Ubisoft Talks Watch_Dogs Disrupt Engine, Physics, Global Illumination, City Size, Modding Scene

DSOGaming writes: "A couple of days ago, we had the pleasure to interview Dominic Guay, Senior Producer of Watch_Dogs, Jonathan Morin, Creative Director of Watch_Dogs, and Francis Boivin, 3D Programming Team Lead, of Watch_Dogs about Ubisoft’s upcoming sandbox title. Dominic, Jonathan and Francis shared some new tech details about the Disrupt engine, its global illumination solution, its physics and the game’s city size."

[djplonker]

Hey ubisoft I was looking foward to watchdogs but because you dont want your sailing simulator hurt in the sale you delay it....

Heck I not even going to buy watch dogs now since destiny should be out before it!

[chaldo]

um. ok.

[DoomeDx]

"DSOGaming: What details can you give us about Watch Dogs’ map and how big can we expect it to be in comparison with the real Chicago city or GTA V?

JM: One thing I will say in regards to the scale of our in-game world is that we are very passionate about the density of our experience. So not only do we have a big city to play with, but everyone in it has something to offer. To us, the scale of the world is something that needs to be considered at every level. Adding space is one thing, but what we really want is to offer new simulation layers gamers have never experienced before."

I like how the totally avoided the question.

[Jovanian]

well he basically said that you can have a game that is gigantic but full of empty space and barely any people (like GTA 5) or you can have a layered experience where the city is more dense and utilizes its space better, which watch dogs looks like it will be doing

[LightofDarkness]

Basically he's saying it's not as big as either by a noticeable margin, but there's enough to do in there that they don't feel like that's an issue.

But of course he had to speak only of the strengths of the product and without acknowledging what could be construed as a weakness. Even if they'd successfully overcome that weakness, the obvious dodge raises more concerns than anything else. If these people would be honest once in a while and talk to people straight then there wouldn't be as much backlash when the real story trickles out.

[raWfodog]

He would make a good politician :)

[theXtReMe1]

This is the same diluted answer they been giving since day one. They talk about scale, density and height... yet tell us that we can't scale buildings like we could in say, crackdown. So what's the use of making a city with height if we can't use any of it to our advantage?

My guess is, it is half of the size of GTA's. They just don't want to come out and say it, because it makes their game look like it's a lesser entity. Regardless, though... As long as there are a lot of non repetitive things to do and the world feels completely alive and real... I could care less.

My biggest concern is that, like other open world games, a very small portion of the buildings will be available to go into and explore. Making all of that density pointless.

[webeblazing]

"DSOGaming: What’s your opinion about the modding scene and will Watch Dogs support mods? If not, will you include higher resolution textures for the PC version?

DG: Modding embraces the creativity of the community. This said our engine will not support moding natively."

LMAO what???