MTBS3D.com has posted an interview with Jens Schöbel, Technical Designer for Crytek on the new Crysis 2 game. This is only part 1 of a 3 part series, so there will be more to read later. The good news is that Crysis 2 will be able to run in stereoscopic 3-D. The bad news is that this game has just been delayed until early 2011. It was slated for a November 23, 2010 release date.
5. When and how did Crytek first take an interest in stereoscopic 3D gaming? What was your first experience with it?
My personal experience with S-3D differs a little bit from Crytek’s experience with 3D. Before I joined Crytek I received my Master of Science in Mathematics and used to work as a scientist in the 3D graphics laboratory at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Back then I made my first experiences with S-3D. This is about 9 years ago. My task was to visualize data in stereo 3D like jet streams around a car or biological cells. The results that we achieved at those times were absolutely amazing from a graphical point of view but not comparable with the current developments at all.
When I joined Crytek in 2008 the idea of developing videogame content in S-3D was relatively new. At that time only one programmer at Crytek researched this technology. He implemented the first version of our S-3D tech in CryENGINE for Siggraph 2009 in less than a handful of days. After the tech was implemented we started working on the content. An internal research project lifted our knowledge bar of stereo gaming step by step over the following years. Today, S-3D is one of the most important parts of my job as Technical Designer. I have a very deep understanding of the S-3D theory itself, the programming side of things but also about the design idea behind. I’d call myself the interface between programming, art and design. Besides programming I also try finding the right values for how much left shift a shader effect needs for example, or how deep a pillar needs to be placed considering the specific arrangement of objects in the game.
