blog

We all know that all video games require an engine to run on. These engines power all the visuals, codes, and major elements of every game we load up. Engines such as the Havok physics engine and the highly anticipated Unreal 3 engine have taken gaming to a level at which all we can do is marvel. This year and next are going to be the introduction of a new engine that most of us are not even aware of. The next revolution of gaming will be the Euphoria Engine created by the people at Natural Motion. The Euphoria Engine was created with a few goals in mind. Natural Motion wants a gamer to become even more enveloped in his virtual environment. Basically it gives every character in the game a central nervous system. Where as in the past a company would have to spend a lot of time and effort into animating every reaction that a character makes based on his/her surroundings and actions; Euphoria now allows these same characters to react the way most of us would in real life by use of something called behavioral AI. In short no reaction will ever be exactly the same. Let say that you are fighting and pushing at an enemy character off a rooftop; normally once that enemy’s is close to the edge he/she is going to either snap into a pre-animated death animation, or fall lifeless and rag-doll off the roof (thanks to the Havok Physics Engine). However when we replay this scene with the Euphoria engine (with the Havok Physics Engine also) the character is going to do anything to regain his/her balance to not fall backwards off the roof and then do anything possible to grab onto the ledge and keep from falling to his/her death. It’s a lot harder to explain how this process works without really seeing it, so I have included some videos that will give more power to what this really means. The interesting thing about this engine is that games have already been developed with it and will be shipping next year with it included in the games make-up, and you may not even be aware of it. LucasArts is one of the biggest companies pushing this technology and they have always been known to take a game further into realism. When Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Indiana Jones ship out next year you can expect to experience something that you have never had before in a game. Imagine a football game where no tackle is ever the same. That’s what Back Breaker (a football game in development for the next-gen consoles) is promising with the use of Euphoria. There is one game that is going to be sporting this new engine next year that will take one of the most successful series ever and turn it into the greatest experience ever. That’s right people Grand Theft Auto 4 will ship with the Euphoria engine. Everything you do will not only react as according to real physics, but every animation will be different in game-play. I just thought it was important that us gamers should be kept up to par with the technology that is powering the future of the industry. You can thank the people at Natural Motion for upping the level of interactivity! Check out these sites for some more information regarding the Euphoria Engine: www.naturalmotion.com www.backbreakergame.com www.lucasarts.com/games/indianajones/ www.GTA4.com And of course www.youtube.com has a great many of examples!

Share this article: