Why they shouldn't have a new engine just yet

[GhostofAnakin]

But, one thing is for certain; the Odyssey Engine (the current engine for K1 & k2), is already looking rather dated by today's uber quality standards.  Hence, the best thing for the K3 team would be to licence an existing engine, no? 

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No.

[jaguars4ever]

No.

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[GhostofAnakin]

No.

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Darque? Is that you?

[jaguars4ever]

No.

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Darque? Is that you?

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Darque has been unofficially..."detained".

[Darth Ni]

"What ain't broke don't need fixing"

 

Yea yea yea but the engine is old. I still think its a good engine but many other people don't including gaming sites such as gamespot, ign, xbn (which is comprised of retards but people still read it...). If this is the case, many people won't buy the game so it won't be profitable so they probably will have to create a new engine right? There is no point in pouring millions into a game if only a few buy it...

[DSLuke]

They can always severely upgrade the engine for KOTOR 3

and afterwards use a new one for KOTRN series "

[Gabrielle]

Something like that...........

[Darth Ni]

Well yes, you do have a point there since Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy both used the Quake III engine but it was heavily modded. Its possible and it seems like a better solution to developing a new engine. In order to develop a good BRAND NEW engine, it would take $$$ and time...

[EnderAndrew]

Source can run a RPG. The arguement that a first-person engine can't run a RPG is silly. I'm sure Source can shift to a third-person view, and coding in leveling/character progression is possible in any engine.

 

As it has been pointed out, the KOTOR engine is old, but Obsidian seems content to take the NWN engine and release it in 2006. Either they're REALLY confident they can upgrade it quite a bit, or they're taking a big gamble. Even games like Everquest 2 make NWN look like absolute crap. Lord knows what other RPGs will be released by 2006.

 

Waiting 2-3 years for a new engine doesn't seem to be the best solution. Whether or not they select Source, I think they should license an existing engine to upgrade the physics, look, and flexibility of the existing engine.

 

Can we agree upon that much?

[DSLuke]

Source can run a RPG.  The arguement that a first-person engine can't run a RPG is silly.  I'm sure Source can shift to a third-person view, and coding in leveling/character progression is possible in any engine.

 

As it has been pointed out, the KOTOR engine is old, but Obsidian seems content to take the NWN engine and release it in 2006.  Either they're REALLY confident they can upgrade it quite a bit, or they're taking a big gamble.  Even games like Everquest 2 make NWN look like absolute crap.  Lord knows what other RPGs will be released by 2006.

 

Waiting 2-3 years for a new engine doesn't seem to be the best solution.  Whether or not they select Source, I think they should license an existing engine to upgrade the physics, look, and flexibility of the existing engine.

 

Can we agree upon that much?

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Are you paid by the developers of source???

It would certainly seem so

[Tha_Mujician01]

couldnt they use the engine thats been developed for elders scroll oblivion..that game looks so sweet..if a kotor used that engine i'd imagine it would be a killer game

[EnderAndrew]

That engine looks incredible. But I'm not sure it's in a state to release to another company.

 

Then again, said engine also includes the new construction set, which means we'd get mod tools for KOTOR:3.

[nightcleaver]

They shouldn't bother upgrading the engine. They should focus on refining what they have now, and combining everything that was good about both games in the series. It's been shown to us all quite thoroughly that that was a bad decision on the part of Obsidian/LA, that the most important thing was FULL content, not just more of it, and portions of it improved... parts of it left out completely.

 

I don't think I would want them to screw up with another untested engine.

[EnderAndrew]

The rumors are that the XBox 2 will launch for next Christmas. Likely that means the XBox 2 will be out before KOTOR:3 launches. You couldn't market the current KOTOR engine as an XBox 2 release.

[jaguars4ever]

You couldn't market the current KOTOR engine as an XBox 2 release.

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Not for the Xbox Next or Xbox Next HD. But perhaps for the Xbox Next PC, which comes out a year later. :ph34r:

[GhostofAnakin]

Not for the Xbox Next or Xbox Next HD.  But perhaps for the Xbox Next PC, which comes out a year later.  :ph34r:

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I have a headache trying to decipher all these different XBox terms.

[Laozi]

I don't have any clue what they *should* do, I would really like to be able to play Kotor 3 on my XboX (plain?) but at this point I just don't see that happening.

 

If this is the case I would like to see them put alot of money into developing a new engine specifically for kotor 3 and other rpg, you'd think with the Kotor name, they'd atleast get properly funded

[Meshugger]

I'm under the impression that the next KotOR will be released on the next-gen consoles + Tim Sweeney from Epic games already stated that the Unreal Engine 3.0 will be very modular (as always) and it will suit PC's as consoles pretty well. So why not use that perticular engine? Bioware is already licensed it, and it sure can make the source-engine look like a piece of Bantha poo-doo.

 

(Except that it costs 500000$ to license it though, pretty steep IMO.)

[Craigboy2]

Somwe one posted somewhere saying that they didn't think LA would spend that much mone on their games. RC (Republic Comando) is using the Unreal Engine but i know this engine wouldn't work for KOTORIII. The Unreal engine is for FPS and Action games not Turn based combat games.

[EnderAndrew]

The story about the 3 different versions of the XBox was from the same website that said Microsoft was produing their own CPU for the XBox and PC's. That same website also said NVidia was making the GPU for the XBox. That website made a lot of completely fake/bogus claims. There won't be 3 versions of the XBox 2 (Xenon, XBox Next, XBox FS, whatever they will call it).

 

Microsoft spends a lot of money to ensure that XBox Live is secure. They have been doing a lot more to ensure that people don't get on XBox Live with modded XBoxes.

 

Putting PC's on XBox Live will change everything. You'll have cheaters and exploits, you'll have been with advantages due to superior hardware.

 

M$ will only lose money on the deal.

 

Having an "optional" HDD is also bad because Live uses the HDD, and programmers can't build support for the HDD into games if not every has the HDD.

 

We know how that worked for Sony.

 

Steve Balmer from M$ has said that flash memory is more likely than another HDD in the XBox 2, but it will have built in storage of some kind, and I'm willing to bet money there will be one model of the XBox 2.

[Muad'Dib]

Well in my opinion I have to say that I'm with GhostofAnakin 100%. While others may disagree I hardly believe that the KotOR engine which has to my knowledge been used in only 2 games is old, unuseable or scheduled for replacement.

 

Would I like for facial expressions? Sure. Better graphics? Great. However in terms of KotOR I just don't really care if it has those things. I have Bloodlines and the whole facial expression thing was so overrated that when I actually got it I was like this is it? This is the incredible ultra-realistic facial expressions I kept being nagged about preview after preview? I can notice expressions. but no more than in a cinematic sequence from other games. I feel they should actually work out all the bugs that have plagued the engine in the past 2 games and refine it to the best of its abilities for KotOR 3.

 

I'm so sick and tired of this demand and expectancy that every time a sequel or new game comes out it has to have a brand new engine, we are reaching prepostorous levels of biblical proportions. Whenever new engines are made it just mean a whole boatload of bugs and for certain another additional mountain of cash being spent so I upgrade my PC just to be able to play that game. (See Doom3, Half Life 2, etc).

 

So like Ghost suggested a few pages back, I feel the devs should keep the original engine for KotOR 3, refine it, polish it. work out all the bugs. And then, movbe onto a new engine after the KotOR Trilogy is complete and if there's an actual need for it.

 

Besides as unsatisfying as the endings in KotOR 2 are to me, I really don't want to wait 3 to 5 years for a new engine which will only mean that it's an untested and unrpoven engine making its maiden voyage in KotOR 3 and completely filled with a whole brand new set of bugs up and down.

 

Stick with the old at least for 3, then replace if another game is made whatever that maybe. KotNR? *shudders*...the mere thought of that sends a cold chill down my spine.

 

My two cents...

[EnderAndrew]

I think if we were going to release KOTOR:3 on the XBox 1, you could still get away with the one engine. But as KOTOR:3 will likely be an XBox 2 release, I think LA will push for a new engine. I think that's why they were already doing KOTOR:3 preproduction a while back.

[Muad'Dib]

You could be right of course, I have no idea whether the fact that KotOR 3 would be for Xbox 2 would have an effect on the engine issue but I pressume it very well could.

 

Nevertheless, those are the reasons why I feel they shouldn't ditch the "old" engine just yet to respond to the original post in the thread and subsequent discussion. Really whether any one of us wants a new engine or not I doubt there will be any impact in that decision when it comes down to it by the devs and publisher.

 

Oh and I'm sorry, I think in PC terms not Xbox since that's what affects me. While Xbox 2 might have the impact in engine selection you mentioned, for PC that issue isn't a factor, at least in those terms. As I already said, new engine just means I'd probably have to upgrade my comp yet again and no thanks, Doom3 and extremely high graphic games of these last 2 years have already proven they are not worth the insane amounts of money in PC upgrades as they almost always end up being just ok or bad games with pretty graphics, hardly any standouts at least for me.

[DSLuke]

IF K3 is released within 12-18 months it would be just stupid to develop it for Xbox 2. As the market for it by that time at least will be fairly small.

[EnderAndrew]

That's true. They could still release XBox 1 games after the XBox 2 launch. But the XBox 2 may not be backwards compatible due to the fact that the XBox 1 runs on NVidia technology, and the XBox 2 will run on ATI technology. They haven't paid the rights to license NVidia pixel shaders in the XBox 2.

 

Who knows?