Bigger Zones Are Possible Through the Game Engine
Official news on Anthem, EA BioWare’s new open-world sci-fi experience, has been scarce and virtually non-existent; thankfully, at least one developer has been responsive on Reddit. Technical Design Director Brenon Holmes recently responded to a fan question about the world.
While the overall size of Anthem is unknown, Holmes did provide clues on the expansiveness of zones. A Reddit user asked whether the game would be “true open world.” Since the IP is being persistently compared to Bungie’s Destiny, the concern is that Anthem will rely on loading screens to transition between areas. This was the dev’s response:
“It’s a bit of a mix – Destiny has some very cool server technology that allows them to host migrate seamlessly… this means that they can partition up spaces to be fairly small (which helps avoid taxing servers [speculation]).
“We’re taking a different approach (we have different tech), so our areas are a fair bit larger… but there will likely be some loads between some of the areas. We’re still figuring out the exact details on a lot of this stuff.”
Obviously, Anthem is a work in progress. The prospect of “bigger” zones than Destiny sounds promising, but a seamless open world in a multiplayer game would be difficult to pull off. Only time will tell if BioWare can pull make miracles with the game engine. Currently, they’re utilizing Frostbite 3, which was originally scaled for first-person shooters by DICE. BioWare retrofitted the engine, so to speak, in order to craft Dragon Age: Inquisition. The same was done for Mass Effect: Andromeda—albiet with less time. Judging by Holmes’ statement, it’s being tweaked further.
Are you looking forward to Anthem? Does the possibility of loading screens bother you? Let us know in the comments below.