Prey 2 Using the id Tech 4 Engine, Not id Tech 5

12
Dan Webb

Human Head’s Lead Designer, Chris Reinhert, took to the stage at Bethesda’s BFG Showcase to show off the latest build of Prey 2 to the world’s gaming press and in doing so, explained why the team opted to use id Tech 4 as opposed to id Tech 5.

“So the engine we’re using is a heavily modified id Tech 4,” said Reinhert. “Part of the reason we’re using id Tech 4 is because after we finished Prey we started on some new tech ideas that we wanted to do and build into that and it was too early to go in and start picking id Tech 5 and building the game into it.”

So if they’re not using id Tech 5, what have the team done to ensure they get the most out of the id Tech 4 engine? Ready for some baffling tech speak? Of course you are!

“So, what we really did is tailor the tech towards the type of game we wanted to do because we knew early on that we wanted to do an open-world game,” said Reinhert. “We knew we wanted to expand it out. So some of the big things we’ve done is obviously expanded it so it’s no longer just a corridor shooter – it’s very, very open.”

“We’ve got much longer draw distances,” Reinhert continued. “We’ve added what we call physical based lighting which is kind of what it sounds like – it’s modelled after real lighting, so light properly bounces around throughout the world – and we’ve got proper global illumination, so that everything will look much, much better.”

“We’ve done a whole suite of things like per-pixel visibility,” Reinhert added, “a lot of work on collusion, a lot of work on LOD, and just being able to have this larger open-world game.”

In other words, a lot of work on it. Still, it's no id Tech 5... so excuse us while we go and swoon over Rage.

Look out for our Prey 2 preview later on in the week. In case you missed them, check out the new screens here. Prey 2 is scheduled for a 2012 release.

Comments
12
  • Loved the first and can't wait for this.
  • Wow.5
  • It will probably still look pretty great, but still it would be nice with id tech 5.
  • I remember getting confused doing all those walking on the ceiling things, hopefully itll be in this one too. XD
  • "light properly bounces around throughout the world"? Curious. Engines have been trying to do this properly for some time, Unreal and Frostbite have done a good job and newer iterations of those seem to hit it on the mark. Battlefield 3 is going to set the bar really damn high for lighting effects. With a modified older engine though? Very curious to play this game to continue and expand the story of the first and see what they manage to pull off.
  • No multiplayer ,no 3D ,no knicet. That means good long gameplay whit great story
  • I'm not trying to be some sort of graphic-whoring Judas, but, some of those new screens don't look so pretty. Especially the detail on the character models.
  • Reading this and looking at screens from other post, I do quietly wish they'd have gone with tech 5....
  • Read a preview, sounds like a Mass Effect FPS in a open-world game.
  • Pray is one of my treasured games and as long as the second one has a good story it will not matter to me what engine thy used.
  • @9 exactly wat i thought
  • I was pleased with the first one so I’m sure I will like this one. Personally I’m not real impressed with games that have the latest and greatest tech, as long as the story and gameplay is good I’m happy.
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