Game News Sacred 2 to use some cool physics SDK

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Sacred 2

It looks like <a href="http://www.ascaron.com/">Ascaron</a> is licensing some <a href="http://www.ageia.com/">wacky physics thing</a> for the sequel to <a href="http://www.ascaron.com/gb/gb_sacred/">Sacred</a>. Anyway, here's the press release:
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<blockquote>MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Sept. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- AGEIA(TM) Technologies, Inc., the pioneer in hardware-accelerated physics for games, today announced that German game developer ASCARON Entertainment GmbH will support the AGEIA PhysX(TM) processor in the sequel to its World Wide hit Sacred(TM) as well as future game titles. Based on a license agreement with AGEIA, ASCARON will use the AGEIA PhysX SDK to incorporate extensive real-time physics into its games, which players can experience with exceptional depth on PCs equipped with the AGEIA PhysX processor.
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Sacred is a deep fantasy RPG where players are immersed in an epic journey through the medieval-like kingdom of Ancaria. Highly action-oriented, Sacred features pitched battles and a wide range of enticing quests. This makes it ideal for the hyper-realism delivered by the AGEIA PhysX processor, which will be available on PC add-in boards in late 2005. Sacred II is currently under development and will be published worldwide.
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"The AGEIA PhysX SDK is a powerful and cost-effective tool for incorporating dynamic physics action into our games," said Kay Struve, technical director at ASCARON Entertainment. "With the upcoming release of the AGEIA PhysX processor, the game experience will become much richer and more interactive for all types of game titles."
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"Sacred has been a phenomenally successful game, and ASCARON is taking all the right steps to extend the brand into the future world markets," said Kathy Schoback, vice president of content acquisition at AGEIA. "We're confident that ASCARON's support for the AGEIA PhysX processor will provide them with a competitive edge that will drive that success in upcoming titles."</blockquote>
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I liked the first game a lot, but I never once thought <i>Hey, this would be a cool place for some really accurate physics!</i>
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.bluesnews.com">Blue's News</A>

 

[Sol Invictus]

Do you actually need to buy one of these PhysX things to get it to work with S2?

 

[wizard]

Do you actually need to buy one of these PhysX things to get it to work with S2?

Yes. Hopefully they will also include a software based physics in the game like Havok so that we won't need to buy that useless PhysX

 

[Dhruin]

Aegia has always had their own software physics middleware and recently bought Meqon physics (being used in Div Div 2), so I would think software support would be included.

 

[Sol Invictus]

I think this was what Broussard was going on about when PhysX merged with the physics engine he was using in DNF. The game would have to be delayed again if they forced the use of some shitty peripheral.

 

[triCritical]

I have yet to figure out why a 3rd person isometric CRPG needs real world physics. As if the CRPG combat / magic and rogue systems actually support it. Quite unbelievable. I am of the opinion that physics would contradict a CRPG rule system, and only bring headaches to the designers.

 

[Sol Invictus]

They're probably only using it for the visual effects. I'm therefore curious as to why they didn't simply license the Havok engine. Chances are, they're probably getting a very good deal on the license, if AGEIA wants to use Sacred 2 as a flagship title for their little engine.

 

[Astromarine]

my bet is they're using it purely so they can put out this press release.

 

[Psilon]

Novodex (the Ageia SDK) does not require hardware support in order to run. It automatically falls back to software mode. This may change in the future, obviously.

It's a pretty straightforward API, actually, though they aren't huge on source compatibility. The new version (2.2) broke everyone's trimesh-loading code by requiring an extra cooking step.

 

[Twinfalls]

Funny. When serious 3D physics first entered gaming, nobody wanted it and it was lampooned (Trespasser). Now it's a must-have, even for the genre it's most ill-suited to (RPGs).

 

[Chefe]

Hmm... interesting. I, too, am intrigued by the letter "X" at the end of their product.


Physics is just a neat feature. If you give the AOEIII demo a try, you can see just how cool it looks in an isometric view. (well, in that game, physics does have a gameplay effect since troops can be crushed by falling debris)

 

[Elwro]

Sacred is a deep fantasy RPG (...)

I've seen high fantasy and dark fantasy, but deep fantasy? :shock:

 

[Sarvis]

Sacred is a deep fantasy RPG (...)

I've seen high fantasy and dark fantasy, but deep fantasy? :shock:

Ask Ron Jeremy for details...



Nice to see the Codex bitching again because yet another company is trying to do something new. Bad innovation, bad!

 

[Psilon]

Something new? Didn't Oblivion already hype its built-in physics engine?

 

[Chefe]

Hyping physics isn't knew.

But it's usually done with Havok... so are you saying we should cheer because a company is using a different physics engine?

 

[Sarvis]

Sorry, I must have been confused by all the posts saying there was no place for physics in an isometric CRPG.

 

[Naked_Lunch]

There's really not. I mean, RPGs are based upon stats, right? (Don't go off on a tirade about, just fucking stick with me, okay?) Stats cover pretty much everything, from how much you can carry, to the accuracy of an arrow, everything. Where's the place for physics? How realistic the tree blows in the wind?

 

[Araanor]

I've seen high fantasy and dark fantasy, but deep fantasy? :shock:

High elves, dark elves -- deep elves!

 

[Sarvis]

There's really not. I mean, RPGs are based upon stats, right? (Don't go off on a tirade about, just fucking stick with me, okay?) Stats cover pretty much everything, from how much you can carry, to the accuracy of an arrow, everything. Where's the place for physics? How realistic the tree blows in the wind?

How about picking the correct path for a boulder bouncing down a ravine, then letting high strength characters push boulders into ravines?

I think used properly a physics engine could open up a lot of options for players.

Of course since it's me saying that you'll probably all jump down my throat arguing how stupid it is to want to roll boulders into your enemies...

 

[Naked_Lunch]

It's a good idea, but why not just preprogram so that your high-strength character can just push it into the ravine? Why the need for physics?

 

[Sarvis]

It's a good idea, but why not just preprogram so that your high-strength character can just push it into the ravine? Why the need for physics?

Because then you have to do it special every single time you want it to happen. If you have physics, you can just put a rock down near a ravine and it's done. No programming, no special scripting... it's just done.

I also thought, after I posted, of large battles where catapults could be used with realistic physics to have them bounce off (or crush) castle walls and such. The debris falling into the mob below causing injuries to the soldiers, the wall collapsing inwards with defenders tumbling down in the rubble.

Could be pretty impressive.

 

[Naked_Lunch]

Hmm, it'll probably be a few years or so before we reach the point where that's realistically attainable in a game. It would be fucking awesome, though.

 

[Sarvis]

Hmm, it'll probably be a few years or so before we reach the point where that's realistically attainable in a game. It would be fucking awesome, though.

That depends on how well this physics SDK and physics card work out. If they're good, they should be able to do that stuff now.

Then again, we might have to wait for the NVidia Ultra P50000001 physics/graphics card... heh.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Well, i think it'll be interesting to see how it plays out in this game! It may prove to be fun, who knows. Either way, I'm looking forward to it.

 

[Avé]

There's so much wrong with that press release.

#1 Sacred was hardly a world wide hit.

#2 It isnt a deep fantasy RPG(It's not even an RPG since you dont actually make any decisions, and there's barely a story)

#3 The quests are really really shit in Sacred 1/Underworld