It's a Deus Ex: Human Revolution kind of day today! Not only are there new screens, but there are confirmed details on the PC specific features of the game, and that the game is now available for pre-order on Steam.
Did you catch all of that? Good, because we're going to expand upon ALL of that right now beginning with a few new shots from the game.
The Steam version is under special pre-order savings. The standard version is going for just $44.99 (USD) and the Augmented Edition is just $53.99. The Augmented Edition comes with a number of bonus goodies, including a free copy of Deus Ex: GOTY Edition.
Now, you may be wondering what's up with that sweet triple monitor setup in the above shot. Here's what's up. That's AMD's Eyefinity that will be given the proper Deus Ex treatment in Human Revolution.
The team has done an excellent job of piecing together not one, not two, but three separate Q&A's for you to check out. There are tons of details on the technology behind the game, DirectX 11 support, AMD specific features, and possibly most important is a look at the game's UI. We'll put them below, simply click on the "spoiler" tag to open your topic of choice!
[spoil=UI and PC Game Design]As answered by:
Julien Bouvrais (JB)- Director of Technology, Eidos-Montreal
Jean-Francois Dugas (JFD)- Game Director, Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Jurjen Katsman (JK)- Founder and President, Nixxes
- What was your biggest challenge about developing Deus Ex: Human Revolution for the PC?
JB: Certainly the biggest challenge in developing Deus Ex: Human Revolution for PC has been ensuring that the franchise lives up to the expectations of the gamers who have been following the franchise since it started in 2000. The PC version of the game needed to be a game in itself and not just of port of the console version.
JFD: The original Deus Ex was a PC game at its core and we wanted to make sure Deus Ex: Human Revolution felt that way as well, even though it's a cross-platform game. Therefore, we took the time to go back to the original game, look at the interface, the inventory mechanic, etc. Though Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a different game, we wanted to recapture some of the look and feel of the original in regards to these aspects. Our challenge was to make sure that we would get the time and the resources needed to develop these distinctive features adapted for the PC version, which we ultimately did.
- How close has the partnership been between the Eidos-Montreal development team and Nixxes in developing the PC version?
JB: While it is true that Nixxes is not working geographically in the same location as the rest of the team, they are truly a part of the Eidos-Montreal development team. They are working in the same development branch as we are and we talk to each other on a daily basis. Nixxes works hand-in-hand with the same design team that takes care of the other versions. Eidos Interactive and Nixxes had a long history of collaboration even before the Eidos-Montreal studio existed. We needed an expert in the PC field to partner with and we knew Nixxes was that developer.
JFD: We’ve been developing Deus Ex: Human Revolution on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 simultaneously since the beginning, with the same level of importance. Nixxes stepped in pretty far along in the project to give us a hand on the PC version because by its very nature it’s the version that requires the most platform specific work and we simply didn’t have the resources to assign dev team members to work on one platform. Nixxes really has been a terrific partner and I feel very lucky to have been able to enlist their talent and expertise.
- What do you want fans to know about the PC version?
JK: We really want them to know that Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a true PC game. Yes, you will have a lot of options, no “press start” screen, full mouse support-- everything we feel a PC game should have. Further, with the graphics, there are multiple options for anti-aliasing, shadow quality levels, and the ability to enable or disable various post processing effects. All controls can be fully remapped as expected from a PC game as well.
JFD: I want the fans to know that when they play the PC version that it won’t feel like a console game with a keyboard and mouse... they’ll be playing a true PC game in terms of the feel of the controls and gameplay.
- What is your favourite feature of the PC version?
JK: It is difficult to pick a favourite feature. There is a lot of cool stuff in the game. But one thing specific to the PC version that we think is quite cool are some features we have been working on with AMD. I can’t talk about these right now, but a video and details will be released on Thursday. Let’s just say that they fully immerse players in the Deus Ex: Human Revolution experience visually.
- Is there anything exclusive to the PC version? If so, please explain.
JK: Well, the main game is the same on all platforms-- the same story, the same endings. But, we do have additional graphics features and a different weapon selection bar to tailor to the keyboard and mouse. There is a simple drag and drop interface to bind things in your inventory to specific keys on your keyboard, making them quickly accessible, and you can then also cycle through these with your mouse scroll wheel while in-game. For graphics, there are some unique features, like smoother shadows, more realistic ambient occlusion effects, stereoscopic 3D-- various things that the extra hardware allows us to do. Our focus has been making sure that the game is built for the PC platform as well as possible.
- Can you explain a bit about the control scheme of the PC version?
JB: The game can be played either with a controller or with a mouse and keyboard. The control scheme can be customized to the player’s liking. A lot of rework has been done for the mouse and keyboard control. Every piece of the game UI has been adapted for this. When you are playing a game on PC, you expect the pieces of UI (button, controls, etc) to react with the mouse as opposed to tapping up and down on a controller and then selecting your choice with the accept button. This was a real challenge in the case of Deus Ex: Human Revolution because we use a lot of in-game UI. The hacking interface is a prime example of this. The team basically had to re-think the control scheme of the hacking mini-game, so that it made sense on PC.
JFD: We support controllers, of course, but we tried to stay as close as possible to the control scheme of the original Deus Ex in terms of the mouse and keyboard. Of course, it can't be totally the same since we have features like the cover system that require their own scheme. So, the numeral keys are allocated to the items/weapons and the F keys are allocated to the active augmentations, for example. One very cool thing in regards to the control scheme that fans will enjoy is that they can use the keypad on the keyboard to enter numbers like in the original Deus Ex.[/spoil]
[spoil=Technical Q&A]As answered by:
Julien Bouvrais (JB)- Director of Technology, Eidos-Montreal
Jean-Francois Dugas (JFD)- Game Director, Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Jurjen Katsman (JK)- Founder and President, Nixxes
- What can you tell me about the AMD Eyefinity and 3DHD features? How do they work? How do they enhance the experience of the game?
JK: With EyeFinity, you can connect multiple screens to your PC and have the game support them all. It is mainly useful in providing peripheral vision to the player, creating a more immersive experience. Your vision is not limited to just the screen straight in front of you, but you also see more on the sides. For example you can see guards coming toward you from each side screen, either when you are walking around or while in cover, so you can react to them more quickly. Another instance is when using the Mark and Track augment you will be able to see marked characters more easily. For stereoscopic 3D, the image is rendered twice, once for each eye. As part of this, we take care of correctly positioning the UI so that it does not look odd in the 3D environment. We provide options for the player to tweak the 3D view so it can be made comfortable for everybody. In terms of what specifically players will notice in the game, the 3D will amplify how the HUD is part of the augmented reality fantasy. Again, true 3D display makes the overall experience more immersive, just like you can see with 3D movies.
JFD: I think Eyefinity creates a unique experience in which you feel surrounded by the game’s world. The immersion is absolute. I surprise myself turning my head, looking at things on the additional screens, and when you have big screens, it's even more impressive, LOL!! The 3D experience is another way to really appreciate the world of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. It feels like objects come alive, everything seems more close to you, like you can touch the world (errr... the game screen!)
- How have AMD features and DirectX 11 supported Deus Ex: Human Revolution?
JB: Both when it comes to DX11 or AMD-specific features we have developed, we wanted to make sure they were adding to the game and not just tacked on without real purpose. Eyefinity and 3D literally bring an extra dimension to playing the game-- the PC depth of field really adds a cinematographic touch to the social interaction with NPCs. Also for SSAO (Screen Space Ambient Occlusion) on PC we use a technique which a bit more expensive than the one we use on consoles as the GPU is powerful enough to support it. This really by anchors every object in the environment, giving them a strong contact shadow. This has a dramatic effect on the cluttering you find in the game’s universe.
- Will the CDC engine support DirectX 11? If yes, what are the technical advantages of that API?
JB: DX11 brings a lot of flexibility in the technique that can be used to render the frame and also guarantees availability of specific hardware pieces in the GPU. One example of this is the hardware tessellation we use throughout the game.
- Do you use advanced features of DirectX 11 like tessellation or compute shaders?
JK: We do use tessellation; this was one of the first features we started making use of with DX11. We mainly used it to improve character silhouettes, but also used it for some other objects in the world. In Deus Ex: Human Revolution you see characters up close a lot as you interact with them, like in dialogues. Using tessellation to improve their look really helps make the world and the characters more believable, which is important in a story-heavy game like Deus Ex: Human Revolution. We used compute shaders to improve the look and performance of some post processing effects. AMD has done some great work in this area as well, which we were able to leverage.
- Was it necessary to reprogram or even add code to the CDC engine? If so what parts were altered and what kind of technical features were integrated into the engine? What were the reasons behind these alterations?
JB: Yes, the major task that was tackled when the project started was to write a dedicated DX11 renderer for PC in the engine to leverage all of the possibilities it offers. We were very keen on making sure we could have those functionalities in the game, so writing this renderer was pretty much a requirement.
- Does the renderer of the CDC engine scale well with multiple GPU settings? If so, please provide details about the benefits players with the Crossfire System will have.
JK: It definitely does. The benefits are quite simple-- you will see much better framerate. It does not necessarily give you a 2x more speed, but we have seen up to a 70% increase so far. It is especially beneficial at high resolutions, for example when running EyeFinity.
- As far as performance in DXHR is concerned, will the engine profit from dual core CPUs?
JB: Yes it will. We have made significant improvements regarding multi-core in the last couple of years and we met much improved performance by doing this on multi CPU architectures. To be honest, this is not necessarily a constraint for just PC, but this is reality for all recent platforms. What makes it difficult for the developers is that the architecture is different from platform to platform and we need to take the time to target those architectures specifically. In the end, we don’t have much choice. If we want to have the best performance, we need to take our code design decisions with this in mind. This is pretty much what we did 2 years ago when we re-wrote part of the animation engine specifically to make sure we could afford many NPCs with detailed animations on screen.
- Does the CDC engine scale evenly with more than two cores? If so, what different calculations can be or are split up into different threads, and what is the expected performance gain resulting from two, four or more cores?
JB: It would be unfair to say that if you double the number of CPUs in your PC, you will get double the performance. This scales to a certain extent, but I do expect much of the performance increase to come with bigger GPUs rather than bigger CPUs, especially for those gamers who will play at an extra high resolution on Eyefinity for instance.
JK: Yes, we have a lot of processing that we spread over more than two cores for animation, physics, scene management, etc. So, players will definitely see benefits if they have a GPU that is fast enough.[/spoil]
[spoil=AMD Specific Features and DirectX 11 Features]AMD Features Supported by Deus Ex: Human Revolution:
Working with AMD, Eidos-Montreal have incorporated AMD Eyefinity and AMD HD3D technology, along with DirectX® 11 features for an incredible visual experience. Play the game across 3 or 5 monitors and never miss an enemy with your expanded peripheral view, or get fully immersed in the depth and realism of AMD HD3D technology. Deus Ex: Human Revolution is the first video game title optimized to natively utilize AMD HD3D capable hardware!
AMD HD3D: AMD HD3D technology is supported by an advanced and open ecosystem that, in conjunction with specific AMD hardware and software technologies, enables stereoscopic 3D support in games, movies and/or photos.
AMD Eyefinity: Supporting multiple independent display outputs simultaneously, AMD Eyefinity technology delivers innovative graphics display capabilities enabling massive desktop workspaces and ultra-immersive visual environments for the ultimate panoramic computing experience.
AMD’s Gaming Evolved program represents our deep commitment to PC gamers, PC game developers, and the PC gaming industry to deliver innovative technologies, nurture open industry standards, and to help the gaming industry create the best possible gaming experience on the world’s best gaming platform—the PC.
DirectX ®11 Features Supported by Deus Ex: Human Revolution:
• Real-time tessellation
• Improved Depth of Field (DOF)
• Morphological Anti-Aliasing (MLAA)
• High-quality shadow filtering[/spoil]
Did you catch all of that? Good, because we're going to expand upon ALL of that right now beginning with a few new shots from the game.
DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION will support a host of Steamworks® features such as auto-updating, Steam Achievements and Steam Cloud support. Available in the standard version and the robust Augmented Edition on Steam, gamers will be able to enjoy the Deus Ex experience of their choice. The Augmented Edition boasts a digital 40-page art book, a “making of” special, trailers, animated storyboard of the CGI trailer, motion graphic novel, soundtrack, and a free download of the Deus Ex Game of the Year Edition.
The Steam version is under special pre-order savings. The standard version is going for just $44.99 (USD) and the Augmented Edition is just $53.99. The Augmented Edition comes with a number of bonus goodies, including a free copy of Deus Ex: GOTY Edition.
Now, you may be wondering what's up with that sweet triple monitor setup in the above shot. Here's what's up. That's AMD's Eyefinity that will be given the proper Deus Ex treatment in Human Revolution.
The team has done an excellent job of piecing together not one, not two, but three separate Q&A's for you to check out. There are tons of details on the technology behind the game, DirectX 11 support, AMD specific features, and possibly most important is a look at the game's UI. We'll put them below, simply click on the "spoiler" tag to open your topic of choice!
[spoil=UI and PC Game Design]As answered by:
Julien Bouvrais (JB)- Director of Technology, Eidos-Montreal
Jean-Francois Dugas (JFD)- Game Director, Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Jurjen Katsman (JK)- Founder and President, Nixxes
- What was your biggest challenge about developing Deus Ex: Human Revolution for the PC?
JB: Certainly the biggest challenge in developing Deus Ex: Human Revolution for PC has been ensuring that the franchise lives up to the expectations of the gamers who have been following the franchise since it started in 2000. The PC version of the game needed to be a game in itself and not just of port of the console version.
JFD: The original Deus Ex was a PC game at its core and we wanted to make sure Deus Ex: Human Revolution felt that way as well, even though it's a cross-platform game. Therefore, we took the time to go back to the original game, look at the interface, the inventory mechanic, etc. Though Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a different game, we wanted to recapture some of the look and feel of the original in regards to these aspects. Our challenge was to make sure that we would get the time and the resources needed to develop these distinctive features adapted for the PC version, which we ultimately did.
- How close has the partnership been between the Eidos-Montreal development team and Nixxes in developing the PC version?
JB: While it is true that Nixxes is not working geographically in the same location as the rest of the team, they are truly a part of the Eidos-Montreal development team. They are working in the same development branch as we are and we talk to each other on a daily basis. Nixxes works hand-in-hand with the same design team that takes care of the other versions. Eidos Interactive and Nixxes had a long history of collaboration even before the Eidos-Montreal studio existed. We needed an expert in the PC field to partner with and we knew Nixxes was that developer.
JFD: We’ve been developing Deus Ex: Human Revolution on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 simultaneously since the beginning, with the same level of importance. Nixxes stepped in pretty far along in the project to give us a hand on the PC version because by its very nature it’s the version that requires the most platform specific work and we simply didn’t have the resources to assign dev team members to work on one platform. Nixxes really has been a terrific partner and I feel very lucky to have been able to enlist their talent and expertise.
- What do you want fans to know about the PC version?
JK: We really want them to know that Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a true PC game. Yes, you will have a lot of options, no “press start” screen, full mouse support-- everything we feel a PC game should have. Further, with the graphics, there are multiple options for anti-aliasing, shadow quality levels, and the ability to enable or disable various post processing effects. All controls can be fully remapped as expected from a PC game as well.
JFD: I want the fans to know that when they play the PC version that it won’t feel like a console game with a keyboard and mouse... they’ll be playing a true PC game in terms of the feel of the controls and gameplay.
- What is your favourite feature of the PC version?
JK: It is difficult to pick a favourite feature. There is a lot of cool stuff in the game. But one thing specific to the PC version that we think is quite cool are some features we have been working on with AMD. I can’t talk about these right now, but a video and details will be released on Thursday. Let’s just say that they fully immerse players in the Deus Ex: Human Revolution experience visually.
- Is there anything exclusive to the PC version? If so, please explain.
JK: Well, the main game is the same on all platforms-- the same story, the same endings. But, we do have additional graphics features and a different weapon selection bar to tailor to the keyboard and mouse. There is a simple drag and drop interface to bind things in your inventory to specific keys on your keyboard, making them quickly accessible, and you can then also cycle through these with your mouse scroll wheel while in-game. For graphics, there are some unique features, like smoother shadows, more realistic ambient occlusion effects, stereoscopic 3D-- various things that the extra hardware allows us to do. Our focus has been making sure that the game is built for the PC platform as well as possible.
- Can you explain a bit about the control scheme of the PC version?
JB: The game can be played either with a controller or with a mouse and keyboard. The control scheme can be customized to the player’s liking. A lot of rework has been done for the mouse and keyboard control. Every piece of the game UI has been adapted for this. When you are playing a game on PC, you expect the pieces of UI (button, controls, etc) to react with the mouse as opposed to tapping up and down on a controller and then selecting your choice with the accept button. This was a real challenge in the case of Deus Ex: Human Revolution because we use a lot of in-game UI. The hacking interface is a prime example of this. The team basically had to re-think the control scheme of the hacking mini-game, so that it made sense on PC.
JFD: We support controllers, of course, but we tried to stay as close as possible to the control scheme of the original Deus Ex in terms of the mouse and keyboard. Of course, it can't be totally the same since we have features like the cover system that require their own scheme. So, the numeral keys are allocated to the items/weapons and the F keys are allocated to the active augmentations, for example. One very cool thing in regards to the control scheme that fans will enjoy is that they can use the keypad on the keyboard to enter numbers like in the original Deus Ex.[/spoil]
[spoil=Technical Q&A]As answered by:
Julien Bouvrais (JB)- Director of Technology, Eidos-Montreal
Jean-Francois Dugas (JFD)- Game Director, Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Jurjen Katsman (JK)- Founder and President, Nixxes
- What can you tell me about the AMD Eyefinity and 3DHD features? How do they work? How do they enhance the experience of the game?
JK: With EyeFinity, you can connect multiple screens to your PC and have the game support them all. It is mainly useful in providing peripheral vision to the player, creating a more immersive experience. Your vision is not limited to just the screen straight in front of you, but you also see more on the sides. For example you can see guards coming toward you from each side screen, either when you are walking around or while in cover, so you can react to them more quickly. Another instance is when using the Mark and Track augment you will be able to see marked characters more easily. For stereoscopic 3D, the image is rendered twice, once for each eye. As part of this, we take care of correctly positioning the UI so that it does not look odd in the 3D environment. We provide options for the player to tweak the 3D view so it can be made comfortable for everybody. In terms of what specifically players will notice in the game, the 3D will amplify how the HUD is part of the augmented reality fantasy. Again, true 3D display makes the overall experience more immersive, just like you can see with 3D movies.
JFD: I think Eyefinity creates a unique experience in which you feel surrounded by the game’s world. The immersion is absolute. I surprise myself turning my head, looking at things on the additional screens, and when you have big screens, it's even more impressive, LOL!! The 3D experience is another way to really appreciate the world of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. It feels like objects come alive, everything seems more close to you, like you can touch the world (errr... the game screen!)
- How have AMD features and DirectX 11 supported Deus Ex: Human Revolution?
JB: Both when it comes to DX11 or AMD-specific features we have developed, we wanted to make sure they were adding to the game and not just tacked on without real purpose. Eyefinity and 3D literally bring an extra dimension to playing the game-- the PC depth of field really adds a cinematographic touch to the social interaction with NPCs. Also for SSAO (Screen Space Ambient Occlusion) on PC we use a technique which a bit more expensive than the one we use on consoles as the GPU is powerful enough to support it. This really by anchors every object in the environment, giving them a strong contact shadow. This has a dramatic effect on the cluttering you find in the game’s universe.
- Will the CDC engine support DirectX 11? If yes, what are the technical advantages of that API?
JB: DX11 brings a lot of flexibility in the technique that can be used to render the frame and also guarantees availability of specific hardware pieces in the GPU. One example of this is the hardware tessellation we use throughout the game.
- Do you use advanced features of DirectX 11 like tessellation or compute shaders?
JK: We do use tessellation; this was one of the first features we started making use of with DX11. We mainly used it to improve character silhouettes, but also used it for some other objects in the world. In Deus Ex: Human Revolution you see characters up close a lot as you interact with them, like in dialogues. Using tessellation to improve their look really helps make the world and the characters more believable, which is important in a story-heavy game like Deus Ex: Human Revolution. We used compute shaders to improve the look and performance of some post processing effects. AMD has done some great work in this area as well, which we were able to leverage.
- Was it necessary to reprogram or even add code to the CDC engine? If so what parts were altered and what kind of technical features were integrated into the engine? What were the reasons behind these alterations?
JB: Yes, the major task that was tackled when the project started was to write a dedicated DX11 renderer for PC in the engine to leverage all of the possibilities it offers. We were very keen on making sure we could have those functionalities in the game, so writing this renderer was pretty much a requirement.
- Does the renderer of the CDC engine scale well with multiple GPU settings? If so, please provide details about the benefits players with the Crossfire System will have.
JK: It definitely does. The benefits are quite simple-- you will see much better framerate. It does not necessarily give you a 2x more speed, but we have seen up to a 70% increase so far. It is especially beneficial at high resolutions, for example when running EyeFinity.
- As far as performance in DXHR is concerned, will the engine profit from dual core CPUs?
JB: Yes it will. We have made significant improvements regarding multi-core in the last couple of years and we met much improved performance by doing this on multi CPU architectures. To be honest, this is not necessarily a constraint for just PC, but this is reality for all recent platforms. What makes it difficult for the developers is that the architecture is different from platform to platform and we need to take the time to target those architectures specifically. In the end, we don’t have much choice. If we want to have the best performance, we need to take our code design decisions with this in mind. This is pretty much what we did 2 years ago when we re-wrote part of the animation engine specifically to make sure we could afford many NPCs with detailed animations on screen.
- Does the CDC engine scale evenly with more than two cores? If so, what different calculations can be or are split up into different threads, and what is the expected performance gain resulting from two, four or more cores?
JB: It would be unfair to say that if you double the number of CPUs in your PC, you will get double the performance. This scales to a certain extent, but I do expect much of the performance increase to come with bigger GPUs rather than bigger CPUs, especially for those gamers who will play at an extra high resolution on Eyefinity for instance.
JK: Yes, we have a lot of processing that we spread over more than two cores for animation, physics, scene management, etc. So, players will definitely see benefits if they have a GPU that is fast enough.[/spoil]
[spoil=AMD Specific Features and DirectX 11 Features]AMD Features Supported by Deus Ex: Human Revolution:
Working with AMD, Eidos-Montreal have incorporated AMD Eyefinity and AMD HD3D technology, along with DirectX® 11 features for an incredible visual experience. Play the game across 3 or 5 monitors and never miss an enemy with your expanded peripheral view, or get fully immersed in the depth and realism of AMD HD3D technology. Deus Ex: Human Revolution is the first video game title optimized to natively utilize AMD HD3D capable hardware!
AMD HD3D: AMD HD3D technology is supported by an advanced and open ecosystem that, in conjunction with specific AMD hardware and software technologies, enables stereoscopic 3D support in games, movies and/or photos.
AMD Eyefinity: Supporting multiple independent display outputs simultaneously, AMD Eyefinity technology delivers innovative graphics display capabilities enabling massive desktop workspaces and ultra-immersive visual environments for the ultimate panoramic computing experience.
AMD’s Gaming Evolved program represents our deep commitment to PC gamers, PC game developers, and the PC gaming industry to deliver innovative technologies, nurture open industry standards, and to help the gaming industry create the best possible gaming experience on the world’s best gaming platform—the PC.
DirectX ®11 Features Supported by Deus Ex: Human Revolution:
• Real-time tessellation
• Improved Depth of Field (DOF)
• Morphological Anti-Aliasing (MLAA)
• High-quality shadow filtering[/spoil]