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Looks like most of the work in CryEngine 3 was for the particle system. I'm guessing the rest is just simplification of various portions of the engine and optimizations. More like CryEngine 2.1. Well, that's what I gathered from what was shown, at least.
And Crysis sales were shitty because people read reviews, understood that the requirements were absurdly high, and decided against buying it. Hell, it seems anyone whose game sells poorly on PC is quick to blame piracy. And in the end, this will only hurt both consumers and developers. Games developed for Xbox 360 can be fairly easily ported to (or simultaneously developed for) Windows in DirectX, compared to developing it for another console.
Two fairly recent examples:
- Crysis: Bad sales caused by medicore gameplay and poor performance.
- GTA IV: Bad sales caused by everyone already owning a copy on two other platforms, delays, poor performance, DRM and bugs.
I have a pretty high-end system, so I can run any game to-date. But that doesn't mean they can make games targetted to people such as myself. I have an HTPC that I also like to game on, and it is by no means high-end. The Grand Theft Auto series, up until 4, worked amazingly well on even low-end systems with integrated video. Sure, it wasn't stunning, but it WORKED. So, the keys to success on PC:
- Broaden your horizons. Is your game's key feature graphics? If so, make it look phenomenal on high-end systems, but make sure it looks and runs reasonably well on low-end systems. Hell, make sure it actually RUNS on integrated video at 640x480.
- Actually test your game for bugs, and do it on a wide variety of system configurations with different drivers. Yeah, build systems from a few years ago. Don't just grab the latest and greatest system from Dell and think that's what everyone is using.
- Get outside opinions during and before development. You might like something, but if the majority of reviewers feel differently, that is going to harm your sales.
- Try not to delay your game unexpectedly close to its original release date. It only pisses people off.
- Don't release a buggy game and put a patch out online, expecting everyone will want to hop online to download an update before they can play. Fix everything you CAN beforehand.
- Don't release a game on every other platform, and then put it out on PC many months later. If you do, it better have a hell of a lot of improvements over its console variants, and you'd better advertise those improvements, too.
- Don't cripple the modding community. Let us do something. It only lets us enjoy the game even more for longer.
- Having an enjoyable online mode is a major point these days. Since you need an official copy/key to play online, it's a good selling tool.
- DRM generally sucks. I DO NOT want to go online to activate my game. Once it's installed, I should be able to play right away. Do NOT limit the number of times I can install my game. Do NOT enforce restrictions on where and when I can play. Just leave me alone, let me play.
And Crysis sales were shitty because people read reviews, understood that the requirements were absurdly high, and decided against buying it. Hell, it seems anyone whose game sells poorly on PC is quick to blame piracy. And in the end, this will only hurt both consumers and developers. Games developed for Xbox 360 can be fairly easily ported to (or simultaneously developed for) Windows in DirectX, compared to developing it for another console.
Two fairly recent examples:
- Crysis: Bad sales caused by medicore gameplay and poor performance.
- GTA IV: Bad sales caused by everyone already owning a copy on two other platforms, delays, poor performance, DRM and bugs.
I have a pretty high-end system, so I can run any game to-date. But that doesn't mean they can make games targetted to people such as myself. I have an HTPC that I also like to game on, and it is by no means high-end. The Grand Theft Auto series, up until 4, worked amazingly well on even low-end systems with integrated video. Sure, it wasn't stunning, but it WORKED. So, the keys to success on PC:
- Broaden your horizons. Is your game's key feature graphics? If so, make it look phenomenal on high-end systems, but make sure it looks and runs reasonably well on low-end systems. Hell, make sure it actually RUNS on integrated video at 640x480.
- Actually test your game for bugs, and do it on a wide variety of system configurations with different drivers. Yeah, build systems from a few years ago. Don't just grab the latest and greatest system from Dell and think that's what everyone is using.
- Get outside opinions during and before development. You might like something, but if the majority of reviewers feel differently, that is going to harm your sales.
- Try not to delay your game unexpectedly close to its original release date. It only pisses people off.
- Don't release a buggy game and put a patch out online, expecting everyone will want to hop online to download an update before they can play. Fix everything you CAN beforehand.
- Don't release a game on every other platform, and then put it out on PC many months later. If you do, it better have a hell of a lot of improvements over its console variants, and you'd better advertise those improvements, too.
- Don't cripple the modding community. Let us do something. It only lets us enjoy the game even more for longer.
- Having an enjoyable online mode is a major point these days. Since you need an official copy/key to play online, it's a good selling tool.
- DRM generally sucks. I DO NOT want to go online to activate my game. Once it's installed, I should be able to play right away. Do NOT limit the number of times I can install my game. Do NOT enforce restrictions on where and when I can play. Just leave me alone, let me play.