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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Why are the shooting game engines the only ones being licensed?

disolitude on 11 February 2008
When it comes to game engines, the only ones that come to mind are from shooter games. Lithtech, Unreal 3, Doom engine, Cryengine2, Source...the list goes on and on. Why are they the only ones being licensed? How come Sega never licensed the engine that made Shenmue (at the time Shenmue came out, there was no better looking game on PC or console) or Mario licensed the Mario 64 engine back on the n64 days(it was the first and best looking game for that system).

I am not a programmer and I don't know how and why a gaming company chooses an engine to go with. I'm guessing it has to do with Dev tools that are developed at the same time the engine is made... But I was wondering if anyone has a clear explanation why only shooter games engines are available for licensing?



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BenKenobi88 on 11 February 2008

Probably because shooters are typically the ones that push the most graphical advancements...and RPG engines tend to be made specifically for that game, working with that game's mechanics. I imagine an engine used to power an FPS is more workable? I dunno.

The White engine or whatever runs FFXIII is supposed to get used for a few multiplatform games, right? 



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Kyros on 11 February 2008

"Why are they the only ones being licensed?"

Because they are the best engines? FPS normally push the envelope the most graphically.
Besides it came from the PC area and is pretty new for consoles.



ssj12 on 11 February 2008

because they can be used for any genre



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Avalach21 on 11 February 2008

you gotta include source engine in your initial post or this thread fails



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fazz on 11 February 2008

Because those companies make more money from licensing the engine than from the game itself. You think Epic cares if UT3 has sold? Probably not, because they have licensed the engine for at least 20 games. UT3 is just to showcase the engine. Same for Crysis.

In the case of companies like Nintendo, with the Brawl engine or the Wind Waker engine used in TP, the game sells, and if they license the engine for another developer to create a similar game, they would create themselves a competitor.

Or something like that.



Fonzerelli on 11 February 2008

Ever heard of Renderware , it was used for everything from FPS (Black, Call Of Duty Consoles, etc..), RTS, GTA, Racing (Burnout etc..), Sports (PES)..
Gamebryo has been used for Zoo Tycoon2, Sid Meiers Railroads, Pirates, Civilization 4,Empire Earth 2,3, (RTS/Turn bASed), Morrowind,Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (FPS),
As Of Next-Gen Epic is getting the most business.
EA basically screwed up implementing Renderware on next gen although Crackdown for 360 uses renderware



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twesterm on 11 February 2008

Just because you're working with something like the Source or Unreal engine doesn't mean you have to make a FPS.

I know someone that turned the Bioware toolset into a rail shooter.



 

disolitude on 11 February 2008

@ Fonzerelli - Right!...forgot about Renderware.

I agree with most of you, the FPS engines are most technically advanced. You will never hear Miyamoto talk about dynamic shadows when he is talking about Mario Galaxy. But I still think that it has to do with tools that Unreal provides rather than the technical aspect of it. Why would Undertow bother with Unreal 3 engine otherwise?

Doing some research, Unreal 3 seems to have won the engine war this generation as there are more games in development for it than all other engines combined. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unreal_Engine#Unreal_Engine_3_2

@Avalach21 - Source is a great engine and some amazing games have been made with it, I have added it to the list ;)



sieanr on 11 February 2008
Shenmue was never licensed because it was sega, Yu suzuki would shit bricks, ect. The Mario 64 engine was never outsourced because Nintendo doesn't do that sort of shit. However it was used and adapted for Zelda OOT, MM, WW, TTP as well as Mario Sunshine and Pikmin - and probably some other games.

Leo-j said: If a dvd for a pc game holds what? Crysis at 3000p or something, why in the world cant a blu-ray disc do the same?

ssj12 said: Player specific decoders are nothing more than specialized GPUs. Gran Turismo is the trust driving simulator of them all. 

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