A guide to the first 15 seconds of every game

When you switch on a video game, you see a bunch of logos and stuff you might not recognize. Welcome to the exciting world of middleware! Join Pat Gill for a tour of the many extremely niche tools that make games possible. Programs like Havok, Speedtree, Simplygon and Easy Anti-Cheat that developers couldn't live without.
0:00 Polygon's Comprehensive Guide to Every Game
0:34 Engines
1:03 Bink
1:48 A POP QUIZ
3:20 Vivox
3:54 Criware
4:51 Wwise
5:00 Scaleform
5:38 Quixel Megascans
6:23 Simplygon
7:08 Speedtree
7:55 Truesky
8:05 Easy Anti-Cheat
8:40 Havok
9:04 So Much Stuff
Subscribe to our KZbin channel! goo.gl/D8prdf
Like us on Facebook: bit.ly/PolygonFB
Follow us on Twitter: bit.ly/PolygonTwitter
Follow us on Instagram: bit.ly/PolygonInsta
And for more gaming and entertainment coverage, visit www.polygon.com

[@polygon]

Pretty jazzed to load up this video .5 seconds after it posted and see all the guesses in the comments

[@verysmallcat]

turn on the on button :)

[@Taurusus]

is it Oodoctopodes?

[@hollandscottthomas]

I see your deluxe hardcover library editions of Hellboy, Patrick. I see you.

[@takemetoyonk]

I'm looking forward to an introduction to all of the publisher names and logos I see and how many of them are related to each other or are complete one-offs made for that game in particular. Edit: this was way more interesting and educational!!

[@avakining]

Oodle???

[@madelynsmith3711]

love when polygon asks "have you ever wondered?" cuz I never have, but I'm excited to learn anyways

[@artuno1207]

I have but never bothered to go beyond that. Glad this was made.

[@cashnelson2306]

You should wonder more

[@madelynsmith3711]

@@cashnelson2306 I wonder about many things, generally not video game related. If you're curious about vexillology however, I'm your gal

[@elias.t]

@@madelynsmith3711 What's your favourite and least favourite flags out there?

[@Merusdraconis]

fun fact about the visibility culling that Simplygon does: most game engines *also* hide the backsides of models that aren't supposed to be visible, in real-time - *every* video game model is hollow, and every little polygon that makes it up knows which way is 'out'. One easy way to hide polygons is to simply not draw a polygon on the 'in' side; this is why, when you break out of a game map or fall through the world, you can see through the landscape; you're looking at the 'in' side of the map.

[@Queer_Nerd_For_Human_Justice]

Good addition! Gotta love finding level zero

[@Shinigami13133]

Additional fun fact, back face culling has existed in the form it's used today since the original doom. All thanks to human super computer and guardian of earth against extraterrestrial threats John Carmack!

[@katethegoat7507]

I think VRchat avatars don't do blackface culling cause when you put your face inside of a friend they don't just disappear

[@SurmenianSoldier]

@@katethegoat7507 now that's an unoptimized game if i've ever seen one

[@JainaSoloB312]

Pat pronouncing Fortnite like the name of a Lord of the Rings city at 9:18 both gives me life and makes me fear death

[@gorimbaud]

"The octopus is silent" is my favorite new phrase.

[@jonhanson8925]

Same!

[@MV96_]

It does look kinda like a very artsy "W", to be honest.

[@scooterdooter7123]

😂 yup

[@blandedgear9704]

I spell my name with a silent octopus now.

[@musicalemjay]

This video has instilled within me a deep and insatiable need to play Speed Tree. I don’t care that it’s not an actual game. I wanna BUILD TREES.

[@polygon]

This is how the tree enthusiast -> game dev pipeline ensnares the youth - Simone

[@hayatobun]

I read that last sentence to the melody of Queen's "I Want To Break Free"

[@sumdude5172]

You wanna get paid? Learn to become a foliage artist

[@FanOfMostEverything]

Oh good, I'm not the only one. Reminds me of Tesselmania and other gamelike CD-ROMs I'd play with as a kid.

[@yorpslorg8933]

I read I want to build trees first, and immediately assumed they were talking about the graph structure, you know, which if you have 3 different objects you can make more unique trees than the universe can hold a representation of the number, yeah, those trees

[@rfgnmf-nmesofuehsdjfnrmeowfsdz]

when he said "punkbuster" i instantly got chills all over my body

[@polygon]

Did you get busted - Simone

[@rfgnmf-nmesofuehsdjfnrmeowfsdz]

@@polygon no just got flashbacks to how bad that thing was in bf3/4

[@RogueNinetails]

This is legit bringing me so much joy seeing all the little things people had to care about enough to develop, like making files run well or making trees good. Love seeing all the comments of people feeling seen by this too. Cheering all you hobbyists and developers on from the sidelines

[@730ways]

crying, furiously making a game from scratch as I listen, lamenting 3 years of learning everything, franticly writing down "simplygon" in my notes, thanks pat!

[@fabiangiesen306]

Well, that was unexpected! (I work on Oodle and Bink.) The best feature of the grumptopus is that the tentacles make absolutely no sense! It's a very silly logo but we've gotten kind of attached to it. And one of the Oodle algorithms even made it into hardware! (Oodle Kraken is what the PS5 SSD uses.)

[@fabiangiesen306]

As for how much the tentacles don't make sense: the "dl" and "e" tentacles are literally free-floating. They're not attached to the octopus. They taper to a point at one end, go wider, loop around a bit, and then taper back. Just some disembodied tentacles floating in the ocean next to an octopus trying to practice interpretive dance. I'd be grumpy too. [Once you see it you can't un-see it. I've been aware of this for years and now you too are cursed with this knowledge, dear Internet.]

[@Alfonso162008]

Is grumptopus its official name? Because I love it! lol

[@fabiangiesen306]

@@Alfonso162008 No official name but that's what I call it!

[@WibottaZu]

the Bink Smacker logo made quite a statement too, back in the day

[@ZipplyZane]

It still surprises me that Bink is still a thing with all these other codecs out there. What exactly does it do better?

[@joelmattsson9353]

"The back side of every human you've ever seen could be hollow", literally a monster from scandinavian folklore.

[@kashiichan]

What is it called?

[@joelmattsson9353]

@@kashiichan there are many names for it, but the most common ones are probably Huldra and Skogsrå. Having a hollow back doesn't feature in all versions of the myth, but it is a common feature.

[@kashiichan]

@@joelmattsson9353 Thank you! :)

[@gupdoo3]

Also a Gravity Falls short

[@lovelymododo]

"oodle - the octopus is silent" is such an amazing catchphrase, you need to sell them that!!

[@russelljohnson7004]

the time is NOW to stand up and raise your voice in support of every silent octopus

[@jasonericson3744]

Addendum from a game developer's perspective: Scaleform is the closest we've ever really had to an industry standard way to make UI, like menus, HUDs, etc. That's why you see it at the beginning of so many games. The (not so) fun part is that it was discontinued years ago. :C Now we're all left with a huge pile of different UI systems that all have different problems and nobody's agreed on which one to use. So if you've ever played a game and thought "Huh I wonder how game developers make all these menus and HUDs and stuff", rest assured, us game developers are all asking the same question.

[@knullgorr3822]

Is this why 343i can't design a functional menu for their life?

[@Psyk60]

I think it would surprise a lot of people just how much work it is to make the UI for a game. Even with something like Scaleform it's a lot of work.

[@keiyakins]

Unfortunately "just embed an entire fucking web browser" seems to be winning...

[@distortedguitarist81]

If it was industry standard I wonder why it was discontinued. You'd think it was making them a decent chunk of change

[@Psyk60]

@@distortedguitarist81 It was basically an implementation of Adobe's Flash player that ran within a game instead of in a browser. So it was probably discontinued because Flash was being discontinued.

[@noisepollution4473]

"The octopus is silent" is the funniest fucking thing I've heard in a year

[@ScottSnowdenart]

“The octopus is silent” had me busting up. More Pat vids please

[@vmeirellespereira]

As an indie developer I can say that yeah, it's exausting to make it from scratch. A lot of compromises have to be made when you don't have the thousands of dollars necessary for all that software. Love your videos, "The octopus is silent" killed me

[@TheComputerHermit]

I'm sorry to hear that. Rest in peace 🙏

[@katyamsden7624]

This was incredibly interesting and informative but my biggest takeaway was my fear of Hollow Patrick

[@Elvalley]

Don't fear Hollow Patrick. Embrace Hollow Patrick. Yes, get those arms around him, into his back. Just so... Yes, you're now one of them.

[@dobb7101]

"The octopus is silent" I have never been more disappointed in a logo.

[@TheNobod3]

I legit never would have guessed that Speedtree was a speedy way to make trees lmao

[@chemguyleland]

The octopus is silent... For now...

[@skullsmitten]

let him speak

[@polygon]

LET HIM SPEAK

[@Arrakiz666]

@@polygon And lo, for the Octopus did speaketh, and his voice was like the trumpets of Angels!

[@Elvalley]

The octopus has no mouth, and it must scream.

[@lrgogo1517]

@@Elvalley interesting reference choice seeing how the octopus has a mouth drawn on its face, compared to the hidden mouth real octopuses have under the tentacles

[@rosesinrain]

I thought it said "Boodle". Edit: I also think the Oodle logo is made worse by the fact it looks like it's from a flash game from 2009.

[@fabiangiesen306]

The logo actually is from 2009!

[@azyrael96]

I... Like the logo :(

[@PaulFisher]

I refuse to believe that it is anything but Boodle. Apart from that, perfect logo no notes.

[@SurmenianSoldier]

Am I the only one who thought it was Poodle?

[@HyruleJedi]

There’s all these essential components to build a game that you need to give credit to, and then there’s just trees

[@BraveLittlePixel]

As a 3D Artist, seeing some of these tools look super time efficient. I've used a little Quixel but that tree stuff was phenomenal! I don't work in Games Dev so don't get to use a lot of these, but anything that means I don't have to physically model or texture something really is the best. Basically if it automates my job, its good - just don't tell my manager.

[@Vallam23]

i definitely saw "Doodle" because it's a word that almost makes sense and the Disney logo has instilled in me a distrust of "D"s

[@D33r_Hunt3r_]

I was so confident it was doodle, lol.

[@tobysinbad]

I always knew Disney didn’t care about children’s education bc I *still* can’t see the D without subconsciously thinking “yeah but it looks more like a G” every, every time

[@panampace]

Walt Gisnep World

[@AllegoricSiren]

I honestly thought this would be about the literal first 15 seconds of gameplay but I am pleasantly surprised. I now know what those dumb little logos mean and that makes me happy

[@YouOpaOpa]

This was the best middleware ad I've ever seen. I really hope those companies are paying Pat the big bucks!

[@SuPeRNinJaRed]

The fact that Oodle trolls the devs that license their software with their sh!t@$$ logo is a thing to be marveled. Its' like F U ya know you need us now slap that octupuss' @$$ on your effin title screen! (Semi-pro design tip: if they would just use a one color version, isolate just the lines and ditch the colorized version it would be a much more appealing logo as just a white or black [line] logo)

[@juliam.426]

“The octopus is silent.” Thank you so very much pat. You are a gift to this world.

[@BensOnlyChannel]

Came here to say this

[@caseysailor9301]

Pat is the fucken stranger in the alleyway tryna lure you off the straight and narrow. "Hey kid..you ever seen a tree?"

[@blarg2429]

This idea of trees as a subversive concept has given me a premise for a terrible YA novel with a hamfisted environmentalist message. Thank you.

[@elias.t]

@@blarg2429 Yo, that's just the Lorax.

[@blarg2429]

@@elias.t Not sure how I didn't realize this myself, but it won't stop me.

[@Pensive_Scarlet]

You won me over with the Barefoot Contessa reference. I shall now accept you as "the guy who reminds me enough of BDG to be an acceptable replacement". I mean, no one can replace him as a person, but someone needs to replace him on this channel to keep me coming back, so consider this a compliment and not a massive weight on your shoulders as you struggle not to be buried by the thought of living up to my specific humor standards as represented by a comedy god. GL Bby ;D

[@brotemca8020]

"the octopus is silent" PLS I NEED THIS ON A TSHIRT

[@swawickets7584]

I willl never watch a video without CC ever again. "WOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMM" "Frantic keyboard slapping". It's the little things.

[@Elvalley]

For your full enjoyment of some content creators, the silent octopus rule is "never not turn on captions".

[@vizzy5764]

Oodle? [Edit: Hell yeah, you cannot ensnare me with your tentacles, evil octopus. I see through you. I don't even really game, I'm just here to hear Pat say words :) ]

[@directrix777shinyshinyamyt4]

I laughed a lot harder than I should have at “The octopus is silent” XD

[@EntameWitchLulu]

This is such a great video! I'm -fingers crossed- going to be starting a game dev club to introduce kids to making video games, and this is a great resource I can share with them to show them just how much goes into the process!

[@macularius]

eagerly awaiting the video investigating what (w)Oodle got in return for trading its w to Wwise 🤔

[@gordonwiley2006]

A fellow woctopus believer, teach the controversy.

[@bearweed5856]

I just wanna shout-out y'all's captioning team! You always put such good descriptions of the music, phrasing, and tone of these videos, and I really appreciate the care and detail that goes into them! Thank you so much!!

[@polygon]

I'm glad you like them! - Simone

[@tatltails3923]

[WOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM]

[@thebettertee]

upon seeing simone, my brain went “omg!! dapper dasha!!” i think i like the cyberpunk red series a bit too much

[@brandonrobinson8169]

I actually have wondered about those logos and what those companies did to get incorporated into the game in the first place, but wasn't going to spend the time looking into the subject. Thank you, Pat

[@drye135]

I thought this was going to be a meme but it was actually insightful and cool

[@symfo]

my sound design professor pronounced wwise "wuh-wise", which always struck me as very cursed. thank you for providing some alternate pronounciation options.

[@becksterslab]

Honestly? I really loved that. I feel way more knowledgable about things that are *super important to gaming* Thanks, Pat!

[@pinstripeowl]

This was also super super interesting, and a great shout out to all the industry tools in the arsenal. Thank you

[@WarMomPT]

Don't worry Patrick, all the OBS nerds who also watch Polygon are genuinely ecstatic to hear H264 mentioned. If you do a follow-up video somewhere down the line, and get to mention 'HEVC / H265' or, heaven forbid, 'AV1', we'll start hooting and hollering at the screen. This isn't a joke, I get giddy when people talk codecs.

[@yumyum366]

What are the benefits of H264 over other filetypes for rendering video?

[@Isaacandjed]

@@yumyum366 Ask Alan Resnick.

[@WarMomPT]

@@yumyum366 The very, very short version of this (because youtube ate my old comment) is that H264 isn't actually that 'good' compared to modern codecs. The benefit of it is practical, not technical. It's old, but as a result of that it's widely supported. Almost any program can encode it, and almost any device - your computer, your phone, a 10 dollar knockoff fire stick from Wish - can decode it, can display it, without any issue. The more modern codecs just don't have that widespread support, H265 because of licensing issues and AV1 because it's still being iterated on and there are no hardware encoders for it yet - if you have ever used the 'share / save video' feature on a modern console, that's a hardware encoder on its graphics card at work.

[@Agnes.Nutter]

yes, but Pat, it's not .h264 - it's a codec, not a filetype :) (h.264, or simply h264/H264 in many contexts)

[@Sim9]

pfft, if you think AVI is bad, you missed out on MJPEG :P

[@basilmemories]

I love that people both went "you're sleeping on how good TREES can be" and "okay but SKIES", because it makes me, someone who goes "I WANT BETTER WATER, FUCK HOW DO I MAKE BETTER WATER" not feel so alone. ps. please someone do speedtree but for water, we all know that waterfalls and rivers are objectively garbage right now. One day we'll unlock dynamic water systems and you'll be amazed how much it'll change things.

[@copiouskittens3323]

you are so correct but the unfortunate truth is that as complicated as tree growth and weather patterns are, fluid dynamics will always be worse

[@ajiththomas2465]

@@copiouskittens3323 There's a reason why fluid dynamics is one of the 7 Millennium Mathematics Problems.

[@krashd]

I'm curious to see how UE5 will eventually do water as they are touting complete photorealism with that engine but I just know water is going to be the dead giveaway.

[@Exoclypse]

@@krashd UE4 has already been updated with a water system recently so UE5 will probably have that. Their new particle system Niagara can also do complex water simulations, you can look at videos of this on youtube. For instance : kzbin.info/www/bejne/iJuohq15pd6KfaM

[@Electrk]

i don't know how they did it, but sea of thieves has hands-down the best looking water i've ever seen in a game

[@josefinameyer7183]

This was a lovely video! I was actually researching audio engines for videogames (the audio middleware you described) the other day. This made me actually understand the information I got while researching! And how to get to know what games use what!

[@thejoshuary]

Pat, I just wanted you to know that your "shelf of decorative thimbles" reference did not go unnoticed. Well done.

[@Miniclash]

Mountain climbing, now with Havoc

[@shewithwings]

as a person who makes everyone sit with me and watch the full credits for every show and film i enjoyed this greatly

[@AzizidarkReborn]

Pat: "The octopus is silent." Me: "You have betrayed my trust for the last time, Polygon."

[@amauryrouquette2361]

The octopus is silent is the most cleverly funny joke I heard in years. Congrats!! x)

[@johnlynch575]

9:43 DUDE, I REALLY LIKE YOUR PRESENTING STYLE. YOU ADD THAT PERSONAL TOUCH.

[@cthulusauce]

After taking so many classes on video/audio production but never understanding how the hell it works in games..YES, it was interesting Pat!

[@mark-breen]

I will listen to Patrick Middle Name Gill speak on any subject.

[@jordand4738]

"since the days of counterstrike, yelling and getting yelled at has been the cornerstone of online gaming" - pat gill summing up my entire online experience

[@SageK253]

This video was super cool and the captions were *AWESOME*. Thank you!

[@luispradilla9297]

Damn... You ever just watch a pat video?

[@russelljohnson7004]

at least once a week tbh

[@Corbomite_Meatballs]

I always wait until he's been fulled rendered in-game before watching.

[@LocalNekomi]

I feel more powerful after this video. Like the secrets of the universe has been unvailed before I play. Thank you patrick.

[@chiseledmedal2634]

Genuinely awesome, I’ve always been interested in what these are.

[@Tustin2121]

Thank you, subtitle person, for those last few seconds of the video (and all the sound effect subtitles as well).

[@vexfidel4127]

so it went something like this: "Oodle? Nah, Doodle. It's gotta be doodle- ah heck."

[@mechanizedmind2472]

I always thought it said Doodle.

[@thewingedporpoise]

I originally thought Doode, then Doodle, but refused to call it that on account of the terrible design, it's always Doode

[@i_am_Emmet]

I couldn’t tell if it was doodle or noodle.

[@wavesofbabies]

"Take a moment to appreciate the middleware heroeswho make games possible" >Government of Canada logo on-screen

[@PaulFisher]

Hey yeah he never explained that one, what is Canada

[@KidVulture]

@@PaulFisher Canada offers a lot of grants for game devs to produce games in the country. It’s the same reason you’ll see a logo for the state of Georgia at the end of movies, they gave the production team a grant.

[@PaulFisher]

@@KidVulture that still doesn’t explain what this so-called “Canada” is

[@cactustactics]

Canada enables you to quickly add cans and jars to shelves in stores and supermarket scenes

[@blarg2429]

@@PaulFisher It's like America, but colder and more polite (this is _not_ the same thing as being nicer!), and with slightly different war crimes.

[@Shiverskill]

This is honestly a useful guide. Im genuinely happy to learn what all these do

[@karawolfgang34]

I have wondered this so often!! I love this kind of content!!

[@dominateeye]

This video just makes me never want to be a game developer ever, honestly. All of these tools look incredibly complicated and boring and I don't want to learn them. Props to anyone who can stand it.

[@JohnGottschalk]

Well if you think these tools are boring, wait till you see what programming looks like!

[@dominateeye]

@@JohnGottschalk I did a year of Visual Basic programming in a class in high school. I learned nothing about computers, and everything about my own limits.

[@rafaelcontreras4920]

oh thank god i thought it was gonna be a pat video without any fighting game/wrestling references but we got one in

[@SureyD]

I thought this video was going to be a summary of every game intro ever for some reason. Huh. Loved the video! I definitely wondered but never bothered to look up those tools! The nitty-gritty of the widespread H264 codec is definitely a topic that I'm sure anyone who has to deal with video files (say streamers who are saving VODs, since that's hip and cool) should know at least a little bit about. Also I definitely read "Oodle" then doubted myself and read "Woodle". I was played!

[@WhiteFyreLeo]

I have never once cared to figure out what the logo's/companies do for the game, I just appreciate that they helped make the game

[@evalange4626]

Two years into covid and Pat's finally starting to feel it, huh?

[@listenhere2006]

the octopus is silent :)))))))

[@Flippo___]

all these tools sound so helpful and interesting, thanks for making me aware of them!

[@raisedbywolves72]

This was really neat! Did not expect it!

[@Nova-jw6ju]

Everything Pat says is correct. I trust this man with my life

[@mitkitty]

Genuinely i find it interesting-ive been curious about Criware for a while

[@roorahclark5869]

10 minutes about 15 seconds and i was utterly enticed, great video:)

[@steamyrobotlove]

The was fascinating, Patrick! Thank you!

[@BrianBuhl]

That push into Pat's lips at 4:07 proves that Pat should be featured as a playable character in a video game because he is uncomfortably sexy.

[@sowhatnow7491]

From here on out I’m calling my taste in men “uncomfortably sexy”. I may have made a little smooch face when they zoomed in.

[@camille1324]

Don’t make it weird pls thanx

[@Corbomite_Meatballs]

Make it weirder please and thanks

[@belwa42]

Man, I love how I can just count on Polygon for super interesting and informative video essays about stuff i've *basically* never though about.

[@Hironomus]

This was a very informative video. I had no idea about these very important tools!

[@theworldsworstperson]

This is a genuinely awesome and interesting video. Bravo

[@spastichobo]

Thank you Pat for this video. I have idly wondered what those logos are for and never cared enough to look them up myself

[@priyanshugoel3030]

Really wanna make a game from scratch now.

[@dlobelow760]

Thank you. Thank you for giving me an extensive video of the engines power the games we play

[@awesomenessbee]

As always, love your work Pat

[@noozyboogaboozynooga9146]

“Master chief suit JO.bik” - Somewhere, BDG shouts “FFS the suit doesn’t do that”

[@shotgunshells2]

_BDG wakes up in a cold sweat,_ "The Spartan augmentations depress your sex drive! The suit doesn't *need* to do that!"

[@maximusdudimus4241]

I'm glad the video has perfectly determined how much learning I can enjoy before needing a fart noise to rally.

[@lesblep]

another fantastic video from pat, where at the end i am convinced fortnite is about to tron him into the game.

[@Elvalley]

I stan "tron" as a verb.

[@rachelevans2617]

I love this I love learning and pats voice is soothing

[@TheFallorn]

I unironically love this video. Thank you for it

[@yames780]

im gonna say "oodle". also im gonna say i do not recall seeing that octopus on any games ive played, unlike the beautiful Bink!

[@pedroscoponi4905]

My guess was either Oodle or Woodle, so I'm patting myself on the back for this one I'm extremely curious: was there any bit of information that got cut because it wasn't interesting or didn't segue super well with anything? If gamedev has a 3rd party tool _specifically_ for making trees, I'd imagine there's other hyper specific tools out there one might not expect. 🤔

[@Xmar4]

Pat. Its super interesting. Thank you!

[@felixc543]

Thank you so much for this! I didn't even know this is what I've been wondering about!

[@NotPaulAvery]

"unembiggen" you're gonna have to start paying royalties to the Simpsons

[@juiceyeah47]

It’s a perfectly cromulant word

[@NotPaulAvery]

@@juiceyeah47 touché

[@Kihen9]

Oh my fucking god this was so interesting! I loved it!!! Never even heard of middleware aside from engines. The video was super cool!

[@fortwas]

I really enjoyed this. these are always things I know I could google and I'm interested in learning more about but I don't wanna look it up right then and I forget to later. Thanks!!!

[@matthewjamesgorman]

That's really interesting, Pat!

[@darelh1348]

I still can't read it, but I've suddenly become attached to the oodle-pus. I hope to see its curse grow, until every game under the glow of pixels is tainted.

[@dogetheboy6997]

I've never been this early for a polygon before!! i love the videos pat makes / stars in too, they're always such fun. along with the new animal crossing, a great way to start the morning :D

[@dogetheboy6997]

(also, i thought the oodle logo said noodle,,)

[@halfpintrr]

It’s very interesting! I had a vague idea of some of this, but wow. It’s so complex.

[@pinstripeowl]

"the octopus is silent". Crying at this video,. I love it and am learning so much