Rockville, the Maryland-based video game development company Epic Games has recently unveiled screenshots of the upcoming Unreal Engine 4. The images show how impressive the next generation Unreal Engine is and what this means for the future of gaming.

The new engine, according to the screenshots, is expected to reach higher grounds with improved particle effects and environment rendering. In a recent interview where online gaming magazine Wired discussed the prospects of the new engine with Epic Games co-founder Tim Sweeney and design director Cliff Bleszinki, Sweeney revealed that instead of the “pre-rendered” light sources of the past (which the developers had to hand-place in each level), UE4 enables “dynamic lightning.”

What this feature will do is that it will make light sources conscious of their surroundings and now light, in the game, will bounce off reflective surfaces, water will refract vision and shadows will be generated in real-time instead of requiring individual placement. It is said that it will also remove “bake time” (the duration current engines need to process and parse through light sources before they are rendered in-game).

Moreover, UE4 will also introduce Kismet 2. Kismet 2 is the improved version of Unreal Engine 3’s graphics scripting tool. The aim of this tool is to make programming even easier for novices and stronger for experts. This interface will let you manipulate visual elements using simplified drop-down menus instead of constructing lines upon lines of complicated code.

In short, the level designers will now be able to hand-craft their own visions, instead of relying on programmers and hoping that they correctly infer their ideas.

More details on UE4 are expected to surface during this year’s E3, according to a Gamesradar report.

Check out the photos here.