id Debuts New Engine At WWDC

[Andy Chalk]

id Debuts New Engine At WWDC

id Software [http://www.idsoftware.com/] has publicly debuted its newest engine technology at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

In a first for id, the new engine will not be named after the game it was built for. Instead, it is called simply "id Tech 5."

Introducing the technology, John Carmack said, "So the last couple of years at id we've been working in secrecy on next-gen tech and a game for it ... this is the first time we're showing anything we've done on it publicly."

"What we've got here is the entire world with unique textures, 20GB of textures covering this track. They can go in and look at the world and, say, change the color of the mountaintop, or carve their name into the rock. They can change as much as they want on surfaces with no impact on the game," he added.

According to the id website, the new technology allows for nearly unlimited visual fidelity. In combination with a new suite of design tools, id Tech 5 will allow the creation of games with vast yet unique outdoor landscapes, while will having indoor environments with unprecedented detail.

"We're going to be showing on a Mac, PC, PS3 and Xbox at E3; we'll have another Mac announcement at E3," he added.

Screenshots from id's new engine, as well as more WWDC information, is available at Engadget [http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/11/steve-jobs-live-from-wwdc-2007/].


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[Russ Pitts]

It should be interesting to see what this does for the next-gen landscape (and how much they charge for it). id's engines are legendary. We'll be meeting with them at E3 this year, so I'll definitely report back what we see.

 

[Junaid Alam]

Maybe you can ask them if anyone plans to actually make a decent game out of their engine this time around - id included.*

*Okay, Prey was passable, but Doom 3 and Quake 4 were embarassingly behind the curve. ("Hey, can I maybe, like, do so much as LEAN left or right in this super-ultra-pixel-shaded futuristic plasma-rifle-rife spaceship zone?)

 

[Andy Chalk]

id games are id games. I've never understood why people are so critical of their games. Both Doom 3 and Quake 4 were decent if unremarkable shooters, and it's not as if id has ever made any bones about who they are and what they do: when you buy one of their games, you know what you're getting. (And if you don't, you really haven't been paying attention.) id's significance to the industry comes from their contributions to the technology, not the games themselves. They build engines, other people do great things with them, and thus is has ever been.

Which leads me to a point I made, perhaps somewhat clumsily, on Warcry back when Painkiller landed: being a renowned developer of FPS engines is very possibly a fast track to irrelevance. Impressive engines are great, but as Junaid pointed out and I think most people will agree, technology does not a good game make. Companies like id (probably most especially id) face a two-pronged challenge: first, engines that are a year or two behind the curve can be licensed a hell of a lot cheaper and still be used to make a brilliant game, and second, the ability to develop a great engine is no longer the exclusive purview of a handful of people at companies like id and Valve. Croteam, Crytek, People Can Fly, GSC and Monolith have all demonstrated that in-house development is a very viable option these days, and doesn't necessarily make a sub-standard result inevitable. id is still very much among the best of the best, but how much does that really mean anymore?

All that said, however, meeting id at E3 = dammit me so jealous