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[IbizaPocholo]

At Remedy Entertainment, we have always been committed to using our own in-house technology, Northlight, to power most of our games.

We spoke with the people who work with Northlight every day, our developers and the people who make Remedy's games, on what working with in-house technology means for them, and how Northlight keeps evolving.

Northlight is a comprehensive game engine that, like every game engine, has a unique take on workflows and data pipelines. It has modern rendering technology, offers comprehensive solutions for most - if not all - areas of game development, and it can be used to make games for multiple console platforms and PC.

The developers of Remedy's Northlight engine discuss how having their own proprietary engine allows them to tailor workflows and pipelines to suit their team's needs, resulting in unique and standout features in their games. They also emphasize the importance of collaboration, creating a cohesive environment, and the human element of Northlight. The team has retired their legacy editor and adopted USD for their content pipelines, complementing the game engine's data-orientated model. The studio is committed to keeping their technology competitive and meaningful for their game projects, with each game acting as proof of their commitment to their technology.

 

[k_trout]

thanks IbizaPocholo

 

[GinSama]

One of my favourite studios.
Thanks IbizaPocholo
I will watch for sure.

 

[DragoonWalker]

I don't understand the tech jargon but I like how confident they are in it, and how comfy they are working with it. The physics and destruction in Control feels like something games use to focus on and now no one else does. Lighting looks great too, RT or no RT. I don't usually like remakes but the Max Payne remake is gonna be so much fun.

 

[CGNoire]

There may end up regreting showing that wall with the staff photos?

 

[CGNoire]

My favorite dev hands down.

 

[CGNoire]

I don't understand the tech jargon but I like how confident they are in it, and how comfy they are working with it. The physics and destruction in Control feels like something games use to focus on and now no one else does. Lighting looks great too, RT or no RT. I don't usually like remakes but the Max Payne remake is gonna be so much fun.

Looking at the nuance and accuracy of the destruction in Control mixed with the announcment of the Max Payne Remake made me salivate.

 

[DenchDeckard]

I absolutely love remedy...all their games are day ones for me.

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

Looking at the nuance and accuracy of the destruction in Control mixed with the announcment of the Max Payne Remake made me salivate.

Control was an experience.

I loved the world and the commitment the game had to it.

 

[CGNoire]

God I hope all this talk I have heard now from multiple devs about "excitement" over the adoption of "USD" doest end up meaning that adoption is just some backdoor for cross dev/games asset sharing designed specifically to implement NFTs. I mean I trust Remedy and maybe Im just being paranoid but theres plenty of legit reasons to be a cynical gamer right now.

 

[FeralEcho]

In house engines will always trump 3rd party engines.They have certain intricacies and features that make them stand apart from everything else and I always appreciate that.Its like the use of practicat effects in movies versus full on cgi...

 

[Kataploom]

I love Remedy games, but their engines are too good for the hardware they're running on most of the time

Cool and all but that's the reason their games demand too many resources on PC and struggle on console.

When Alan Wake came out on PC the quality of the effects made me think "that's how games will look next gen"... And wasn't too wrong, many of the stuff you see on AW maxed out became the norm on 8th gen lol

But their PC ports tend to suck anyway and I don't know if their engines is the problem, Control literally has a boss that crashes the game every time to the point the "solution" on internet is to cheat using the one shot kill accessibility option because there's literally no other choice... Also control has a bug that when you finish the jukebox mission, it doesn't mark it as complete, the "solution" is to start a new game because it won't fix... It happens on consoles too so this is not a PC only issue... And can't forget the polemics on quantum break barely running on mid range PCs.

Everything else is just "they're too forward thinking" sometimes, they're games look outstanding, everything they do clicks a lot with me, including they're storytelling.

 

[CGNoire]

Control was an experience.

I loved the world and the commitment the game had to it.

For me Story and Remedy go hand and hand and Ive never been much of a fan of overly surreal or dream based storytelling when it fully encompasses the narrative the way it did in control. I feel like the story was its weakest part. That mixed with the fact that it seemed Remedy was finacing there own game which tends to be a sign of trouble for a company which of course puts additional pressure to conform to trends pushed them in a looter shooter direction which turned out very profitable for them. Im glad of course there doing really well and know they will be funneling that income back into more stellar games but my bias against that genre mixed with a lack of a gripping narative left me pretty disappointed. There gameplay loop is allways good but I was mostly impressed with in there attention to shader accuracy and nuance physics.

 

[GymWolf]

For me they are hit and miss, i loved the max payne games and control but didn't cared for quantum and alan wake.

MP remake should be good tho.

 

[Germuso]

Lets see if Gameplay is as good as Max Payne 3.

 

[GymWolf]

Lets see if Gameplay is as good as Max Payne 3.

Gameplay could be better, but forget the same quality hit reactions and ragdoll because the game doesn't use euphoria engine.

 

[Black_Stride]

I don't understand the tech jargon but I like how confident they are in it, and how comfy they are working with it. The physics and destruction in Control feels like something games use to focus on and now no one else does. Lighting looks great too, RT or no RT. I don't usually like remakes but the Max Payne remake is gonna be so much fun.

 

[EzinioAuditorinio]

I hope Max Payne Remake will be great, I also loved Alan Wake, but Control was so boring.

 

[CGNoire]

Lets see if Gameplay is as good as Max Payne 3.

My biggest concern.

 

[CGNoire]

Just beat Stranglehold for the 3rd time. God I wish I could remove that shitty red filter.

 

[GymWolf]

Thanks.

 

[Kikorin]

Remedy is the team that made some of my favourite games ever. With Control they really did the best destruction ever seen in a game to me, made battles so satisfying. They just understand so well what make a game fun to play and they can sacrifice animations for a responsive experience, something that other AAA teams still have not mastered.

Can't wait to play Alan Wake 2 and their Max Payne remake.

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

For me Story and Remedy go hand and hand and Ive never been much of a fan of overly surreal or dream based storytelling when it fully encompasses the narrative the way it did in control. I feel like the story was its weakest part. That mixed with the fact that it seemed Remedy was finacing there own game which tends to be a sign of trouble for a company which of course puts additional pressure to conform to trends pushed them in a looter shooter direction which turned out very profitable for them. Im glad of course there doing really well and know they will be funneling that income back into more stellar games but my bias against that genre mixed with a lack of a gripping narative left me pretty disappointed. There gameplay loop is allways good but I was mostly impressed with in there attention to shader accuracy and nuance physics.

The thing is, I love surreal bureaucracies in fiction: things like the federal bureau of control, the time variant agency, the scp foundation... that kinda stuff is my jam. And if you like the genre, it was very well done. There's a saying that the setting is the story, and the setting of Control is top notch.

Of course if you don't like the surreal, then yeah.

 

[CGNoire]

The thing is, I love surreal bureaucracies in fiction: things like the federal bureau of control, the time variant agency, the scp foundation... that kinda stuff is my jam. And if you like the genre, it was very well done.

No suprise since they are an exceptional deveolper. Im glad they nailed it for you.

I always knew Remedy and IO where gonna make it since Demosceners are so amazingly skilled in general.

 

[HL3.exe]

Hoping they'll implement a Euphoria-like physics animation driven system equivalent.

Especially for the Max Payne remakes. Everything else can be a step up in rendering and destruction physics, but if the ragdolls are just still stuck in the non-reactive PS2 generation...

Quantum Break and Control looked incredible, but their ragdolls where just basic implementations.

 

[GymWolf]

Hoping they'll implement a Euphoria-like physics animation driven system equivalent.

Especially for the Max Payne remakes. Everything else can be a step up in rendering and destruction physics, but if the ragdolls are just still stuck in the non-reactive PS2 generation...

Quantum Break and Control looked incredible, but their ragdolls where just basic implementations.

I though control had good ragdoll, much better than the rigid\scripted one in quantum.

But you can forget something similar to euphoria, not even the best in the business animation wise (ND) have something similar.

 

[HL3.exe]

I though control had good ragdoll, much better than the rigid\scripted one in quantum.

But you can forget something similar to euphoria, not even the best in the business animation wise (ND) have something similar.

ND still relies on a customized (be it older) Havok implementation that works great for them. Physics driven animation (or active ragdolls) is not locked under euphoria perse. There are many different solutions to explore in this area.



There are some indie games with a custom made implementation of this concept.


Etc. Remedy broke ground with Max Payne 2's physics and ragdoll implementation, so i'm hoping the remakes honour those and bring it even further -or on par- with Euphoria. (Which is 15 years old btw. Gives some perspective how stagnated animation driven physics tech is.)

 

[Mister Wolf]

The environmental destruction in Control was the most impressive thing I've seen last gen.

 

[GymWolf]

ND still relies on a customized (be it older) Havok implementation that works great for them. Physics driven animation (or active ragdolls) is not locked under euphoria perse. There are many different solutions to explore in this area.



There are some indie games with a custom made implementation of this concept.


Etc. Remedy broke ground with Max Payne 2's physics and ragdoll implementation, so i'm hoping the remakes honour those and bring it even further -or on par- with Euphoria. (Which is 15 years old btw. Gives some perspective how stagnated animation driven physics tech is.)

I think hl2 was the first one using ragdoll and havok over mp2.

Btw, i played the shit out of exanima back in the day, the idea was great (but clunky) and it never catched on in other games.

It's disgusting that we are in 2023 and nobody use some sort of euphoria other than tech demo and very small games.

 

[HL3.exe]

I think hl2 was the first one using ragdoll and havok over mp2.

Max Payne 2 came out the year before, 14 October 2003. Using one of the first Havok versions.

To be even more pedantic (; Hitman codename 47 (2000) or even way way janky: Trespasser (1998) where the one of the earliest ragdoll implementation in games

 

[HL3.exe]

It's disgusting that we are in 2023 and nobody use some sort of euphoria other than tech demo and very small games.

True, even though I wouldn't call it disgusting, just sad.

I'm aware these tech advances are way harder to implement and iterate on than shader and static rendering fidelity, but leaps in physics tech is kinda lowkey why I like games sometimes, and more gameplay relevant then rendering. And it's sad to see the industry not really focusing in on it more.

 

[GymWolf]

Max Payne 2 came out the year before, 14 October 2003. Using one of the first Havok versions.

To be even more pedantic (; Hitman codename 47 (2000) or even way way janky: Trespasser (1998) where the one of the earliest ragdoll implementation in games

Yeah i remember those games using a primitive form of ragdoll, most noticeable when you were dragging corpses.

I think hitman was also the first one using soft material simulation.