Fortnite Developer’s Unreal Engine Tech Used To Develop a Star Wars Ride

The team at Epic Games isn’t just ruling the world with its multiplayer hit Fortnite – it’s [...]

Epic Games
(Photo: WDWNT)

The team at Epic Games isn't just ruling the world with its multiplayer hit Fortnite – it's also got a hand in entertainment, as it helped put together a forthcoming ride for Disney's Star Wars attraction.

A report from Walt Disney World News Today noted a peek at a forthcoming Millennium Falcon attraction for the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, which is in the works. It was put together by ILMxLAB, but featured some assistive work by Epic Games, as well as NVidia, both of whom worked on Unreal Engine technology.

As you can see from the screen above, the ride looks to be quite a rush, as you fly through what appears to be a variant of the Death Star (or, at the very least, an Imperial factory on the surface of Batuu). It's along the lines of one of those motion-based rides, running off a single BOXX chassis in a cockpit, and powered by eight Nvidia computer systems, connected through Quadro SLI.

The system was put together with a custom multi-GPU implementation with Unreal Engine, and should create a Star Wars experience like no other when it eventually opens.

Speaking with WDWNT, Bei Yang, who servers as technology studio executive for Disney Imagneering, noted, "We worked with Nvidia engineers to use Quadro-speciifc features like Mosaic and cross-GPU reads to develop a renderer that had performance characteristics we needed. Using the eight connected GPUs allowed us to achieve performance unlike anything before."

It's unknown just when the ride will open, but, man, if the team can put together something like this with Unreal Engine technology, imagine what some developers might try to think up with their games. And based on the screenshot, this'll be quite an exciting ride once we get to see the finished product.

We'll let you know when Disney announces more details about its Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge exhibit, as well as what other companies might be taking part in its opening. For now, just imagine a ride that will take you to a galaxy far, far away. Because, boy, we sure are.

If you want to check out Epic Games' latest craze in the meantime, Fortnite is available now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.