Video: Rockstar Games show off Max Payne 3's engine technology, physics, bullet modeling and more.
We enthused recently about Max Payne 3's quality, noting especially that "NPCs react to and move around the environment in complex yet believable ways, from the way a group of sicarios will advance through cover, seeking prey, to the way they’ll crumple around bullet impacts and collapse in a combined ragdoll and animated heap.”
Rockstar Games have since released a developer diary much to that exact theme, which is mostly focused on the design and technology that powers Max Payne 3’s physics and animation – effectively the software wizardry used to make the world of MP3 seem real.
Part Splinter Cell Conviction, part Far Cry 2 and part Matrix, this video details the slow-motion effect that made its debut many years ago; and it looks just as cool now as it did then.
A big reason for this is the targeting system, which has been the primary focus for the development team – all animations are based around how the player moves the reticle (and Max) around the environment, rather than the other way around. This results in exceptionally fluid motion, as the video spectacularly shows.
Though it’s obvious some concessions have been made to get MP3 running smoothly on a console – such as the panes of glass that break into chunks, rather than shatter dynamically – these are made up for by a system that individually models each bullet fired by Max and the NPCs; the force and angle of which is calculated and applied to the target, which reacts accordingly.
It’s all very convincing, and makes the game appear – technically – one of the best-animated yet. Our final judgement is reserved for when Max Payne 3 reaches us in a final state, currently pinned at March of 2012.
Also make sure you check out the Bullet Time trailer and the pop-up trailers for more MP3 goodness.
Issue: 137 | June, 2012