C4 Engine
| Developer(s) | Terathon Software LLC |
|---|---|
| Stable release | Build 127
/ September 15, 2006 |
| Preview release | Build 127
/ September 15, 2006 |
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows Mac OS X |
| Platform | PC, Mac |
| Type | Game Engine |
| License | Commercial (currently $100 per user) |
| Website | C4 Engine Overview |
The C4 Engine is an emerging next-generation computer game engine created by Terathon Software. It supports many features considered to be indicative of next-generation titles, including full-scene motion blur, normal mapping and parallax mapping, dynamic lights and shadows, and penumbral soft shadows. The engine is currently in a beta stage of development.
Technology Overview
For a full list of technology features see: C4 Features
C4 renders lights and shadows in real time and uses a various of light source types. It uses ambient light volumes and soft shadows.
One of C4's most visually appealing elements is it's bump mapping and per-pixel shading. It also supports parallax mapping, ambient occlusion mapping, gloss-mapped specular reflections etc. Water shading & real-time fluid simulation is also a strong feature.
C4 has some impressive special effects including full-scene cinematic motion blur, procedural fire effects, extensible particle systems and cloth simulation.
3D sound effects are supported as are streaming music channels and EAX environmental audio effects. Network implementation uses UDP/IP. The current build includes hacker resistance and packet encryption.
Tools
World editor C4's world editor runs as part of the engine and opens inside engine windowing system. Building / compiling levels is not required as changes & additions are effective immediately. The editor allows placement of various shapes eg cube, plane, torus etc. Multiple undo's are supported
Script editor C4 uses a graphical script editor designed to allow quick access to scripts, and to be user friendly for artists as well as programmers. Custom script components can be defined, and they will automatically appear in the editor.
Interface panel editor Interactive in-game interface panels can be created with the World Editor's 2D 'Panel Editor', which allows for panel design and animation additions. Custom scripts can be attached to panel items for interactivity.
Model, animation, and texture import tools
C4 supports the Collada scene format, which allows use of models created in 3D Studio MAX, Maya, XSI, Blender and others. Textures are imported via the TGA format.
Future Technology
Plans for updates to the engine include particle emitter nodes, a new terrain and foliage system, improved physics, an upgraded soft shadow system, multiplayer improvements, skinnable GUI, support for XInput controls, movers, shader tree editor, customisable shortcut keys. The official Roadmap can be viewed here
History
The C4 engine was started in March 1999 by Eric Lengyel of Terathon Software.
In 2000-2001 an early graphics system was incorporated into the engine that featured lightmaps generated during a build phase, dynamic lights created by projecting another lightmap into the environment, a basic bumpmapping and specular shading system and characters casting stencil shadow volumes. At this time the shading system was yet to be extended, and the stencil shadow volumes were yet to be made robust and fully co-operative with the lightmaps.
In 2002 the engine received a major rewrite of the graphics system, and lighting was made completely dynamic. The light shading code was separated from material shader code. The development of the World Editor was also begun.
Terathon began researching a soft-shadow algorithm for use within the engine in July of 2004. This algorithm is not yet implemented in the current demos of the engine.
Many features have been added since the engine became available for license, such as:
- Mac OS X support
- Cook-Torrance specular reflection
- Basic visual scripting system
- Realistic Reflective and Refractive water shading
- Enhanced parallax mapping
- Ambient occlusion mapping
Games in development
There are 5 announced games in development using the C4 engine. These games are:
- Mangler by Terathon Software
- Pentapolis by Pale “archanger” Lesňák
- Kronos Wrath by Cold Logic
- Metal Assault Online
- Sonic Xtreme NeXT Fan Game
Licensing
One license to the C4 Engine allows the licensee to make changes to the engine's source code and the tools' source code. The licensee pays a one time fee of $100 USD, and must include the "Powered by the C4 Engine" logo. However, Terathon announced that starting Oct 1, 2006 the price will jump to $200 and there will be a $50 update charge every 6 months. Existing licensees will need not to pay.
External links