Crysis Interview

Alex Gambotto-Burke recently interviewed Bernd Diemer –- the senior designer behind Crysis -– about fallen trees, licenses and DX10 technologies.

Crysis is a helluva game, there’s no doubt about that. Whether you like non-stop action or stealth sneak-kills, it’s a game you can easily play your way.

But it’s also a bold technology demo for an astoundingly complex and powerful game engine that Crytek is hoping to license out to the wider game developer community.

Bernd Diemer poured a lot of blood, sweat and pixels into the development of the game and engine – see what he has to say on the engine’s future and on some of the design challenges presented in creating such a detailed and destructible environment...


Atomic: What is the central design philosophy behind Crysis?

Bernd Diemer: The central design philosophy behind Crysis is giving the player the tools to play the game the way he wants to, and not the way the game wants him to play. We call this sandbox gameplay.

The sandbox is a combination of a rich, open environment, and a set of tools, like the Nano Suit, which the player can use to manipulate and interact with the environment in his own way and time.

By putting the focus on open gameplay, and using great cinematic cut scenes and intense story moments to guide the player through the sandbox, we allow for a player-centric experience with a high replay value, while also providing thrilling drama and spectacle.


Atomic: Would you be able to explain Crysis' story and world?

Diemer: It's 2020. Global tensions have reached boiling point as the U.S. and North Korea square off in the South China Sea. At stake: a mysterious artifact uncovered by a team of American archaeologists. The North Korean government quickly seizes the area, prompting the U.S. to dispatch an elite team of Special Forces operatives on a rescue mission. During the siege the true nature of the artifact quickly emerges, pointing to the existence of an alien presence on Earth, and ultimately the trigger for a massive-scale alien invasion. The battle to save Earth begins as the aliens' flash freeze the tropics into a ghostly-white frozen landscape.


Atomic: Could you detail what's been done with the game's AI?

Diemer: We build emergent AI for Crysis. It means that if the player chooses different tactics in order to try to beat the enemy, the AI will respond to each tactic differently. Every play session is essentially different. As Crysis is a realistic game, we tried to model the AI perception as realistically as possible. The player can create sounds which will make the AI to investigate the source and the AI really needs to see the player before it fights back. That allows the player to have great fun playing stealth. Another challenge for Crysis AI was the dynamic and breakable world. We put in a lot of effort that the AI is able to fight back in the midst of the player created havoc of broken huts and fallen trees.


Atomic: What about the engine do you think would be most appealing to licensees, and how are you going about attracting them?

Diemer: Every game is different, therefore every licensee has different needs, and different engine features appeal to them. For some it's the ability to render large open areas, for others it's the integrated physics and high quality animation, still others emphasize how much they like the ability to do high quality, near photorealistic scenes, that render on the fly in real time.

But for all our licensees, our Sandbox 2 editor is a key productivity feature which sets apart our engine and tools from all the rest. Building game levels with our editor makes level design an enjoyable experience again, compared to the difficult task it can be without the right tools. Being able to add a new game play feature, then immediately play test it, is also a major benefit, as there is no waiting time for assets to be compiled into some special format. This makes it easier to revise the level design again and again, until everyone agrees the level not only looks great, but is both challenging and fun.


Atomic:What are the key features of the new CryEngine?

Diemer: Simply put, the key features are the most advanced real time renderer, editor and tool chain available along with "What You Play is What you Get Editing" giving designers immediate feedback for rapid iteration.


Atomic: What sort of performance differences will players see on DirectX 10 and DirectX 9 hardware?

Diemer: It will be some time before DirectX 10 gives a superior performance to DirectX 9 in all situations, as the API and OS are as yet not as mature as DirectX 9. DirectX 10 does have clear wins in a number of areas - for example we've found that the framerate is much more stable on DirectX 10 leading to improved gameplay as movement is more predictable.