Forget about games like Crackdown 3 – this right here is the real power of the cloud. As part of a presentation at SIGGRAPH 2015, Dutch developer Guerrilla Games briefly touched upon the volumetric clouds that it'll be including in forthcoming PlayStation 4 exclusive Horizon: Zero Dawn. And while it all gets really technical and a bit boring, we can confirm that they look freakin' amazing.
Perhaps the more interesting anecdote is not how the technology works, but why the studio's decided to build it in the first place. "In the past, Guerrilla has been known for the Killzone series of games, which are first-person shooters," explained effects bigwig Andrew Schneider. "FPS usually restrict the player to a predefined track, which means that we could hand place elements like clouds using billboards and highly detailed sky domes to create a heavily art directed sky."
It can't do this in its upcoming role-playing game, of course, because it's open world. As you can see in the video, the setting is also governed by a very realistic day and night cycle, and there'll be weather effects in the final product as well. These are brand new challenges for the studio, then, but we have faith in its ability to deliver. Indeed, if there's one thing that we can guarantee, it's that this game will look extraordinary.
[source guerrilla-games.com, via gearnuke.com]
Comments 23
Haha =). Power of the cloud.
According to My amazon.co.uk 'pending orders' list. Horizon: Zero Dawn will be delivered on 7th September 2015 I'll email you guys with a screenshot
Power of the cloud is good =).
But I remeber when I were a child, I saw trailers of the first Killzone and Monster Hunter 1 at the same time on one disc from some magazine. And I really liked conception of Monster Hunter and design in Killzone. But I thought that Monster Hunter will be open world rpg =). And when I look at Horizon, I feel lkie my imagination and impressions from that moment have manifested themselfs into reality =)). LOL. I mean, this is open world rpg with monster hunting and brilliant guerilla games design. Oh, reality is so funny sometimes =).
Dem clouds doe!
No, Sammy, don't write about the clouds! Don't want this confined to
7.8 too much clouds
the clouds look very nice but whats getting me all riled up is the fact that its open world and there is a day/night cycle and weather!!! imagine wondering off track and getting lost while day light is slipping away, finding yourself lost under armed sneaking about as night has fallen in the rain during a thunderstorm!!! THAT excites me. the more i hear about this game the better it sounds. i hope its very light on the HUD for better immersion. hope its not bogged down with inventory management. i have faith it will turn out really good.
@Gmork___ sounds like Minecraft
I'm not an 'open world' fan, but I am getting very excited about this game.
@Cyber-BLP-- I'm getting a Monster Hunter vibe, I am, however, intrigued about what the overall aim and goal is (not that monster hunter has much of either, just rinse and repeat the grind... Not that that's a bad thing).
@Cyber-BLP-- Agree. Yeah and they wouldn't want the embarrassment of downgrading the clouds when they get past the early tech demos! I definitely miss when major game releases focused on gameplay first and graphics second. More what you can do, not what the game does for you. I do hope this delivers though. Can't wait to get in a Skell mind!
@BrizzoUK
Had a gameplay demo at E3 but lets not pay attention to that fact.
@Gamer83 Apologies, like I said, genuinely excited by this, in all of E3 I didn't realise this was running! Will check out footage. I own a PS4 and am very happy with it so meant nothing by it. Just used to things being shown first and then not being quite the same after (not that I mind as I really just focus on gameplay!).
@BrizzoUK
You don't have to be happy with the game or apologize for anything, you have your opinions, so I apologize if my post came off as hostile. I could've worded it better. I just take issue with the notion that the developers haven't shown gameplay when there was a gameplay demo at E3. And I agree with you that gameplay is king, always will be, it's why I'm laughing at the talk going around that MGS V The Phantom Pain may be disappointing because there's more focus on gameplay and less on story this time. But there's no reason a game can't be great in all aspects, Graphics, gameplay, story, etc.
@Gamer83 Completely agree. Can't believe I didn't realise this was running. Think I just assumed as it was its first showing (I didn't closely follow e3 evidently!) all I'd seen wasn't in game. That makes me more excited and hoping for an earlier release. Yeah just had my first run through of TLOUR and I agree it definitely all can be done right (I didn't game much for years so am behind on some modern classics.. I'm probably one of the few people who likes all these remasters!).
@BrizzoUK
I honestly wouldn't be surprised if what we saw in the demo doesn't show up in the game. It is a ways off and like you said, things change. But, I think what the demo did do was give us an idea of what to expect will be in there. It definitely has a Monster Hunter vibe but, as much as I like some of Guerilla Games' efforts, it doesn't have the same great track record Capcom's MH team does, so we'll have to see how it executes its ideas.
They were doing live demos at E3 and Gamescom, too, so it wasn't just a pre-recorded video. They showed a different playthrough of the same segment apparently.
The only thing I'm really disappointed about is that 2016 seems too good to be true for a release.
@Gamer83 Yeah early hype and the reality are very different things, we wouldn't be gamers if we didn't get irrationally hyped though I guess! I just hope this gets close to its early promise. If not, there's always the clouds!
@BrizzoUK
One thing Guerilla can do is graphics, that's for sure. Gameplay and everything else? Definitely hit and miss. Don't know how much you've followed the Killzone series but, eventhough it's an FPS, much different genre than what Horizon is, Killzone 2 is excellent and Mercenary is a great example of how to do FPS on Vita and shows what Guerilla is capable of. Unfortunately Killzone 1, 3 and Shadow Fall weren't the greatest. All looked fantastic though. Shadow Fall certainly served its purpose as an early show case for new gen.
@get2sammyb Yeah just watched some on YouTube, this is definitely my most anticipated game of 2016 (Persona 5 is pretty close!). Btw your review of Until Dawn convinced me to go ahead with a day one purchase of Until Dawn, very excited to play that!
@Gamer83 Yeah I burned out on fps early (also never got good enough online contributed to that!). But my PS3 disk tray broke and my Xbox 360 red ring of deathed in the last gen early on, that left me with a Wii (and eventually U) until I finally reinvested in a PS4 this year. Therefore my recent fps schooling had been patchy! I do love it when a Dev properly adapts to the hardware (as in Your mention of Vita version), I love handheld gaming and now I am back all in on gaming I would have considered one, just a shame it's been abandoned by Sony on a first party basis now (as a U owner with the reverse situation it certainly isn't nice having massive big game droughts!).
@BrizzoUK
So not too familiar with Guerilla then. That might actually be a good thing. Gives you a fresh perspective. Although this is such a massive departure from what it usually makes that it's like a fresh start for the studio and gamers. I'm actually way more excited about this than I would be another Killzone, no matter how much I enjoyed 2.
@Gamer83 Very safe to say! I do like it when devs get to do something new, I imagine (hope) it is more of a passion project and they usually shine through, even if they are imperfect they generally feel better and fresher than by-the-numbers games devs are made to repeat year on year for guaranteed sales.
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