So here we are with this amazing new, 4th-generation RTS engine.
If you’re an RTS fan, when was the last RTS engine made before Ashes. Not RTS game. I mean engine. I’m trying to think how many years it’s been. Each iteration becomes more expensive to make. There is little patience for a new game to implement the niceties that mature engines have developed.
So let’s look at the Pros and cons of the Ashes of the Singularity (technologically):
Pros:
- Natively 64-bit
- Core neutral (the more CPU cores you have, the faster it gets)
- GPU core neutral (it will max your video card, no video card yet has even come close to maxing what Ashes can do, we’re still gimping what we can do)
- Brand-new engine, easy to extend and enhance with new features
- Object space lighting – allows for vastly superior visuals
- Unlimited light sources – only limited by your GPU perf. Not hard-coded to 2, 4, or 8 (below I have a screenshot with thousands of light sources).
Cons:
- Requires 2GB of video memory and that’s just barely enough.
- Relatively few art assets (polished visuals need this).
- Brand-new engine also means relatively little maturation in RTS feature refinement
- Relatively new toolset (Getting art in is expensive)
Screenshots of some stuff
The Artemis is getting a specific building destroying weapon.
Some fun with the visuals of the Artemis
Playing around with maps. Multi-tier terrain will be one of the things we want to explore (right now we have 4, we look to have this be unlimited someday).
Mini map resources displayed based on the amount of resources the region provides. Also, Huge maps – 4X larger than huge (though we are probably going to have to limit these to those with monsters systems as the unit counts are obscene). Though just remember, today’s monster system is tomorrow’s mainstream consumer system.
