id Software shows new game engine at WWDC

Posted on Tuesday, June 12 2007 @ 14:44 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
John Carmack from id Software presented a new game engine at Apple's WWDC. This was the first public demo of id's new game engine tech which is called "id tech 5".

The demo showed a large outdoor desert level which, according to Carmack, used 20GB of textures.
This revolutionary new technology will power the studio’s internally created new game property and will be available for licensing to third parties. Previous iterations of id technology have powered games with worldwide retail sales totaling more than $1 billion, cementing id’s status as the premier technology provider for the industry.

id Software's co-founder and technical director, John Carmack, demonstrated id Tech 5 during the keynote address and commented, "Since many developers at id have made the switch to the Mac for their personal use, we decided it was now time to bring our core game technology to OS X. After a rapid bring up of the codebase, we were delighted to find that the latest Macs are the fastest systems in our offices for some of the time consuming processing jobs and will be contributing to our development process in many useful ways."

The new id rendering technology practically eliminates the texture memory constraints typically placed on artists and designers and allows for the unique customization of the entire game world at the pixel level, delivering virtually unlimited visual fidelity. Combined with a powerful new suite of tools designed specifically to facilitate and accelerate the content creation process, id Tech 5 will power games that contain vast outdoor landscapes that are completely unique to the horizon, yet have indoor environments with unprecedented artistic detail.
The id Tech 5 engine will support PC, Mac, Xbox 360 and PS3 platforms. The engine will be showed off next month at the E3 but to developers and publishers only.


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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