D.I.C.E. 08: Buld or buy? The Epic view

Developers took to the stage at D.I.C.E. Summit 2008 to argue the merits of building or buying game technology, with the battlelines being drawn between Insomniac on one side, Epic Games on the other, and Ubisoft stuck in the middle.

Continuing the debate over building versus buying tech, Epic president Dr. Michael Capps came down — not surprisingly — on the pro-middleware side.

But - echoing a classic hair restoration commercial - he noted that he was "not just the president, I'm also a client!"

Not only does Epic license its middleware engine to others, but it has also used the engine to create its own franchises such as Gears of War and Unreal Tournament.

"We've been abstracting away from details for a long time in the game industry," Capps said, referring to the progression from C++ to current technology. "Middleware and game engines are along the same line."

To him, the argument is simple and straightforward: "If you donât have an engine, licensing middleware makes good sense from a financial perspective."

The first benefit of licensing middleware is the reduction of costs, as it takes less money to license an engine than to build one yourself.

To Capps, however, the real benefit of using middleware is that a developer is starting with tech that has been "battle tested" and which can be used immediately by designers. With so many different companies making and shipping games using the middleware, the vendor receives feedback and can make updates to improve its product.

Finally, he believed that middleware has more of an emphasis on tools and interface.

"Debate aside, I think you are going to find middleware much better documented and much better supported than an internal tool because they are trying to get a game out the door."

For a company trying to sell its middleware, it makes sense for them to comment and document their code — which is not always the case with in-house tech that isn't intended to be seen by a larger audience.

Middleware can also be more feature rich, as the creator is trying to stay up with the latest technology in order to compete in the market and has he luxury of continously adding features.

"One cool thing about licensing tech is that you are going to get some cool features that you would love to have but wouldn't build yourself."

Capps noted that even a middleware vendor such as Epic itself uses middleware.

"We use middleware wherever we can - wherever it is smart for us to do that," he said, pointing to physics, facial animation and foliage rendering code as just a few examples.

So what does Epic look for in middleware?

"When we license tech, we are really careful to license tech that has been shipped before."

He suggested that developers ask themselves whether or not they can ship a product if the vendor closes its doors, fails to make promised updates, or fails to support them.

Finally, Epic pushes for — and as a vendor, gives - source code access so there is always the option to fix ship-blocking bugs themselves.