far cry 2

Far Cry 2, Ubisoft Montreal (09/02/2008)

Yes, sometimes I get a little zany. It's the middle of the night, and birdwatching is on my mind. However, my binoculars are nowhere to be found. Luckily I have an R.P.G. with a scope. Ooh, maybe it's a good time to demonstrate the wild life interactivity with Dunia. First shot, yay, the birds veered away. Second shot, it's up, it's up, and it's down. Uh oh, time to run!

You may have already heard of a little game called, 'Far Cry 2' -- alright, maybe not so little. In case you're not familiar with the game, you play as a man caught in between two rival factions led by ruthless warlords. They both have a mutual arms supplier named the 'Jackal,' a very dangerous man whose only concern is to profit from his selling of weapons.

The world is set in the rough terrain of Africa, and the peril of the place matches the grueling task set before you; to take out the 'Jackal.' 'Far Cry 2' is a large step out of the usual First Person Shooter genre for several reasons, but there is only one I'll discuss today. I wanted to shed some light about the proprietary engine that we developed. It is the very thing that gives the in-game world of 'Far Cry 2' a personality of its own. Albeit the many characters you encounter in the game, the one that stands out most is the environment.

the Dunia Engine

'Far Cry 2,' has been in development for 3 1/2 years -- the bulk of which was spent on designing a dynamic engine that is fully realized and optimized for multi-core processors. Over 175 staff, and several thousand hours were spent on creating Dunia, a word that means 'Earth,' when translated from several languages. Why name it Dunia? You'll soon discover as I tell you of its features.

Fire

Everyone likes a fire, but a wise man once said that to understand the flame and to master the flame is what makes us different from other mammals. With Dunia, fire does not only burn, but it scorches and propagates whatever it gets in contact with. It's a dynamic entity that behaves on several dependent factors: humidity, wind direction, and material.

Although not as unpredictable as the real thing, we believe it's pretty darn close. Even when starting fire is not enough, scorched debris can also start fires, large explosions, and -- you get the idea. The smoke also behaves dynamically depending on the intensity of the fire as well as how much wind is exerting on it.

Vegetation

It's always 'greener on the other side,' when playing 'Far Cry 2.' Chop something near you, wait a while, and then you'll see it grow back in real-time. Time hasn't always been so relative in videogames, but it is only now that we have the technology to immerse you with a sense of time. So please don't feel guilty if you've suddenly cleared an area with a brush fire. It'll just grow right back.

Realtime Weather Effects

tip: This works well in survival situations where you may not always have a watch around. Hold your hand or 'character' hand to the direction of the sun and count how many hand measurements it takes from the sun to the horizon. Each hand count is about 1 1/2 hours of daylight.

Africa is one of those places that have varying weather conditions depending on where you are. There are torrential rains and floods one moment, then a searing and dry sun baking moment the next. You may face gale force winds, or a pleasant moon lit sky. The roads, vegetation, and general environment all respond to this dynamic weather delivery system. Be prepared to muck it out if you're without transportation, or just enjoy the scenery.

And trust me, you will be mucking around in Africa. Dust, mud, and debris will accumulate on vehicles, weapons, and even on yourself. This all happens in real time and you are finding yourself, in more ways than one, switching equipment. Weapons do fall apart in the heat of battle. You may want to check the reliability ratings of weaponry before purchasing them. A trusty AK-47 wouldn't be a bad idea to have in your arsenal (it hardly jams!).

Lighting

We have something called advanced indirect lighting. If you're familiar with the game, 'Haze,' you may have heard of a process called radial luminosity filtering. It is a similar process to that effect where a light source sometimes refracts light differently on varying surfaces. That gives the effect of depth to objects while defining shadows at the same time. This way is more efficient than ray tracing, where multiple points are mapped for its reference.

Adaptive Action Ambiance

This is a dynamic content delivery system that assesses your situation, and then throws at you different things depending on where you are and what you're doing. Stay in a quiet place for a while and you may hear crickets. Start running or emptying clips and you may not only attract hostiles in your vicinity, but a jam packed tune to fit the mood. In a densely packed marsh full of over growth? Be prepared to hear and see animals that also have some level of interactivity.

This system doesn't only handle what you hear in any given situation, but it'll also keep you on your toes as you will be encountering random patrols and check point areas.

Destructive Deterioration

Need to blow something up? Don't worry, there are many ways to go about doing that in 'Far Cry 2.' It is not only encouraged, but it is essential for you to use the environment to your advantage especially when you progress further in the game. You may have several unexpected results, but that is where the beauty of this engine comes from. As to how much of the environment is destructable, it's more or less what you can see. And I believe that we've created a world big enough for you to experiment in.

These are some, if not most of the things that are handled by the engine. For more information or gameplay tips, please visit our official website at FarCry2.com. And if you haven't already, please try out 'Far Cry 2.' It's available for the P.C., Xbox 360, and the Playstation 3. Or you can see it live by visiting me at my channel on Justin(TV).