I was without internet during the MechWarrior Online developer chat this afternoon.. but, never fear! the fine folks over at IGP have already posted the transcript of the chat here!
Lots of good questions, from development timelines, net code discussions, optimization plans, and even why the CryEngine was picked:
<IGP_MIKE> Kyrie – Can you give us some background on the reasons for choosing CryEngine as opposed to others available? What in particular made it an attractive choice from a development point of view?
<[PGI]MattC>Â Kyrie – There were many factors that went into this decision, one big one was the artists/designers toolset. We’d worked with various engines in the past that didn’t facilitate them to the degree that CryEngine does, it was very compelling to have an extensive toolset ready for them from the get go, it needed some work the hardest being for the Mech pipelines but that would have been true of any engine. Graphically it was very appealing. Russ and Bryan were keen on really making a stamp on the Free to play space and making a truly AAA quality title, I agreed. I think it would have been criminal to make a MechWarrior title that didn’t utilize modern graphics.I think it’s safe to say that CryEngine has proved weakest from a networking standpoint and has required the most effort in this area. Also looking great means it is a demanding engine, which entails the optimization work discussed. Neither are challenges we can’t surmount though and increasingly we are shaping almost our own internal version of the engine that works great for our goals and purposes. Had we gone with other tech I doubt we’d be really in any different place than we are now. We’d likely have just found other areas stronger and other areas weaker. This type of game pushes every aspect of the tech.
What I think is most exciting is the fact we’re only really just getting to grips with it, the designers and artists are starting to generate content faster and faster and to better quality levels. Same goes for the coders, so I’m really excited for what the future holds as we now start to use this as a base and reach further and further.
Be sure to head on over and read the whole transcript… Â Thanks to the MWO team for doing this!