For all the people whining about the use of Frostbite: Patrick Söderlund Explains How Frostbite Has Changed EA For The Better
Söderlund explains that Frostbite offers the opportunity for developers to make their mark without having to reinvent the wheel or work with an licensed toolset. "What we've done now with Frostbite, is sort of create this open source development model," he tells us. "Take BioWare as an example. They chose to use Frostbite on their own, even though they knew it didn't support open-world structures. It didn't support big worlds. They had to implement streaming systems. There was no advanced dialogue or cutscene system, so they had to implement those things. The main package of Frostbite keeps expanding, because of what the Frostbite team develops, but also because of the things teams keep adding to it. The streaming solution that BioWare added is now in the main branch helping us build open world games in general, whether that's Need for Speed or Dragon Age. The dialogue system is also part of the main branch."
Helps to streamline development, increase flexibility and avoid layoffs.
There are other benefits of EA's approach to engines that have an impact on how developers work outside of major projects. For instance, some prefer to assist another team before beginning on the next big game at their home studio. "The benefits of having 3,000 people trained on the same engine are profound," Söderlund says. "If some team is struggling to get something done and needs help, it's virtually impossible if you don't have the same knowledge base or tech."
EA's model allows the company to pull from other studios for short periods of time. Because they are all using Frostbite, the learning curve for new team members is significantly shorter. It's conceivable that this would also have positive impact in the case of corporate reorganization that leaves some developers in need of new work. Keeping them within EA means both ongoing employment and retaining the investment made in that individual.
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