A tweet about Creation Engine 2 posted by a certain user on July 3 is attracting attention. The tweet is a reaction to the video published on June 22, Creation Engine 2 introduced in Kinda Funny Xcast. Bethesda Game Studios (hereinafter Bethesda) development director Todd Howard appeared in the video, and the company is currently developing the title “StarfieldVarious Q&A about ]. Among them, attention was focused on the performance of the new game engine Creation Engine 2 that he mentioned.
Starfield runs on Bethesda’s new Creation Engine 2, which took very long to develop. CE2 allows Starfield to generate volumetric lighting/fog and real time global illumination. Todd Howard says: “What we’re able to do in the game, and have all these things looking amazing and… pic.twitter.com/hASWxICJyi
— Rebs Gaming (@Mr_Rebs_) July 3, 2023
Creation Engine 2 is a game engine developed in-house by Bethesda that is scheduled to be used in Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI. Its predecessor, Creation Engine, was jointly developed with NVIDIA in conjunction with the development of “The Elder Scrolls V”, and since its first operation in the same work in 2011, it has been used until “Fallout 76” under continuous updates. Therefore, “Starfield”, which will be released in September 2023, will be the first operation of the game engine Creation Engine 2, which has undergone a major update for the first time in about 12 years.
Kinda Funny XcastIn the video, June 12 “Sarfield DirectIn response to a question about the production background of the long-running gameplay video that was released at ‘, Mr. Todd said that Creation Engine 2, which was developed in parallel with the development of this work, contributed greatly to the creation of the game. He said he was. In addition, while most of Starfield’s development was carried out within Bethesda, it has been revealed that it will receive technical support from Microsoft’s advanced technology development group from the beginning of 2022. He said that optimization was also done with the support of the same group.
So how did Creation Engine 2 contribute to game development? In the video, Mr. Todd emphasizes the rendering performance of volumetric fog, especially in the reference to Creation Engine 2 featured in the aforementioned tweet, and the wonderful lighting processing of the same engine that is realized by it. He said he was very pleased with the performance, which took a long time to develop.
Roughly speaking, volumetric is a fog expression that incorporates light source processing. Compared to normal fog, it enables shadow expression that incorporates light. It also excels in inset expressions because it also affects shielding. The screenshots of “Starfield” that have been released so far are superior in expressing the feeling of atmosphere, including faint light, compared to past Bethesda works. That is the strength of “Starfield” drawn in Creation Engine 2. In addition, global illumination is also used in the light source processing of the same work.
Todd’s confidence in the development status of Starfield and Creation Engine 2 can be seen in his response, which describes Chris Rodriguez and Joel Dinolt, who lead Bethesda’s technical team, as “wizards.”
Confidence in this work is wide-ranging, physics calculation and the gravity system that accompanies it. Quests, guest systems, and other open-world games that are popping up all over the world, Todd says it’s going to be different again.
Not only the content of the game, but also the information of the new game engine Creation Engine 2 is gradually revealed, and we will keep an eye on the trend of the same work, which gives us a sense of the evolution of Bethesda.
“Starfield” is a PC (Steam/Microsoft Store）/Xbox Series X|SScheduled to be released on September 6th. Also available for Xbox/PC Game Pass. Also, if you pre-purchase the Premium Edition or higher version, you can play up to 5 days in advance.