Lost Planet 3 game director Matt Sophos discusses the technology that drives the new game.
“We’ve also streamlined the existing UE3 pipeline in some areas to work within our workflow,” said Sophos. “But most of our additions are gameplay systems to support Lost Planet 3 — such as a robust third person camera system, animation choreography, a performance animation system scripted by animators, collision system for large creatures, a flexible AI system that can be re-used on creatures with various behaviors, a multi-threaded AI formation system, a quest system, and a gameplay tuning system.”
With Lost Planet 3 being developed for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Unreal’s cross platform technology allows Spark to focus on the game without having to do a lot of custom engineering work for porting to other consoles. However, the team has had to work within the constraints of each console, and as such, they’ve done a lot of performance and memory optimizations to fit the scope of the game.
One of the many things that stands out in this new adventure is the cinematic look and feel of the game. The world of E.D.N. III comes to life in a new way, thanks to the game’s setting that takes place early on in the human habitation of the distant planet. Sophos said the art direction of Lost Planet 3 has drawn many inspirations from visionary directors such as Ridley Scott and John Carpenter. Using the volumetric lighting capabilities of the engine, Spark was able to more effectively create the moody atmosphere and lighting schemes to help create a sci-fi world that shows as nicely as the reference it draws upon.
“Even though it takes place in the future, we definitely took a lot of inspiration from the Old West frontier,” said Sophos. “We also wanted a lived-in, retro-vibe—hi-tech hardware took a backseat to improvised weapons and real-world firearms. The Utility Rig feels more like a trucker’s big rig than a mech. Surprisingly, there was only so much inspiration we could take from the arctic. Snow environments can easily devolve into looking like Antarctica, so we were careful to accentuate the alien nature of the landscape to constantly remind players E.D.N. III is not Earth.”
In addition to a very deep single-player experience, which puts heavy emphasis on creating a focused, sweeping storyline, massive in scope, but fueled by an intimate story, down-to-earth characters, and the small personal touches that drives a player’s desire to see what happens next; Spark is also pushing the multiplayer experience. Sophos said the team has chosen to implement a robust suite of gameplay modes that is separate from the single-player narrative campaign in order to best serve the needs of both experiences. Gamers will be able to explore the extreme conditions of Lost Planet 3 in 2013.
