Support us on Patreon
PayPalIt seems EA are doing some rather interesting things with their experimental Halcyon game engine which includes Vulkan and Linux support.
During the Khronos Munich Meetup this weekend, Graham Wihlidal of EA's SEED (Search for Extraordinary Experiences Division) presented a talk about this exciting game engine. While it's somewhat surprising to see EA start to use Vulkan, it's even more surprising to see Linux actually being mentioned as a target platform:
It's not just Vulkan though, it also supports Metal 2 (early stages) and Direct3D 12. On top of that, one of their aims is to easily access multi-GPU setups. However, they do mention that they haven't implemented multi-GPU support or Ray Tracing for Vulkan yet but they say it's planned.
What's also rather fascinating about it, is that they said they can mix and match different rendering backends in the same process. They say it made debugging Vulkan easier, as one half of the screen was using DX12 and the other Vulkan. Can't say I've heard of anyone else doing that, very cool.
See the full details here including a slideshow you can view online or a PDF you can download.
To keep some expectations in check: This doesn't necessarily mean EA are going to be putting out Linux games, but if they ever do start seriously using this game engine for future games it means the barrier for a Linux port could be lower. However, it might just be a bit of fun for the engineers.
Hat tip to Janz.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Some you may have missed, popular articles from the last month:
The comments on this article are closed.
All posts need to follow our rules. For users logged in: please hit the Report Flag icon on any post that breaks the rules or contains illegal / harmful content. Guest readers can email us for any issues.
it might just be a bit of fun for the engineers.It always starts "just for fun".
3 Likes, Who?
Oh well, I was mostly referring to the Linus' book with that title. Hope it will grow into something bigger and all. Honestly, EA is the last company I expected to move into this direction. Bethesda would have been more logical.
5 Likes, Who?
Multi-GPU support in common Vulkan drivers isn't even ready yet, or is it?
0 Likes
Well that's cool, if EA ever recovers from their current state of being a pure and utter garbage company that can't produce any decent games anymore......
EA have always been garbage. I had the "pleasure" of experiencing it first hand when I was in game development.
Its a shame really because they've ruined great studios over the years.
3 Likes, Who?
origin is for macos and they dont have much games on it, so im not very optimistic
1 Likes, Who?
As I understand it, the SEED division is pretty independent inside EA, and their aim is to experiment with various new technologies related to gaming, not focused on providing a new AAA title on tight schedule. So they eg. create (at least some of) their software in Rust, and not C++ like the rest of the industry – see eg. this tweet, and this, and repositories they fork / contribute to. I wouldn’t normally expect EA to look into new emerging programming languages, and yet it seems that’s what SEED does, so it does not really surprise me that they also investigate open APIs and Linux support.
4 Likes, Who?
EA have always been garbage. I had the "pleasure" of experiencing it first hand when I was in game development.In the '80s, under Trip Hawkins? I don't know what they were like to work for, but they had a pretty good reputation among gamers back then.
Released all their internal tools, too. Not free, because that wasn't really a thing, but you could buy them: Deluxe Paint (still, to this day, one of the best bitmap graphics editors around), Deluxe Music, etc. And they were almost an unofficial first-party developer on AmigaOS. The IFF container format (on which Microsoft based RIFF WAV) was EA's work. In my Amiga days, they were genuinely thought of as being among the good guys.
I kind of lost touch with gaming during the '90s, so I don't know when or how they went downhill, but it was quite a shock to discover how reviled they'd become in the community when I got back into it 10-15 years ago. They deserved it, but it was still a shock.
Last edited by Dunc on 29 Oct 2018 at 1:15 am UTC
8 Likes, Who?
So, they plan to allow others to use their engine, or its for internal use?
if its for their own usage, that probably means they are planing to support linux on their future games, but if they are trying to enter the marketing of seling game engines, well, i doubt they can enter this.
if its for their own usage, that probably means they are planing to support linux on their future games, but if they are trying to enter the marketing of seling game engines, well, i doubt they can enter this.
0 Likes
My eyesight must be going. I could have sworn I just saw a headline saying Electronic Arts was doing something interesting with Linux.
3 Likes, Who?
On the one side it seems a little counter-productive. Build a game engine which then the opposition (other game companies) will use to write games. On the other side, they do get some profit out of all the other games being produced on the market (rather than relying solely on their own titles).
I'm familiar with EA building some mobile games using an external company's game engine, which subsequently went bust.
I'm familiar with EA building some mobile games using an external company's game engine, which subsequently went bust.
0 Likes
GustyGhost 29 Oct 2018
Wait... EA ... Linux support. Not just any Linux but an engine level project? It turns out Hell is real and unicorns exist. EA and Linux. I cannot believe it.
4 Likes, Who?
TheRiddick 29 Oct 2018
Well lets wait and see if EA uses the Linux component of this in the future, but if they want to sell via Origin, it isn't on Linux so that could be a problem, plus they have a long record of ruining games will senseless micro-transactions such as stripping content from main game into DLC micro's.
They should really just focus on making great games then release DLC with WANTED micro's later on. And grinding buffs are NOT wanted in full priced games at all, leave those for MMO/F2P games....
Last edited by TheRiddick on 29 Oct 2018 at 2:22 am UTC
They should really just focus on making great games then release DLC with WANTED micro's later on. And grinding buffs are NOT wanted in full priced games at all, leave those for MMO/F2P games....
Last edited by TheRiddick on 29 Oct 2018 at 2:22 am UTC
0 Likes
slaapliedje 29 Oct 2018
Well that's cool, if EA ever recovers from their current state of being a pure and utter garbage company that can't produce any decent games anymore......
EA have always been garbage. I had the "pleasure" of experiencing it first hand when I was in game development.
Its a shame really because they've ruined great studios over the years.
EA has not always been garbage, EA did not start out as garbage. EA was a good company in the 80s and 90s, and a decent company until 2008 or so where they started going noticably fast downhill. Sure they managed to kill some great studios by then, but they were publishing really good games (at least mostly) until then.
They started declining so fast in 2008 however that they have not managed to release a single good game since ~2010.
Some of the EA games for the Atari 8bit / c64 were some of the best around. If only they still published the Ultima games...
2 Likes, Who?
...They started declining so fast in 2008 however that they have not managed to release a single good game since ~2010.Not a fan of the Battlefield games? I like them.
0 Likes
I think they want Linux support for their Origin Access Permier subscription (it is their own game streaming subscription). As Linux is dominant on the server market it would make sense to bring Linux support for their games so they don't need Windows on their expensive servers.
Last edited by Scrumplex on 29 Oct 2018 at 1:19 pm UTC
Last edited by Scrumplex on 29 Oct 2018 at 1:19 pm UTC
1 Likes, Who?
rustybroomhandle 29 Oct 2018
I think we can thank the huge success of the Nintendo Switch for Vulkan's traction.
0 Likes
Just waiting for the micro-transactions to add in larger level support, saving to disk, render-to-texture, ...
1 Likes, Who?
appetrosyan 29 Oct 2018
Don’t know what to think about it. EA has both some of the worst and some of the games in my experience: I loved the era of Dead Space, Mirrors Edge, Burnout, Mass Effect, Dragon Age... I think if they really wanted to fix their image they could go on, and release something good.
That being said, no origin for Linux, no Linux support in any of their games, and increasing popularity thereof in Indie game development. Maybe they’ll win us over with some original game... that doesn’t skin your wallet.
That being said, no origin for Linux, no Linux support in any of their games, and increasing popularity thereof in Indie game development. Maybe they’ll win us over with some original game... that doesn’t skin your wallet.
0 Likes
To be honest I wonder how the company is still standing with so few titles supporting it. It's no wonder they end up burning great studios, they can't afford to keep them, because they're not making enough money, they blame game devs for not making enough money, when the reality is that EA itself is the reason they're not making enough money, they're getting in their own way.Hmm, am I missing some news? Where does EA blame their own developers for financial loss?
0 Likes
An idiots guide to setting up Minecraft on Steam Deck / SteamOS with controller support
How to install extra software, apps and games on SteamOS and Steam Deck
See more from me