of his work, which is (to me) the future of video games.
Trying grooms in #UnrealEngine5! 🔫🐿️ Squirrel is still a Blender rig, but Houdini handles the fur. This was extremely challenging, but very fun to explore!#indiedev #gamedev #UnrealEngine #blender3d #Houdini #screenshotsaturday pic.twitter.com/dyLfZGkH0W
— Dan DeEntremont (@QuiteDan) May 15, 2022
In the first 20 seconds of the 47-second clip, we see a gorgeously-detailed squirrel. A beautiful little guy. When the squirrel moves, we see the natural movement of a squirrel that we’d see in real life, which is simply gorgeous.
Then it happens. The squirrel has a MFin’ piece on him.
Very few things have brought me as much eye-popping joy as watching a squirrel carry around a proportionally identical firearm. Not just that, but the squirrel knows exactly what it’s doing. I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw this exact image while walking down the street. I would nod, make small talk about the nearest tree to harvest acorns from, and be on my merry way.
The animations of the squirrel with a submachine gun? Magical. Ethereal. I hear John Denver’s Fly Away playing in the distance as the long rat rises into the air. I feel calm. I feel at peace. I feel my ankles giving out, as I realise the squirrel has just shot me in both of my Achilles’ heels.
I fall to the ground, and a single tear rolls down my cheek. Not because I am in pain, but because I know in my heart that this was how it was meant to be. Rodents were meant to carry firearms in video games, and this is what Unreal Engine 5 was made for.
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