The Outerra Engine

[pathetic_berserker 4]

I think Outerra is certainly the future of something , but what and when are a little hard to determine just yet. I think people need to be reminded that the current release of Outerra is more an alpha release of a game engine, not really a game. If you purchased it, it will eventually become a sandbox game but its going to take time. And many game ideas are going to be on hold until we can effectively populate and create assets for environments that large without using overly repetitive elements or excessive numbers of man hours.

Personally I feel the space sim niche would do well with something like that -like an X game but scaled down to a few solar systems with mining resources and limited civilizations.

Concur, I'd quite like the idea of forgoing the hundreds of systems most space adventure games go for if it meant getting a few really high quality ones. The range of play styles it could lend its self to is staggering.

[chortles 263]

Man BIS, I wish you would just ditch the Arma engine and all its headaches, problems, and go work with these people.

Whereas I somehow suspect that BI would be even less capable with Outerra than they already are with RV4, but than again this is what I think of these devs on any engine that isn't Real Virtuality.

[Darkhorse 1-6 16]

I'd imagine it could handle a space race scenario quite well. You have your military forces on the ground, but not too many, and you have to manage the little brushfire and proxy wars both sides are using to distract each other while trying to launch first, and then once you get out there your goal becomes a moonbase or somesuch thing. Or a conflict between two neighboring systems, both of them being human colonies and now bickering over who controls the 3rd, which contains earths rusting corpse.

[Harry Canyon 10]

What intrigues me is their terrain. Really nice.

[slatts 1978]

IF it doesn't force me to buy a new PC upon release. It ain't no competitor to Arma.

[cozza 24]

I though outerra was gonna be for some kinda Sim City like game

[PuFu 4600]

It seems like Arma may have a competitor. Outerra apparently will offer:

Realistically looking terrain with high detail.

Unlimited visibility, detail ranging from thousands of kilometers down to centimeters.

Real time atmospheric rendering.

Rendering of vast dense forests and grass.

Seamless transition from space down to the planet surface.

Adaptive LOD with continuous transitions. Elevation data are preprocessed using special wavelet compression, the required level of detail is extracted effectively on the fly.

Partitioned compressed dataset can be downloaded progressively over the web.

Fractal refinement mimicking the natural processes (erosion, rocks, overhangs).

Procedural texture generator combining mathematical models and climatic data.

Bitmap overlays for specific areas.

Vector data - roads, rivers, land class polygons.

Uses OpenGL 3.3

Dynamic shadows.

Fully asynchronous multi-threaded design able to utilize all available CPU cores.

Terrain and fractal algorithms runing completely on the GPU.

Stable frame rate system.

Supports arbitrary and varying resolution of elevation datasets, refined to centimeter resolution by fractal algorithms.

Embedded web browser allowing for direct web service integration.

Supports COLLADA 3D model file format.

Integrates a Flight Dynamics Model library for high fidelity simulation of aircraft, rockets.

Global physics engine for simulation of vehicle physics and collision detection.

Found on Outerra's website: http://www.outerra.com/index.html

So what do you think? Could this game be a major competitor for Arma? If Outerra goes toward a militery sim like VBS, then Arma be in some serious hot water.

They are building an engine, and don't really think yet of licensing it (although i think that is the overall scope).

And you can get to test it right now, you can download the dev alpha (or whatever is called).

It's a really good engine if you ask me, but it isn't a competitor to ArmA, maybe it is to the RV engine, although i haven't seen a decent character or AI as of yet.

But you are a few years too late. this discussion have been going since the first few pictures were released, together with the RSI on CE3

Edited November 8, 2013 by PuFu

[chortles 263]

RTI, but yeah -- Outerra definitely makes some aspects of Real Virtuality look bad, but without a game attached I see no reason to care about Outerra except as potential and possibilities.

[maturin 12]

ArmA doesn't need Outerra, DCS does.

[noubernou 77]

Arma needs some of the tech in Outerra, but not Outerra.

[Opticalsnare 12]

Big things have small beginnings, maybe someone will come along and buy it off them and turn it into whatever they want it to be, maybe they will licence the engine off. Its still too early to answer what it can and can't do.

Theres plently of engines out there being developed for large open areas, its just alot of people are happy to be ignorant or simply naive to what happens outside the realms of A3 and the forums.

Alot of engines are just standard-generic tech demos which have not yet been molded into what the client or developers wants to use them for. Some developers might want it be used for racing or a RPG type game. Just because its not currently being showcased to demonstrate what you want it to be used for does not mean its not capable of that kind of genre or design.

Edited November 17, 2013 by Opticalsnare

[jw custom 56]

its just alot of people are happy to be ignorant or simply naive to what happens outside the realms of A3 and the forums.

Or maybe just realistic, i mean in these consolized days...

[Sealife 22]

Some Nice additions in the latest patch Including the first rudimentary keyframed character and reflections on the textures amongst many. Really enjoying the progress on this and for alpha, $15, access to all further versions, its not a bad thing to at least keep on the HD

http://outerra.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/2013-retrospective-2014-look-ahead.html