hile Crysis should have been released many moons ago, Crytek’s DX10 FPS powerhouse is finally finished and in its last stages of bug testing and polishing. We had the opportunity recently to catch up with Crytek bossman Cevat Yerli on a number of topics. Being one of the champions of DX10, we find out how much of a non-issue the DX10.1 update really is. If you already dropped the fat cash on a DX10 card months ago – relax. Find out why.
But with Crysis finished, what’s in store for this ever expanding company? Looks like EA and Crytek are going to partner again for a new IP release that should be announced soon. What’s the situation with a console version of FarCry, and why does Yerli not think console FPS games are up to par with PC FPS titles? Is Yerli going to “Finish the Fight” with Halo 3? Not likely considering he wasn’t grabbed by the experience. However, you may see him getting his fill on BioShock. All this and more can be found in our expansive interview with Crytek’s Cevat Yerli.
GI: Will the DX10 version of the game be shipping with the game in the box?
Yerli: Yes.
GI: You were one of the big cheerleaders for DX10 from the outset, and there are all these discussions on the Internet now saying there’s this new version of DX10 that’s going to make existing DX10 hardware obsolete.
Yerli: It’s bulls***. It’s a misunderstanding and miscommunication. DX10.1 does not make DX10 obsolete, and it doesn’t make the hardware obsolete. 10.1 is the improvement on the API. Because DX10 was a little loose with the guidelines, 10.1 makes absolutely no compromises anymore. Microsoft made the spec to support the hardware manufacturers back then because of development times and SDK, so people could start developing for Vista. If a game absolutely requires 10.1, which no game will do because it would be economically a ridiculous call - if you were to make a DX10 only game, it would be 10 only, not 10.1. Otherwise, you’d rule out a whole generation of DX10 hardware.
GI: Does Crysis have any 10.1 features in it?
Yerli: No.
GI: The way I look at it as, if I bought a DX10 card already for $500, I’ve got a card that isn’t going to support the DX10.1 features.
Yerli: The features that it supports are not critical. The difference is so minimal. You would have to have two more generations of graphics hardware to really consider making a DX10.1 only game where the [DX10.1] features then would become significant if actually used right. I didn’t look at 10.1 because for me, I just looked at our engineers and said, “No, don’t need it in the next 12 months.” (laughs) That’s all I need to know right now.
From what I understand, even if you had the next generation of 10.1 hardware, it would be too slow to use the features. You would have to wait two more generations in order to get a real benefit from it. Remember, Matrix introduced environmental bump mapping almost 6-7 years ago? Normal Mapping and bump mapping just made it in the four years since then. In fact, Far Cry was the first normal mapped game to ship. When you look at it this way, it’s the same as 10.1. 10.1 will become actual or three years from now. But not now.
GI: So you don’t think developers are going to be using the feature set in the next year or so?
Yerli: Well if they do it’s their own choice. We wont. I mean we as a technical pushing – leading company wouldn’t do that. And I wonder why anyone else would do that either. I would say to all gamers, don’t worry about 10.1 what-so-ever. We are a DX10 game, not 10.1, and your investment in DX10 hardware if you did it already, is fine.