With the start of October came a special day in gaming, Unreal Fest 2024, which livestreamed yesterday October 1st. The Epic Games focused live show came with a whole host of updates and announcements to fill its two hour runtime including segments for Fortnite, Riot Games, and Pax Dei. One of the segments also contained a Megalights demo. Megalights is an upcoming addition to the Unreal Engine 5 that ups the ante on what lighting can look like. The demo was headed by Senior Director and Product Manager Wyatt Johnson and Senior Technical Product Manager Victor Brodin, to help pilot an avatar through the world and show off some of the highlights of this new technology.
Using Echo, an avatar, to explore the unique environment of the demo, the team shows off the main focus of megalights: light sources and shadows. The biggest example of this in the demo is a showcase of two changing video screens. These screens project light onto their surroundings, with light moving in response to the video on the screens in real time. The shadows displayed from these light sources aren’t harsh either, but instead provide soft shadows.
Another major example of the feats that Megalights allows is showcased right after the video screens. Echo enters a marketplace that is completely dark, but suddenly all the lights come on like it is packed with people. The place immediately brightens, and honestly seems like something players would see in current gaming trends. However, they then add in the shadows and the scene changes completely for the second time. Instead of a market so bright it seems to be trying to outshine the daylight, it’s darker, more intimate around each light source, and most importantly it feels realistic.
Ultimately Megalights is about removing restrictions on light source count and shadow placement for points, spotlights, and area lights. All this is achieved without sacrificing performance. Instead artists have the freedom to give their games the light they need to feel lived in, without worry of drawbacks.