The Engine that Held Back Tarkov

(Intro)

Did the engine BSG choose to create Tarkov ultimately ruin their ability to produce a high-quality gaming experience? It’s not surprising that Tarkov might be one of the most ambitious projects on the Unity engine. For a game that is almost a decade old in raw development time, their technical abilities and know how when it comes to creating a game on this engine have certainly improved over the years. From a much smaller studio with less experience, to a company that has actively changed the landscape of how many first-person shooters handle creating their games, Unity has been a topic of conversation over the years and whether or not it was the right call for EFT. I mean at this point it’s way too late to even consider switching, but today I wanted to kind of go back to the start and call attention to the benefits of Unity, what were some shortcomings that BSG ran into, and how this game might never reach its true potential because of the engine that was chosen.

(BSGs History with Unity)

First and foremost, I am no expert when it comes to game engines and have very little to almost no hands-on experience with making games. This conversation won’t have much of the actual science behind it. So, I would humbly ask anyone who does have experience with game design and especially Unity to sound off in the comments about what their personal experience has been and how monumental a game Tarkov is inside the engine. What I do understand is that Unity is a gateway engine for those who want to simply create and don’t have the funds to pay for something more advanced or technical. Like its key competitor, Unreal, both are free for individuals or students who are looking to experiment and begin their game creation journey. But in the case of BattleState, they are not a single person, nor are they students. Although to be brutally honest, the amount of experience they’ve gained over the years might as well make them students from when they first started. I mean, their lead animation director nicknamed “Kiba” according to their old developer diaries literally had zero experience in modeling and animation work. And now he’s doing some of the best work for first person shooters. At the end of the day, we’ll most likely never know the exact reason as to why they chose Unity as their engine of choice. But the biggest draw to using it is that it’s a relatively straight forward game engine to understand. For anyone new to game design, it makes sense why this might be your choice when it’s time to make a game. For BSG, it must’ve just made sense when they were a smaller team to work with an engine that wasn’t so complex and that could be iterated on in the future should the project grow in size. I mean, we’ve seen some screenshots of their code and man, it looks like a complete mess with how much is going on just for a single interaction. And I’m sure that they did not expect the game to get this popular, otherwise they might’ve selected to use something else. Because all that tech debt they’ve accumulated has certainly become a problem. And it’s time to pay up.

(The debt [tech])

This game has been in active development for over a decade, and because of that the amount of old code that is entangled across Tarkov must be staggering. And while I can’t comment on how that may have a direct impact on the game in terms of performance or experience, I can ask some questions out loud. How much tech debt do they realistically have? Is there a way for them to retroactively try and fix it? How much of an impact is old coding having on new elements they are introducing into the game? Just some general questions that I feel are fair in asking. Anyone with insight into their own experiences with these circumstances are certainly most welcome, but whether it’s the core gameplay, specific and nuanced interactions, the online components, there must be a load of places where cleaning up the game and either fixing or at least streamlining the code would certainly benefit the game. Because not only has the game been worked on for almost ten years, but BSGs skill with making games have grown. Despite what you want to think because the game still feels like it’s in alpha sometimes, we cannot deny that they have improved as a company when it comes to making this game. I won’t try and take that away from them. Their drive and ambition have only gotten larger as time has gone on.

Bigger maps, more map-related mechanics, more interesting and intense events; there are good signs across Tarkov’s history that tell us these guys can make a good game. And for what it’s worth, at its core philosophy and idea, Tarkov is a good game; I’m not afraid to say that. The execution isn’t always there, but we know deep down this could’ve been a showstopper. Again, despite all the bull-crap we deal with sometimes, all the memes about ‘soon soon’ and the wipe is Thursday. How many times have they released something or added something that all wowed us? For me, it sounds trivial, but the cultists, the BTR, and the winter season all really gave me a moment of clarity that felt like; these guys are on track to make something truly special. There are more examples like the care package planes that occur during raids, but how much easier would mechanics and events like these be to implement if the code was cleaner or if they were on a different engine? Or an even easier question, what would Tarkov look like and feel like under a completely different game engine?

(The hypothetical different engine)

This is entirely speculation on my part, but I am genuinely curious about what Escape From Tarkov would look like if it was being created under a different engine. And I think we can look at other games for inspiration as to what the answer to that question might entail. Games like Delta Force and Arena Breakout are two other major competitors in the extraction genre (at least until Arc Raiders releases and smokes everyone for a while). Arena Breakout is made in Unreal Engine 4, while Delta Force is actually made in Unreal Engine 5, and I would still argue that under the right circumstances, Tarkov visually looks better than both of those games. Something about EFT just feels more grounded in reality; the landscapes, the buildings; I mean to be fair they did go out into different parts of Russia and take screenshots of buildings and the like for inspiration. The resort on Shoreline is based on an actual building, which I feel adds to the credibility of the game looking more real. Whether or not the other two games did the same thing, I am unsure. But something about both Delta Force and Arena Breakout, there is a barrier that reminds you that these are games. And it’s no slight against either of them. They are fun in their own ways and for their own reasons. It’s more subjective than anything, but between the three games I’d rather be looking at Tarkov more often than not. Maybe there’s bias in saying that because I and many of us have been playing EFT for way longer, but I’ve always thought the game was gorgeous at optimal settings. The world and all the different locations, the weather effects even when they are a little too over the top, and all the weapons and clothing are so accurate to their real-life counterparts. So, in all honesty, I don’t know what Tarkov would look like in a different engine. The lighting may be prettier; the gameplay may feel more robust and thought out, but I can’t say the same thing for the visuals. Again, this is very much a subjective opinion, so I’m sure others would love to see Tarkov in those different engines, and my curiosity feels the same way. But I’ve never once had any issues with the visuals regarding the engine. It’s always been gameplay, performance, and general infrastructure. Would it be better? Maybe; it might be the game we all deserve after a decade of development. Little to no glitch's errors or crashes, a smooth and seamless UI that is simple, cohesive and intuitive to a player, and just an experience that doesn’t take a thousand and one clicks to remit up after a death. Which has been the main point of frustration for a lot of players.

(Outro)

Whether we like it or not, Tarkov has been created using Unity. An impressive feat no doubt about that, but the optimal engine for a game of this difficulty and complexity? That remains to be seen. We will truly see when 1.0 comes out, and how much has improved from previous versions. The optimist in me hopes that we see some drastic improvements, but the realist in me knows that there won’t be much change. Maybe some performance bumps, some new features, and that’s going to be about it. Which is a shame; Unity for all it’s good for, might have just been not what BSG needs for a game this intricate. But then again, who knows how Unreal would’ve faired because of BSG themselves. Again, for how much more experience they’ve gained, it might not have made a difference in the long run. I wonder if we asked Nikita if he could go back to change engines for Tarkov what his response would be. Either way, it’s too late to change. So, all we can do is wait for November and see what the final product ends up looking like. Thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to watch this video. Let me know down in the comment section below your thoughts on Tarkov and game engines, if you have experience working with any of them and be sure to subscribe for more videos about the uneducated talking about a topic way out of his wheelhouse because he finds the conversation so interesting. I hope to see you in future ones.