SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Unity Technologies (https://unity3d.com/), the creator of the world’s most popular creation engine for gaming and interactive entertainment, announced today that director Neill Blomkamp (District 9) will headline the Unite Austin 2017 keynote and conference. Designed to help developers and creators engage, network and learn, Unite Austin takes place October 3 - 5 at the Austin Convention Center and will attract thousands of developers, artists, educators, filmmakers, researchers and storytellers. A full schedule of events, including an overview of the more than 70 sessions taking place during Unite Austin and tickets can be found at the official website.

The Unite Austin keynote, which begins at 4pm PT on October 3 will be headlined by Blomkamp where he will discuss Unity’s role in pioneering the future of real-time rendering. As part of this discussion, Blomkamp will debut a world exclusive first look at his next short film, which is developed in real-time using Unity 2017. Blomkamp and his team at Oats Studios, an experimental production studio focused on creating innovative short films, will also be hosting a session during the Unite Conference where they will answer questions about their development process, including an exclusive screening of their next short film in advance of its full release later in October.

DETAILS OF UNITY 2017.2 UNVEILED

Unity 2017.2, which launches in October and further empowers Artists & Designers with an improved workflow and faster roundtripping, will be highlighted throughout the Unite Austin Keynote. Among key features being demoed are the 2D Tilemap, which is a visual approach to level design that gives artists and designers a rich and extensible palette to draw 2D worlds. Unity powers 75% of game and non-game VR/AR experiences today, and the release of Unity 2017.2 will add support for ARCore, ARKit, Vuforia and Microsoft Mixed Reality. The keynote will show how easy it is to optimize games and experiences so that creators can take advantage of the millions of devices that support these new technologies. The keynote will also feature a special demonstration from Unity Technologies co-founder Joachim Ante.

Unite Austin will feature 70 sessions on tracks such as VR/AR, game development, art and animation, and the business of game development. The agenda includes feature presentations from thought-leaders at Vuforia, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Samsung, Sony, Intel, NVIDIA, Otoy, CloudMoolah and more. Additional sessions include hands-on labs and expert talks from Unity engineers, and a variety of independent/studio developers and artists.

70+ FEATURED SESSIONS

Exclusive Screening of Unity Made Shorts with Director of District 9 - Oats Studios

Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality’ Postmortem: VR Lessons *burrrp* Learned - Owlchemy Labs

Cinemachine for Games and Interactive: 1st person, 2D, 3rd person and Beyond - Unity

ARCore: Augmented Reality at Android Scale - Google

Facebook + Unity: Optimized for Growth - Facebook

Unity for Nintendo Platforms - Nintendo

Experimenting in Creativity - Wieden + Kennedy

Deforesting Game AI - Unity Technologies

Bringing International Space Station Science Down to Earth - NASA

UNITY AUSTIN LIVE SHOW DEBUTS

Unity will also debut ‘Unite Austin Live,’ a live show broadcasting from a studio located in the social hub of the expo hall. In a format similar to late night talk shows, guests will engage in an interview style conversation with Unity staff hosts in the studio, viewed by Unite attendees in person at the booth and live online. ‘Unite Austin Live’ will be streamed on Unity’s YouTube channel from 9am - 11am PT on October 4 -5.

MADE WITH UNITY SHOWCASE

Unite Austin is also featuring one of the strongest Made with Unity Showcase lineups ever, including the first public showing of Otherside Entertainment’s ‘Underworld Ascendant’, the world exclusive premiere of the first project from the veteran team at Fast Travel Games, hands-on with Playful’s ‘Super Lucky’s Tale’, and more.

Unity exists to democratize development, solve hard problems and enable success -- three core values that are the driving forces of Unity’s adoption by millions of creators. Unity powers more than 50% of all new mobile games and 2/3rds of all VR/AR experiences. Interactive content made with Unity reaches nearly 3 billion devices worldwide.

Limited press passes are available. For Press interested in attending Unite Austin 2017, please email press_austin@unity3d.com.

About Unity Technologies

Unity Technologies is the creator of a flexible and high-performance end-to-end development platform used to create rich interactive 2D, 3D, VR and AR experiences. Unity’s powerful graphics engine and full-featured editor serve as the foundation to develop beautiful games or apps and easily bring them to multiple platforms: mobile devices, home entertainment systems, personal computers, and embedded systems. Unity also offers solutions and services for creating games, boosting productivity, and connecting with audiences including Unity Ads, Unity Analytics, Unity Asset Store, Unity Cloud Build, Unity Collaborate, Unity Connect and Unity Certification. Unity Technologies serves millions of registered developers including large publishers, indie studios, students and hobbyists around the globe. For more information, visit www.unity3d.com and to see the latest games and experiences created in Unity, go to madewith.unity.com.