Ultra Engine
Release date: Oct 20, 2025
Developers: Leadwerks Software
Publishers: Leadwerks Software
Genres: Game Development
Categories: Partial Controller Support, Includes level editor
Supported languages: English

Have you ever tried to develop a game, only to have the framerate get slower and slower as you add more content and features? This is especially problematic in virtual reality because low framerates cause motion sickness and can make your game or experience unplayable. Ultra Engine is designed to achieve ultimate scalability and deliver blazingly fast performance as your game grows, with a revolutionary new rendering architecture that unlocks the full power of your GPU to deliver up to 10x faster performance. Code Games with Lua Ultra Engine provides an easy-to-learn programming API that can be used with Lua, integrated into Visual Studio Code. Documentation is extensive, with hundreds of code examples demonstrating how to use graphics, physics, raycasting, pathfinding, and other systems to build games and VR applications. Your game code runs on its own thread, so there's no performance penalty for using an interpreted language. No-Limits Royalty-Free License for Game Developers Games you create are yours to play, sell, or give away, with no additional costs or hidden fees. And because we only rely on free open-source middleware libraries, you never have to worry about purchasing expensive licenses from third parties. Graphics Revolutionary new rendering architecture Clustered forward+ renderer with uniform lighting model and optional depth prepass Multi-display support PBR materials Load 3D models from glTF, OBJ, MDL, and FBX (using glTF converter) Image loading, saving, processing Vertex, pixel, geometry, and tessellation shaders Normal mapping with specular Post-processing stack Hardware tessellation Environment probes Instanced rendering Real-time mesh modification Imposters VR SteamVR integration with support for a variety of headsets Fast stereoscopic rendering Controller input and display Attach objects to hand controllers and headset Translation and rotation view offset Entity Component System Multiple components per entity are supported Save and load game states Visual flowgraph connects component actions to create event sequences Terrain Dynamically sculpt and paint terrain Cut holes in terrain Up to 256 material layers Terrain foliage system 3D Models Load and save Khronos glTF files Load and save Wavefront OBJ files Convert FBX files to glTF and load Convert Collada files to glTF and load Load other formats with plugin system Animation Animated skinned characters Share skeletons across multiple characters Attach objects to bones Built-in animation transition and update system Hardware skinning Blend and transition animations Physics Fast and accurate asynchronous rigid body physics Constraints including hinge, ball, kinematic, plane, and sliding joints Motorized joints with limits Generate physics shapes Swept collision Raycasting with lines or spheres Pathfinding Navmesh pathfinding Crowd avoidance and steering Navigation areas visible in editor Physics-based character controller Automatic AI following Sound 3D sound spatialization Head-related transfer function (HRTF) Audio filters including distortion, flanging, echo, and EAX reverb effects Emit a sound from any entity Automatic channel management Skip to any time in sound GUI Resolution-independent for any DPI Extensible widgets system Load SVG vector images Set widget and item image Change mouse cursor Custom color schemes stored in JSON files Plugins Basis Universal supercompressed texture support FreeImage Texture Support for PNG, JPG, BMP, TGA, PSD, etc. Wavefront OBJ model saving ISPC Fast Texture Compression Quake package, model, and texture loading System File I/O File system watcher Memory allocation and management String manipulation (split, search, conversion, etc.) Message boxes and file / folder requester Plugin system Steamworks Integration Authentication User info Leaderboards Stats and achievements Multiplayer lobbies Peer-to-peer networking Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP)