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Infinity Engine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Infinity Engine is a game engine which allows the creation of isometric role-playing video games. It was originally developed by BioWare for a prototype real-time strategy game codenamed Battleground: Infinity, which was ultimately re-engineered to become 1998's Baldur's Gate. BioWare utilized it again in several subsequent installments of the series and also licensed the engine to Interplay's Black Isle Studios to create Icewind Dale and Planescape: Torment. The engine would serve as the cancelled Battleground: Infinity's namesake.[1]
As of 2005 the engine has been open-source and referred to as "GemRB," which is a multi-platform implementation of the engine.[2]
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The Infinity Engine was conceived by BioWare as the foundation for the real-time strategy game, then-titled Battleground Infinity, which eventually evolved into the first Baldur's Gate, a CRPG.[3]
The graphical engine uses an API implemented in OpenGL,[3] and was specifically designed for computer role-playing games. It relies on isometric, pre-rendered 2D graphics, with both PCs and NPCs represented by sprites.[3][4]
In December 2002, following the release of Baldur's Gate II, Ray Muzyka announced a high-resolution patch for BioWare's games that enabled the Infinity Engine to support resolutions higher than 800×600 pixels.[5] The last original computer game to use the Infinity Engine was Icewind Dale II, released in 2002.[6] The engine would be re-used in 2012's Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition and 2014's Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition as well as for an expansion for the former, 2016's Siege of Dragonspear.[7]
The Aurora Engine is regarded as the spiritual successor to the Infinity Engine. BioWare would use it to create Neverwinter Nights (2002) and its expansions.[8][9] The Polish studio CD Projekt Red also employed the Aurora Engine to develop The Witcher, the 2007 video game adaptation of the Polish fantasy novel series by Andrzej Sapkowski, although the rendering module was rewritten from scratch.[10]
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List of games using Infinity Engine
The following games and expansions are powered by the Infinity Engine:
- Baldur's Gate (1998)
- Planescape: Torment (1999)
- Icewind Dale (2000)
- Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000)
- Icewind Dale II (2002)
- Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition (2012)
- Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition (2013)
- Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition (2014)
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