Is CryENGINE2 it?

[krise madsen]

According to some previews, the SP portion of Crysis offer an unusual level of non-linear freedom of movement, essentially delivering on the potential that Far Cry probably had, but never fully explored, i.e. unlike Far Cry the maps will not restrict your path options quite as much, and you won't get hammered by an attack helicopter the second you venture to explore the map.

On the other hand, previews/reviews these days seem to label anything offering more than one path as "open-ended" and "non-linear", so I guess nothing is certain until we get to actually try the game.

Still, an interesting prospect: Large (and obviously beautiful) maps where you can go anywhere and do anything (within reason), with the AI reacting properly to your actions. Yummy.

As a tac-sim fan this begs the obvious question: Could this be it? Could CryENGINE2 be the tac-sim game engine of the future? The one that gives us non-linearity and long draw distances as well as fabulous graphics? What about classic tac-sim features like squad control and soul-switching? Crysis being what it is, it probably won't provide all the answers, and announced mods so far seem to be centered on MP adversarial gameplay. But still...

Comments?

Respectfully

krise madsen

[Sup]

Kinda depends on how EA markets it, but no, I doubt it will be. Farcry had no mod scene to speak of, aside from two or three teams. I really doubt anyone will make more than one or two decent mods for crysis, especially not something that ambitious.

[KRP 56]

Would be great if the modders really took of with this as it sure looks like it has tons of potential. But as Sup mentioned Far Cry mods really didn't go much of anywhere, so we'll have to wait and see.

[krise madsen]

Heh, to be honest I have my doubts too, but since I know nothing of the techical side of modding I thought I'd ask . I suppose the CryENGINE2 does have considerable potential. But of course it depends on how difficult it is to mod, and I suppose on how many tac-sim-interested players actually play the game.

Respectfully

krise madsen

[Colin]

I think a lot of us are interested in this, TuG are looking at it now with a view for coop mission type game play.

Team Based.

If you are interested in this area then drop us a pm.

[Soroc]

Crytek screwed up FarCry by releasing the SDK about a *year* after the game came out. That pretty much killed any real mod possibilities on CryEngine1. They have learned their lesson.

Edited October 10, 2007 by Soroc

[Lightspeed]

agreed - FarCry was like GRAW2 in terms of popularity. Six months to a year after its release, there werent many playing it as I recall.

Trying to introduce Mods at that time was doomed to fail with the difficulty of trying to pull ppl to an old game.

With OE2 and other Mods getting the lead time they need - these Mods should have an excellent chance of success.

The fantastic thing for OE2 was that it was a brilliant tactical FPS years ago - and they've had almost a year and a half more Development time to improve on it.

Cant wait.

[krise madsen]

Crytek screwed up FarCry by releasing the SDK about a *year* after the game came out. That pretty much killed any real mod possibilities on CryEngine1. They have learned their lesson.

I'm not sure I agree entirely. Sure, the late release of the SDK was a mistake (and they have been very clever in getting the SDK out even before release this time) but I suspect it had more to do with the game itself running out of steam rather quickly. I guess that is why there is a mission editor included at release.

Respectfully

krise madsen

[Lightspeed]

a valid point - FarCry really did fail miserably in the MP stakes.

the SP campaign was brilliant on the other hand - Ive actually been doing the Campaign with my nephew at the moment and still get a rush from it.

[rookie]

The technology yes - would offer some awesome posibilities. Flashbang's messing up a room, or even pump out the door, drive into a wall to make an entry-point. The interiors look quite awesome on the large ship e.g.. Also the destruction of the nature would make some very tense firefights possible - so you would have to taker cover behind some thick trees, not every bush that comes along. Not to mention the level/mission-size.

Maybe there are some skilled modders that see the potential the cryengine 2 has to offer for a tactical shooter, but making it happen is another story. I don't think we will see the cryengine used for anything else then showing off graphics and blow-######-up-mods.

Since the SDK is coming with the release of the game, we should see something soon - though a delay of the SDK wouldn't be as devasting as with FarCry - Crysis has sys-reqs that force many people to buy new hardware and not anybody can do that too soon. Of course, better give the SDK sooner than later.

The part about linearity, well these days you really can't give a ###### about those previews, either the reviewer is easy to satisfy, a child, or his opinion has been bought. You are right - you really have to try the game yourself. But from the looks it seems to be like FarCry, where you always had multiple ways around/on the island to get to the objective, but when coming too far off, you couldn't continue - Some rocks, a cliff or some wall of a bunker.

For now I am waiting for first in-game footage of [Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising] - I have a feeling, it will offer what OpF had, just big time and currently, this is what I am waiting for. (Besides the first promising title in years "Ground Branch".)

Btw. What engine is CoD4 using ?

[Soroc]

Crytek screwed up FarCry by releasing the SDK about a *year* after the game came out. That pretty much killed any real mod possibilities on CryEngine1. They have learned their lesson.

I'm not sure I agree entirely. Sure, the late release of the SDK was a mistake (and they have been very clever in getting the SDK out even before release this time) but I suspect it had more to do with the game itself running out of steam rather quickly. I guess that is why there is a mission editor included at release.

Respectfully

krise madsen

I wouldn't disagree with you. But mods would have had a better shot if they could have produced something before the crowd drifted off. So our points are quite similar. To really have a successful mod, you need a large audience for the base game...because not all of those players will like your mod. You will only get a percentage...and your percentage is a larger number of people if the potential audience is larger.

If you're only going to get 10%, wouldnt you rather it be 10% of 100,000 rather than 10% of 1,000 ?

[krise madsen]

I wouldn't disagree with you. But mods would have had a better shot if they could have produced something before the crowd drifted off. So our points are quite similar. To really have a successful mod, you need a large audience for the base game...because not all of those players will like your mod. You will only get a percentage...and your percentage is a larger number of people if the potential audience is larger.

If you're only going to get 10%, wouldnt you rather it be 10% of 100,000 rather than 10% of 1,000 ?

Whoa go easy with the math there buddy, it's still early morning for me!

Seriously though, I agree with you on that. The earlier modders can get to work the better for everyone. I just think that the stock game needs a certain amount of lasting attraction if mods are to stand a chance.

Respectfully

krise madsen

Edited October 11, 2007 by krise madsen

[Sup]

Really, getting good looking content in a game like Crysis is difficult. Environment mapping, masks for that, good spec maps, working with their skinshader, diffuse/normal maps... Very few modders have knowledge of how to do all that, honestly. By the time you've learned that much, if you're serious about game art, you're usually on your way to the game industry.

OE2 has some awesome talent (stefan is an amazing env artist) but I dunno how good their whole team is. It's really hard to recruit a lot of pro artists for a mod and keep them working, and with an engine like cryengine 2, you need a lot of hours on art.

Honestly, I really think you're going to see a lot of maps made with crysis's sandbox editor, and very few real mods. I could be wrong, but most of the artistic talent I know is really big on ue3, and ut3 is going to steal a lot of the mod community's artists from a more nicheish game like crysis.

[krise madsen]

Really, getting good looking content in a game like Crysis is difficult. Environment mapping, masks for that, good spec maps, working with their skinshader, diffuse/normal maps... Very few modders have knowledge of how to do all that, honestly. By the time you've learned that much, if you're serious about game art, you're usually on your way to the game industry.

OE2 has some awesome talent (stefan is an amazing env artist) but I dunno how good their whole team is. It's really hard to recruit a lot of pro artists for a mod and keep them working, and with an engine like cryengine 2, you need a lot of hours on art.

Honestly, I really think you're going to see a lot of maps made with crysis's sandbox editor, and very few real mods. I could be wrong, but most of the artistic talent I know is really big on ue3, and ut3 is going to steal a lot of the mod community's artists from a more nicheish game like crysis.

True that. I recently played the "Nations @ War" for BF2. Overall an interesting mod, but even though the models were pretty good, they didn't match those of the original game, and that did dectract from the whole game experience.

On the other hand, I simply refuse to believe that a Crysis mod can only be good if the graphics levels match those of CryTek. Furthermore, barring technical issues, maybe the modding community as a whole should look more into sharing models across mods and even games.

Respectfully

krise madsen

[Sup]

On the other hand, I simply refuse to believe that a Crysis mod can only be good if the graphics levels match those of CryTek. Furthermore, barring technical issues, maybe the modding community as a whole should look more into sharing models across mods and even games.

Looking good or not, it's getting to a level of technical complexity, with all of the different pieces needed, that even finishing an asset is going to be difficult for most of the modding community.

[Soroc]

OE2 has some awesome talent (stefan is an amazing env artist) but I dunno how good their whole team is.

Right, you don't. I appreciate that you admit that rather than just ragging on the team.

[Lightspeed]

at this stage, I would say Soroc and Suli would just about know the code forwards, backwards, upside down and inside out.

if something can be done with the code - those two can do it.

and if Prozac is still working on the weapons then we know that they'll be of the highest standard.

not to mention PCP who did great things with models creation - seemingly with ease and in about 5 minutes.

dont know the other guys - but if they're all sharing ideas and techniques then if OE was a great (if little used mod) then OE2 can only be a brilliant and hopefully widely used mod.

finger crossed for the team that Crysis gives them a great crowd to start.

Edited October 24, 2007 by SCE_Lightspeed

[Sup]

OE2 has some awesome talent (stefan is an amazing env artist) but I dunno how good their whole team is.

Right, you don't. I appreciate that you admit that rather than just ragging on the team.

I didn't mean it as an offense at all. I assume if there are 20 professional level aristist interested in modding crysis, you guys have them. Just, the reasonable guess to make is that there's not enough talent in the Crysis community to staff an entire team with pro level quality. Which is, naturally, something mod teams have been struggling through for ages. I'm not doubting that you guys are working hard, or a talented bunch. But large scale mods are, as I'm sure you know, quite a challenge to make. Videogame development is hard enough when you have hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend on it.

If OE2 turns out as good as you hope it'll be, it's more a testament to how hard the entire team worked than anything else. The fact is, making a mod that ambitious is incredibly difficult on any engine, and Cryengine 2 is using techniques that very few people in the mod community know how to work with.

Anyway, Stefan's urban stuff in your summer update still looks brilliant, and it looks like you're making some good progress on the lowpoly weapons.

Honestly, if you guys didn't hate me, i'd probably be willing to do a few textures for you just to help out. Dunno, though, I'm not seeing any highpoly weapon models -- are you guys not gonna use normal maps, or try to Crazybump or PS filter that stuff in?

[Soroc]

Dunno, though, I'm not seeing any highpoly weapon models -- are you guys not gonna use normal maps, or try to Crazybump or PS filter that stuff in?

Weapons modeling, texturing, and rigging has taken a back seat to learning all of the new stuff in the engine. From a weapons and rigging standpoint, there doesn't seem to be much difference from the FarCry standard mechanics. On the other hand, the whole coding model is diferent, the entire way to approach modeling for frames per second impact has changed from poly oriented to materials oriented, etc. So we have had our hands full learning all the new ropes.