Ray-Tracing to Revamp Old Games

Ray-tracing may be all well and good for making games like Battlefield 5 look a little less boring. But its best application thus far is in revamping old games like Quake 2. Path tracing has been utilized to make the classic FPS look almost new. Quake 2 RTX also has over 3,000 Q2XP mod-pack textures, adds global illumination, real-time reflections, dynamic lighting and so on. However, the potential for ray-tracing to update games for a new generation (at least those with RTX cards) is immense.

Decima is quickly becoming the newest buzzword following PlayStation Experience, especially with regards to Death Stranding and Horizon: Zero Dawn. Since Decima is basically what Horizon is running on, Guerrilla Games decided to release a video during a PlayStation Experience panel showcasing the engine’s open world capabilities.

Courtesy of DualShockers, the trailer sees Guerrilla Games Managing Director Helmen Hurst introducing the engine. There’s plenty of detail in the world and we get a look at the bustling towns full of NPCs that make an open world RPG worthwhile. The physically-based rendering looks good especially when it comes to displaying detail in faces, hair and other materials. Animation, volumetric cloud simulation, weather systems and day/night systems are also ably handled by Decima.

Horizon: Zero Dawn is out on February 28th for PS4 and will also support PS4 Pro at launch. What are your thoughts on Decima and its capabilities? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks.

Kojima Productions’ Death Stranding has been confirmed to be using the new Decima Engine, which is based off of Guerrilla Games’ technology that is being used for games like Horizon: Zero Dawn. At PlayStation Experience during a panel, PS4 system architect Mark Cerny talked about how the partnership between KojiPro and Guerrilla emerged.

Cerny first said he has no idea how far the engine could evolve. “I think what’s notable about Guerrilla Games’ technology, is that it’s not just graphics technology. It’s a great number of things. You design a world, you script AI for the enemies. It’s a very deep and intuitive toolset.

“I have absolutely no idea where it’s going to end. The one thing we know, as games companies that work on technology, is that it’s going to continue to evolve and get better. I could not hazard a guess as to where they’re going to take it.”

Interestingly enough, Guerrilla and KojiPro worked together on the same code, which was new to Cerny, and it’s to the point that you can’t tell who coded which lines. Most of it is still by Guerrilla though.

The collaboration came about primarily thanks to Cerny as he and Kojima traveled for two weeks and visited various studios, seeking the right tech for Death Stranding. The decision to go with Guerrilla was due to other studios’ engines being made for their own titles rather than open to others. The independence among staff in both Guerrilla and KojiPro was also noteworthy and helped the teams understand each other.

Death Stranding is in development currently for PS4 and PC.