Whenever I hear about the Nocturnal Initiative, my mind goes in bad directions. Maybe I’m just a sicko, who knows. Anyway, yesterday at the PlayStation.Blog Lounge, Insomniac talked about the success of their open source code and documentation initiative to help other PS3 developers.
In case you aren’t aware, Insomniac launched the project roughly 13 months ago (you can read more here). In that time, they’ve seen numerous people accessing the data, both game industry and outsiders, such as students and even IBM. The main goal is to bring new ideas to various other studios regarding SPU usage and programming on the PS3. In their words, this has been a “big success.” One of the cool new features in the code is the water effect technology used in Resistance 2, which looked pretty damn good if you ask me.
Over the next year, Insomniac is going to be moving over to a Perforce repository instead of the current zip file download system to streamline code delivery. They plan to release new docs and source code every 2 weeks, or as it gets updated. They’ll also be adding all kinds of back-end tools, such as asset control systems and automation for maintaining that system, as well as code for data processing of artist data, build pipeline, and an asset building system. They indicated these are easy to share and can help immensely with various projects. Because it’s open source, all of the code and documentation in the Nocturnal Initiative is free to use for any person for any project and they don’t even need to give Insomniac credit.
When I spoke with Jake Biegel earlier, we spoke a bit about the Nocturnal Initiative. Since it is fully open source, Insomniac is taking ideas and tweaks from those using the code to further enhance everyone’s development experience. While they couldn’t speak to who, Biegel indicated they have a working relationship with all the major PS3 developers, so some of that code may be present in the games you’re playing today. He also indicated that Insomniac will be redesigning their website over the next year to to put a larger focus on the project.
I really have to give Insomniac credit for the Nocturnal Initiative. They’re going out of their way to give people the exact code and tools they use to create their games. I hope this project continues to flourish and we end up seeing even better PS3 titles because of their efforts.
