Emergent’s CEO sees Gamebryo Casual as a way to help the industry expand the casual market beyond its origins by creating short format AAA titles. However, with smaller budgets and shorter development cycles that has not been possible until now.

“Emergent is looking to take the casual game industry beyond what is possible today. We see a future where short format games have the same level of graphics, interactivity and gameplay as big budget releases,” said Geoffrey Selzer, CEO, Emergent. “To get there casual developers will need the same world-class tools and support that AAA titles can afford today.”

Gamebryo Casual will have the full set of powerful production software and design tools available in Gamebryo 2.5 and be running on the AAA level runtime and framework. In addition to the capability to design games for any genre on any platform, Gamebryo has several features especially suited to the casual market where downloads need to be small. The flexible geometry pipeline can greatly reduce the size of downloadable titles and tools such as the scene designer, animation tool and terrain editor will be invaluable. Gamebryo Casual has an optional integration with ProFX, Allegorithmic’s powerful texturing middleware that allows games to generate detailed textures on the fly while minimizing file size.

“We also see Gamebryo Casual as a good way to nurture new talent,” said Scott Johnson, president, Emergent. “A new company will be able to go from their first self-financed casual title to major publisher-financed AAA blockbusters using the same engine. There is no reason developers should have to learn new tools and workflow if they go from a casual strategy on the PC to a hardcore RPG for the console.”

Gamebryo Casual includes a customized licensing model based on the specific budgets and timelines of each casual game developer. All genres are eligible except Massively Online Multiplayer games (MMOs).