Geomerics to light up EVE's Walking on Stations expansion

Geomerics' Enlighten software is to be used in the EVE Online Walking on Stations expansion, scheduled for "2009".

Halldór Fannar, CTO CCP, said: “Real-time computer graphics hardware has advanced greatly in the last 10 years and we’ve made good progress in the lighting methods used in games. However, optical interaction between lit surfaces has always been missing and this is a key component for the visual fidelity that we are now working with at CPP. Enlighten solves this complex problem and that’s why we chose it."

Enlighten's all about the ambiance, innit. See videos of it working here.

Press release after the break.

GEOMERICS LIGHTS UP EVE

CCP agrees multi-product license for Enlighten appearing first in EVE Online

Monday 10th November/...Geomerics, the Cambridge, UK, based developer of cutting-edge graphics technology for videogames has announced its pioneering Enlighten technology has been licensed by CCP in a multi-product deal. The first use of this license will be seen in a forthcoming update for EVE Online, one of the world’s most popular massively multiplayer online games (MMOG).

EVE Online is set in a futuristic persistent world where players take the role of spaceship pilots in a vast, complex and frequently hostile galaxy. Currently EVE players are only presented with an external view of their universe. But in a new expansion planned for 2009, code-named ‘Walking in Stations’, players will for the first time be able to create fully articulated avatars of their character, to socialize with other pilots and explore interiors of space stations in New Eden for the first time.

In order to create the most beautiful and exciting interiors, CCP have turned to the market-leading lighting product Enlighten. Enlighten empowers artists to create vivid and dynamic worlds in unrivalled detail. It is the only truly next-gen technology that offers dynamic radiosity in a runtime environment, providing the designers of EVE Online with the speed and flexibility necessary to create interior worlds that to date have only been seen in film.

Gary Lewis, CEO Geomerics, commented, “The goal of Enlighten is to expand the boundaries of what is possible inside any game world. With a product such as EVE Online, and a partner such as CCP, we know our technology is being used to create truly revolutionary environments that would not have been possible without Enlighten.”

Halldór Fannar, CTO CCP continued: “Real-time computer graphics hardware has advanced greatly in the last 10 years and we’ve made good progress in the lighting methods used in games. However, optical interaction between lit surfaces has always been missing and this is a key component for the visual fidelity that we are now working with at CPP. Enlighten solves this complex problem and that’s why we chose it.‘