Consoles Are a "Massive Barrier" for Crysis 3 Development

Encaen

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Consoles Are a "Massive Barrier" for Crysis 3 Development

Crysis 3 developer Crytek had to "rip the engine to pieces" to get it to work on the aging console hardware.

In a Q&A on Monday, Mike Read, producer of Crysis 3 talked at length about some of the development challenges facing the Crytek team. The frontrunner here was, as you may have guessed, the nearly eight-year-old console hardware which presents a "massive barrier" for the Crytek team. Their first foray into utilizing CryEngine 3 on consoles was Crysis 2, and the learning experience should allow them to push the boundaries of the current generation with Crysis 3.

When asked about the various changes noticeable in the Crysis 3 trailers, Read mentioned that "Crysis 3 has allowed us to make a lot of tweaks to the engine itself." After having to "rip the engine to pieces" to get it running on console hardware, Crytek has apparently been reassembling it piece by piece, making the requisite tweaks along the way.

Read also said that, while players may expect Crytek to build Crysis 3 from scratch, that the end result of this approach just wouldn't really "be Crysis" so they're opting to find some middle ground between the "openness" of Crysis and Crysis 2. Read expects that players will still experience "wow" moments, given the vast cityscape of the New York City setting of Crysis 3, adding that Alien weapons are coming back, as well as some updates to the perk system which should make the multiplayer easier for new players to pick up.

There is also the updated AI system, which was noted as being a "big challenge" in development, and took a huge amount of work. This dynamic AI is touted as something to watch, however, and when Crysis 3 comes out, you should be able to experience the dynamism for yourself by simply repeating a section of the game, and seeing how differently the computer-controlled characters can behave given a slightly-altered situation.

On the sometimes touchy subject of DLC, it is apparently being planned for continuing support of Crysis 3 after launch, but the details of any DLC, day one or otherwise, are currently unavailable.


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dragongit

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They could always hold back the development, and have it be a release game for the next gen. So not only is whatever console comes out first now has an early selling point, but those buying into it wanting a new launch game have an insentive, and they won't have to compromise the engine. It's not like EA is low on money and can't wait an extra year for it to come out.

But hey, what do I know about marketing, they will sell lots of copies for the consoles they have, and make loads of money weither or not the game was good, thats what EA cares about, screw the restrictions and limitations and small development windows, EA WANTS THEIR YACTH!
 

Al-Bundy-da-G

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I guess this means CRYSIS 3 will be delayed, possibly not even appear on consoles. And you says consoles don't help the industry. Crysis 2 was terrible.
 
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This isn't news. Console hardware is so ancient it's a barrier to everything being developed. Well, except for annual rehashes of military shooters using the same engine with tiny maps, shitty textures, constant loading screens, long load times and the rest. Ancient console hardware has held back and stunted games development for the last 3-4 years.
 

N3squ1ck

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Al-Bundy-da-G said:
I guess this means CRYSIS 3 will be delayed, possibly not even appear on consoles. And you says consoles don't help the industry. Crysis 2 was terrible.
Hey, at least it had pink jelly-fish aliens :(

OT: haha. Crytek, as usual
 

bafrali

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el_kabong said:
A good carpenter doesn't blame his tools.
Umm he isn't. Tools would be the cry engine. He is complaining about the house that he is supposed to work within.

OT: You wanted console money, you gotta work for it. Deal with it
 

Covarr

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May 29, 2009
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Encaen said:
The frontrunner here was, as you may have guessed, the nearly eight-year-old console hardware
The oldest of the generation, the XBOX 360, was released on November 22, 2005. Just two days shy of seven years old. I'm not sure it's fair to describe it as a "nearly eight-year-old", considering that in this industry a year can make a lot of difference.

P.S. Thanks
 

GoaThief

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Feb 2, 2012
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Encaen said:
In a Q&A on Monday, Mike Read, producer of Crysis 3 talked at length about some of the development challenges facing the Crytek team
Cry me a river.

Abandoning PC as the lead (or only) platform and switching to consoles... you only have yourselves to blame. Yes, you're right the hardware is holding you back but this is a given and you wanted to go for the money. Put up with it and be quiet, really. :p
 

GAunderrated

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GoaThief said:
Encaen said:
In a Q&A on Monday, Mike Read, producer of Crysis 3 talked at length about some of the development challenges facing the Crytek team
Cry me a river.

Abandoning PC as the lead (or only) platform and switching to consoles... you only have yourselves to blame. Yes, you're right the hardware is holding you back but this is a given and you wanted to go for the money. Put up with it and be quiet, really. :p
Pretty much agreeing with this guy. After you sellout you really shouldn't complain about your restrictions that you choose to endure to get the benjamins.
 

Waaghpowa

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GAunderrated said:
Pretty much agreeing with this guy. After you sellout you really shouldn't complain about your restrictions that you choose to endure to get the benjamins.
No shit right? Aside from the obvious piracy, what was their reason for even focusing on consoles in the first place?

Crysis, a PC exclusive, sold more copies than Crysis 2 did, despite being on 3 platforms. Maybe it's a sign. Really I don't think they have a place to complain, they were doing just fine before they made the switch.
 

Nihlus2

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bafrali said:
el_kabong said:
A good carpenter doesn't blame his tools.
Umm he isn't. Tools would be the cry engine. He is complaining about the house that he is supposed to work within.

OT: You wanted console money, you gotta work for it. Deal with it
Actually it is kinda the tools, as the consoles sets the limit for what you can do, the engine would be more the materials - still at the moment using the current consoles' tech is like using a worn butter knife to cut out that ancient wooden oak cabinet in fine detail. It is gonna be ruggy, uneven, and more effort put into "tricks" and "imitation" than actually using your fine craftsmanship to its fullest and make a real authentic thing that you could proudly say "I did the very finest of a work I have ever done", but rather "I did all I could... This will not get any better".
 

octafish

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More RAM= more open games and less loading. I can't wait for Xbox to be released with its 8gb of RAM, and I don't own any consoles and probably never will. My phone has more.RAM than a 360 or PS3.
 

Vuliev

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Nihlus2 said:
Actually it is kinda the tools, as the consoles sets the limit for what you can do, the engine would be more the materials - still at the moment using the current consoles' tech is like using a worn butter knife to cut out that ancient wooden oak cabinet in fine detail. It is gonna be ruggy, uneven, and more effort put into "tricks" and "imitation" than actually using your fine craftsmanship to its fullest and make a real authentic thing that you could proudly say "I did the very finest of a work I have ever done", but rather "I did all I could... This will not get any better".
...no, that's still backwards. They're trying to build a magnificent house (read: game), but they have to build it using black iron, hewn wood, and river reeds (read: console architecture), to which power tools (read: CryEngine 3) are not conducive at all. They have rebuilt their power tools to function at lower power just to build this house out of inferior materials.

It's not their tools, it's the material they're working with. Now, they put themselves in this situation, but it's definitely the (relatively) ancient technology of this console generation holding them back.
 

loa

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Why don't they release their high-end bells-n-whistles techdemo on a platform with actual processing power then?
 

bafrali

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Nihlus2 said:
bafrali said:
el_kabong said:
A good carpenter doesn't blame his tools.
Umm he isn't. Tools would be the cry engine. He is complaining about the house that he is supposed to work within.

OT: You wanted console money, you gotta work for it. Deal with it
Actually it is kinda the tools, as the consoles sets the limit for what you can do, the engine would be more the materials - still at the moment using the current consoles' tech is like using a worn butter knife to cut out that ancient wooden oak cabinet in fine detail. It is gonna be ruggy, uneven, and more effort put into "tricks" and "imitation" than actually using your fine craftsmanship to its fullest and make a real authentic thing that you could proudly say "I did the very finest of a work I have ever done", but rather "I did all I could... This will not get any better".
That s why I gave the house example for consoles. You can't make a beatiful terrace to a small cabin as it restricts your field of work. Cry engine is like tools because it can be used to build so many different products. You can use a game engine to make so many different games.

This is their problem anyway. They burned the ships when they went full console . I guess it is high time to say "CRY me a river".
 

Corran006

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Crytek has been dead for a while for me anyway. They slammed the PC platform and its users, then went running to consoles then now cry about the aging hardware? I hope these guys go under, they won't be getting any money from me.
 

RicoADF

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They make a high selling pc game, then they complain about piracy and go to console and make a sub-par sequal and now blame consoles. Sorry crytek, but there's no sympathy for pain that's self inflicted.
 

wrightguy0

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doesn't crysis make even medium range PCs weep tears of unholy blood as it's majesty is not meant to be played on anything but the most angelic top of the range builds?

a game company who makes their game too complex for most PCs to run and then bitches out the low man on the totem pole for not living up to their standards is kind of a dick company.