This is not like the videogames you grew up with. The winding desert tracks of id Software's technology demo might resemble the canyons of games like Motorstorm, but as you step out of your desert buggy to take a close look around you, the level of detail is outstanding. Artists place each individual pebble, sculpt out every muddy trench, and no two surfaces look identical. Gone are the days when any significantly large stretch of land would feature a repeating, tiled texture; here, everything is unique. Artists are able to literally paint every surface you see, giving the entire level a more organic, more realistic feel. "The world is the canvas to paint on," id founder and programming genius John Carmack explains, scrolling through a game level that comes alive in the details.

The new technology is called "Tech 5," and it'll power the company's next huge franchise: Rage, a hybrid between a post-apocalyptic first person action/adventure and a wickedly brutal racing game. GameSpy's got a preview along with some exclusive face-time with Carmack. Want video? You can see the engine in action here on FilePlanet, along with Carmack's commentary.



What fascinates me about the Tech 5 engine is that there's no downside to the additional detail, no 'give and take' between artists and programmers. According to Carmack, performance remains solid no matter how much detail an artist layers onto the final scene. Think about that for a second: we're passed a threshold where artists no longer have to hold back. Tech 5's megatextures mean that technology isn't really the limiting factor for what we can display real-time anymore -- from here on out, the only showstopper is how good the artists are and how much time they can dedicate to a project.

That's exciting but also a bit scary. Games are going to require artistic talent (and the ability to organize large numbers of artists!) like never before. id Software realizes this and so, if you watch the Tech 5 Videos, you'll see that the company has also built a new generation of tools that allow artist to manipulate the environment in real-time. Adding new level features can be relatively quick. It looks to me like you can see the quality of the tools shine through in the final product...

I guarantee we'll be hearing a lot more about Rage and Tech 5 in the years to come.

      -Fargo