Multiplatform Crysis 2 brings 'a better game to everyone,' Crytek says
When Crytek announced that the third iteration of its ambitious CryEngine technology would appear on both PC and consoles, a portion of its hardcore fans became skeptical -- would the engine's progression be hampered by a dumbed-down ball-and-chain?
The company's R&D principal graphics engineer, Tiago Sousa, responds to that mindset in a new interview with Digital Foundry, saying that a multiplatform approach in developing Crysis 2 was beneficial to the company's central goal -- which is to make big-budget games, not just budget-hostile benchmarks. "The PC market just does not support that cost of development, but going multi-platform does," Sousa said. "If making a game that is bigger, better, more stable, performs better across a wider range of hardware, provides a continued visual benchmark for PC gaming, and more fun with a huge single-player and multiplayer offering is considered selling out, that seems like a really odd application of the phrase. The decision to go multi-platform has allowed us to bring a better game to everyone, which has been our goal all along."
That isn't to say Crytek opted for the easy route. The interview highlights Crytek's struggles with limited memory on consoles (just 512MB on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3), adjusting its workflow to eliminate the reliance on a single lead platform, and a lighting feature that didn't quite make the cut for every system. Oh, and you won't believe how much triangle culling there is. Just ... relentless slaughter of triangles, left and right.
