One of the video game developers that symbolizes the growth of the industry in our area is helping the industry expand.

At least 33 game development companies have a presence in the Triangle, with many making this area their headquarters.

They cite the proximity of RTP and computer science departments at area universities.

One of those companies has a new twist to a program that could bring people into the industry from around the world.

Epic Games, based in Cary, is famous for titles such as "Gears of War."

Thursday, they announced that the same programming that created that game is being made available to everyone at no charge, under the Unreal Development Kit banner.

"It's free for non-commercial use, so anybody can pick it up, learn how to create a game," said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic. "They can create something they can give away for free."

This same kind of programming has been around for a while, but only to people who bought certain Epic games; this new free-for-all distribution means a lot more of it will start showing up in places like the classroom.

"That now sort of de-couples the relationship between the process of development and buying the game and having to have the particular game to run the things that you produce," said Michael Young, associate professor of Computer Science at North Carolina State University.

Young said he has been using Unreal programming for a while, but this is a unique change.

Epic makes no bones about it: they're hoping to attract young talent with the announcement.

"They download it for free and start building a resume, a real resume that shows us what they can really do," said Rein.

Epic is tripling in size, by adding more than 100,000 square feet to its Cary headquarters. More importantly, it's recruiting in a time when many businesses have been scaling back.

At any given time, they may have 10 to 12 openings.

Experts say that's a testament to the strength of the game development industry in the area.

"Even in a challenging economic environment, we still see people coming into the Triangle, bringing their studios or locating headquarters here," said Young.

Young says it's something he's seeing in the computer science program, too, where next year they're set to graduate the first students from NC State's popular new game development degree.

Wider access to the Unreal Development Kit, though, means more developers vying for those jobs.

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Keep up with the stories Chris Cowperthwaite is working on every day: http://twitter.com/CCowperthwaite.

Contact him at ccowperthwaite@wncn.com.

Related Links

1. Unreal Development Kit