Splash Damage working on new Doom³ engine title

[Pseudonym_]

Splash Damage joins the likes of Raven, Human Head, Nerve, and possibly Gray Matter, in studios producing new games with Doom³ technology. A snippet from the Splash Damage website....

Splash Damage, London, recruiting High-Poly Modelers & Concept Artist for Doom 3 engine game
Splash Damage is a London-based independent game studio. We have completed work on Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. It has won several Game of the Year and Editor’s Choice awards and has been nominated for a BAFTA.

Splash Damage are also contributing to id Software’s Doom 3 multiplayer.

In a continuation of our successful collaboration with id Software and Activision we have started production of a new full game based on the cutting-edge Doom 3 engine.

We are looking for three highly-talented High-Poly 3D Modelers and one stunning Concept Artist to join us as full-time salaried staff with excellent benefits at our offices in London, England.

 

[Sprafa]

Well, I guess the Source is going out of supporters and the DOOM3 engine is getting them all.
Anyway, those guys only made RTCW:ET. They're not big yet (even considering the huge sucess of ET).

Well, anyway, Source is probably still more escalable and versatile than the DOOM3 engine. But you never know....

 

[Maxi]

I don't think ill like the doom3 engine games that much, sicne doom3 doesn't support any larger outdoor areas, wich i like.

 

[Sprafa]

I don't think ill like the doom3 engine games that much, sicne doom3 doesn't support any larger outdoor areas, wich i like.

We don't exactly know that, do we?

 

[Maxi]

Um yes we do... It was said in an interview or something...

 

[babywax]

We don't exactly know that, do we?

It was said in an interview I think...

 

[Sprafa]

Ohh... That just ruined DOOM3 engine for me.
I thought that afirmation was based on the gen set of the game.
Well, I'm gonna cry now....

 

[KiNG]

i think they might be useing hte d3 tech because they were using the q3 engine for ET and maybne its familiar or maybe they got a good deal on it of their 'continuation' of their 'successfull collaberation' .

 

[exNihilo]

the engine can handle large areas their just not putting them into the game because most people dont have computers that are powerful enough to run them. its like when quake 3 came out.originally it had only small areas and a limited number of players but now theres games that use the engine that have large enviroments and lots of players

 

[Sporky]

It's really a matter of what you do IN those large environments to be honest. The opening mars surface map according to Fredo Nillsen is about 10 times the size of the mpterra2 map from Clan Arena when you zoom fully out and a person walking on it is teeny weeny.

Obviously all that doesn't get displayed at once and there's only really one large lightsource (the sun). Which is the other reason D3 doesn't have large open areas. Because they're just not good for doing interesting things with the lighting and because they don't create a sense of fear and claustrophobia, which is rather what id are shooting for. That's the rationale I've heard.

Maps are big enough for vehicles at any rate because Splash damage had some working flying buggies in the DM portion of the game a while back although theres some doubt about whether that's right for the pacing.

 

[Arno]

It's not really a surprise that Splash Damage chooses to work with the Doom3 engine, considering they had business relationships with Id Software in the past.

Also consider that this new game will take at least three years to be developed. By the time of its release, the average consumer PC will be powerfull enough to render large terrain areas in the Doom3 engine.

 

[Pseudonym_]

The Doom³ is absolutely capable of large outdoor areas. :hmph:

According to Carmack, the only problem with outdoor areas in the current Doom*³ technology is that they havn't implimented the kind of ambient lighting and softshadows that would go into an outdoor area. It just hasn't been worked out in the engine yet, and it isn't a huge priority right now because there aren't a whole lot of outdoor areas for Doom³ anyway.

When another one of these studios starts modding the technology to suit their game, they will work out the outdoor lighting system, and Carmack already stated that thats one of the things he will be working on as an update to the technology after Doom³ is out.

i think they might be useing hte d3 tech because they were using the q3 engine for ET and maybne its familiar or maybe they got a good deal on it of their 'continuation' of their 'successfull collaberation' .

I think they are using it because they got a good taste of what it's capable of while they were messing around with it while working on Doom³ MP. They did a lot on the side to play with the enigne, stuff that they knew wouldn't ge into the MP that they were working on, such as making buggies and flying vehicles. It seems more likely to me that they were impressed by it and decided to continue their relationship with id software in making a new game based on the technology.

 

[Norlan]

The Doom³ is absolutely capable of large outdoor areas. :hmph:

According to Carmack, the only problem with outdoor areas in the current Doom*³ technology is that they havn't implimented the kind of ambient lighting and softshadows that would go into an outdoor area. It just hasn't been worked out in the engine yet, and it isn't a huge priority right now because there aren't a whole lot of outdoor areas for Doom³ anyway.

When another one of these studios starts modding the technology to suit their game, they will work out the outdoor lighting system, and Carmack already stated that thats one of the things he will be working on as an update to the technology after Doom³ is out.



I think they are using it because they got a good taste of what it's capable of while they were messing around with it while working on Doom³ MP. They did a lot on the side to play with the enigne, stuff that they knew wouldn't ge into the MP that they were working on, such as making buggies and flying vehicles. It seems more likely to me that they were impressed by it and decided to continue their relationship with id software in making a new game based on the technology.

Despite the fact that D3 engine is still having some technical issues dealing with outdoor areas, it is still very much capable of large outdoor areas. The most basic reason outdoor areas won't be seen much in D3 is that outdoor areas won't fit into the game much since it will be played on the planet Mars, where you won't be able to walk out on the surface of there much due to lack of oxygen. Plus outdoor area battles won't be as tight as indoor scarinesses, supposedly.

 

[Styloid]

The should call it Doom Tournament 2005.

 

[DimitriPopov]

Doom3 fans always seem to have alot of information about why the engine will be able to do something later

 

[mrchimp]

I'm not much of a Doom3 fan but I can tell you now the engine will be able to do outdoor maps when Doom3 is released. I'm sure ID have said the engine supports static lightmaps which is what you would use on a huge outdoor scene and I'm sure it supports some kind of terrian mesh with variable LOD so there's no reason why it couldn't do it. There are a couple of screenshots of outdoor scenes and they look like they are on a fairly big scale although it's hard to tell.

However I would choose source over the Doom3 engine for a game which makes heavy use of outdoor scenes or any use of outdoor scenes for that matter. Infact I would choose source engine over the Doom3 engine regardless of what I was doing.

 

[MultiVaC]

Yeah, but of course, those screenshots are outdoor of Mars. No trees, water, foliage or all of that detail. Sure Doom 3 could do outdoor environments, but Source and X-Ray are far better in that respect.

 

[Hudson]

the DoomIII engine isnt MADE for outdoor environments, just like cars arent made for use in outerspace.

 

[Pseudonym_]

the DoomIII engine isnt MADE for outdoor environments, just like cars arent made for use in outerspace.

You people are becoming increasingly unreasonable.

The Doom³ engine was made to render whatever the hell the mappers stick in their maps with the most advanced methods that are possible for games running under modern hardware. The Doom³ engine doesn't have a seizure if foliage is stuck in the map, or sprawling terrain. It will handle these things fine. It renders polygons and textures, it doesn't care if those polygons belong to a zombie, terrain, trees, bushes, or pretty flowers. It will render them all the same. There aren't many huge outdoor areas in Doom³ because thats not where the design is going. There will be some areas like that, but your time spent there will be limited due to your low supply of oxygen.

http://planetdoom.com/images/screenshots/official/14l.jpg
http://planetdoom.com/images/screenshots/official/18l.jpg
http://planetdoom.com/images/screenshots/e32003/9.jpg
http://planetdoom.com/images/screenshots/e32003/44.jpg


D³ engine has no problems with huge open areas. The lighting model has some work to be done before it can render outdoor shadows more realistically, but large outdoor areas are not a problem.