Any work being done on game engine?

[Kikokuma]

Is there any plans to eventually port the game to a newer game engine? One that could make better use of todays hardware for better performance, stability, responsiveness?

[Rudra]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say "no". Because that would require the entire game to be redesigned to work with the new engine. May as well just make a new game at that point.

[biostem]

46 minutes ago, Kikokuma said:

Is there any plans to eventually port the game to a newer game engine? One that could make better use of todays hardware for better performance, stability, responsiveness?

No.  This is the circa-2004 CoH we all know and love.  Let's not remake it, (read: destroy it), for the "modern audience".

Edited July 10 by biostem

[megaericzero]

There have been consistent efforts to improve the existing game/engine on the part of both the Paragon and HC devs. Usually subtle, backend stuff.

[Oklahoman]

Wasn't there a person who started recreating Atlas Park in Unreal or something? Just the creation of the 1 map was an enormous endeavor.

[Ruin Mage]

yeah i've spoken to devs (voices inside my head) and they say we're porting to unreal engine in 2027.

(real, not clickbait)

[ClawsandEffect]

I'd actually rather NOT see that happen, to be honest. 

 

As it stands now, anyone can play on the most basic computers you can buy nowadays. You don't have to have a dedicated gaming system to play. How many people would have to quit the game because it now has much higher system requirements that they might not be able to afford? 

 

It's a 20 year old MMO that costs nothing to play. It shouldn't require you to go out and spend $1,000 on a computer to play a free game. 

 

Create a sequel on a better game engine? Absolutely. Switching the current game over to one would do more harm than good. 

 

 

[FupDup]

8 minutes ago, ClawsandEffect said:

I'd actually rather NOT see that happen, to be honest. 

 

As it stands now, anyone can play on the most basic computers you can buy nowadays. You don't have to have a dedicated gaming system to play. How many people would have to quit the game because it now has much higher system requirements that they might not be able to afford? 

 

It's a 20 year old MMO that costs nothing to play. It shouldn't require you to go out and spend $1,000 on a computer to play a free game. 

 

Create a sequel on a better game engine? Absolutely. Switching the current game over to one would do more harm than good. 

 

 

I definitely oppose raising the minimum system requirements, but it is possible to make the game in a new engine while still keeping it potato-friendly. A new engine is more about stuff like stability, performance, QOL, adding/changing stuff way easier/faster...it doesn't have to be about uber high-res graphics. 

[Kikokuma]

1 hour ago, FupDup said:

I definitely oppose raising the minimum system requirements, but it is possible to make the game in a new engine while still keeping it potato-friendly. A new engine is more about stuff like stability, performance, QOL, adding/changing stuff way easier/faster...it doesn't have to be about uber high-res graphics. 

This is kinda more like I was talking about. Working with a 20 year old game engine is not easy. Tools are generally garbage and just working on one thing is usually an ordeal. I was just thinking a newer engine would be far easier to work with for the devs. And in terms of performance, a potato PC today is miles better then what the highest end PC could do 20 years ago. Heck just enabling usage of multi-threads would be a huge improvement. If anything this would just get more eyes on the project and lead more people to it that wouldn't have touched an "icky 20 year old MMO".

[lemming]

They did update it to 64 which is not as simple as it sounds.

[biostem]

Other issues aside, what I could get behind would be to take some of the earliest textures and cleaning them up a bit - you can clearly see a difference between the oldest face textures and some of the newer ones, for instance.

[Seed22]

6 hours ago, biostem said:

No.  This is the circa-2004 CoH we all know and love.  Let's not remake it, (read: destroy it), for the "modern audience".

Wait so lemme get this straight: Graphical updates, stability increases, and a bunch of other QoL features present in a new engine is “killing the game”

 

But wide sweeping nerfs, reinventing power sets(EM, other changes I’m not allowed to talk about but were in CB.) and a literal modern reimagining of TFs in the form of HM as an attempt to create “modern challenge” is fine?

 

*I’m not even for the change, just found this response funny 

Edited July 11 by Seed22

[Seed22]

4 hours ago, ClawsandEffect said:

I'd actually rather NOT see that happen, to be honest. 

 

As it stands now, anyone can play on the most basic computers you can buy nowadays. You don't have to have a dedicated gaming system to play. How many people would have to quit the game because it now has much higher system requirements that they might not be able to afford? 

 

It's a 20 year old MMO that costs nothing to play. It shouldn't require you to go out and spend $1,000 on a computer to play a free game. 

 

Create a sequel on a better game engine? Absolutely. Switching the current game over to one would do more harm than good. 

 

 

I actually can definitely get behind this. I don’t want to have to buy a $800+ PC just to play a modernized version of a 20 yr old MMO

[WanderingAries]

I mean, if somebody wants to spend their free time despagettifying the base code, then have at it as that would create the best results with the least amount of jarring changes on our end. 😉

 

I imagine that would make the devs' jobs that much easier with troubleshooting issues as well.

[biostem]

4 minutes ago, Seed22 said:

Wait so lemme get this straight: Graphical updates, stability increases, and a bunch of other QoL features present in a new engine is “killing the game”

I'm not sure what you took from what you quoted, there, but updating/improving/adding to the existing game and its engine are not the same as trying to remake it using some new(er)/completely different engine...

 

One need look no further than Champions Online to see what a similar dev team does with a newer and more robust game engine, and why many of us prefer CoH over it, (bugs, quirks, and all).

[Rudra]

18 minutes ago, biostem said:

One need look no further than Champions Online to see what a similar dev team does with a newer and more robust game engine, and why many of us prefer CoH over it, (bugs, quirks, and all).

Oh good lord... Champions Online... it is so broken even for zone geometry with its floating up in the sky boxes and bottles/other trash in some zones floating 3 feet off the ground, has been for a very long time now, had several missions removed without replacement because they changed the crafting system, and last I saw, the devs there are making absolutely no attempts to fix or update the game in any meaningful way.... Yeah, the less said about that game, the better....

 

(Edit: And with all that, it was still meant to be the game that buried City of Heroes?! Yeah, right. Newer does not mean better.)

 

Edited July 11 by Rudra

[tidge]

I think all the folks interested in changing to a different game engine are working 100% on City of Titans.