Star Engine

The unofficial name of Star Citizen's game engine is Star Engine. Originally it is a heavily refactored version of CryEngine 3 from Crytek used since the first in-engine video released at the start of the Crowdfunding campaign. More specifically, the last update integrated into Star Citizen's code was patch 3.8.

On 2016-12-23, CIG announced with the release of Star Citizen Alpha 2.6.0 its move to game-engine (which is also based on CryEngine 3.8) in order to utilize the integrated Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Cloud-Computing features "to support next generation online gaming". It is not known which version of Lumberyard is currently integrated in Star Engine and how CIG will handle future iterations (as of November 2016, the current version of Lumberyard is Beta 1.6).

Engine development is still driven within the CIG studio structure with some of former Crytek employees supervising the project.

List of Features

 * Large World (64bit world space coordinates)
 * Zone System
 * Local Physics Grids
 * Camera Relative Rendering
 * Procedurally Generated Planets
 * PBR (Physically Based Rendering)
 * The Sun as a physical object (possibility of Binary Star Systems or exploding ships in orbit casting light to the planet surface)
 * Subsumption AI
 * Unified First- & Third-Person animations
 * Unique Global Entity ID
 * Generic Instance Manager
 * Universe Simulator
 * Persistence (Player Info Server, Presence Server, HUB Server and Player Persistence)
 * Item Port System
 * StarNetwork
 * GOST (Game Object State) (reworked to newer system )
 * "Grabby Hands" - now integrated into the Cargo system and Loot system, initial system for grabbing and moving objects (e.g. cargo) and initially set to be released in the (later delayed) Astro Arena or SATABall FPS game mode
 * Multi-LayerBlend - character shader tech
 * iPredictor (movement prediction) system

Tools & 3rd-Party Software

 * Kythera - AI middleware
 * Vulkan API - 3D graphics and compute API
 * Wwise - Sound Engine
 * FMOD - (deprecated) Sound Engine
 * DataForge - Data management, Ship & Weapons balancing
 * StoryForge - Dialogue and Conversations system, built upon DataForge
 * PlanetEd - Editor for creating planets
 * System Layout Tool - Star system layout and design
 * Room Management System - (deprecated) System for players to manage their hangars; now changed and integrated in Item Port System

List of Videos on the Star Engine
Gamers Nexus - Video Interview with Chris Roberts on Engine Architecture & Zoning Optimization (2015)

Gamers Nexus - Video Interview with Chris Roberts on Instancing & Player Counts (2015)

Gamers Nexus - Video Interview with Chris Roberts on Procedural Generation (2014)

Gamers Nexus - Video Interview with Chris Roberts on Character Tech, Weather System, & Engine Architecture (2016)

Gamers Nexus - Video Interview with Sean Tracy on CPU thread management, Jobs System, Character Technology, Lighting, sun/planet movement, Authoring Tools & AI (2016)

Gamers Nexus - Video Interview with Sean Tracy on Parallax Occlusion Mapping for Biomes edge-blending; Spring Tension and Inverse Kinematics for the Rover & Ships (2016)

Gamers Nexus - Video Interview with Chris Roberts on Procedural Planets V2 (2016)

Gamers Nexus - Video Interview with Sean Tracy on 64-bit Engine Tech & Procedural Edge Blending (2016)

Gamers Nexus - CitizenCon 2016 PlanetEd tool

Chris Roberts on DX12 & Vulkan support

Squadron 42 Trailer (2012)