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Forbidden West water tech took "years" to develop

cormack12

Gold Member
Source: https://www.gamesradar.com/horizon-forbidden-west-water-tech-took-years-to-develop
Full interview: https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/horizon-forbidden-west-interview

xzXifpep3Sy8qUz6GYKHw7-970-80.jpg.webp


Although Forbidden West is also releasing for PS4, with development having begun on that console before continuing in parallel with its successor, it is undoubtedly meant to be played on Sony’s brand new and almost impossible to buy hardware. The big “wow moment” in its latest trailer comes when Aloy submerges herself into a tropical reef that’s teeming with neon coral, giant clouds of fish and the odd AI-powered alligator. It’s a signifier of both a newfound scale to her escapades and the sheer fidelity Guerrilla has lavished on its latest creation.

"Our engineers spent an incredible amount of time on the water rendering and wave techniques. They probably spent years on that," said Horizon Forbidden West game director Mathijs de Jonge in a new interview with GQ. "There’s so much detail we can put into San Francisco’s overgrown ruins. I don’t think many people have noticed but every strand is rendered individually," de Jonge continues, referencing the individual strands of moss permeating the ruins of California.

In Horizon Forbidden West, protagonist Aloy is leaving her former stomping grounds of Zero Dawn to journey westward to California. This is why de Jonge is talking about the wave technology and water rendering taking up such a large chunk of the development process: because it's basically encapsulating a large amount of the game's open-world map on the west coast of America.

Having discovered the story of her origins in Zero Dawn, what comes next is set to be a different kind of adventure. “You want to stay true to her character, but she has to evolve,” says McCaw. “As she journeys into the mysterious frontier of the Forbidden West, she is going to evolve and I think people are really going to like it.” Don’t just take his word for it though. Covid willing, you’ll be able to play what's sure to be the biggest game of 2021 come the holiday season. It will be an epic in every respect.
 
It’s past time to make a single thread for this game.
Front page is full of Aloy and Aloy Accessories.
That Neogaf ain’t right.
 

GymWolf

Member
It doesn't look that much better compared to tlou2\rdr2\latest ac games water tech tbh, but i guess it's a big jump from horizon 1.

The waves on the beach were the most impressive part, but not really a generation better than this


Horizon 3 is gonna blow this game out of the water (pun intended)
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Thought it was very unimpressive when she was walking through the shallows in the gameplay footage, there was barely any effect at all. Needs proper mud-like consistency giving way to footing and what not for the ground as well, not just water ripples and reflection/refraction etc.
 
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Arun1910

Member
More marketing bs to appease fanboys. Games take years. You could technically say that every games water has taken years.
Okay backseat developer.

The water simulation in AC3 and AC4 was done by one studio over the course of the AC3's entire development, that was Ubisoft Singapore - a team of 300 people. They then kept working on it for AC4 when the water simulation had to deal with other ships in an open world settings. That studios sole job was working on water tech for years.

 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
Okay backseat developer.

The water simulation in AC3 and AC4 was done by one studio over the course of the AC3's entire development, that was Ubisoft Singapore - a team of 300 people. They then kept working on it for AC4 when the water simulation had to deal with other ships in an open world settings. That studios sole job was working on water tech for years.


doesn’t matter who says what. I grew up believing all these buzz words and marketing speak until I actually became a software developer and realized it’s all a bunch bs. Most things are not nearly as complicated as they make it sound.
 

Arun1910

Member
doesn’t matter who says what. I grew up believing all these buzz words and marketing speak until I actually became a software developer and realized it’s all a bunch bs. Most things are not nearly as complicated as they make it sound.

If you're a Software Dev (I am too), then dismissing it as just bs is a bit weird. Ubisoft Singapore literally focused on water for years, if you go onto their site then their Year by Year portfolio is focused on water. They wouldn't just put that on their site for shits and giggles if they also did other stuff, if they did, they'd be plastering that on their site too.

They're now doing Skull and Bones. They have been working on that for a long time now, the crew is smaller but they have a few dedicated people working on new tech and even have someone named "Water Guy".

I'm not sure why you're dismissing their statement so quickly, you say you're a Dev but do you actually know the scale of the team/resources put in? What if it was a team of 50-100 people working on water tech for 2 years? That is a perfectly feasible timeframe as the team size is small in relation to how big that sub-project is.


You should know Development includes: Planning, Prototype, maybe another Prototype, moving to production, bug fixes, maybe scope creep, play testing, fixing some more. That stuff takes ages.

 
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RoboFu

One of the green rats
You should know Development includes: Planning, Prototype, maybe another Prototype, moving to production, bug fixes, maybe scope creep, play testing, fixing some more. That stuff takes ages.


That happens with any projects though regardless of what the content is.

Computer physics are also well documented these days with multiple libraries already out including water.

it’s just not that impressive. Basically you are saying it took a long time to implement existing math or libraries into their engine using normal project planning and execution.

Way to go!!!
 

Shifty1897

Member
That happens with any projects though regardless of what the content is.

Computer physics are also well documented these days with multiple libraries already out including water.

it’s just not that impressive. Basically you are saying it took a long time to implement existing math or libraries into their engine using normal project planning and execution.

Way to go!!!
1zpG3qT.jpg

Just kidding, couldn't help myself.
I do think the water in HFW looks better than Assassin's Creed Odyssey though.
 
And everywhere else. The first game was not fun to play.
If the first game wasn't fun to play for you, you probably didn't play the game and approached it with the variety of ways you could have.

It's like people who don't like playing Uncharted but then you learn that they played as a duck and cover shooter all throughout the game, it's really about how you play the game.
 

Life

Member
If the first game wasn't fun to play for you, you probably didn't play the game and approached it with the variety of ways you could have.

It's like people who don't like playing Uncharted but then you learn that they played as a duck and cover shooter all throughout the game, it's really about how you play the game.

I get that Horizon can be played in various ways but...Uncharted? I think I played the 2nd or 1st, and got bored rather quickly. How is it NOT a cover/shoot/cover - with auto-climbing throughout?
 
I played some more of the first one on PS5 yesterday (so the PS4 Pro version) after not touching it for ages and it looks fairly poor these days IMO.

The biggest issues were the characters, who move like puppets or something from an indie game, and the water, which is some of the worst I’ve seen in a big budget game. Both of these areas look light years ahead in this one.

I know we’ve only seen the PS5 version but if the PS4 version is even remotely close even with whatever cutbacks they need this could be one of the biggest jumps by the same developer on the same hardware.
 
I get that Horizon can be played in various ways but...Uncharted? I think I played the 2nd or 1st, and got bored rather quickly. How is it NOT a cover/shoot/cover - with auto-climbing throughout?
Aw man, if I haven't unplugged my ps4 for a couple of months now i'd hope on just to export out some of my gameplay clips, but i'll just provide videos for you to refer to.

Unfortunately, it's UC4 and not UC1 and/or 2 to further help show you what I mean.

But in essence, if all you do in the game is stay in cover, not run constantly move spaces and utilize CQC and climbing and monkeying around your enemies, you're playing it in the most basic way possible.

Here's a video I could find in a quick search that I believe paints what I mean:

 

GymWolf

Member
I played some more of the first one on PS5 yesterday (so the PS4 Pro version) after not touching it for ages and it looks fairly poor these days IMO.

The biggest issues were the characters, who move like puppets or something from an indie game, and the water, which is some of the worst I’ve seen in a big budget game. Both of these areas look light years ahead in this one.

I know we’ve only seen the PS5 version but if the PS4 version is even remotely close even with whatever cutbacks they need this could be one of the biggest jumps by the same developer on the same hardware.
frozen wild dlc kinda fixed the npcs acting on ps4 (of course we are far from tlou2)


 

Bo_Hazem

Banned
Source: https://www.gamesradar.com/horizon-forbidden-west-water-tech-took-years-to-develop
Full interview: https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/horizon-forbidden-west-interview

xzXifpep3Sy8qUz6GYKHw7-970-80.jpg.webp


Although Forbidden West is also releasing for PS4, with development having begun on that console before continuing in parallel with its successor, it is undoubtedly meant to be played on Sony’s brand new and almost impossible to buy hardware. The big “wow moment” in its latest trailer comes when Aloy submerges herself into a tropical reef that’s teeming with neon coral, giant clouds of fish and the odd AI-powered alligator. It’s a signifier of both a newfound scale to her escapades and the sheer fidelity Guerrilla has lavished on its latest creation.

"Our engineers spent an incredible amount of time on the water rendering and wave techniques. They probably spent years on that," said Horizon Forbidden West game director Mathijs de Jonge in a new interview with GQ. "There’s so much detail we can put into San Francisco’s overgrown ruins. I don’t think many people have noticed but every strand is rendered individually," de Jonge continues, referencing the individual strands of moss permeating the ruins of California.

In Horizon Forbidden West, protagonist Aloy is leaving her former stomping grounds of Zero Dawn to journey westward to California. This is why de Jonge is talking about the wave technology and water rendering taking up such a large chunk of the development process: because it's basically encapsulating a large amount of the game's open-world map on the west coast of America.

Having discovered the story of her origins in Zero Dawn, what comes next is set to be a different kind of adventure. “You want to stay true to her character, but she has to evolve,” says McCaw. “As she journeys into the mysterious frontier of the Forbidden West, she is going to evolve and I think people are really going to like it.” Don’t just take his word for it though. Covid willing, you’ll be able to play what's sure to be the biggest game of 2021 come the holiday season. It will be an epic in every respect.

Keegan Michael Key Snl GIF by Saturday Night Live


They really took the HZD water criticism personally.
 
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