Hauwert recruited by Unity Technologies for Flash-based 3D engine

Company picks up a veteran in the field as their cross-platform streaming engine progresses quickly.

Unity Technologies have announced the hiring of Ralph Hauwert to Senior Developer, an expert in 3D engines designed for Adobe Flash.

He'll be tasked primarily with developing a Flash export option for Unity Technologies' Unity 3.4 engine and he claims "With the ability to transparently publish for mobile, desktop and web through the Unity Web Player and the Flash Player, Unity developers will be more empowered than ever."

Unity 3.4, which is available for free download for personal use, supports many platforms: Windows, OSX, Android, iOS, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and, with Ralph's help, web browser streaming through Flash.

Though clearly not intended to compete with top-tier titles and engines, Unity appears well-placed to enable smaller developers and allow them to have huge potential reach in different markets.

Unity is already used by a large number of companies, including Cartoon Network, Coca-Cola, Disney, Electronic Arts, LEGO, Microsoft, NASA, Nickelodeon, Ubisoft and Warner Bros.

There is an example project included with the Unity download, which highlights the relative ease of use of the program and the kind of graphical quality it can produce – not bad for such a versatile tool.

What the article picture looks like from Unity 3.4's engine.

A spokesman for Unity Technologies was quoted as saying "When a guy like Hauwert is joining, you know you are doing something right. We are very excited to have him on the Unity team as we expand our platform reach on the web."

Unity have also announced the publication of their first in-house game, Rochard, which recently launched on the PS3. It's basically a man and his cube against the world. What's not to love?