These days, in 3D computer games, the visuals of the game are not generally created a new for each game but use an engine, basically a library that developers have put together.

We take it for granted but it’s only 15 years since PCs were fast enough to support 3D games- now much of the work is done in hardware chips called GPU (Graphical Processing Units) but how these are used depends upon the development teams. Crytek had an instant hit with their game Far Cry, one of my favourites and for the next version of that they have developed CryEngine2.

This is a very impressive demo with real time detailed shadows, time of day lighting, gorgeous vegetation with soft shadows and long fields of view. Buildings can break and you can even shoot vegetation! Not to mention very impressive character animation including facial expressions.

The ultimate aim of course is true photo realism and each new engine pushes closer to that; this demo gives an idea of where the state of the art is in 2007.

Link

Popularity: 15% [?]