THE EVOLUTION OF MIDDLEWARE | BUILD
in response to a studio’s needs and take those modifications to a wider audience. “This can lead to some fantastic developments that then can be integrated into tools for other developers,” reveals FMOD’s Wilkes. “A great company for this was the team at Neversoft with the Guitar Hero
creates new business markets, new revenue streams and – ultimately - enables growth. Hence, segmentation took a key role in the maturing process of our industry in the past years and I trust it will continue doing so in the future – let’s embrace it.” It’s hard not to warm to Roeken’s optimism, but not everybody takes such an upbeat perspective on the potential pitfalls middleware is currently straddling. “Middleware has to start delivering on its promises,” advises Ready at Dawn’s Nagel. “No one is going to continue licensing engines that require you to rip half of it out before you can even start or connect it to some other piece of middleware it wasn’t designed to work with. People have learned from their mistakes and I think the real era of middleware starts now with companies that will be smart enough to be honest with their customers and make promises that are realistic and achievable. We’re here to help the teams we work with achieve their vision
and make it easier on them, not just to take their money and run.” The future success of middleware also lies with harnessing the potential of areas outside of traditional gaming. As the tech behind films and games continues to offer new opportunities, so does the expanding world of serious games. “We’ve always had strong business in that sector and it continues to grow for us,” explains Sundog’s Kane. “Middleware providers need to be conscious of the specific needs for applications that aren’t purely for entertainment; physical realism and interoperability with government standards are important in that world. I also see the number of tools, engines, platforms, and technologies that middleware providers need to support continuing to grow over time.” Another emerging trend in the field of middleware is that of working with the developer, initially to assist with both support and advice, and ultimately to adapt core tech
Left: As well as offering its MMO-focused SDK, Monumental also develops games, including MotoGP 09/10
People have learned from their mistakes and I think the real era of middleware starts now with companies that will be smart enough to be honest . Jonathan Nagel, Ready at Dawn series. A fantastic game based entirely on audio, and it was at Neversoft’s request that FMOD developed many features for that series; features that are now available to all FMOD users.” Whether you view middleware as the saviour of game development or greet its presence with suspicion, there’s no doubt that it is not only here to stay, but it is increasingly intertwining itself with every element of modern game creation. Dividing and streamlining with ferocious efficiency, it is an incredibly adaptive, dynamic sector, and as such, is perfectly placed to encircle the new fields of social games, extended console markets, and new platform paradigms.
CASE STUDY: 3D 3D DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY HAS reared its head several times in recent decades, but until now, has always felt like something of a fad. While the industry still greets the latest drive to establish stereoscopic technology with a degree of suspicion, the combined backing of the film, television and games industries does suggest that this time around, the technology could be here to stay. Like it or not, developers are going to have to consider making games in 3D, and driven by a need to keep pace with emerging trends, the middleware industry is already set to cater for that possibility. Engine giant Crytek (www.crytek.com) already offers stereoscopic support in its tech, but as the company’s director of global business development Carl Jones reveals, it’s not been an easy ride. “While it is straightforward to get stereoscopic 3D running on a strong PC, it is a serious challenge on consoles due to performance constraints, especially as CryEngine 3 is a high-end engine, which makes full use of the available hardware resources. Nevertheless our R&D team found an innovative way to make stereo work efficiently on both the PS3 and the DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET
Xbox 360, without sacrificing any visual quality.” As a result, Crytek’s stereo implementation supports an impressive range of different output devices on all platforms. Thanks to a company mantra of ‘what you see is what you play’, stereo support is fully integrated within CryEngine 3 Sandbox, subsequently allowing previewing and tweaking stereo content during production, without any delays. Blitz Game Studios (www.blitzgamesstudios.com) is also
committed to substantial investments in the area of 3D TV. Speaking to the company’s that lead the charge in the engine sector, it’s clear that stereoscopic 3D is playing on their minds. Vision Engine creator Trinigy (www.trinigy.net) has highlighted the trend as something key to the future of middleware, and others are sure to follow. The challenge, however, lies in bringing 3D to the broad range of platforms currently the target of middleware.
“For high-end PC, as previously mentioned, stereoscopic 3D is possible through brute force,” explains a pragmatic Jones. “On other platforms; and to achieve S3D in real-time, most people are accepting compromises on performance or quality. That is not the Crytek way. As such, we had some of our clever chaps here in our R&D team work at some amazing solutions that achieve the quality we want to see from 3D, but without materially impacting the performance.” JUNE 2010 | 49