GDC: Codemasters Taps Havok For Next-Gen Offerings

Game engine tool provider Havok has announced that major UK developer and publisher Codemasters has licensed the company's Havok Behavior tool for use in yet un-announced forthcoming next-generation games. Havok Behavior, one element of the recently released Havok 4.5, accelerates the creation and run-time evaluation of character behaviors based on hierarchical finite-state-machines and procedural modifiers. Designed with creatives in mind, the Havok Behavior Tool gives both technical and non-technical game developers the ability to aggregate character animation assets directly from Autodesk Maya, 3ds Max, and Softimage XSI, using Havok’s content processing tools. Havok's Behavior Tool also helps users rapidly compose game-playable behaviors that provide immediate “what you see is what you get” results on all of Havok's supported platforms, including PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, PSP, and Windows Vista PCs. Said Codemasters Studios vice president, Gavin Cheshire, “For the next generation of games platforms, we really wanted to push the boundaries in terms of realism and characterisation, but we needed to do it without compromising our time scales. Havok Behavior allows us to create a huge range of behaviors for our next generation characters and do it in a way that makes the most of both our creative and programming resources.”