On Thu, 13 Jun 2013 01:10:34 +0200 Andrej Mitrovic <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 6/12/13, Manu <[email protected]> wrote: > > Games are not usually 'crappy desktop code', they're carefully > > tuned, purpose-specific code. > > I'd rather programmers spend their time building cool games than fast > games. Not everything has to be > ultra-realistic-shiny-3D-lens-flair-ultra-optimized-60fps crap. Actually, I quite like 60Hz games ;) But that's been perfectly feasible for a long long time: Really the only reason they haven't all been running at 60Hz for the past 15 years is because graphical fidelity is often considered more important than bumping up from 30Hz to 60Hz. Not that I'm complaining about that. I can entirely understand the tradeoff of settling for 30Hz for the sake of a higher quality image. It's just not my preferred tradeoff - I'd normally prefer framerate. (Of course getting a *consistent* framerate can be difficult, but getting a higher one is fairly straightforward: Decrease the polygon/texture budget.) Although, there are a rare few games that manage top botch up the tradeoff horrifically. Ex: The PS3 versions of Sonic Unleashed and Splinter Cell frequently have absolutely *atrocious* framerates despite the fact that the versions for *less* powerful systems (Wii and the first XBox 1) run at consistently *good* framerates (Because for those versions, they didn't try to cram too much into each frame and overload the hardware). Actually, that always bugged the hell out of me: That the at-the-time "next-gen" PS3 versions actually ran vastly *worse* (barely even playable, in fact) than the versions on notably *less* powerful hardware. I know the PS3 is much more of a pain than the 360, but even still: Something was clearly managed wrong. Especially with the Sonic one which is heavily speed-oriented, therefore making framerate much more important (Not that Sonic Unleashed didn't have other big problems, though). In any case, yea I do agree with you: I'll have a fun, low-graphics game like Sound Shapes, Echochrome or last-gen Disgaea, over a graphics-heavy-but-ultra-dull game like Assassin's Creed or Heavy Rain any day. Related to that: My absolute favorite game developer quote (because I so strongly feel the same way) is from Johnathan Blow, creator of the absolutely fantastic Braid (which incidentally is also *not* a super-high-tech-graphics game): "I like games that are interesting, that give me something to think about or to be well-engaged in, that give me the benefit of the doubt as being an intelligent person. Fewer games like that are being made these days -- an awful lot of games are just about ushering the player through a fake experience, letting him win, making him feel like he is clever and strong without actually requiring him to be anything but a couch potato. I'm not interested in playing those games, and as a result of that (and other long-term design trends) these days there aren't many games that I enjoy." - From: http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/25/joystiq-interview-blow-unravels-braid-in-post-mortem/
