There is a new trend-setting independent game developing team on the loose these days, and by the looks of their progress in recent months, they really do mean serious business.
Koru Entertainment, founded by Colin Wagner, Andre Bostrom, and Rex McNish, is a 47-person, purpose-driven independent game development group focused on pushing the envelope of PC gaming beyond even tomorrow's expectations and delivering a social impact in the process. The team encompasses a variety of skills from a Crysis-centered background, ranging from the famous framerate-boosting Custom Crysis Configuration project to The Creation mod, an alternative multilayered storyline to the original game with major engine improvement tweaks.
The team's newest and most valued IP game project, known as Type 3, is a first-person shooter RPG with a psycho-mystery thriller storyline set in a hybrid open-world, open level sci-fi universe. The game will bring up and tackle sensitive issues affecting modern society and will try to take the first steps towards in making video games recognized as a form of art. The story takes place in the eyes of Keith Raven, an ex-soldier who's mental and emotional scars have led him to spend 20 years in a psychiatric hospital. Shortly after release, his brother, a high ranking official in the United Republic of Species, commits suicide. After receiving a secret postmortem message from his dead brother, Keith reveals the racism, hate, and corruption reaching to the highest tiers of the Estari government, while fighting the intense psychosis destroying his sanity and perception of reality.
"Our mission is to bring video games to be recognized as the art forms they are," said Colin, Co-President and project lead of Type 3. "We also want to push the envelope in all aspects of a game, be it game play or storyline. Each section of our games will have an equal amount of attention paid to them, for a gaming experience that will invoke the same emotions and thoughts as an art film."
The game is based entirely around a proprietary technology known as the Maoli Engine, created exclusively for DirectX 10 from the ground up. Even more so, the group already anticipates plans for DirectX 11 in the near future. Maoli features a clipmap level of detail system, which essentially allows for unlimited terrain. It also features Cone Step Mapping, a faster and much more efficient alternative to Parallax Occlusion Mapping as found in Crysis.
In perspective, CSM is similar in result to parallax occlusion mapping, yet it's a bit different. Instead of just blindly tracing rays, the method uses pre-computed cone step texture that speeds up the tracing by quite a bit and also handles big changes in height much better. Moreover, CSM, POM and relief mapping are all very similar in result but are different algorithms.
Prenumbra Shadowing is also supported, which is currently the fastest shadow system for real-time games. Additionally, the method allows shadows to also fade as they get farther from the light source as real shadows do. To further complement this technique, Atmospheric Scattering is incorporated into the Time of Day system as well as motion blur, object motion blur, and Screen Space Ambient Occlusion.
One of the more noteworthy aspects of the engine is that it uses a deferred renderer. This basically allows for over 100 lights to be in a scene at any given time. In efficiency terms, it also shifts much of the rendering stress from the CPU to the GPU.
Last but not least, the engine provides very accurate and very optimized PhysX support for Aegia PPUs and PhysX-enabled GPUs. Furthermore, a more comprehensive list of complete specifications can be found here.
The game's lead mapper and texture artist Rex McNish quotes, "I wanted something more, to really be able to express my creativity. During the time I was with the Custom Crysis Configs team, I was mapping for a Crysis mod called 'The Creation', where I learned how to make custom Time of Day tweaks to provide CryEngine 2 with a more natural, immersive experience."
While Koru Entertainment is still off to an early start and is still working on expanding their team with new talent, its initial background, experience, and quality of work are nonetheless very respectable. We look forward to seeing what's in store for this independent development team, and if Type 3 really is the next graphical juggernaut to rival Crysis, the Maoli Engine promises to redefine the term "optimization" for a truly scalable game play experience.
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