Graphics and physics engines, wich offer what i want?

[the dark side]

warning LONG POST, and a SERIOUS topic, so TL-DR will NOT be tolerated.

Hello. I originally baught this up in the "learning stuff" thread, but, as "acies" kindly pointed out, that wasnt the correct thread. oh well, it wont be the first time i've posted in the wrong thread, and it probably certainly wont be the last.

As you will know by taking a quick look into my Profile, i have my own FPS I.P, a Throwback to the "silver age" of the FPS, the era between Half Life and COD-4, what the "kiddies" would call "the pseudo modern era" games such as the first 2 "Soldier of Fortune" games, the first 3 "Medal of Honour" titles, the 007 FPS games from EA (AUF, NF, TWINE 64), The 2 "No One Lives Forever" titles, etcetera.

as you know, i have had some pretty decent interest from some pretty big name developers, but nothing but cold feet from, and sheer Balderdash about "american console players" (who the game isnt even available too) from the marketing divisions of, the Publishers. however, im a crazy, determined little basket who isnt going down without a nuclear war, so im sticking with it, in the chance i may be able to get some guys together to make a Demo Level to show the publishers the IP's potential, or one of the interested devs manages to find a publisher who actually has the Guts to take a risk on a new IP, a silver age throwback to complement the rising popularity of "Golden Age" (pre Half life era) throwbacks such as Painkiller HD, Serious Sam III, Hard Reset, etc. (if there is a publisher with the guts, i expect it will probably be one of the "take 2" companies)

anyway, i have come to a sticky wicket, as you know, these days games are pretty much sold on the graphics they have, especially in the PC market. now, as the game is a NEW IP, and a pretty niche market one as 1. it is VERY old fashioned, and 2, its ONLY going to be available on PC, there is no way even the gutsiest, most crazy publisher is going to give a budget big enough for an in house engine, so im going to need to look at a pre existing one.

as games are sold on there graphics these days, i am naturally looking at the best new engines out, namely Cryengine 3 and Frostbite 2, and the accompianing PhysX physics engine, however, as these engines are used to modern "corridor" level design and "modern" (call of duty style) gameplay physics i am unsure they can handle the classic "open plan" level design and "old fashioned silver era" gameplay i am after.

i know what you are thinking, "what the fuji is this fool yammering on about? old fashioned gameplay? modern gameplay? corridor design? WTF?" well ill show you.





Old School gameplay (what i want). Static Crosshairs, No Gun Limit, No Controll Hints, multiple route levels, no ADS, Medikit based Non Regenerating health with armour pick ups, sky high running speed with no sprint, circle straffe, long and high jumps, lone wolf gameplay (no squads), all out fun.





Modern gameplay (what i want to avoid like the plaque), Expanding crosshairs, 2 gun limit, CONSTANT hints, one corridor route levels, Aim Down sites, regenerating health with bloody screen, dead slow movement with limited sprint, a shorter "hop" than a 2 year old, and damn squads nicking all yer kills. No fun.

now, a more elderly engine such as unreal 3, ID tech 4, frostbite 1 or Source can handle the open plan levles, and the accompianing HAVOK physics can do old school gameplay, but, the graphics are poor, muddy textures, slow texture load, poor anti aliasing, slow to react physics, poor collision detection, floaty movement etc, wich would be sales killing in this era of graphics and physics led sales.

so, what i need to know is, can cryengine 3 or frostbite 2 handle the following? 1. Trilinear Anti Aliasing. 2 FULL H.U.D Render with no "regenerating" bars and a full "weapons wheel" weapon selector due to NO gun-limit, 3, STATIC crosshairs (ones that stay the same size and shape even when running and firing, as with the SOF1 vid posted), 4 a Zoom camara lens style "precision aim" instead of Aim Down Sites. 5. GHOUL II gore engine compatibility, 6. large Open plan levels (up to 100 alternative routes and dead ends, multiple secrets), 7. First person Vehicles with FULLY animated cockpits, 8. Full enviroment destruction. 9. HDR lighting with micro light sourcing, 10, texture tesselation, 11l.HD particle physics. all at the same time at 60 Frames per Second with no texture pop in,. low def muddy texture issues, or frame rate slowdown. it also needs to be able to handle Third Person cutscenes.

and can Phys-X handle the following, .1 Realistic land vehicle mechanics, 2. full flight simulation mechanics for planes and helicopters, 3. full procedural generated water currents for boats and SCUBA levels, 4. full environment destruction with GEO mod terrain and up to 80% environment object (such as building") destruction, 5. Chain reaction physics (ie shoot a tree down, it lands on a car, the car explodes, the top of the tree lands on a bui8ldigns roof and knocks a hole in the roof) with preocedural destruction, not scripted destruction, 6. Weapons Damage Physics, 7, Bullet impact physics on the environment (ie, they will punch through wood but ricochet of metal). 8. "deadly world" environment, ie, shattering glass, falling debris, etc can kill both the ai but also a clumsy player. 9.full gravity physics, all withiout grinding to a halt or glitching out.

so, can those engines handle all that. or am i going to need to use a more old fashioned engine and risk loosing sales due to out of date graphics and physics. or is there a modern graphics and physics engine other than cryengine 3 or frostbite 2 with Physx that can handle all that i have not thaught of?

please, any help or advise would be gratefully appreciated.

sorry for the massive post.