Havok dev on Wii U: Console has advantages that others don’t, lots more
During GDC 2012, Havok VP of Engineering Dave Gargan discussed the company’s support for Wii U. We found out that Havok’s physics and animation technology would be making its way to Nintendo’s new console a few months back.
Gargan had much to say about Nintendo in an interview published today. There are a ton of interesting tidbits sprinkled throughout.
Gargan opened up on Havok’s relationship Nintendo, the engine’s actual capabilities, its functionality on the 3DS, and Wii U, including a comment that “we’ll see things done on the Wii U that we won’t see on another platforms”. He also mentioned that the “Wii U has specific advantages that no other platform has”.
You can find all of Gargan’s quotes after the break.
On the agreement with Nintendo:
“We have a worldwide arrangement with Nintendo, so developers get access to our physics and animation technology, which for us is actually something we’ve been trying and working for Nintendo to do for a long time. We’re really excited about this. And I think it sort of reflects a long partnership that we’ve had with Nintendo for a series of years.
“[The relationship] started with Wii, which was a platform where we pushed a couple key titles, things like Epic Mickey, for instance, where we had physics and animation included in the title. And, particularly, we had a strong third-party portfolio… So Nintendo were eager to see us—they’d seen our technology and how it… enabled different types of fun gameplay—they were eager to see us work with them on the [Wii U].”
Havok engine capabilities:
“So, [in the demo shown] we have physics and animation, but the entire portfolio over time will be available on the platform, including things like the Vision Engine [a multi-platform engine acquired by Havok last year].
“What might be interesting to you is how we’ve taken our portfolio and integrated [the Vision Engine] with a couple of different types of focus. One type of focus is on making environment more dynamic, and the other focus is on characters, and making really believeable characters.
“Vision is a cross-platform game engine, and it allows artists and programmers to work in a single environment… and create content very quickly.”
“That’s something we’re starting to see (ability to make environments more dynamic). There’s almost been this progression through games as we pack more and more CPU power, we’ve been doing more and more interactive environments.”
“The things that we used to consider static, like walls, are now destructible, where designers want them to be destructible.”
“(Creating believable, well-performing characters), especially on a platform like Nintendo, where characterization is very important… So, our entire behavior technology allows for these performances to be recreated in games, to make very controllable characters. For instance, you could do things like have [a character] walk sideways, walk backwards…”
“So you have a motion-captured animation of someone jumping over a one-meter high obstacle. You need to be able to edit that animation on the fly so they can jump over a two-meter high obstacle… because the environment’s constantly changing.
“I think that’s probably the theme that we’re starting—or we’re continuing—to see, that environments are becoming more dynamic, and that’s raising new challenges for animation systems, or for AI systems, or for any of the things where previous technology was all statically based.”
“Our entire behavior technology will allow [a motion-captured] performance to be recreated in games, to make very controllable characters.”
Havok on the 3DS:
‘We’ve already shipped a title on 3DS [Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell 3D], and that was really pushing [the handheld] to its limits. I think because of the relatively limited capabilities the device has, there isn’t a huge demand for [the use of Havok tools].”
Bringing the technology to the Wii U:
“…with things like dual screens… most of our products are taken by game developers and then integrated, so dual screen [support] is something they typically worry about, rather than us.”
Special considerations for the engine on Wii U:
“The platform has its own unique features, and has its own challenges as well. When we come across any new particular platform, we optimize specifically for some of the advantages that those platforms offer over other platforms, and Wii U has specific advantages that no other platform has, and we optimize directly for those, right down at the level of accessing the hardware.
“I think we’ll see things done on the Wii U that we won’t see on another platforms… I think people will be genuinely excited with the range of titles they’re going to see come out.”
