Beenox engine outputs 4 visual styles on 3 systems

The studio behind the upcoming Spider-Man title has heavily modified its own engine to incorporate four strikingly distinct visual styles.

And Quebec-based studio Beenox says its proprietary engine can output the diverse visual package on Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Activision-owned Benox is currently tasked with building the next Spider-Man title; the first released since Rocksteady won adoration for raising the bar on comic-book-based videogames with Batman Arkham Asylum.

And in an ambitious reply, Beenox has decided to fuse four exclusive visual styles in the same game.

“They had an insane concept where they were looking at four different possible settings for the game, and they in the end decided on using all of them,” associate producer Kevin Umbricht told Develop.

Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions takes its eponymous protagonist through four distinct universes – one a noir-based 1930s-influenced cinematic environment, another set in the distant flying-cars-across-skyscraper future of Spider-Man 2099.

The third visual style resembles a more classic Spider-Man look, while the fourth hasn’t been announced, though is promised to remain distinct.

Umbricht insisted that Beenox has taken no short-cuts in producing the engine and upcoming game.

“It would be easy to replicate what worked in previous Spiderman games and just capture that,” he said.

“A lot of work went into the engine to adapt it so it could output four different visual styles, and it’s cross platform, so it’s the same engine for Wii, PS3 and 360 at the same time.

“Things on the Wii edition are down-resed a little bit, but we had a really strong Wii team that were dedicated to ensuring that its own version works well.”