Game physics are becoming as important as graphics engine in game development and the competition to offer new physics engines to developers is increasing. On Monday, Swedish based game tools company MEQON announced a high profile deal with their game graphics engine to 3D Realms, who will use it in their upcoming first person shooter Duke Nukem Forever. HomeLAN got a chance to chat with MEQON's CEO Marcus Lysén to find out more about the company and their DNF deal.
HomeLAN - First, how did Meqon come to be formed?
Marcus Lysén - It all started when Dennis Gustafsson and I developed a prototype physics engine at Linköpings Universitet. We had been interested in real-time physics simulation since the first graphics accelerators appeared and shifted our interest onto new things, in this case physics. We knew that we had a good foundation for a next-gen physics engine on our hands. With that conclusion we left the university and went ahead and started Meqon together with Jonas Lindqvist and Dr Mark Ollila with the ambition to produce an easy to use, efficient and extendible physics SDK.
HomeLAN - How did the ideas for your game physics engine come about?
Marcus Lysén - Personal interest combined with great market potential and a window of opportunity. At the time we started Meqon, Mathengine was still around and things looked a bit different, but it has always been very clear to us that physics is the next key feature in gaming.
HomeLAN - What are some of the difficulties in making game physics work in a game?
Marcus Lysén - There are usually many problems of tuning and tweaking values to get things to work properly. We have always had the aim that tings should work straight out of the box but perhaps work even better after spending some time fine-tuning. Some solutions out there still need extensive tweaking to work at all. Traditionally, there has been a major issue with performance since processors haven't always been as fast as they are now. The solution is naturally to make more or less specific versions aimed at different platforms. For example we have a specifically optimized PlayStation2 version. Last but not least is the importance of good SDK tools like memory debuggers and profiling. There is always going to be quite a bit of work integrating a physics engine into a game, if something do go wrong you want to know how to fix it.
HomeLAN - What would you say are the major features of your physics technology?
Marcus Lysén - It's fast, it's multiplatform and has the best API structure of any physics engine. Moreover we have world class character animation/simulation blending and a top-notch vehicle module.
HomeLAN - How does your work compare with other game physics engines, such as Havok?
Marcus Lysén - We compare well. However we have to trust our customers and evaluations on this since we of course don't have access to their SDK. We usually hear that our SDK makes more sense and is easier to use and extend with the customers' own technology. Also we get very positive feedback regarding our character simulation technology.
HomeLAN - Currently, how many games and developers are using your technology?
Marcus Lysén - Most of our developers want to keep things secret, we consider ourselves lucky that 3D Realms is okay with going public like this. Currently we are working with about 25 developers that are using our SDK, on three platforms and on four continents. The first game out with Meqon technology will be Shade: Wrath of Angels which is out October 1st.
HomeLAN - How did your relationship with 3D Realms start?
Marcus Lysén - Pretty straight forward, by the book almost; 3D Realms was evaluating different physics packages and asked us for a test period during which we were compared with the other commercial engines that are out there. When the period ended we came out on top.
HomeLAN - What has it been like working with 3D Realms on Duke Nukem Forever?
Marcus Lysén - Things has just started and so far it has been really good. There are some truly innovative folks working over at 3D Realms and it's a pleasure to do business with them.
HomeLAN - What upcoming features will you be adding to your physics engine?
Marcus Lysén - Currently I can't say much about specific features. However we are continuously developing new technology and there is going to be some amazing stuff out by next Game Developers Conference.
HomeLAN - Finally is there anything else you wish to say about Novodex and your work?
Marcus Lysén - There will always be competition, the only thing one can do is to prioritize differently, be better and expect that the rest of the world will notice. However, I do believe that there is room for more than one physics middleware company. How many graphics engines are there not out there?
