TESO game engine with different genres?

Elsonso

I never really answered this when I responded back in June, so hopefully I can squeak this in before the lock it.

Fallout and Elder Scrolls are very similar games and my thinking is that any engine that runs one could be adapted to run the other.

The engine does have some limitations that restrict the genre that it can be applied to. They would have to do a lot of work if they have to implement an under water system, which I think would also be necessary if they wanted to implement any sort of Sci-Fi space game that involved being outside in zero gravity.

I am not concerned about "zones" as there really is nothing wrong with zones, aside from the transition between them. It solves a number of problems, not only with how the game runs, but how the game is developed. I am not convinced that the zone implementation is necessarily a "limitation" of the game engine any more than it is just a choice, and possibly one that they eventually want to get rid of as the game engine matures.

The current engine seems like it has a number of "trust issues" that need to be addressed before they run off and make a new game. Maybe ZOS does not feel these are a problem, but I think that the next generation of ZOS engine should definitely address this.

I think that the current engine will have no problems implementing modern and science fiction weapons, including guns. The engine already seems to have this capability, but the issue is to what degree do they need to implement it. I don't know if the current engine supports the idea of targeting specific body parts. Zoom capability when targeting (scopes) are not something I have seen in the current game. I do not think it supports dismemberment. These are important for Fallout.

The current engine does not seem to really support the idea of vehicles, which has been faked in most Fallout games but is up front and obvious in Fallout 4.

The current engine does not support sandbox play, like the Fallout 4 settlements, but I am not sure if that is really necessary in Fallout Online. This is a relatively new feature, and could be left behind. That said, it would present an interesting bit of game play between different players to have something like it. Costly to get to scale in an MMO, but not impossible.

Fallout presents a number of issues that are more challenging, not due to the game engine, but due to the way the game has been done. The V.A.T.S. feature of stopping, or slowing down, time is pretty much completely contrary to the idea of a real time MMO. Any assisted targeting system would have to run in real time, but I really don't see why the current game engine would be prevented from doing that.

Fallout also tends to be about the actions of a single individual and how this changes the wasteland. The franchise does this to an extreme that Elder Scrolls does not, often ending the game once these actions are complete. To retain that feel, they would have to severely limit the number of other players that are around, and the whole recap of the protagonist's life would have to be different, and not end the game.

Aside from that, I think the ESO game engine would be able to handle open world PVP so that different factions of players can fight each other. It would have no problems with crafting equipment or opening locks. I don't see a Fallout 4 style power armor to be a problem.

Like everything, I think that the ESO engine is a work in progress, and I am sure that they are thinking about, if not actively working on, a Version 2. Whether ESO ever gets to see it and benefit from all it offers depends on what they end up doing. Any new MMO they work on will, most certainly, be on a newer game engine than ESO, though.

Darethran

Zones are indeed a limitation of the engine. They're exactly like instances, but scaled up; a virtual server runs it's own instance of a dungeon, whereas a proper kit of hardware (I hope, otherwise Zenimax has totally skimped out on the game) is dedicated to a specific zone.

This is a way of easily chucking a part of the game world's processing onto another core, rather than programming a properly parallel server package. Take a look at how EQEmu handles it; each game zone gets it's own process, which means each zone runs on it's own core.

Which is fine, if we're talking about something akin to Monster Hunter. But for an open world game with hundreds, if not thousands of players online at any given moment? That's just terrible penny-pinching due to upper management trying to maximize profits. Why bother hiring programmers for longer, when you can pay less and have the same ol' same ol'?

Digerati

sadownik wrote: »

Bananko wrote: »

How well could the TESO game engine be applied for other genres (with the proper modifications for each individual genre, of course)?

What brought this question to mind for me was recently remembering the unfortunately cancelled (before it ever hit store shelves) MMO Lost Continents from around 2001-2002, to date the only MMO I'm aware of that was to be themed after the pulp adventure serials of the 1930's/1940's. In fact, the various articles about its development were where I first heard of the then-radical idea of what we now know as instancing.

The TESO game engine would seem to be a total natural if Lost Continents was to be made today. What do you all think, both for pulp adventure and for other genres as well?

Its a terrible engine - HERO engine really doesnt work well.

the zenimax team rewrote the netcode stack and renderer stack... renderer stack rewrite was probably a good idea as ESO looks pretty good.. But the netcode rewrite was done merely to obfuscate the fact that they are using HEROengine. they also implemented their own database engine which is probably responsible for the loadscreens


HEROengine actually works really well. SWTOR and ESO are not the best examples as those are heavily reworked versions of HEROengine.


Anyway, if you want to use the ESO engine for your project, or rather a better version with actual network security and big-boy network code... You can license HEROengine for very cheap.

Digerati

Kharnis wrote: »

sadownik wrote: »

Bananko wrote: »

How well could the TESO game engine be applied for other genres (with the proper modifications for each individual genre, of course)?

What brought this question to mind for me was recently remembering the unfortunately cancelled (before it ever hit store shelves) MMO Lost Continents from around 2001-2002, to date the only MMO I'm aware of that was to be themed after the pulp adventure serials of the 1930's/1940's. In fact, the various articles about its development were where I first heard of the then-radical idea of what we now know as instancing.

The TESO game engine would seem to be a total natural if Lost Continents was to be made today. What do you all think, both for pulp adventure and for other genres as well?

Its a terrible engine - HERO engine really doesnt work well.

You're quite correct. The Hero Engine is substandard. Good thing this game doesn't use Hero Engine.

A bunch of guys in the HE community actually proved that ESO uses HE...

If you think HE is a bad engine, you must not know a lot about game engines. It's great. doesn't lend itself supremely well to ESO...whether that's because of the custom renderer, the rewritten network stack, the database, or the HeroEngine framework itself (or the obfuscation that's been placed on it) is anyone's guess....

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

BlanketFort

GrumpyMuffin wrote: »

I've not read many of the books but a discworld mmo sounds fun

Yes, yes, and absolutely yes!

Cherryblossom

Bananko wrote: »

How well could the TESO game engine be applied for other genres (with the proper modifications for each individual genre, of course)?

What brought this question to mind for me was recently remembering the unfortunately cancelled (before it ever hit store shelves) MMO Lost Continents from around 2001-2002, to date the only MMO I'm aware of that was to be themed after the pulp adventure serials of the 1930's/1940's. In fact, the various articles about its development were where I first heard of the then-radical idea of what we now know as instancing.

The TESO game engine would seem to be a total natural if Lost Continents was to be made today. What do you all think, both for pulp adventure and for other genres as well?

Can't help but think why would you want to use this broken Game Engine..........

Knootewoot

They should remake ESO with the Frostbite engine though.