“Panta Rhei” is the next gen engine from Capcom, that is specifically tailored for development on next gen hardware. Considering the track record of Capcom with their MT Framework Engine on current gen, it was surprising to see them opt for a completely new engine. Capcom seems to be aiming to use “Panta Rhei” to maximize the rendering power of next generation consoles, as evident from their work on Deep Down, which utilizes SVGI lighting for the first time in any console game.
Masaru Ijuin explains Capcom’s aim with “Panta Rhei” engine in an interview, that is published officially by Capcom.
When asked how will he describe the specific features of the new Panta Rhei engine, Ijuin says:
“Panta Rhei” is designed to unlock the full potential of hardware and maximize the rendering power of next-gen consoles. It also reduces the iterations in developing games for next-gen consoles. To make games more exciting, we need to go through a process of trial and error, such as adjusting parameters and considering how games are played. This process needs to be completed in the shortest amount of time possible. Reducing the iteration time from ten minutes to one minute delivers a tenfold increase on the amount of work we can do.
He also explains how one of the new feature “parallelization” will help in development.
One of the main features is “parallelization”. Normally when a game is made, the planner comes up with a plan, and the designer draws a map. The characters are then placed on the map and the created game is played. If the game’s not fun, the map is redesigned from scratch. This is what you would call a serial process. On the other hand, “Panta Rhei” transforms this into a parallel process, thereby minimizing work loss through the coordination of efforts.
Capcom has a pretty good track with multiplatform development on current generation consoles and PC. Their MT Framework engine not only worked great on PC and consoles, it was also specifically tailored for mobile development and resulted in some fantastic looking games on handhelds including Resident Evil: Revelations. It seems like Capcom has no plans to use Panta Rhei for current gen development and will instead continue using MT Framework engine for it.
PlayStation 4 exclusive Deep Down is currently the only game confirmed in development with Panta Rhei engine. While its premise might sound simple with the game being free-to-play action RPG with randomly generated dungeons, it is utilizing next gen technology, that we haven’t seen in any console game so far.
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