Rune (video Game) - Technology

Technology

Human Head Studios licensed Epic Games' "Unreal Engine" and made several enhancements to it, including a skeletal animation system, a new particle effects system, and an enhanced shadowing system. Although made using the Unreal Engine, Rune is a third-person perspective game without any shooting. The weapons used in the game include swords, axes, maces, and other mediæval/fantasy melee weapons. Despite using an engine made for shooting, the interface lends itself well to a playing style consisting of running, jumping, and hacking at opponents.

An innovative feature of the game is that anything dropped by a dead opponent can be picked up and used. This extends to include body parts. Limbs can be swung as clubs, and heads can be carried and used as weapons. Although the game includes no ranged weapons, any weapon can be thrown. The handaxe is a commonly thrown weapon because of the range and speed with which it travels through the air.

Both Rune and Rune: Halls of Valhalla (HOV) were released with their own RuneEd toolkits which the community quickly used making several popular multiplayer mods (coop, CTT—capture the torch, 'bots, etc.). Although a few single player addons have been made, it is Rune's multiplayer aspect has been the focus of several mutators, skins, and hundreds of maps that are available through many clan and resource websites.