Infinity Engine is a game engine that allows for creation of isometric cRPGs. It was created by Bioware for the game Battleground Infinity, which later became the first part of Baldur's Gate series. Bioware was using Infinity in its next games, it was also licensed by Black Isle Studios.
| Infinity Engine | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | BioWare |
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Mac OS X, AmigaOS 4, GNU/Linux |
| Type | Game engine |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | http://www.bioware.com |
Since 2005 there is a open source version of the game engine, called GemRB, which is a multiplatform implementation of this engine.[1]
Characteristics
Infinity Engine was conceived by BioWare as a base of their complex demo called then Battleground Infinity, which later in its final form became a game Baldur's Gate.[2] The graphical engine is an API written in OpenGL.[2] and was created specially for cRPG games - in truth, it is based on isometrics pre-rendered graphics 2D and both PCs and NPCs use sprites.[2][3].
In December 2002, after publishing a game Baldur's Gate 2, Ray Muzyka decided that there would be a patch published for games of Bioware, so the Infinity Engine could work in resolutions bigger than 800 x 600 pixels.[4] The last computer game using Infinity Engine was Icewind Dale 2 from 2002[5]; it was not untill 2016, after 17 years since publication of the oryginal game, it was developed a expansion Siege of Dragonspear for Baldur's Gate using the same graphical engine.[6]
A natural evolution of the Infinity Engine was Aurora Engine that was used by Neverwinter Nights cRPG game by BioWare in 2002.[7]
List of games using Infinity Engine
- Baldur’s Gate (1998)
- Planescape: Torment (1999)
- Icewind Dale (2000)
- Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000)
- Icewind Dale II (2002)
References
- ^ "gemrb/gemrb". GitHub. Retrieved 2016-10-14.
- ^ a b c "Infinity Engine". Retrieved 2025-08-03.
- ^ "Infinity Engine". Retrieved 2025-08-03.
- ^ "Bioware, una patch alta risoluzione per i suoi RPG" (in Italian). 2002-12-13. Retrieved 2025-08-03.
- ^ "Icewind Dale II Review". 2002-09-06. Retrieved 2025-08-03.
- ^ "Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition Review". 2016-04-14. Retrieved 2025-08-03.
- ^ "Aurora Engine". Retrieved 2025-08-03.
External links
- BioWare official website
- Infinity Engine Structures Description Project
- Infinity Engine full games list
- Infinity Engine clone GemRB