The scope of a sequel.(gaming)(Deus Ex: Invisible War )

When Deus Ex debuted in 2000, it received 35 Game of the Year awards, thanks in no small measure to its enormous depth and breadth. As game developers at Ion Storm set out to expand the game even further in the sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War, they turned to one of the leading game modeling programs on the market, Discreet's 3ds max.

Deus Ex: Invisible War is a 3D role-playing game in which the player adopts the persona of an elite anti-terrorist agent. In addition to real-world environments--Seattle, Cairo, Germany, Antarctica, and a secret locale--the game incorporates roughly 60 unique character models, hundreds of skin combinations, and a variety of bots and creatures. "One of the biggest challenges was simply the scope of the game," explains Jim Magill, an architectural artist on the game who worked on weapon models, animations, and various game objects. "In a game this deep and long, a huge amount of content must be generated. Luckily, our artists were familiar with 3ds max and were provided powerful plug-ins. We were able to crank out an ...