RAGE (or Rockstar Advanced Game Engine , Eng. - "Advanced Rockstar Game Engine ") is a game engine developed by Rockstar San Diego and Rockstar North , which are divisions of the American company Rockstar Games . RAGE was created for internal use by Rockstar Games affiliates and is not intended to be licensed by third parties. For the first time, "RAGE" was used in the computer game Rockstar Games presents Table Tennis , which was released on May 23, 2006 . Further, the engine is used in the game Grand Theft Auto IV and all its sequels, as well as currently in other games produced by Rockstar Games. RAGE supports IBM PC-compatible computers and game consoles : Xbox 360 , Xbox One , PlayStation 3 , PlayStation 4, and Wii .
| RAGE (Rockstar Advanced Game Engine) | |
|---|---|
 Engine logo | |
| Type of | Game Engine ( List ) |
| Developers |  Rockstar san diego  Rockstar north |
| Announcement Date | September 12, 2005 |
| Hardware platforms | PC , Wii , Xbox 360 , Xbox One , PlayStation 3 , PlayStation 4 |
| Supported OS | Windows macOS |
| Written in language | C ++ |
| License | proprietary , not licensed - internal use only |
| The first game on the engine | Rockstar Table Tennis / May 23, 2006 |
| Last game on the engine | Red Dead Redemption 2 / October 26, 2018 |
Content
Development History
In the first half of the 2000s, Rockstar Games used the Criterion Games production engine RenderWare for the vast majority of its games. However, in July 2004, the American publisher Electronic Arts acquired Criterion Games along with its engine. This worsened RenderWare's licensing policy, so Rockstar Games decided to develop its own engine for its projects. Information about the intention of Rockstar Games to develop its own engine appeared in September 2005 [1] . “RAGE” is based on the AGE (Angel Game Engine) engine, which was originally developed by Angel Studios for Midnight Club games and other Rockstar San Diego games for the sixth generation of game consoles . The development of “RAGE” was carried out by a group of employees of Rockstar San Diego and Rockstar North under the name “RAGE Technology Group” ( Russian technology group RAGE ) [2] .
In early May 2006, MTV News reporters published an article confirming the existence of the RAGE engine and its use in Rockstar Games presents Table Tennis and Grand Theft Auto IV [3] . In June, the release of Rockstar Games presents Table Tennis took place and this information was confirmed and updated [4] .
In February 2007, the British company NaturalMotion and Rockstar Games announced that euphoria , a procedural animation tool, will be used in future Rockstar games and, accordingly, in the RAGE engine [5] . The press release, which was included in the second trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV , ultimately confirmed that Grand Theft Auto IV would be Rockstar's first game to use euphoria [6] [7] .
On April 23, 2008, 1UP.com published an interview with Rockstar North technical directors Adam Fowler and Sandy Roger, which was all about RAGE [2] . On April 29th, Grand Theft Auto IV was released - the second game using RAGE.
After Grand Theft Auto IV , “RAGE” was used in the racing game Midnight Club: Los Angeles , which was released on October 21, 2008 [8] . Further, the engine used both the Grand Theft Auto IV add-ons - Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned and Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony . Later, Red Dead Redemption [9] ( May 18, 2010 ) was released on the engine and the game Max Payne 3 [10] was announced, which also uses the “RAGE” engine.
On November 3, 2011, Rockstar Games announced Grand Theft Auto V [11] , the game uses the RAGE engine [12] . The game was released on September 17, 2013 on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 console [13] , then on November 18, 2014 the game was released on the Xbox One and PS4, and on April 14, 2015 it got to the PC.
Features and Specifications
“Rockstar Advanced Game Engine” is a full-featured game engine that contains a graphics engine , physics engine , sound engine , animation engine , artificial intelligence game , networking, scripting language and other components. The sound engine and network code were developed by Rockstar North employees, and all other components were developed by Rockstar San Diego [2] .
Since the engine was oriented toward use in games that have an “open, seamless world,” the main advantage of the engine is its ability to efficiently handle large game spaces. So, when a character moves on a level, the engine constantly and dynamically adds some and removes other objects. The developers reported that for this it was necessary to develop a reliable engine memory manager that could constantly distribute and remove objects from the RAM without fragmenting it [2] .
RAGE uses the external physics engine Bullet Physics Library , which is free software . [14]
The developers devoted a lot of time and attention to the physics of cars, which they tried to make as close to reality as possible. This system takes into account the weight of the machine, the adhesion of tires to the surface and other characteristics. The behavior of the car depends on the surface on which it is traveling, as well as on weather conditions [2] .
For the animation of humanoid characters (people), “ euphoria ” is used - a software component that independently automatically creates character animations “on the fly” . “Euphoria” was developed by NaturalMotion and has been used in RAGE as a permanent component since the game Grand Theft Auto IV [5] .
List of games using the engine
| Name of the game | Developer | First release date | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rockstar Games presents Table Tennis | Rockstar San Diego , Rockstar leeds | May 23, 2006 | Xbox 360 Wii |
| Grand theft auto iv | Rockstar north Rockstar toronto | April 29, 2008 | PC ( Windows ), Xbox 360 , PlayStation 3 |
| Midnight Club: Los Angeles | Rockstar san diego | October 21, 2008 | Xbox 360 PlayStation 3 |
| Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned | Rockstar north Rockstar toronto | February 17, 2009 | PC ( Windows ), Xbox 360 , PlayStation 3 |
| Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony | Rockstar north Rockstar toronto | October 29, 2009 | PC ( Windows ), Xbox 360 , PlayStation 3 |
| Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City | Rockstar north Rockstar toronto | October 29, 2009 | PC ( Windows ), Xbox 360 , PlayStation 3 |
| Red dead redemption | Rockstar san diego | May 18, 2010 | Xbox 360 PlayStation 3 |
| Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare | Rockstar San Diego , Rockstar north | October 26, 2010 | Xbox 360 PlayStation 3 |
| Max Payne 3 | Rockstar Vancouver , Rockstar New England , Rockstar London , Rockstar toronto | May 15, 2012 | PC ( Windows , macOS ), Xbox 360 , PlayStation 3 |
| Grand theft auto v | Rockstar north | September 17, 2013 | PC ( Windows ), Xbox 360 , PlayStation 3 , PlayStation 4 , Xbox One |
| Grand theft auto online | Rockstar north | October 1, 2013 | PC ( Windows ), Xbox 360 , PlayStation 3 , PlayStation 4 , Xbox One |
| Red dead redemption ii |  Rockstar studios | October 26, 2018 | PlayStation 4 , Xbox One |
| Red dead online | Rockstar studios | November 2018 | PlayStation 4 , Xbox One |
Notes
- ↑ Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories - We spend an hour with the biggest PSP game around! (eng.) . 1UP.com (September 12, 2005). - “Though most players won't realize it, one of the more interesting notes about Liberty City Stories' technology is that this is the first time since the series has gone 3D that there's a GTA game not built using Renderware. Instead, the LCS engine has been built by Rockstar Leeds and Rockstar North. ” Date of treatment July 19, 2010. Archived February 18, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 1UP Staff. Grand Theft Auto 4 - Rockstar explains the tech behind GTA4 . 1UP.com (April 23, 2008). - Interview with Rockstar North CTOs Adam Fowler and Sandy Roger regarding the features of the RAGE engine. Date of treatment July 19, 2010. Archived February 18, 2012.
- ↑ Stephen Totilo. The First Rule Of Ping-Pong Club: Talk About Rockstar's Table Tennis Game Video game publisher hosts underground tournaments for NYC tastemakers. (eng.) . MTV News (May 4, 2006). - “The Rockstar reps explained that the game [ Table Tennis ] was running on RAGE, the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine. This is the graphics technology gamers are to expect from future Rockstar games, including the next "GTA." ”. Date of treatment July 19, 2010. Archived February 18, 2012.
- ↑ Tor Thorsen. Grand Theft Auto IV powered by Table Tennis engine? (eng.) . GameSpot (June 15, 2006). Date of treatment July 19, 2010. Archived February 18, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 NaturalMotion and Rockstar Games, Inc. Announce Development Partnership, NaturalMotion Press Release (English) (PDF) (link not available) . NaturalMotion (February 27, 2007). Date of treatment January 5, 2009. Archived on September 27, 2007.
- ↑ Grand Theft Auto IV Trailer 2 Launched! Archived February 15, 2012. , GTA4.net, 28 June 2007
- ↑ Boyer, Brandon Product: Grand Theft Auto IV Using NaturalMotion's Euphoria . Gamasutra (June 29, 2007). Date of treatment April 3, 2008. Archived February 18, 2012.
- ↑ Chris Roper. GC 2007: Midnight Club: Los Angeles Preview First details on Rockstar's latest offering in its highly successful racing franchise. (English) 2. IGN.com (August 23, 2007). Date of treatment July 19, 2010. Archived February 18, 2012.
- ↑ Nomad. Impressions: Red Dead Redemption . Absolute Games (September 2, 2009). Date of treatment July 19, 2010. Archived February 18, 2012.
- ↑ Tom Bramwell. Balding Max Payne 3 sighted Eurogamer (June 10, 2010). Date of treatment July 19, 2010. Archived February 18, 2012.
- ↑ R * Q. Grand Theft Auto V Official Announcement . Rockstar Games (November 3, 2011). Date of treatment June 13, 2012. Archived September 1, 2012.
- ↑ R * K, R * Y. Rockstar Game Tips: Learn from the Max Payne 3 Leaderboard Legends . Rockstar Games (October 11, 2012). - " Max Payne 3 does use RAGE, and we're also using it for GTAV ." Date of treatment November 1, 2012. Archived November 20, 2012.
- ↑ R * Q. Grand Theft Auto V is Coming Spring 2013 . Rockstar Games (October 30, 2012). Date of treatment November 1, 2012. Archived November 20, 2012.
- ↑ Erwin Coumans. AAA Titles using Bullet . The official website of the engine (January 5, 2009). - “We are allowed to mention that some parts of Bullet have been co-developed and optimized with Rockstar and merged into their Rage game engine, used on XBox 360 , PC and PLAYSTATION 3 in Midnight Club: Los Angeles and Grand Theft Auto 4 . ". Date of treatment July 19, 2010. Archived February 18, 2012.