henke on 7/11/2001 at 18:41
<a href="http://www.avault.com/news/displaynews.asp?story=1172001-95148">Adrenaline Vault Article</a>
Maybe this means we'll be seeing some car-driving in DX2. <img src="graemlins/thumb.gif" border="0" alt="[Thumbs Up!]" />
So, any speculations? Will the physics be as good as Hitman's? Has anyone seen this Havok thing in action?
Homoludens on 8/11/2001 at 02:13
Oh, good! I was going to post this as a new thread, but if you don't mind, henke, I'll tag it onto yours:
<a href="http://www.havok.com/" target="_blank">Havok</a> announces a deal with Eidos to include its physics engine technology in two upcoming Ion Storm games.<br /> <br />Ireland-based software developer Havok has announced a deal with Eidos Interactive's Ion Storm Austin game studio to include its proprietary physics engine in the upcoming Deus Ex 2 and Thief 3. The physics engine is designed to support interactivity with all the objects in a given scene, giving players a greater level of freedom within the game. The physics engine will be used in conjunction with a modified version of the Unreal engine in both upcoming games. <br />"Games like Deus Ex and Thief are all about player experimentation in a deeply simulated world, so a detailed physics simulation is absolutely critical if we're going to achieve our gameplay goals," said Ion Storm's Warren Spector. "Havok is a powerful, off-the-shelf, multiplatform tool that really meets our needs. You don't often hear developers oohing and aahing, but even the dev team members were blown away when they first ran through a map after we got the Havok code running."
-- <a href="http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2823438,00.html" target="_blank">Gamespot article</a>
Some demos showing off the engine physics can be downloaded from their site.
henke on 8/11/2001 at 12:53
OMFG! That's defenitely nicer than Hitman's physics. And we'll be seeing these physics in quite a few upcoming games. Kewl.
rhalibus on 9/11/2001 at 00:42
What's interesting is that I read an article in which the Unreal engine was going to use the MathEngine as a physics module, not the one from Havok (These seem to be the two main competing physics SDKs). What happened? <img src="smile.gif" border="0">
I've looked at both sites (havok.com, mathengine.com) and played with their demos. They're both cool, although the one from MathEngine in which you have a room full of objects that you can knock around
really takes the cake (really, check it out and be amazed)...If Eidos can pull off the interface (something DreamWork's Trespasser totally screwed up) then I think we're all in for a treat!
liquiddark on 9/11/2001 at 15:03
Quote:
Originally posted by rhalibus:<br /><strong>What's interesting is that I read an article in which the Unreal engine was going to use the MathEngine as a physics module, not the one from Havok (These seem to be the two main competing physics SDKs). What happened? <img src="smile.gif" border="0"> <br /></strong><hr></blockquote>
Since the team will have access to the core .libs, they can switch out the code reasonably quickly. I'm wondering if they have a programmer who's unfamiliar with MathEngine's framework system but familiar with whatever system Havok uses. Cheaper to pop for the extra licence than to re-hire or retrain(?) I find this unlikely, however, since the licence is in the tens of thousands per platform.
There are also things that Havok does better, primarily non-rigid bodies. It's supposed all the way the bomb there, and the MathEngine kit isn't really friendly just yet (or wasn't the last time I saw it, anyway). Unless Jeff Lander or some other fly-ass physics guy is doing their physics (in which case learning a slightly different interface probably wouldn't be a problem).
Perhaps they simply entered into negotiations while waiting for ME and Epic to figure it out and clued up just after or just as the other deal was announced. That would be some serious miscommunication, but I could see it happening.
Quote:
<strong><br />I've looked at both sites (havok.com, mathengine.com) and played with their demos. They're both cool, although the one from MathEngine in which you have a room full of objects that you can knock around
really takes the cake (really, check it out and be amazed)...If Eidos can pull off the interface (something DreamWork's Trespasser totally screwed up) then I think we're all in for a treat!</strong><hr></blockquote>
That is a truly fine demo. Fun to see what precisely makes it slow down - looks like explosion + anchor point (the join between the lamps and the beams) is slow for ME; don't know why that would be the case, though.
ld
henke on 16/11/2001 at 21:37
Alrighty, I've d/l'd & played most of the demos quite a bit now and I gotta say my fave is ragdoll.
Just kicking that guys ass up to the roof and then having him crash into the furniture is just, hilarious.
Ofcourse, Actordemo is kewl too. Especialy turning of gravity and having the shoe fly around the room like a space-ship('Heart Of Gold', anyone?).
The cloth look wounderful too. Garrets cape will look totaly awsome with this. Reason enough to have a 3pv in T3.
