Here, we have to pull that in to guarantee a framerate on a particular hardware set. CryEngine games are known for pushing the boundaries but not necessarily running great across all hardware. "VR also places a lot of restrictions on performance. "It's been a bit of transformative experience having those restrictions placed on us," he says. You don't have the time to polish every one to the point that you want."Īccording to Erjavec, this focus on polish extends beyond mechanics too. "Those big games - like if you make a Grand Theft Auto 5 or a Crysis 3, if you make a big game like that, you have to do a lot of things. "It's really been very exciting, because this is our chance to hone in and polish something to a level we've never done before," says Bowman. It's something more on par with a well-designed platformer than what I'd normally expect going into a Crytek game. Each new ledge type, each new mechanic is introduced thoughtfully. What sticks with me is not only how different this is from Crytek's wheelhouse, but how slowly and elegantly the mechanics expand - in a way that doesn't seem normal for this ambitious developer. "If you ever wondered how Nathan Drake feels making those jumps in Uncharted, now you know." My breath catches, and I swear aloud.Įrjavec laughs. And through it all, I need to pause every once in a while, chalking up my in-game hands with the left and right bumpers - your character's hands get sweaty as you go, slowly washing away the chalk and making it harder to grip ledges.Īt one point, as I make my way across a wooden beam hanging precariously near the top of the mountain, the beam begins to crack under my virtual weight. Later I reach some longer ledges that require shifting my way across, hand over hand. Then there's a jump across a gap behind me - one that requires twisting my head to look backward. My first five minutes are spent learning the ropes, moving ledge by ledge. The single mountain face I scale in The Climb is the first and easiest in the game. We have to make it just the best climbing experience possible." In order to do that, we have to stay focused. "We want to give the most beautiful VR experience within the scope of being an Oculus launch title. "What we've done is focused our team," he says. It's a simple base from which to build, and Bowman says that was the key for Crytek as it looked for a virtual reality idea that felt right for the company. If the nearest ledge is too far to reach, you can attempt to jump for it, but you'll need to look well above where the ledge is actually located. You "aim" at new ledges simply by looking, craning your neck, shifting your body weight when necessary. The gameplay is deceptively simple: holding down the left or right triggers causes your in-game avatar to grab any viewable, in-distance ledge with their left or right hand. It's a game about scaling up a mountain from a first-person point of view. "If you ever wondered how Nathan Drake feels making those jumps in Uncharted." "This is all cool for the product you're trying to make, but I really like the climbing thing," Erjavec recalls Rubin telling him. Jason Rubin, co-founder of Naughty Dog and current head of Oculus first-party content, was impressed by the demos, but one in particular stood out to him. "We started experimenting with all kinds of different mechanics."Įventually, Erjavec and his team pitched the project to Oculus itself, showing off a variety of playable tech demos, each of which demonstrated how a particular mechanic would be translated into a virtual reality experience. "Early on, there was the idea of bringing a proper, large Crytek experience into VR," says Technical Director Rok Erjavec. Around that same time, though, a second team was being spun up within the company's Frankfurt studio to begin work on a new project. Crytek announced its first VR title, Robinson: The Journey, at E3 earlier this year.
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