Taken from www.planetdeusex.com/dx2/
The Technology of Deus Ex 2
On June 20th, 2001, Eidos and ION announced that Deus Ex 2 would be
developed using the next-generation Unreal Engine technology. This engine,
in development by Epic Games (creators of Unreal and Unreal Tournament), is
constantly evolving as the programmers at Epic add functionality. At the
time of this writing it contains code from many different sources, including
HumanHead's RUNE, Unreal Tournament for the PC and the PS2, Unreal Warfare,
and Unreal 2.
A fair bit of information has been released, and while none of it is
directly tied to Deus Ex 2 it demonstrates how powerful the technology is.
By taking a look at some of the features, we can at the very least get a
feel for the kind of things that the Deus Ex 2 team MIGHT put into the game.
Additionally, be sure to take a look at the images Epic has on the Unreal
Engine News site. While these are not images from Deus Ex 2, they still show
the potential for killer graphics.
a.. Increased World Size to +/- 131072 for each of X, Y and Z.
b.. Static meshes can be converted back into a brush
c.. Static mesh vertices are raytraced at build time. Hardware lighting
used for dynamic lights
d.. static meshes can have per-polygon collision
e.. Hardware brushes - allows scenes of 150-200 times more polygons than
what users saw in Unreal Tournament at excellent levels of performance using
hardware T&L
f.. Terrain, including detail textures and 16-bit resolution heightmaps
g.. Skeletal animation, including tools and even skeletons including 85
bones just in the face, specifically for facial animation.
h.. import textured geometry from 3D Studio Max saved in the ASE format
i.. Distance fog
j.. Specular Highlights
k.. complex objects can now appear many times in a level, but only appear
once in memory
l.. Volumes, which allow for true moving water, arbitrarily shaped
triggers, and localized physics.
m.. new particle system with dynamic influences and collision (you can now
shoot a projectile through smoke and have the smoke smoothly and
realistically dissipate)
n.. texture sizes of 2048x2048
o.. a new cinematic tool, entitled Matinee
p.. autoaiming code with new features like a 180 degree turn button and
turn to nearest enemy button for novice users (taken from the PS2 version of
Unreal Tournament)
q.. DX8 manages texture memory
r.. improved contrast, allowing end users to set brightness, contrast and
gamma within the runtime
s.. improved tools for AI pathing and additional AI improvements
including: ladder support, true crouching, improved AI sight & hearing,
increased AI performance, improved navigation
t.. restructured game/actor class hierarchy
u.. Multiple editor enhancements including: new texture alignment tools
(cylindrical and spherical mapping options, w00), 2D shaper enhancements,
the ability to use your mouse to raise and lower the height of selected
terrain areas, and a polygon mode that allows brushes to be created by
defining a shape and then performing an extrusion on it
And now, some DX2 specifics.
AI
The Artificial Intelligence for the game is being strengthened greatly by AI
Programmer Paul Tozour, who is working with other AI-experienced Ion people,
like Doug Church to put together an overarching AI system that works for DX2
and Thief 3. Missing portions like noticing dead bodies, and search patterns
(as opposed to automatically knowing where the player is) have been added.
At the root of this is an alert level system similar to Thief's, but with
more distinction between evidences. Couple this with over 30,000 AI "barks"
(lines of dialogue), and you have an extremely convincing illusion of
intelligence.
Various other enhancements are planned, such as "social contexts" (different
reactions in a crowded public lobby and in a restricted area), and a morale
setting (kill 19 of 20 guys, and the last one will probably not stand up to
you.)
Eyecandy
"DX2 will feature a much higher poly count for architecture and models than
players saw in the first Deus Ex game. Plus, the models are fully boned and
are being animated with a skeletal IK system, allowing for more animations
and higher quality (motion captured) animations. The effects are really
satisfying and reach into many areas of the game, improving it in both
high-impact and subtle ways. For instance, we always wanted characters to
have facial expressions, but could not afford it until now; we believe this
feature alone will seriously improve the quality of the game's conversations
and character interactions." (comment by Harvey Smith in Deus Ex 2 Update)
Weather FX have been mentioned as well, although nothing is known.
Physics
Havok's real-time physics engine has been licensed by ION, allowing an
extremely high level of interactivity with objects. Every different type of
object will be assigned a mass (and even a heat level for infrared sensors),
and bodies are "rag-dolled" upon death, so corpses will flip-flop all over
the place, tumble squidlike down stairs or fall and hang limply over
railings--interactivity possibilities unending. Virtually any object can be
used as a weapon or a distraction, with the intent of allowing the player to
find his/her own solution to a given problem.
Lighting and Sound
A custom in-house lighting engine is also being developed by ISA. This
lighting lends itself to various types of stealth gameplay (spotting a guard
around a corner by his shadow, for example). Coupled with the physics
engine, even more opportunities are available: knock over a few barrels near
a lightsource, and you have yourself a nice shadowy place to hide. "No
single shadow in our world is static," says Harvey Smith.
Just make sure the noise of the falling barrels doesn't alert the guards: a
custom sound propogation engine is being developed as well, similar to
Thief's. This sound engine will allow for more realistic sound propogation,
such as muffling the sound of your actions when you shut a door.
-----
Deus Ex 2: Project Update 11/13/01
Deus Ex 2--Project Update Intro
DX2 is now well underway. We've been quiet for a while, but now we'd like to
provide you with a project status update and we'd like to make a statement
or two regarding the nature of the game and the development team.
Project Status
We've been working on parts of the DX2 design doc--an html site on our local
network--since the end of DX1. It links to a bunch of diverse sections on
aspects of the game ranging from unit ecology, interface, fiction, concept
art, et al. Meanwhile, every discipline on the team is grinding away. We
have some really interesting game units planned...including plot-relevant
characters, military troops from the various factions from our high-tech
future, an array of bot classes and a selection of synthetically-engineered
creatures. We want to provide the player with some intriguing new gameplay
tools, as well as some that will be familiar to DX1 players. On top of that,
of course, we're trying to continue the story set up by the extrapolated
conspiracy-theory future of the first game.
Until recently, the materials we've produced (maps, artwork and engine
features) were either still in developmental stages or they were working
fairly well alone and had not yet been completely integrated. We've been
running around in the maps, experimenting with different interface
configurations. Just today, we met an integration milestone, pulling a bunch
of these elements together for the first time. Having finally crept out of
the dark ages of early concept work, project setup, design planning and team
building, we're nearing an end-of-year critical milestone in which all of
our core tech is in place in (at least) a rudimentary stage. Next year
should be all about implementing our plans for specific game areas and
situations: building out missions, writing more dialogue, tuning weapons and
tools, establishing enemy behaviors and such.
The Game
Deus Ex is a hybrid RPG/Adventure/Action game that allows the player to
solve all problems in multiple ways. DX2 will adhere to these same ideals,
with some significant enhancements based on our much stronger understanding
of what made the first game work.
From an RPG character standpoint, we've planned more character-building
choices (the player-character can be optionally male or female), we've
unified some of the game systems and added some interesting player-character
capabilities. We feel like we now have a much clearer idea about which
aspects of DX1 were important to players, what worked well and what didn't.
The game environment itself in DX2 is something that has us completely
excited. Our plans include a higher-fidelity world, with weather, greater
object density, more capable (and clearer) unit behaviors and a deeper
physics/object-interaction simulation.
Fictionally speaking, DX2 is set on Earth in a post-DX1 future. We're
updating some of the familiar organizations and characters, while adding
some completely new 'players' as well.
While DX2 will be the same type of game as the original Deus Ex (an
immersive sim), this time around we have some significant technological
advantages. Our studio is working on both Thief 3 and DX2. While those
projects are different in setting, vibe, gameplay focus and in other ways,
they also have a lot in common. So we're attempting to co-author as much
technology as possible. Both projects will (at least in part) share
technologies and resources related to AI, lighting, sound propagation,
editing tools, motion capture, physics and others. In all of these areas,
both teams are also tweaking things for the different needs of each
game--that way Thief 3 and DX2 will ultimately each have a unique feel.
DX2 will feature a much higher poly count for architecture and models than
players saw in the first Deus Ex game. Plus, the models are fully boned and
are being animated with a skeletal IK system, allowing for more
...
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