Witness Snowdrop: The Next-Gen Engine

Last updated on March 25th, 2017

Massive, a studio of Ubisoft, has been very busy in developing the role-play tactical shooter, ‘The Divsion’. Two trailers have been showcased so far to reveal the universe and graphics of the game. Thanks to the ‘Snowdrop-Engine’, Division’s world is highly detailed with rich elements and it looks ‘stunning’.

To be frank, till date no such engine like Snowdrop has been developed which makes it the first one ever to claim the ‘next-gen’ title. The employees of Massive find it interesting and fun to work with such type of engine to develop the game. According to Massive, “Snowdrop has been specifically developed for our employees to make their work easier and support them in every way possible to offer them fluidity and freedom in designing the game.” The studio has given lot of emphasis to stimulate the environment in response to many aspects. The world exhibits a day-night cycle which accordingly affects the nature and hence, players can experience different kinds of weather. In fact the objects will show different reactions in response to the changing weather cycle (Enhanced dynamic shaders). Thanks to the engine, a high quality lighting system can support the game to establish a rich atmosphere which is more realistic than what cinematic experience can offer. e.g. If you shoot an object, let’s say a banner, multiple holes will be generated allowing light to spread uniformly through them, thus creating a silhouette. The developers have even gone to the extent of enhancing the reaction of various kinds of particles, floating in the air, in response to numerous environmental factors that also includes light. The way you physically interact with objects, accordingly they show their own response. e.g. if you shoot a vehicle from, different angles, parts of the vehicle will be shattered in different ways meaning , it will be different all the time.

What Massive actually wants is to take the approach of developing a game to a whole new level by offering artists to showcase their skills in any way they wish to do so. This renders them fluidity and improvement in every aspect.

A release date is yet to be confirmed by Ubisoft but the company targets to launch the game by the end of this year on platforms like PC, Xbox One and PS4.