Question: What Game Engine Is Used for Star Citizen?

Answer

Star Citizen, the ambitious space simulation game by Cloud Imperium Games (CIG), uses a heavily modified version of the CryEngine, originally developed by Crytek. The modification was so extensive that CIG branded their version of the engine as the "Star Engine."

Over the years, the development team has significantly overhauled the original CryEngine to suit the vast scale and complexity of Star Citizen's gameplay and universe. Among the enhancements are modifications for large-scale space environments, advanced physics for realistic spaceflight, and network code capable of handling the massive multiplayer aspect of the game.

The development process for Star Citizen is unique because it's being created in parallel with another title from CIG, Squadron 42, which serves as a single-player experience set in the same universe. Both games share technological advancements and improvements made to the game engine.

Here’s an example of how such an engine might be utilized for a simple task, like creating an object in the universe:

// Example pseudo-code for creating a spaceship entity in the Star Engine

EntityId CreateSpaceShip(const string& shipModel) {
    // Load the model for the spaceship
    IRenderNode* pRenderNode = gEnv->p3DEngine->LoadGeometry(shipModel);

    // Set the position and orientation for where it should appear
    Matrix34 transformationMatrix = Matrix34::CreateTranslationMat(Vec3(100.0f, 200.0f, 300.0f));

    // Apply the transformation matrix to the render node
    pRenderNode->SetMatrix(transformationMatrix);

    // Create the physics properties if necessary
    pe_params_pos physicsParams;
    physicsParams.pos = Vec3(100.0f, 200.0f, 300.0f);
    IPhysicalEntity* pPhysicsEntity = gEnv->pPhysicalWorld->CreatePhysicalEntity(PE_RIGID, &physicsParams);

    // Link the physical entity with the graphical representation for synchronization
    pRenderNode->LinkToPhysicalEntity(pPhysicsEntity);

    // Return the unique id for this new spaceship entity
    return pRenderNode->GetEntityId();
}

Note that the above code is hypothetical and intended for illustrative purposes only; actual game engine code would be more complex and involve additional considerations such as networking, persistence, user input, and rendering optimizations.

Due to the unprecedented scale of Star Citizen, the developers have had to push the boundaries of what's possible with game engines, resulting in a unique setup tailored specifically for their needs. These modifications have been so significant that they've essentially created a new engine out of the shell of CryEngine.