Star Citizen's Engine Offers Explorble Planets without Loading Screens
Star Engine looks to be a powerful tool indeed.
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Star Citizen's Engine Offers Explorble Planets without Loading Screens
Gloria LevineEditor
Published
27 November 2023
Tags
News Video Games Game Development Game Engine
Star Engine looks to be a powerful tool indeed.
While Unreal Engine and Unity are the most popular game engines out there, it doesn't mean other companies don't work on their own solutions. For example, Star Citizen, one of the biggest crowdfunding projects and also a game that's been in development for over a decade now, moved from CryEngine to Amazon Lumberyard in 2016 and is now using Star Engine based on Lumberyard.
Image credit: Cloud Imperium Games
In a recent showcase, Star Citizen's developer has demonstrated what the engine is capable of, and it does look impressive. What any space fan wishes for is the ability to explore planets seamlessly, without loading screens, and Star Engine can make it happen (hello, Starfield).
Image credit: Cloud Imperium Games
The whole footage was filmed in-engine in one continuous shot, and this in itself is already spectacular. The engine offers a smooth transition from space to the ground, real-time transit systems across city districts, water simulation on decals, and much more. Here is the full list of its abilities mentioned in the 24-minute video:
- physically based atmospheres with multiple light scattering
- planet surface generation on client and server at different level of details
- object container streaming allows for extensive exteriors with interiors
- locations populated densely with characters and players
- physicalized frozen ocean
- real-time transit systems across city districts
- fully interactable, detailed, and explorable multicrew spaceships
- real-time biome generation
- subterranean locations
- mineral extraction and resource simulation
- ground fog fully integrated into the atmosphere
- sunlight shafts through the atmosphere
- rivers driving terrain modification and object distribution
- dense environment procedural generation based on rulesets
- terrain tessellation and hardware displacement
- dynamic planetary winds driving physics simulation
- dynamic ecosystem generation for flora and fauna
- generation and rendering of volumetric clouds at planetary scale
- real-time large-scale asteroid generation and rendering
- Space-based points of interest
- real-time day/night cycle based on planet rotation
- volumetric clouds on a gas giant scale
- flying space creatures
- multiscale volumetric space scaping
- massive explorable space stations streaming on demand
- melanin-driven skin shader with blemish, freckles, and tattoo layers
- sun shaft occlusion at the planetary scale
- dynamic fire simulation based on voxel grids
- volumetric shadows from clouds cast into atmosphere
- water simulation on decals
- hierarchical object container technology for outposts and all locations streaming
- physically based advanced water FX
- physically based destruction
- real-time water interaction effects
- realtime cloth simulation
- dynamic sweat and tears
Image credit: Cloud Imperium Games
The same applies to Squadron 42, a standalone single-player campaign in the Star Citizen universe. Star Citizen still has no release date, which is one of the game's biggest criticisms. But if it ever gets launched with all the features we have been promised, it should truly be an epic space game.
While you're waiting for it, check out the Star Engine footage here and join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.
