Engine or Content? (Destiny)

by narcogen , Andover, Massachusetts, Thursday, June 01, 2017, 23:19 (2822 days ago) @ Cody Miller

Jason Jones ALWAYS insisted on using their own game engine. For him, he liked knowing exactly what was happening. If there was a bug, you knew where it was coming from because you coded it yourself. If you use a commercial engine, you have no idea sometimes what's under the hood or how to fix bugs or behaviors that are wrong for your game.

I get that perspective. But I wonder.

Do Bungie games have fewer bugs than studios that license engines?

Are those bugs fixed more quickly because Bungie makes its own engine?

What is Bungie's competitive advantage over other studios-- its engine, or its content?

In the Marathon and Myth era, it was clearly both-- and on the Mac side at least there were not a lot of engine options, to the point that they were the ones licensing an engine for use.

In the Halo era, I would have said it was their content that set them apart, and that they'd have had an easier time of it iterating their engine less often.

In the Destiny era... I think the engine might just be special. Tried to play some Reach Firefight under less than ideal network conditions the other day-- conditions which are not ideal, but are typical for me.

It was horrific. Nearly unplayable. Destiny excels under those same conditions.