Na modifikaciji CE se ozbiljno radi tek od sredine ove godine, ako se ne varam. Za to je zasluzan Frankfurtski studio, gde sedi par ljudi koji su bili medju originalnim arhitektama Cry Engine-a. Osim ljudi koji su ostali u Cryteku, samo je jos jedan od tih bitnih programera zavrsio van CIG tj. sada radi za id software.
Svi dosadasnji mesecni izvestaji koji su stizali iz Ostina i Santa Monike su bili neozbiljni tj. nigde nisu pominjali neke ozbiljne inzenjerske poduhvate. O tome je samo pricao Roberts. Od kako su osnovali S42 Frankfurt poceli su da stizu i ovakvi izvestaji (isecak iz ovomesecnog ali i prethodnih meseci su izvestaji bili slicnog tipa):
During September, we started working on planetary rendering and procedural generation – combined with other key systems being worked on previously (Large World, camera relative rendering, Zone system etc.) all these systems will combine together to reach our long term goal of seamlessly transitioning from space to a planet FPS ground level.
We researched and implemented a prototype for (earth like) planet atmosphere rendering, and the results are very promising.
We did an Initial full pass on fixing all static code analysis warnings and errors in the code base. This revealed several critical bugs in game logical, buffer overruns, etc. Moving forward we plan to have such checks be part of the prerequisites in our continuous integration and code submission process. This will reassure that builds are stable for the dev team and limit any extensive downtime.
Strong push on entirely revamping our build system for code to allow much for faster compilation as well as being able to locally build for non-native platforms (e.g. easily build the Linux server on Windows). We also pushed hard on our trybuild system into which continuous static code analysis check will be folded in. This system will prevent latest code in depot to break – that is, not compile or link – due to the influx of concurrent code changes on a daily basis. Goal is to mature our development process so people can work as uninterrupted as possible which can be an honest challenge as the team size grows. Growth can mean more productivity, but you have to invest work in a good development foundation. Otherwise it just makes traffic jams.
We did cherry pick several improvements from the 3.8 SDK updates such as the Character Tool which simplifies character creation and animation setup. Along with this we integrated initial support for 8 weight skinning (more finely accentuated animations especially on faces) and character attachment merging (to significantly reduce draw calls during shadow rendering). We plan to revamp these features to further improve the character animation and rendering pipeline.
In the animation and physics module we finalized the low-level functionality for procedural hit reactions, normal ragdolls, driven ragdolls and blending in and out of ragdolls. We started to clean up the interfaces and the implementation in Mannequin so that the game-code gets full control over all physical features. The functionality from SDK3.8.1 to create secondary animations on characters (simulation of capes, skirts, hair, etc…) was integrated and fully activated in the latest build. All functions and interfaces related to “auxiliary physics” were completely removed from the animation module. During The end of the month we started to modify the management of the physical setup for articulated entities, so that each “loadout” can have a unique physical setup.
We also continued to work with the UK team on finalizing the core zone system for multicrew release.
Ovi ljudi rade refaktoring endzina, cupaju zastareli kod, vrse izmene na pajplajnu i prilagodjavaju ga novim API-jima (DirectX12 i Vulkan). Star Citizen ce biti jedna od prvih igara dizajnirana od nule tako da iskoristi sve prednosti novih API-ja, jer je u pitanju PC ekskluziva.
Large World tj. 64 bit koordinate su nesto na cemu se navodno radilo dve godine, zavrseno par meseci posto je Frankfurt krenuo sa radom. Zone system isto nije postojao pre nego sto je Frankfurt odradio posao. Sve krupne izmene Cry Engine-a vrse oni i da nije njih mislim da ne bi nista bilo od Multicrew i cele PU price.
CIG ima 270 zaposlenih, 130 se nalazi u Manchesteru. Oni su content creatori, iskusan tim koji je radio na Lego igrama. Nadogradnja Erinovog tima koji je uradio Privateer, StarLancer i nosio development FreeLancera. Mislim da u Nemackoj imaju oko 40 ljudi trenutno, primaju jos toliko. Sa druge strane tim u Ostinu, onaj originalni se osipa i mislim da ce na kraju samo raditi network support. Takodje se smanjuje tim u Santa Monici.
Da li Roberts bezi iz Amerike zbog tuzbi ili je skontao da mu ljudi koje ima u USA ne mogu napraviti igru, videcemo u narednih nekoliko meseci.
U svakom slucaju, on je mogao samo ukrasti pare. Da bi potrosio toliko para u tako kratkom vremenskom roku sa timom koji tek godinu dana broji vise od 150 ljudi, treba biti potpuni ludak kao sto je rekao jedan game producer iz Deep Silvera kada su ga pitali oko Chris Roberts - Derek Smart situacije. Ne mislim da je bas toliko lud.
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