The engines used by video games these days is definitely a huge step up from back in the day. We are seeing how developers are pushing the limits of technology, where some engines are so capable of rendering graphics that upon first glance look incredibly realistic, and that you might actually have a hard time trying to figure out when put side by side the real thing.
This is why it doesn’t really seem like a ludicrous idea when Nickelodeon announced that their next animated series, “Meet the Voxels”, will be made using a game engine (via Variety). Why a video game engine, you might ask? Basically the idea behind using a video game engine is its flexibility when bringing it to other forms of media without having to make drastic changes each time.
For example as a proof of concept, Nickelodeon’s Entertainment Lab produced a regular 2D short film, which they then took the assets and brought it onto VR, and then later they took it and brought it over onto the Microsoft HoloLens. The company has yet to confirm which game engine they will be using, but Nickelodeon has used Epic’s Unreal engine in the past for some of their VR projects, so we wouldn’t be surprised if they were to turn to it again.
There is no word on when “Meet the Voxels” will be airing, but Nickelodeon has hinted that they could also be bringing it onto AR or VR platforms.