NaturalMotion's Euphoria engine debuts in GTA IV

[supafreak]

Everyone has been impressed with the physics engine in GTA IV. I still get a kick watching my body fly out of the windowshield after I hit an unseen wall. The reactions of the vehicles hitting curbs/objects and the natural reactions of the people are part of the formula that help make Liberty City come alive. This is all due to the Euphoria engine that has been implemented in GTA IV.

The same engine is also being used in upcoming titles like, Star Wars: The Force unleashed, Indiana Jones, and Backbreaker. With the Euphoria engine the reactions of characters are not pre-rendered, but are calculated on the fly, meaning their reaction can be different every time. You can read up more on the engine at NaturalMotions's website.

Below is a tech demo of Euphoria and the engine in use of the upcoming game BackBreaker. The pretty graphics in next gen games have been great, but with the increased processing power of new consoles brings the ability to have new engines with these capabilites. These better engines are really making some of the newer games next gen in my book.

Tech Demo

+ YouTube Video

BackBreaker Demo

+ YouTube Video

[D_Litch]

Botmann, didn't your buddy work on this?

[Prophet0ne]

Nice. I've been thinking lately that the gaming industry needed a new direction in the physics department. Looks like these guys have the right idea.

[lovekeiiy]

Actually, my buddy worked on the RAGE engine. As it would have it, I had questioned him whether GTA4 was on RAGE or Euphoria because one of the reviews I watched stated GTA was on that engine. There was some clarafications he explained..........

First off, GTA4 is using RAGE. It does use some other engines, one of which is natural motion (NM). NM is an engine that determine how some items will react to certain acts, such as a body floppy around. My general understanding NM is something of a animation of physics engine. Euphoria is the program used to program NM. Unfortunately, the media is off on what the engine is actually called and what it truly does.

[D_Litch]

Thanks for the clarification, Bot. This reminds me of Oblivion and it countless engines; one for gameplay, one for water, one for trees, one for NPCs, etc.. In reviews people often said the games primary engine was the trees renderer, I had a nerd laugh whenever I would read that.

[The Milk Man 09]

No matter what these new physics engines are awesome.