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Yep,We've seen them come, we've seen them go, from quake 1 to quake 2 and onto the latest quake 3 engine. I remember the days when most games had their own engines and most of the time that paid off, but todays games don't seem to be able to pull off quite the same job in quality gameplay or a good engine that can produce great graphics. The main suffering party is the first person shooters genre, we've seen great use of games ranging from the great Half Life to recent favourite Medal of Honor: Allied Assult, but are developers frightened of producing a good engine that other developers could use for future titles or are they worrying too much about how people will like the engine and what it is capable of?
By far the Quake 3 engine has been the most successful and the most used by many developers, because it suits their needs, it is capable of richly detailed envirnoments and it can be used for 1st and 3rd person shooters, it has many features such as some great lightening effects, breakable glass and it is capable of huge environments when the engine is put too good use, so what makes the quake 3 engine a cut above the others then?
Well it seems to be the ease of use, and it can do what most developers want it to do for first person shooters. We've seen some great games make use of the quake 3 engine and here a just a few that made it what it is today :
Jedi Knight 2, an amazing game that was the first to make use of breaking glass using the quake 3 engine, and can render massive environments over many levels, the game also allows 1st person and 3rd person viewpoints, also taking advantage of the Quake 3: Team Arena engine, a classic game and a must have for any hardcore starwars fan.
Medal of Honor: Allied Assult
Superb use of the quake 3 engine, great cutscenes, amazing textures and sizeable detailed maps, great atmostphere, yet more great use of a great engine!
But what else makes a good engine? well i also think that modding plays a massive part, without modding there would be no extra maps to download and play with your mates, no new character skins, basically the online community needs mods otherwise we won't really see multiplayer games taken to any great levels and people simply won't want to play same old levels time after time, its also a good learning tool by using map editors and skin creaters so people can make use of the engines features too.
Another consideration is the spec of the pc or console that has to be taken into mind, you can't expect it to run smoothly on every pc , you must aim it at the mid range spec at least so that more people can play the game, and console developers must take into account the certain limitations that certain consoles have.
Lets not forget AI, this plays a huge part in games today, and we as gamers we dont't expect bog standard AI from todays games, we want indiviual, challenging AI that makes the game fun to play, not just clowns that stand there taking around 10 rounds and still managing to run around unharmed, it sometimes still happends, but i'm sure as time goes on developers will remove this and make AI as real as it can be, games like HALO,MGS2 and Medal of honor are just some examples of how AI has moved on during time and showing off their engines capabilities.
We've seen some failures of first person shooters though, games like Westwoods Command and Conquer : Renegade, that just had a pretty poor engine for what it was trying to re-create and i can't see anyone else wanting to use their engine for future development unless the code is changed dramatically.
Do engines really make poor games though? well yes and no, some games do have good engines its just that the developers doesn't make as good use of them as perhaps you would wish for and throw out any old rubbish to the public, but with the right guys and the right knowledge some games can make even older engines look stunning, Half life is one example, it was released a few years back but its still going strong today with new mods being used all of the time for it, that was using what people thought to be an ageing Quake 2 engine, but look how wrong people were, the AI was stunning (and still is even by todays standards!) and the graphics were superb for its time, it was so good it even got a console port, so yeah we have poor engines, but i think when they are used correctly we can get some top class games out of them!
In the next year or so we will see the likes of Unreal 2, and the eagerly anticipated Quake 4 released, we already know that for at least the Unreal 2 engine, that a few games are already using the engine, Rainbow 6 : Raven shield for example looks excellent and another hit, we will see better graphics and hopefully big gameplay leaps from these two engines, we are bound to see some stunners which make use from these two in the next few years, but from where i'm stand, the engines are far from cooling down!
Spike
By far the Quake 3 engine has been the most successful and the most used by many developers, because it suits their needs, it is capable of richly detailed envirnoments and it can be used for 1st and 3rd person shooters, it has many features such as some great lightening effects, breakable glass and it is capable of huge environments when the engine is put too good use, so what makes the quake 3 engine a cut above the others then?
Well it seems to be the ease of use, and it can do what most developers want it to do for first person shooters. We've seen some great games make use of the quake 3 engine and here a just a few that made it what it is today :
Jedi Knight 2, an amazing game that was the first to make use of breaking glass using the quake 3 engine, and can render massive environments over many levels, the game also allows 1st person and 3rd person viewpoints, also taking advantage of the Quake 3: Team Arena engine, a classic game and a must have for any hardcore starwars fan.
Medal of Honor: Allied Assult
Superb use of the quake 3 engine, great cutscenes, amazing textures and sizeable detailed maps, great atmostphere, yet more great use of a great engine!
But what else makes a good engine? well i also think that modding plays a massive part, without modding there would be no extra maps to download and play with your mates, no new character skins, basically the online community needs mods otherwise we won't really see multiplayer games taken to any great levels and people simply won't want to play same old levels time after time, its also a good learning tool by using map editors and skin creaters so people can make use of the engines features too.
Another consideration is the spec of the pc or console that has to be taken into mind, you can't expect it to run smoothly on every pc , you must aim it at the mid range spec at least so that more people can play the game, and console developers must take into account the certain limitations that certain consoles have.
Lets not forget AI, this plays a huge part in games today, and we as gamers we dont't expect bog standard AI from todays games, we want indiviual, challenging AI that makes the game fun to play, not just clowns that stand there taking around 10 rounds and still managing to run around unharmed, it sometimes still happends, but i'm sure as time goes on developers will remove this and make AI as real as it can be, games like HALO,MGS2 and Medal of honor are just some examples of how AI has moved on during time and showing off their engines capabilities.
We've seen some failures of first person shooters though, games like Westwoods Command and Conquer : Renegade, that just had a pretty poor engine for what it was trying to re-create and i can't see anyone else wanting to use their engine for future development unless the code is changed dramatically.
Do engines really make poor games though? well yes and no, some games do have good engines its just that the developers doesn't make as good use of them as perhaps you would wish for and throw out any old rubbish to the public, but with the right guys and the right knowledge some games can make even older engines look stunning, Half life is one example, it was released a few years back but its still going strong today with new mods being used all of the time for it, that was using what people thought to be an ageing Quake 2 engine, but look how wrong people were, the AI was stunning (and still is even by todays standards!) and the graphics were superb for its time, it was so good it even got a console port, so yeah we have poor engines, but i think when they are used correctly we can get some top class games out of them!
In the next year or so we will see the likes of Unreal 2, and the eagerly anticipated Quake 4 released, we already know that for at least the Unreal 2 engine, that a few games are already using the engine, Rainbow 6 : Raven shield for example looks excellent and another hit, we will see better graphics and hopefully big gameplay leaps from these two engines, we are bound to see some stunners which make use from these two in the next few years, but from where i'm stand, the engines are far from cooling down!
Spike
Engine trouble? I'd put a 15 inch dong in it.
Using the same engine over and over again has some benefits for both parties. The developers do not have to re-haul the system completely and can just work at tweaking the gameplay and the gtraphics to their liking. WHile the gamers are used to the engine and are likely to get into the game more easily. But as with Smackdown, the engine was hardly tweaked for the 2 sequels and ultimately it has a number of flaws and a sense of repetitiveness creeps in.
The Quake 3 engine is a lot different. EA have managed to use the engine for a number of games and to an untrained eye the engines of games like Medal of Honor and Quake 3 would seem completely different. This is due to the superb design appointed to the game by the designers. Also the same engine allows EA to transfer certain features from one game to another. If Quake 4 gets a brand new feature-expect the other games to follow soon with similar features. I have both Quake 3 and MOH:AA and I find them completekly different games-the engine has been implementted brilliantly to the teams' liking so they are hardly any "samey" pieces of scenery etc.
But engines not as advanced as the Q3 one may struggle to update themselves often enough to keep the gamer's attention for long. Tomb Raider was a phenomenon for about 2-3 instalments before becoming just another game. Developers need to move on now and again and present us with fresh new ideas
The Quake 3 engine is a lot different. EA have managed to use the engine for a number of games and to an untrained eye the engines of games like Medal of Honor and Quake 3 would seem completely different. This is due to the superb design appointed to the game by the designers. Also the same engine allows EA to transfer certain features from one game to another. If Quake 4 gets a brand new feature-expect the other games to follow soon with similar features. I have both Quake 3 and MOH:AA and I find them completekly different games-the engine has been implementted brilliantly to the teams' liking so they are hardly any "samey" pieces of scenery etc.
But engines not as advanced as the Q3 one may struggle to update themselves often enough to keep the gamer's attention for long. Tomb Raider was a phenomenon for about 2-3 instalments before becoming just another game. Developers need to move on now and again and present us with fresh new ideas
good post, with the release of the next generation graphics cards like the geforce 4, it sound as if the new engines will even put all the best consoles graphics to shame.
good post and watch out halo.
good post and watch out halo.
Maybe the developers shouldnt make us hype the game up so much and make us expect the best of thier abilities then.
I personally love new engines and would like to see a great engine made for a wrestling game. Being a fan of wrestling and wrestling game that is. The best ive come up against is that of legends of wrestling.
The developers need to make the engine true to what THEY want to achieve for US.
If they want to make a REALISTIC game then we should expect an engine that provides realistic things etc etc etc.
Anyway, no probs.
I agree with everything you say.
A good post well deservent of GAD.
:)
I personally love new engines and would like to see a great engine made for a wrestling game. Being a fan of wrestling and wrestling game that is. The best ive come up against is that of legends of wrestling.
The developers need to make the engine true to what THEY want to achieve for US.
If they want to make a REALISTIC game then we should expect an engine that provides realistic things etc etc etc.
Anyway, no probs.
I agree with everything you say.
A good post well deservent of GAD.
:)
thanks for the reply, yeah i totally agree with you about smackdown, i was very disappointed when i got the game as i think i expected a little more in terms of the engine, but engines do have their limits unfortunately and maybe developers should stop trying to overuse them so much? it does give a sense of false hope sometimes and it does let people down, hopefully we will see less of this though :)
A good post.
The thing i dont like about new games and developers is the fact that they sometimes use the same old engine for the next installment to the series.
A good example of what i meen is the Smackdown series engine.
The makers (yukes) have used the engine since the original game but have just tweaked it slightly.
That is the only thing i dont like about engines and how developers use them.
I just wish the games developers could make a brand new engine for each game UNLESS we the fans LIKE that last one used and therefore just stick with that one and tweak it a little to make it better.
I agree with what you say though so good post.
:)
The thing i dont like about new games and developers is the fact that they sometimes use the same old engine for the next installment to the series.
A good example of what i meen is the Smackdown series engine.
The makers (yukes) have used the engine since the original game but have just tweaked it slightly.
That is the only thing i dont like about engines and how developers use them.
I just wish the games developers could make a brand new engine for each game UNLESS we the fans LIKE that last one used and therefore just stick with that one and tweak it a little to make it better.
I agree with what you say though so good post.
:)
Yep,We've seen them come, we've seen them go, from quake 1 to quake 2 and onto the latest quake 3 engine. I remember the days when most games had their own engines and most of the time that paid off, but todays games don't seem to be able to pull off quite the same job in quality gameplay or a good engine that can produce great graphics. The main suffering party is the first person shooters genre, we've seen great use of games ranging from the great Half Life to recent favourite Medal of Honor: Allied Assult, but are developers frightened of producing a good engine that other developers could use for future titles or are they worrying too much about how people will like the engine and what it is capable of?
By far the Quake 3 engine has been the most successful and the most used by many developers, because it suits their needs, it is capable of richly detailed envirnoments and it can be used for 1st and 3rd person shooters, it has many features such as some great lightening effects, breakable glass and it is capable of huge environments when the engine is put too good use, so what makes the quake 3 engine a cut above the others then?
Well it seems to be the ease of use, and it can do what most developers want it to do for first person shooters. We've seen some great games make use of the quake 3 engine and here a just a few that made it what it is today :
Jedi Knight 2, an amazing game that was the first to make use of breaking glass using the quake 3 engine, and can render massive environments over many levels, the game also allows 1st person and 3rd person viewpoints, also taking advantage of the Quake 3: Team Arena engine, a classic game and a must have for any hardcore starwars fan.
Medal of Honor: Allied Assult
Superb use of the quake 3 engine, great cutscenes, amazing textures and sizeable detailed maps, great atmostphere, yet more great use of a great engine!
But what else makes a good engine? well i also think that modding plays a massive part, without modding there would be no extra maps to download and play with your mates, no new character skins, basically the online community needs mods otherwise we won't really see multiplayer games taken to any great levels and people simply won't want to play same old levels time after time, its also a good learning tool by using map editors and skin creaters so people can make use of the engines features too.
Another consideration is the spec of the pc or console that has to be taken into mind, you can't expect it to run smoothly on every pc , you must aim it at the mid range spec at least so that more people can play the game, and console developers must take into account the certain limitations that certain consoles have.
Lets not forget AI, this plays a huge part in games today, and we as gamers we dont't expect bog standard AI from todays games, we want indiviual, challenging AI that makes the game fun to play, not just clowns that stand there taking around 10 rounds and still managing to run around unharmed, it sometimes still happends, but i'm sure as time goes on developers will remove this and make AI as real as it can be, games like HALO,MGS2 and Medal of honor are just some examples of how AI has moved on during time and showing off their engines capabilities.
We've seen some failures of first person shooters though, games like Westwoods Command and Conquer : Renegade, that just had a pretty poor engine for what it was trying to re-create and i can't see anyone else wanting to use their engine for future development unless the code is changed dramatically.
Do engines really make poor games though? well yes and no, some games do have good engines its just that the developers doesn't make as good use of them as perhaps you would wish for and throw out any old rubbish to the public, but with the right guys and the right knowledge some games can make even older engines look stunning, Half life is one example, it was released a few years back but its still going strong today with new mods being used all of the time for it, that was using what people thought to be an ageing Quake 2 engine, but look how wrong people were, the AI was stunning (and still is even by todays standards!) and the graphics were superb for its time, it was so good it even got a console port, so yeah we have poor engines, but i think when they are used correctly we can get some top class games out of them!
In the next year or so we will see the likes of Unreal 2, and the eagerly anticipated Quake 4 released, we already know that for at least the Unreal 2 engine, that a few games are already using the engine, Rainbow 6 : Raven shield for example looks excellent and another hit, we will see better graphics and hopefully big gameplay leaps from these two engines, we are bound to see some stunners which make use from these two in the next few years, but from where i'm stand, the engines are far from cooling down!
Spike
By far the Quake 3 engine has been the most successful and the most used by many developers, because it suits their needs, it is capable of richly detailed envirnoments and it can be used for 1st and 3rd person shooters, it has many features such as some great lightening effects, breakable glass and it is capable of huge environments when the engine is put too good use, so what makes the quake 3 engine a cut above the others then?
Well it seems to be the ease of use, and it can do what most developers want it to do for first person shooters. We've seen some great games make use of the quake 3 engine and here a just a few that made it what it is today :
Jedi Knight 2, an amazing game that was the first to make use of breaking glass using the quake 3 engine, and can render massive environments over many levels, the game also allows 1st person and 3rd person viewpoints, also taking advantage of the Quake 3: Team Arena engine, a classic game and a must have for any hardcore starwars fan.
Medal of Honor: Allied Assult
Superb use of the quake 3 engine, great cutscenes, amazing textures and sizeable detailed maps, great atmostphere, yet more great use of a great engine!
But what else makes a good engine? well i also think that modding plays a massive part, without modding there would be no extra maps to download and play with your mates, no new character skins, basically the online community needs mods otherwise we won't really see multiplayer games taken to any great levels and people simply won't want to play same old levels time after time, its also a good learning tool by using map editors and skin creaters so people can make use of the engines features too.
Another consideration is the spec of the pc or console that has to be taken into mind, you can't expect it to run smoothly on every pc , you must aim it at the mid range spec at least so that more people can play the game, and console developers must take into account the certain limitations that certain consoles have.
Lets not forget AI, this plays a huge part in games today, and we as gamers we dont't expect bog standard AI from todays games, we want indiviual, challenging AI that makes the game fun to play, not just clowns that stand there taking around 10 rounds and still managing to run around unharmed, it sometimes still happends, but i'm sure as time goes on developers will remove this and make AI as real as it can be, games like HALO,MGS2 and Medal of honor are just some examples of how AI has moved on during time and showing off their engines capabilities.
We've seen some failures of first person shooters though, games like Westwoods Command and Conquer : Renegade, that just had a pretty poor engine for what it was trying to re-create and i can't see anyone else wanting to use their engine for future development unless the code is changed dramatically.
Do engines really make poor games though? well yes and no, some games do have good engines its just that the developers doesn't make as good use of them as perhaps you would wish for and throw out any old rubbish to the public, but with the right guys and the right knowledge some games can make even older engines look stunning, Half life is one example, it was released a few years back but its still going strong today with new mods being used all of the time for it, that was using what people thought to be an ageing Quake 2 engine, but look how wrong people were, the AI was stunning (and still is even by todays standards!) and the graphics were superb for its time, it was so good it even got a console port, so yeah we have poor engines, but i think when they are used correctly we can get some top class games out of them!
In the next year or so we will see the likes of Unreal 2, and the eagerly anticipated Quake 4 released, we already know that for at least the Unreal 2 engine, that a few games are already using the engine, Rainbow 6 : Raven shield for example looks excellent and another hit, we will see better graphics and hopefully big gameplay leaps from these two engines, we are bound to see some stunners which make use from these two in the next few years, but from where i'm stand, the engines are far from cooling down!
Spike