Will Bethesda get a new Game Engine?

[postal001]

It's not just about money and time. There aren't a whole lot of programmers that can program a 3d engine that bethesda requires for their games.

[Boombro]

It's not just about money and time. There aren't a whole lot of programmers that can program a 3d engine that bethesda requires for their games.

How much of team does this kind of project needs?

20-50 people?

[neonie]

It's not just about money and time. There aren't a whole lot of programmers that can program a 3d engine that bethesda requires for their games.

 

How do you know exactly how many programmers there are with a very specific kind of degree and whether or not they would be looking for jobs when Bethseda went to hire people for this task? Are you omnipotent?

[Vagrant0]

For those that missed it, in the article, they mentioned that the ENTIRE dev staff for Fallout 4 wasn't more than maybe 120 people. Most of them, from what it looks like from the assets, being artists.

 

As for what it takes to make an engine from scratch for a AAA game... There is a reason why a large number of companies use Source, Unity, Unreal or Crytek engines and then just modify them. Making a new engine on this kind of scale is a very time consuming and expensive. Bethesda already has an engine they've been working on. The Creation Engine. this is their engine that they have full capability to re-write and alter as needed. Unlike with something like Unity or Unreal, they have full access to base classes since they own the engine.

 

The engine itself has some limitations, but they've also been steadily moving past many of those limitations with each major revision. Starting with a different engine might solve for some of those limitations, sure, but brings with it other ones. There are no perfect game engines. There are engines which are better suited for one game type instead of others, but for a game like FO4 or Skyrim, or whatever might come next, there really isn't any engine out there that handles the core systems better.

[Boombro]

At lest when TES 10 comes, it will be perfect!

[postal001]

 

It's not just about money and time. There aren't a whole lot of programmers that can program a 3d engine that bethesda requires for their games.

 

How do you know exactly how many programmers there are with a very specific kind of degree and whether or not they would be looking for jobs when Bethseda went to hire people for this task? Are you omnipotent?

 

 

I make my living writing software, but I'm not even going to attempt to answer your snarky question.

Edited November 23, 2015 by postal001

[charwo]

Bethesda should take note from Angry Joe, especially how he spoke of Skyrim versus Fallout 4

 

 

Got to 30:15 and listen from there to about 31:30. His review is a lot fairer than what I would have given this game but then again I'd have given Fallout 3 vanilla a 3/10.

[DeadlyAzuril]

Don't fix what isn't broken.

The thing is - it is kind of broken, the problems that stem from the gamebryo engine are the same problems that stem from putting a fresh coat of paint on a hundred year old house. the foundations arent getting any better - and we will see continued issued stem because they are at the core of the engine. issues like physics locked to the FPS for instance, there are just far better - much more efficient ways of programming ai, physics and graphics - not to mention taking advantage of multithread (something youll find in the ini but very poorly implemented), sli/crossfire configs, the list goes on.

 

Ive wagered since skyrim they will be making this move anyway, to make a truly next-gen game with TES VI, as it is undoubtedly their flagship franchise.

 

"Don't fix what isn't broken." also doesnt wash here because we on pc, like it or not, are held back by what is capable on consoles - due to dev costs and the market dollar. Beth needs to make a more efficient engine, as gamebryo has been pushed to its limit on ps4 and xbone - and lets be honest doesnt run amazingly on top tier PCs either - compared to what we see in other engines.

 

So they are forced to make an engine that is more efficient, one that can do much more with less - and look better/provide a smoother game experience in the process.

 

Due to the current console gen, this is not something theyll do 'because they can' they will do it because the *have* to to keep up and continue to provide an evolution in their products. it is the right business move.

[DeadlyAzuril]

Unlike with something like Unity or Unreal, they have full access to base classes since they own the engine.

Unity and Unreal engine source is available to subscribers..

and read my last post as it touches on a lot of your points, no point copy pasting here. tldr: the limitations are the core of the engine, and sometimes its much faster / cleaner to start from scratch than change something that has had this many years of dev on it.

 

But Ill say it again, I firmly believe they have been making a new engine over the last four years if not longer anyway

[mrspongeworthy]

BiowEAre went with a new engine for DAI - an engine apparently completely inappropriate for RPGs. It didn't help them one bit, they are still floundering to figure out the magic formula that made DAO so perfect and DAII and DAI such huge disappointments (except for the fast-twitch action-gamers, who shouldn't have been looking at an RPG franchise in the first place...)

 

Personally, I hope Bethesda gets away from adding glitz, or new features (useless over tessellation or an unbelievably horrid shadowing engine - anyone? anyone?) and sticks to decent story-telling and the creation of compelling games. I really don't care what engine they use, as long as it works. (And, I would love it if they added some more memorable stories and characters to the TES line. Man, Skyrim was sure one boring yawn-fest for me. Not a single interesting character or story in the entire game as far as I'm concerned. I played FO4 for 15 minutes and can't put it down. I never felt remotely connected to anything in Skyrim.)