The Callisto Protocol Dev Explains the Tech Behind the Game's Gory Details

ign.com:

When it comes to making a new game, a significant development choice is deciding between using an in-house proprietary engine or one of the established and well-supported game development platforms. In the case of Striking Distance Studios and its upcoming game The Callisto Protocol, the team chose the latter – specifically Unreal Engine version 4.27.

I had a chance to speak with Mark James, the Chief Technical Officer of Striking Distance Studios to discuss the business and development side of making a new game, why and how Unreal helped, and some of the bespoke improvements the team made to the engine.

IGN: With the immense challenge of setting up a new studio and team, how has the use of Unreal Engine been an enabler in your three year schedule?

Mark James, CTO, Striking Distance Studios: Starting with an engine that has shipped hundreds of games is a great advantage. Workflows and tools are widely understood and experience using a commercial engine makes hiring easier. There are always certain changes you want to make to the base engine based on the needs of the product, and at an early stage we decided on key areas we wanted to enhance. Not that we did this in isolation, we communicated with Epic on a regular basis on these changes to ease the integration. When you start a project you want to keep taking engine drops over the development cycle and consulting with Epic on the best way to make their changes made subsequent integrations much easier.

You use Unreal's Simple Demolitions System and have customized this for The Callisto Protocol. What are some of these customisations, and does this extend to the dismemberment system in the game?

This was an area we created from scratch. We knew we wanted a gore system that hit