EPIC Unreal Engine 4 / Unity 5 / CryTek CryEngine 3 / Square Enix Luminous Studio

[Dexter]

They seem to both be putting a lot of emphasis on particle effects, physics, improved lighting and post processing.
In the case of Unreal Engine 4 they specifically mention how they improved their Post Processing Tools and SqueeNix seems to be using some Middleware called YEBIS2 to that effect: http://www.siliconstudio.co.jp/middleware/yebis/jp/
There's also much improved workflow so they can crunch out those levels and iterate quicker.

 

[kingcomrade]

my computer just shat its pants in terror

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

I don't see anything in that UE4 demo that UE3 couldn't do.

The SE demo was very kewl however, even though Next-Gen consoles won't be able to run that in acceptable framerates.

 

[Ermm]

my computer just shat its pants in terror

 

[sea]

Funny how they "improve workflow" to put out levels quicker, yet the huge increase in expected detail, number of art assets and so on means levels are going to take exponentially longer and more people to build and polish anyway.

 

[Ermm]

Didn't SE started to develop an graphical cool engine that would reduce development costs around 40%?

 

[Dexter]

Funny how they "improve workflow" to put out levels quicker, yet the huge increase in expected detail, number of art assets and so on means levels are going to take exponentially longer and more people to build and polish anyway.

Nobody actually forces them to.
I heard Minecraft sold pretty good: http://www.joystiq.com/2012/05/25/minecraft-sells-6-million-on-pc-around-9-million-across-all-p/
I'd still like to have the possibility for both to exist at the same time and not be forced into "corridor shooter X" by 256MB dedicated graphics RAM of retarded 9 year old consoles...
Often they're creating high poly/detail assets and textures anyway and have to "optimize" them down to what works for about as much time as it would take to create some more stuff instead.

By the way, for the people doubting that the "Square Enix" one is RealTime, there's an extended Demo with additional stuff here, he's saying that the Demo is running on an "High End PC" one could get from "any electronics store": http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2012-agnis-philosophy/731978

 

[Gerrard]

Surprisingly in before Skyway.

I won't be surprised if UE4 will once again be the most widely used engine.

 

[Achilles]

I really don't care about the technological arms race any more. That Star Wars game looked beautiful but what about the gameplay? Scripted cover-shooting nonsense. Can we expect new gameplay experiences with these new engines? If so, great! If we're going to get the same type of gameplay but with overused particles instead of overused bloom, then I don't care at all.

 

[Dexter]

CryTek has also shown off their CryEngine 3, with their Live Editor, Lighting and Tesselation features on DirectX 11:


Even more stuff regarding the CryEngine 3 Development Tools, first about Reflections and AI (Pathing) inside Levels:

The second is about water and physics:

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Cryengine looks laughable in comparison

I don't see anything in that UE4 demo that UE3 couldn't do.

Yes you did, the particle system and renderer is a generational leap.

 

[MetalCraze]

Square Enix saying that their pre-rendered CGI runs in real time? Deja vu.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

I also remember SE showing that FF7 "realtime" demo when the PS3 was announced. Yep.

Cryengine looks laughable in comparison

Just wait once the first real UE4 games show up on these consoles, they're just gonna look as laughable.

But since Crytek chose to go F2P for it's future, it doesn't really matter anymore.

 

[thesoup]

What's so laughable about Cryengine? It's still, along with Source, the only engine that doesn't look like everything in it is made out of clay.

SE real time demo? AHAHAHAHA
Nice try.

 

[JarlFrank]

What's so laughable about Cryengine? It's still, along with Source, the only engine that doesn't look like everything in it is made out of clay.

This.

UE3 and UE4 both try to make everything look AWESOME but in the end they always have an unnatural feel to them, and everything ends up looking too flashy just for the sake of showing off.

Cryengine and the good old Source engine still look miles better because instead of trying for EPIC EFFECTS, they're trying to be more realistic and more sober. They manage to look better and more easy on the eyes than the flashy shit of UE.

 

[MetalCraze]

Are you sure? Because Crysis 2 introduced the retarded retina-burning high-contrast SHITTON OF LENSFLARES MOTHERFUCKER look now present in piece of shit coming out on Frostbyte2 (MoHW, NFSR, BF3)

 

[Humanity has risen!]

I'm skeptical that it's going to reduce development time like Epic claims. Bottom line is, the games are going to have to be a lot more detailed.

Square is still working on FFXIII Versus, has it has been for 5-6 years. Imagine when they're going to try to make a whole game look like their demo above. It is pure madness.

 

[felipepepe]

I also remember SE showing that FF7 "realtime" demo when the PS3 was announced. Yep.

Just look at the video again, it isn't much far from what they achieved with FF-XIII, especially if you consider it's a tech demo vs a actual game...

Spoiler

Sure, many years later, but they delivered...

 

[JarlFrank]

Are you sure? Because Crysis 2 introduced the retarded retina-burning high-contrast SHITTON OF LENSFLARES MOTHERFUCKER look now present in piece of shit coming out on Frostbyte2 (MoHW, NFSR, BF3)

Didn't play Crysis 2, only Far Cry and Crysis.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

That's all nice and dandy, but it's still fucking Final Fantasy. I'm not gay, so I won't play it, no matter how nice it will look.

And that statement about shortened dev cycles? Like we haven't heard that many times before. No matter how efficient you make the tools and art pipeline, the artists are always gonna push the engine to the limit, always putting as much useless pretty shit into the level as possible, thus prolonging the dev cycle. Unless they're really forced to rush some shit out every 18 months, but then you end up with something bland and repetitve looking like Mass Effect 3.

There will be overall less Triple-A games for the next generation. The first ones might just look like High End PC games, a couple of years down when they fully understood the API and shaders and shit, the actual costs are really starting to go up. It's all interlinked. You want something to look better? Then you also need better animations, more physic rigs, better behaviour etc. in order not to break the illusion of a realistic world. It will be inevitable that this will extend development time and cost....and yet, the end result will just be "another bland and shit game" thanks to academically educated game designers (game design schools lol) who never bothered or learned to think outside the box.

Also about Epic Games and UE4. Whatever they come out with first, it will set an example for the industry. It was the same with Gears of War. When you license UE3, you're sort of stuck with the same mechanics, unless you put much time into changing it. Obsidian obviously didn't bother changing Alpha Protocol from cover-shooter mechanism. Why? Too much effort probably (Or maybe they were just too stupid). Many (most) other UE3 games use the same cover-sticky popamole mechanism. Not only that, they also saw the sheeple loves those Gears clones so they just kept them making.

What's not to say the same will happen again with the first Epic Games' released UE4 game?

It's all very sad. I hope there will be a ressurection of medium-sized games one day. And it can only happen on PC (and maybe Wii U).

 

[coaster]

Instead of overused bloom every game will now feature overused particle effects with fire and snow confetti flying everywhere.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Instead of overused bloom every game will now feature overused particle effects with fire and snow confetti flying everywhere.

Just wait once they figure out how to apply bloom effect on all those particles!

 

[Vicissitudes]

YES! can have now even MOER SPARKLES !!!!!
It's not like a good story ever sold anything in this world, amirite?

 

[Dexter]

Square Enix saying that their pre-rendered CGI runs in real time? Deja vu.

SE real time demo? AHAHAHAHA
Nice try.

Again, it is fucking Real Time xD

Watch after 3:30

 

[Dexter]

It's all interlinked. You want something to look better? Then you also need better animations, more physic rigs, better behaviour etc. in order not to break the illusion of a realistic world. It will be inevitable that this will extend development time and cost....and yet, the end result will just be "another bland and shit game" thanks to academically educated game designers (game design schools lol) who never bothered or learned to think outside the box.

Good thing they're working on making Middleware and APIs to make it easier on all of that e.g.:
Animations (ANT): http://bf3blog.com/tag/ant/
Vegetation and plants (SpeedTree): http://www.speedtree.com/
Post Processing (YEBIS2, mentioned in the first post): http://www.siliconstudio.co.jp/middleware/yebis/jp/
UI (Scaleform): http://gameware.autodesk.com/scaleform
AI (look at the second CryEngine 3 video about AI above)
There's even stuff for face caption (L.A. Noire, newest Quantic Dream game etc.) or lip-sync (I think Valve already did that with Source)
etc.
There's always technical solutions for problems.
And again, scaling back shit for 7-10 year old hardware with 256MB dedicated graphics RAM and making it work above 30FPS also costs money and manpower, a lot actually.

I'm not sure "cause stuff gets more expensive/complicated" is a proper reason for technological stagnation, now already going for almost ~7+ years with some hardware parts/specs in the consoles being on the level of 10 years ago.
Developers have a brain and can decide in which way they want to make a game, what amount or graphical detail, what engine, if it's 2D/Retro, 3D or whatever and they should use it instead.
Some of them being retarded and deciding to only make "AAA flashy game" because they want to be moar like War of Gears or Call of Doody and then going bankrupt isn't exactly a reason to halt technology forever...

Small/Mid budget Indie games as well as "AAA productions" can both coexist as the likes of Minecraft prove and we're still getting Wasteland 2, Double Fine Adventure and Shadowrun Returns.

 

[thesoup]

Square Enix saying that their pre-rendered CGI runs in real time? Deja vu.

SE real time demo? AHAHAHAHA
Nice try.

Again, it is fucking Real Time xD

Watch after 3:30

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiFvCeXmr4M

Still looks like a movie editor rather than a a game editor.