Hunt: Showdown 1896 devs dig deep into Mammon's Gulch, bullet drop & the CryEngine tech

Hunt: Showdown 1896 is basically Hunt 2.0. The developers over at Crytek have updated the underlying technology of the game, which has resulted in the need to say goodbye to the eighth generation of consoles. But with this new tech comes the ability for vast improvements, and these are as plain as the cowboy hat on your head and the Uppercut at your hip. We wanted to hear more from the developers at Crytek about how they created the Mammon’s Gulch map, what goes into implementing bullet drop, and the process of designing the game’s excellent weapon skins. Ready up, because we’ve got some bounties (information) to hunt (learn).

Shacknews: Can you talk about some of the research or inspiration behind the Colorado-themed location?

Scott Lussier Game Director, Hunt: Showdown 1896: The idea of going to Colorado for Hunt Showdown was an idea that was floated around for many years. The most appealing part of that biome was bringing to life the mountains and slopes, deep valleys and creeks, and the general appeal of ghost towns and mines. The contrast between a Colorado Map and any of our Bayou maps was also appealing for us internally as we thought Colorado would stand on its own quite well.

Research wise, the Art and Level design department spent significant time gathering resources from Colorado in the 1800s. This research gave us the idea of abandoned mines and ghost towns.

Shacknews: How has the recent update to bullet drop altered how the designers construct compounds, the environment, and the map layout?

Dennis Schwarz Design Director, Hunt: Showdown 1896: Adding bullet drop hasn’t really changed our approach on how to build spaces in a major way but has of course informed how we deal with long distance sight lines. Before adding ballistics, you would point and click, and even at longer distances the projectile’s speed and leading were the only thing you needed to consider. We are more daring with these longer sightlines now as the added bullet drop provides a fresh challenge to snipers, while also being immensely rewarding with headshots always being lethal regardless of the weapon used.

Shacknews: Will Mammon’s Gulch have the same weather and time-of-day as the previous maps, will there be new additions?

Scott Lussier: Mammon’s Gulch will have the same Time of Day as previous maps, but all Times of Day won’t be available in our update. We’ll be looking to add fan favorite time of days to Mammon’s Gulch in future updates.

Shacknews: Can you talk about what goes into creating the narrative cinematics and introductions for the new map?

Kamil Redestowicz Marketing Creative Director, Hunt: Showdown 1896: We kept the Map Reveal trailer simple, resisting complex storylines to highlight the corrupted beauty of Mammon’s Gulch. Scouting the perfect spots, camera angles, and lighting to create an inviting yet disturbing atmosphere was key. Despite concerns about its simplicity, over a million views on YouTube proved that sometimes less is more. In contrast, the relaunch trailer was our most ambitious project yet, aiming for the highest cinematic quality possible with Cryengine and introducing lip-sync for the first time. Assembling the Scrapbeak fight was insanely demanding, with dozens of cuts and last-minute adjustments to animations and camera moves, even a week before launch. I’m blown away by the result but, more importantly, by the team’s drive and motivation for this project.

Shacknews: What sort of new threats can players expect when hunting through Mammon’s Gulch?

Scott Lussier: There is a new Wild Target called the Hellborn! This is our first primarily ranged Wild Target who changes the way players fight against our targets. With the creation of the Hellborn, we pushed the boundaries for how players find Wild Targets, how to fight Wild Targets, and what rewards you’ll get. 

The lore of the Hellborn will be revealed throughout the duration of the Event, so for how this monstrosity was created... you’ll have to wait to find out.

Shacknews: What’s it like taking a game like Hunt: Showdown from one engine to an entirely new one? I’ve got to assume it’s an intense yet rewarding process.

Clive Gratton Chief Technology Officer at Crytek: There’s been an enormous amount of work to move Hunt: Showdown 1896 on to CRYENGINE 5.11. The team are very proud of that achievement. Now that we have close alignment of Game and Engine it means that Hunt: Showdown 1896 will be able to benefit from regular CRYENGINE updates!

Shacknews: What are some of the improvements to the tech that the team is proud of and what was it like seeing it running for the first time?

Clive Gratton: We’re most proud of improvements that directly affect the experience of Hunt: Showdown 1896 players:

• Moving from DX11 to a bindless DX12 renderer - better performance from hardware. This translates to more detailed environments, weapons and characters for a more immersive experience.
• Improved Global Illumination for better lighting, particularly in the shadows.
• Water rendering now has a fluid simulation and is looking beautiful.
• HDR pipeline for wide dynamic range. This is great for our interior, exterior gameplay.
• Full object level support for 3D audio technologies such as Dolby Atmos, Windows Sonic and Tempest 3D. The audio within Hunt is a key part of the experience and the improvements are amazing.

Shacknews: Can you give us an insight into what the conversation was like when working out that it was best to sunset the previous generation of consoles? For instance, when did you realize that it was something that needed to be done for the benefit of the game?

Clive Gratton: Hunt: Showdown 1896 is an opportunity to establish a new standard of fidelity for our game for the coming years. It was a difficult decision but Gen8 consoles are not capable of giving our audience the experience we want Hunt to be moving toward

Shacknews: What’s the process like for designing skins for weapons? Is it a different process when designing for a popular player (like Vombuz’s skin)?

Scott Lussier: The process for designing weapon skins is similar to creating Partner skins, but there’s obvious differences. When it comes to partner skins, we’re working closely with the partner to bring their vision into the game, so there’s a ton of collaboration there.

Designing Weapon Skins always starts with us creating a moodboard and direction for the skins “identity.” Once we get the moodboard created, we quickly move into the concept iteration stage, and we remain inside of this stage until we’re happy with the concept. After the concept phase is done, we make the skin in 3D. During the 3D phase, we will improve certain aspects of the concept to increase our execution on the 3D model.

Now that Hunt: Showdown 1896 is in players’ hands, it’ll be interesting to see how the community reacts to the content and the different strategies that form around the new map, Mammon’s Gulch. Be sure to take a moment to look over the Shacknews Hunt: Showdown 1896 page for more information about the Scorched Earth event.

Sam Chandler

Head of Guides

Hailing from the land down under, Sam Chandler brings a bit of the southern hemisphere flair to his work. After bouncing round a few universities, securing a bachelor degree, and entering the video game industry, he's found his new family here at Shacknews as Head of Guides. There's nothing he loves more than crafting a guide that will help someone. If you need help with a guide, or notice something not quite right, you can message him on X: @SamuelChandler