Far Cry 2 - Which Engine Was That Again?

Let me tell you a secret. Sometimes when you read an interview with a developer, rather than having sat in the room with the individuals involved, it's done by sending a batch of questions off and awaiting the reply. The trick is, ask questions that offer a sense of a narrative flow, and then arrange the results in such a way that it reads naturally. It's not a case of faking anything, simply making a Q&A an entertaining read. (If you want to see the difference, check out our interviews with Valve which were all done face to face, apart from the Eric Wolpaw one. Very rudely, he failed to rearrange his wedding around our visit.)

Sometimes, this can backfire. For example, German magazine PC Games Hardware's recent Q&A with the Far Cry 2 developers.

It all begins with a simple, innocent mistake. The thought that Ubisoft had licensed the Crytek engine. Find out what happens under the cut.

Beyond this, there's some useful Far Cry 2 tech info to plunder, for those who love to know what their Direct X 10s are doing, the AI programming, and its "realistic fire simulation".

1) When licensing the Far Cry brand you purchased the Cry Engine and it seems logical that this powerful peace of technology will be the technical base of Far Cry 2 too? Is that correct?

DG: No, I understand the reasoning but it is incorrect. The engine was licensed mostly for use on the console adaptations of the original Far Cry. On Far Cry 2, we had a mandate not only to build an ambitious sequel to Far Cry but also to build a new cutting edge in-house technology. We started building that new technology in 2005. Our engine is called Dunia and was built from the ground up to support the scope and goals of Far Cry 2.

It's perhaps a little more awkward for question 2:

2) Was it necessary to reprogram or even add code to the engine? If so what parts were altered what kind of technical features were integrated into the engine? What were the reasons behind these alterations?

And question 3:

3) In general what according to your personal experience makes the Cry Engine so special for the development of Fps games? Why do you decide against developing a new engine from scratch for Far Cry 2?

Question 4 is where it becomes just about too painful to carry on:

4) One part of the Cry Engine is a...

There's a lesson for us all here.