Alan Wake development boosted by Umbra

Max Payne developer Remedy Entertainment has licensed rendering technology from Umbra Software for use on its upcoming game, Alan Wake.

Umbra, a cross-platform rendering tool, will be used to optimise the game's frame rate and help to speed up the game's development pipeline - a welcome thought for a game that was first announced over four years ago.

"Umbra gave a significant boost in rendering performance on the Xbox 360, and at the same time made our content creation faster," said Remedy development director Markus Mäki. "With Umbra's culling technology, Remedy's team can add more details to Alan Wake's world and concentrate on the cool visuals while minimizing tedious work such as adding portals."

Alan Wake joins a long list of high-profile titles that employ the tech, including CCP's EVE Online, BioWare's upcoming Dragon Age: Origins, and Turbine's Lord of the Rings Online.