PS3 News: Insomniac Artist Talks In-House Engine For R2, PS3 Capabilities - PS3 News

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Insomniac Artist Talks In-House Engine For R2, PS3 Capabilities

Some of you tech buffs are always interested in exactly how a game gets made; the ins and outs of development; the behind-the-scenes information that few can even begin to understand. We won't get too complex here, but we figure many of our readers will be interested in a recent interview with Insomniac's senior character artist, Sam Sharit.

In speaking to AutoDesk (developers of Maya), Sharit spoke about the recently launched Resistance 2 and his roles involving modeling, texturing and scripting. Interestingly enough, it seems those amazing-looking bosses in the game underwent painstaking efforts in order to become a virtual reality. Sharit said they "hovered around 5-10 thousand triangles" for the average, but they ramped it up to as many as "60,000 tris" for the bosses, like the Kraken and Leviathan. He also said that how many "tris" are used depends a lot on the game, and used the example of Grand Theft Auto IV, which didn't use anywhere near as many triangles but the lower counts were "due to the sheer number of assets in the game." Sharit also spoke about Insomniac using its very own engine, and his words are quite intriguing.

"Insomniac uses its own in house engine. The PlayStation 3 engine was developed for Resistance: Fall of Man, then iterated on for Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, and even further iterated on for Resistance 2. Insomniac has been my first experience working with an in-house engine and I really like the level of control of working with one. One major reason is that it is made to take full advantage of the PS3 hardware, and I have been able to really push some key assets, like the 300-foot tall Leviathan, much further than I would have been able to using some of the other commercial engines on the market. It also allows the artists to dictate to the tech and tools programmers what tools and interfaces we want, and how we want to use them. I find with most commercially available engines the tools are dictated by the company creating the engine, and this may or may not be good for what type of game you're making or your company's established pipeline."

As many have said in the past, if a developer focuses entirely on the PS3, they can do some amazing things with its potential. And in truth, something like Resistance 2 is just the beginning; the sky's the limit for devs who want to continue to unlock more of the system's capability. If you'd like to read the full interview, feel free to do so. Good stuff.

Related Game(s): Resistance 2

11/18/2008 Ben Dutka

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Comments (33 posts)

Advent Child
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 @ 10:29:17 PM
Reply

I remember developing with maya at the Academy of Art and we were told to use quads and not triangles... I wonder why they use triangles? They cause more problems.

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Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 @ 10:30:58 PM

Actually, if you hit the link, he says they "call them quads." Definitely worth a read.

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WaR_HaWk
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 @ 10:30:21 PM
Reply

i hope they use killzone 2 engine in R3

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HUSO
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 @ 11:25:05 PM

i hope not. it might give R3 a development period of 5 yrs.

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Aftab
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 @ 11:40:16 PM

One would think using preexisting engines rather cuts development time.

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Banky A
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 @ 11:43:05 PM

@ HUSO: ROFL, I laughed xD. Did you direct that at the KZ2 or MGS4 engine?


They should learn to merge the most potent aspects of the different exclusive PS3 engines to make one very flexible tool.

Though it is a lot easier said than done :[

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King James
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 1:13:15 AM

The Killzone 2 engine was designed by Guerrilla, itself. It is one of a kind, and very Very VERY good.

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WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 @ 11:42:36 PM
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I just hope people stop using the Unreal engine, its clunky on the ps3 for some reason, and its why our Last Remnant is coming late.

I remember when we useda talk "polygons"

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Saber1989
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 3:24:06 AM

This is off topic, is the Last Remnant is related to Lost Odyssey?

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WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 3:53:04 AM

Nope

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Wage SLAVES
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 7:58:07 AM

It (UNREAL) just seems to be an XBOX revolving engine...at least thats my take...BUT ya gotta love homemade!!!

R2 is awesome! Everything in this game has you feeling like "I was there since the beginning," ya know a lil pride... I was kicking my self for not getting the limited edition...I saw the game at WalMart and Totally impulse bought. DAMN I really wanted the behind the scenes stuff since my wife is all R&C and Im a huge Resistance fan... :'(
Last edited by Wage SLAVES on 11/19/2008 7:58:48 AM

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Phoelix
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 @ 11:43:25 PM
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Hi Ben, Arnold, and everyone. PSX Extreme has been my #1 PS news site for about a year now, and this is my first venture into posting. Keep up the good work, you two; I like your articles more than anybody else's.

I remember reading an article that says that the 360 has more what is it, GPU's? It's been argued that while the PS3 has more processing power, the 360 has better graphics capabilities. Can anybody clarify this?

I do, however, acknowledge that things that don't directly deal with graphics (draw distance, items on screen, etc.) can improve the visual quality of a game, and R2 does this is a beautiful way.

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Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 12:51:09 AM

Thanks, and welcome to the family.

We've got the best community around. :)

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Aftab
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 9:47:13 AM

He welcomed him. But left the fanboy/returning-banned-member provoking question to others.

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ArnoldK PSXE [Administrator]
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 10:10:04 AM

Phoelix: It's a very complicated answer. To my understanding, the graphical capabilities of both consoles is pretty much the same - with maybe a slight advantage for the X360. But the Cell processor can double as image rendering hardware, too...and there is no question that it is much more powerful than the X360's processor. It's 8 co-processors, the SPEs, are what give the PS3 the advantage ultimately. The SPEs can be used for physics calculations, improved graphics, audio, and so on.
Last edited by ArnoldK PSXE on 11/19/2008 10:10:45 AM

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FLYING_APE
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 11:45:32 AM

well just lok at killzone 2 that waht ps3 can do yyyyyyyyeeeeeeeaaaaahhhhhhh baby

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FeyeR
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 @ 11:46:04 PM
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What we see now is nothing like what we are going to see in the coming years. Look at the early games of the ps2, and then compare it to God of War 2...

Look at the early games of the ps3, and imagine what we will be seeing in the later years.

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Daedusian
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 12:13:38 AM
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I can't stop thinking about the future of PS3. I mean, look at what Uncharted did in the FIRST year of the PS3's life. FIRST! Now take a gander at K2!... My mind cannot comprehend the awesomeness that is the playstation.
Last edited by Daedusian on 11/19/2008 12:15:01 AM

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Wage SLAVES
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 8:05:18 AM

That shows the potential. The only ceiling they've reached is the Blu Ray Ceiling (MGS4). We all seen Sony push the ps2 to tears with God Of War 2. Cant wait for the PS3 to get the treatment...oooo eye-candy!!!
@hartman
Your Cliffy has stated in an Gameindustry.biz interview that they pretty much scraped the bottom of the 360 barrel. No fanboyism, that was from Cliffy...

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AceTatsujin
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 12:23:40 AM
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they gotta use killzone 2 engine for R3 man ... we need more realistic things.

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WaR_HaWk
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 12:33:43 AM

agree.

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King James
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 1:15:27 AM

i concur.

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Tim Speed24
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 8:20:49 AM

That is what I dis-liked the most about R2. It looked more like a Ratchet and Clank world than a Killzone 2 world or a COD4 world.

I hope they go more realistic with R3.

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Jed
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 2:24:48 AM
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I hope the recent trend of almost every game going multiplatform doesnt hold the ps3 back.
Hopefully devs will keep pushing the ps3 harder and harder, and finally show how much better it is than the others.

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sabitrulz
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 5:10:51 AM
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@ Phoelix,it's true that PS3'S RSX is a bit weaker than 360's Xenos,dat's why we are getting bad 3rd party ports.But microthief will gonna launch a new console next year n than they will forget 360 on the other hand Sony has got a 10 year plan for PS3,so think carefully which one is a big deal?
Last edited by sabitrulz on 11/19/2008 5:11:56 AM

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Phoelix
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 7:29:06 AM

Naturally, I'd say the graphics aren't the only thing a console should be rated by; that wasn't why I was asking that question. After all, the argument that graphics make the machine is refuted by the Wii.

I just never really understood why people say the 360 has better graphics because of its hardware while they also say that the PS3 is the superior machine in terms of processing power.

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Wage SLAVES
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 8:09:48 AM
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Im sure theyre Tricks-Of-The-Trade to get more Performance outta the graphics department...naturally (for a year headstart) XBOX should have more advancements but they are really not all that drastic...

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sabitrulz
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 9:10:14 AM
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Well ps3's plus is raw processing power which can be translated into making life like physix effects n huge number of charecters onscreen,but the problem is 2day's games don't use those feaure dat much but solely depend on the gpu,dat's why even in some midrange 3rd party tittles gfx isn't dat much impressive.But with the passage of time ps3 will surely turnout as a winner.

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Cuetes
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 10:11:07 AM
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R2 is awesome, and its only the 2nd year of life for the ps3. I can't wait for the ps3 to consistently hit it's stride.

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ArnoldK PSXE [Administrator]
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 10:11:54 AM
Reply

Phoelix: I replied a few posts up.

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FLYING_APE
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 11:48:02 AM
Reply

Can anybody tell me if others ist party dev are gonna use the killzone 2 engine because my m8s in the beta and he said it looks incredible a plays the best.

This may sound gay but im saving myself for killzone 2 LOL

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sabitrulz
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 1:56:20 PM
Reply

FLYING_APE don't ask too much frm k2!!!I know it looks gr8 but if u look @ other 2009 tittles like infamous,heavyrain,god of war3,star ocean 4 and last but not the least Final Fantasy XIII u can understand what i wanted to tell u.

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coverton341
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 @ 5:09:01 PM
Reply

I guess that the interview wrap up will put some of those rumors that Insomniac is going multi-platform to bed:

The Area: Are there any future plans to support multiple gaming platforms for Resistance?
Sam: No. The Resistance franchise is exclusive to the PlayStation family of consoles.

Or at least that they won't take Resistance from us as an exclusive if they do go multi.

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