The image of the game has developed to "Unreal" here has reached a height of a ceiling, and the development direction of the next development is obviously impossible to move towards visual. As mentioned earlier, the role of engine technology is not limited to the screen. It also affects the overall style of the game. For example, all games made with Doom Engine, whether it is "pagan" or "destroying the wizard", there is similar The content, even even the plot settings are as follows. The player started to ran around the gun to run, and developers had to seek breakthroughs from other aspects, thereby set off a new climax of the first person shooting game.
The two episodes appeared at the same time in 1998 - the "Half-life" and LookingGlass studio's "Thief: Dark Project", although the previous "system shock "System Shock" has also brought many new features for engine technology, but no game can have such a profound effect on the evolution of later works as "half-life" and "sneak". .
The "half-life" who has won countless grand prize is a mixture of Quake and Quake II engines. Valve has joined two important features on this two engine: First, the script sequence technology, this technology The player can make the player real experience the development of the plot by means of a reasonable rhythm, which is a great revolution; the second feature is undoubtedly a great revolution. It is an improvement to the artificial intelligence engine. The enemy's actions have significantly more deceitable, no longer simply pocked the muzzle. These two characteristics give the "half-life" engine, the "Baixi Skums", "Squadron", "The Counter Strike" and "Destroying Day", and the "Half Tropics" and "Destruction Day" on this basis The life of the life is a more eye-catching ray.
The game that is really breakthrough in artificial intelligence is the "Cabin: Dark Plan" of the Looking Glass Studio. The story of the game has occurred in the middle of the ancient age. Players play a thief. The task is to enter different places. Try not to pay attention to others. In the case of stealing items. The "Thief" is used by the Dark Engine developed by the Looking Glass Studio. The Dark Engine is not in the image than the "Rayt God 2" or "Unreal", but it is much higher than the latter two. If the enemy in the game knows that according to the sound identifying your orientation, you can distinguish between the footsteps on different grounds. There are different potions in different illumination environments. After discovering the body of the companion, it will enter the warning state, and will also target you. Action make a variety of reasonable reactions, you must hide in the dark, not being discovered by the enemy, it is possible to complete the task, which is not found in the pure killing game. Today, most of the first person, shooting games, including this hidden style, including newly released "MEDAL OF Honor: Allied Assault). Unfortunately, due to the premature closure of the looking glass studio, the DARK engine failed to carry forward, except for the "Cabin: Dark Program", only "Thief 2: Metal Age" in this engine (Thief 2: The Metal Age) And a few games such as "system shock 2".
Inspired by the "half-life" and "sneak: Diablo plan", more and more developers have begun to turn their attention from a simple visual effect to a more changing game content, which is worth mentioning. The "killing of the rear", "killing the rear", "Killing the Double Since", the "killing the rear", although the picture effect is very outstanding, but it cannot meet the "hob" series, the enemy in the game More is the pre-set scene script, for example, the smashing the ammunition box may cause a vigilance of nearby enemies, but this does not mean what he heard, and the associates around the enemy may be directed. The position of standing is also indifferent, these untrustworthy behaviors still exist even in the "Honor Medal: Allied Army Attack". The quality of the image offsets artificial intelligence defects, and truly helps "killing the heavy" standing in numerous shooting games, it is its unique style. The game contains a strong role playing component, and the characters can accumulate experience, improve skills, and also Have rich dialogue and twists and turns. Like "half-life", the success of "killing the heavy" indicates the importance of the narrative for the first person to shoot games, which can better support the narrative ability of the game has become a new standard for the measurement engine. Since 2000, the 3D engine is differentiated in two different directions. One is the "half-life", "thief" and "killing the rehearsal", and strengthens the artificial integration into more narrative ingredients and roles. Smart to improve the playability of the game, the second is to develop pure network models. In this regard, ID Software has went to the forefront of the entire industry. They realize that they are so happy, so they are On the basis of Quake II's excellent image engine joins more network components, breaking the sky launched a pure online game that completely does not have a single pass mode - "QUAKE III Arena", it EPIC's "Unreal Tournament" will become a turning point in the history of engine development.
With the great success of the Quake III engine, ID Software also earned a lot in the engine license market. Raven has once again collaborate with ID Software, using the Quake III engine to produce the first person shooting game "Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force), and this engine is also used to make a third-person action game" heavy metal FAKK 2 "(Heavy Metal Fakk 2) and" AMERICAN MCGEE's Alice ", the recent shooting game" Return to Castle Wolfenstein "and" Honor Medal: Allied Antie "," Jedi Outcast: Jedi Knight II ", as well as the development of" Jedi Outcast: Jedi Knight II). From the advantage of the Dungeon to the outer space, from the fairy tale world to the World War II, from the first person's perspective to the third perspective, the powerful potential of the Quake III engine is fully shown.
Epic's "Unreal Arena" is a step behind "Raytard's Hammer 3 Arena", but if you carefully compare, you will find that its performance is slightly higher than the latter. From the picture, the two are almost made into flat hands, but in the networked mode, it not only provides a death competition model, but also provides a variety of fierce battle models such as teamwork, but the unreal tournament engine can not only be applied in action shooting games. In the middle, you can provide strong 3D support for large multiplayer games, instant strategy games and role playing games. The Unreal Tournament engine has more than 20 in the LUAKE III. It has been included in the game of Unreal Tournament Engine to date, including "Star Trek Deep Space Nine: The" Fallen), "New Legend" and "Sierraphim", etc. Another engine that rapidly rising during the period 1998 to 2000 is the LithTech engine of Monolith, which was originally used in the machine shooting game "Spring Gang" (SHOGO). As mentioned earlier, the development of the LithTech engine has spent a five-year time, costing 7 million US dollars, hard work, and the first version of the LithTech engine immediately causing the industry's idea, in the white thermal state. "The Hammer of Lei Shen 2" vs. "Unreal" battle splashes a pot of cold water.
It is because of the excessive development cost. In 2002, Monolith decided to set up a LithTech company, as the main business license for the LithTech engine, I hope to pick back some costs. The game made from LithTech first generation engine includes "blood band 2" and "sanity). In 2000, LithTech launched a 2.0 version of the engine and version 2.5, joined the skeletal animation and advanced terrain system, giving people a "No One Lives Forever) and the" Global Action "that is about to be listed. Global Operations uses the lithtech 2.5 engine. At this time, LithTech has become a engine with QUAKE III and Unreal Tournament from a useful supplement. Today's 3.0 version of the LithTech engine has also been released and is derived from Jupiter, "Eagle" (Talon), "Cobalt" and "Discovery" ("Eagle claws" "It is used to develop" Alien vs. Predator 2 "(Alien vs. Predator 2)," Jupiter "will be used for the development of" no life 2 "," dark blue "is used to develop PS2 version" no one eternal life "," Exploration will be used to make a large online game that has not been published.
In addition to the powerful performance of itself, the LithTech engine is the detailed service. In addition to the source code and editor of the lithtech engine, the buyer can also get a free upgrade, fast email and telephone technical support, LithTech Company even Will ask the purchaser to the company to train the handler. And the average price of the LithTech engine is not very high, about $ 250,000, which is already quite low compared to the QUAKE III engine.
