A game developer recognized striking similarities between the complex, spreadsheet-heavy tools used in New World and those in Star Citizen, which triggered a strong emotional reaction due to the challenges and errors such systems cause. The discussion highlights the shared technical difficulties in managing design data across interconnected spreadsheets within game engines like Lumberyard, as well as the historical context of Star Citizen’s engine evolution from CryEngine to Star Engine.
The discussion begins with an observation of clear similarities between the tools used in Star Citizen and those that were employed in New World. One of the game designers mentioned during a stream that their team was working on spreadsheets, which triggered a strong reaction from the speaker. This is because, in game development, design data is typically managed either through databases or prefabs within the game engine. However, New World’s approach involved managing data across numerous interconnected spreadsheets, which was a complex and error-prone process.
The speaker elaborates on the challenges faced while using these spreadsheets, highlighting that there were around 30 to 40 different spreadsheets linked together without a visual system to track their connections. This setup made debugging difficult and increased the likelihood of human error, as even a small mistake in one cell could cause significant issues. Additionally, onboarding new designers was particularly challenging because of the steep learning curve required to understand how all the spreadsheets interacted.
Further similarities were noted when the speaker saw debug text in a Star Citizen PTU build that reminded him of the New World engine, causing a sense of PTSD. This indicated that some elements of the Lumberyard engine, which New World used, might still be present in Star Citizen’s tools. The speaker empathizes with the Star Citizen team, understanding the difficulties they face on the design side due to the complexity of their tools and data management systems.
The conversation also touches on the broader gaming industry trend where many game engines share common origins and architectures, leading to overlaps and shared challenges. The speaker acknowledges that while the tools used in these engines are powerful and allow designers to manipulate data without constant engineer involvement, they also come with significant downsides, particularly related to complexity and error management.
Finally, the discussion briefly references the history of Star Citizen’s engine development, noting its transition from CryEngine to Lumberyard and then to what is now called Star Engine. The speaker mentions having researched this period and learned about the difficulties and disputes involved, especially with Crytek. This background provides context to the technical and organizational challenges faced by the Star Citizen development team.