Games Analysis |OT| Time To Argue About Pixels And Frames!

[Kals_Els]

@TavishHill

What I noted is what the person you had quoted was saying.

Honestly I have never done any of that.

[Staffy]

Forza Horizon 5 Tech Analysis: An Xbox Series X Masterpiece

[DARK-PARADISE]

@Staffy


Amazing. Playground is a studio that will be pushing technical boundaries to crazy levels this generation.

Playground, Coalition, Ninja Theory, id Software, all will be in the Top Tier of studios in the blending of cutting edge tech with art, along the likes of ND, Guerrilla, etc. I can’t wait to see their next-gen games.

[Staffy]

@DARK-PARADISE

Amazing. Playground is a studio that will be pushing technical boundaries to crazy levels this generation.

Playground, Coalition, Ninja Theory, id Software, all will be in the Top Tier of studios in the blending of cutting edge tech with art, along the likes of ND, Guerrilla, etc. I can’t wait to see their next-gen games.

Can…not…wait…to see…Fable. That game is going to melt eyeballs for damn sure!

[KageMaru]

@Staffy

-On the Series X Quality mode hits a native 4K with 4xMSAA with the highest detail settings while performance mode aims for 4K but can drop down around 1600p during the most demanding scenes.

-Series S is 1440p to 1080p in quality mode while hitting 1080p to 810p in performance mode

-Motion blur is reduced slightly in quality, one notch lower than ultra in performance mode, but the shutter speed remains the same

-LOD management is slightly more aggressive in performance mode as well

-Quality mode is a completely stable 30fps while the performance mode is a completely stable 60fps with maybe a rare single frame dip here and there.

-Cars match the detail found in the motorsport series but with improved shading and the inclusion of bent normals to improve lighting and shading

-Both POM and conestep mapping is used in the environment to increase depth and detail conestep mapping is only used in the quality mode.

-The procedurally painted ground system allows multiple layers of meshes and textures can be applied to the ground. The quality mode can be up to 5 layers.

-Foliage system is improved with better SSS and physics

-The GI system was upgraded from the voxel based implementation to a surface driven GI. This new GI is on all platforms but the resolution of the GI is 4x higher on the series x.

-AO is also used to improve depth in the environment.

-Sky system is improved to properly reflect weather changes

-volumetrics and lit particles add another layer of depth in the world.

-audio is amazing with RT allowing for sound to bounce realistically based on the surrounding materials.

-Music will also dynamically change during specific events to drive the experience home

There’s a lot more discussed and shown in detail in the video, but those were some the highlights for me (edited)

[Biggzy (Hassan)]

Thought it was interesting how John started the video by talking about Forza Horizon 2 and how that was a cross-gen title a year into the Xbox One and we saw dramatic increases in fidelity with 3 and 4. The same could happen this time because this is a cross-gen title still having to run on the original Xbox One.

[Staffy]

@KageMaru

…ures can be applied to the ground. The quality mode can be up to 5 layers. -Foliage system is improved with better SSS and physics -The GI system was upgraded from the voxel based implementation to a surface driven GI. This new GI is on all platforms but the resolution of the GI is 4x higher on the series x. -AO is also used to improve depth in the environment. -Sky system is improved to properly reflect weather changes -volumetrics and lit particles add another layer of depth in the world. -audio is amazing with RT allowing for sound to bounce realistically based on the surrounding materials. -Music will also dynamically change during specific events to drive the experience home There’s a lot more discussed and shown in detail in the video, but those were some the highlights for me (edited)

Awesome! Many thanks for this because I was not gonna watch this since release is so very soon now.

Jesus, PG truly knocked it out of the park in every single way.

[KageMaru]

@Biggzy

Thought it was interesting how John started the video by talking about Forza Horizon 2 and how that was a cross-gen title a year into the Xbox One and we saw dramatic increases in fidelity with 3 and 4. The same could happen this time because this is a cross-gen title still having to run on the original Xbox One.

Yeah was thinking the same thing. As good as these first year games look, I think some will be surprised to how good games look in a few years.

[Biggzy (Hassan)]

@KageMaru

Yeah was thinking the same thing. As good as these first year games look, I think some will be surprised to how good games look in a few years.

Indeed. I suspect the next Forza Horza will again have another 3 years of dev time, so the platform will be very mature by that point.

[outrigued]

@Biggzy

Thought it was interesting how John started the video by talking about Forza Horizon 2 and how that was a cross-gen title a year into the Xbox One and we saw dramatic increases in fidelity with 3 and 4. The same could happen this time because this is a cross-gen title still having to run on the original Xbox One.

For sure.

It seems like the extra year of dev time really helped, too. So I say, keep it going. 2024, FH6 in Japan. And then, 2027, for the 15th anniversary of the series, FH7 in…wait for it…Washington. Plenty of biome diversity in Washington, including mountains, cities (Seattle in this engine?!?), forests, plains, etc.

[Senua]

@Biggzy

Thought it was interesting how John started the video by talking about Forza Horizon 2 and how that was a cross-gen title a year into the Xbox One and we saw dramatic increases in fidelity with 3 and 4. The same could happen this time because this is a cross-gen title still having to run on the original Xbox One.

That possibility is simply beyond my imagination.

[Staffy]

@Senua

… image1267×509 80.8 KB

That possibility is simply beyond my imagination.

I agree so much with that first comment you posted.

If only every single game was like this, we wouldn’t even need things like VRR then. Don’t get me wrong, VRR is great but games shouldn’t have to rely on it. PG just shows here what a top class studio they truly are.

I have no doubts this is an indication for Fable.

[Senua]

@Staffy

I agree so much with that first comment you posted.

If only every single game was like this, we wouldn’t even need things like VRR then. Don’t get me wrong, VRR is great but games shouldn’t have to rely on it. PG just shows here what a top class studio they truly are.

I have no doubts this is an indication for Fable.

It is just capitalism for you. No other studios except first party ones from Microsoft and Sony will take a genuine interest in delivering quality releases. I don’t think that’s a financial viability/profitability for third parties.

[Staffy]

@Senua

It is just capitalism for you. No other studios except first party ones from Microsoft and Sony will take a genuine interest in delivering quality releases. I don’t think that’s a financial viability/profitability for third parties.

Good point.

I look forward to all the XGS games after Psychonauts 2 and now FH5 in terms of top quality polished products all around.

I didn’t play enough of MSFS to be able to judge it.

[TheRayTracer]

@KageMaru

…ures can be applied to the ground. The quality mode can be up to 5 layers. -Foliage system is improved with better SSS and physics -The GI system was upgraded from the voxel based implementation to a surface driven GI. This new GI is on all platforms but the resolution of the GI is 4x higher on the series x. -AO is also used to improve depth in the environment. -Sky system is improved to properly reflect weather changes -volumetrics and lit particles add another layer of depth in the world. -audio is amazing with RT allowing for sound to bounce realistically based on the surrounding materials. -Music will also dynamically change during specific events to drive the experience home There’s a lot more discussed and shown in detail in the video, but those were some the highlights for me (edited)

What a great video. I watched that thinking ‘Playground are Wizards’ and also thinking of…Fable.

I think we saw a preview of the Fable rendering engine today. You’d expect a racing game to get the road textures and cars looking good, but Playground have gone well beyond that, and that bodes well for that ‘other’ game with the same, very talented developers.

For me, The Coalition and Playground are the top teams in Xbox Game Studios right now.

[KageMaru]

@TheRayTracer

What a great video. I watched that thinking ‘Playground are Wizards’ and also thinking of…Fable.

I think we saw a preview of the Fable rendering engine today. You’d expect a racing game to get the road textures and cars looking good, but Playground have gone well beyond that, and that bodes well for that ‘other’ game with the same, very talented developers.

For me, The Coalition and Playground are the top teams in Xbox Game Studios right now.

Oh yeah a lot of that work will definitely apply go Fable. Recent job postings stopped mentioning Unreal 4, so there’s a good reason to think they’ll use Forza Tech for Fable. The codebase is ever-evolving and shared between Turn 10 and Playground. Both studios also have some amazingly talented engineers with an engine that’s already highly optimized. The bigger hurdle, and likely a major focus for them now, is developing the tools and systems to support an action RPG.

Crazy thing is this is before all the improvements we’re seeing to the reboot of Forza Motorsport. So in a way, FH5 is kind of a stepping stone to what we’ll see from Forza Motorsport and later Fable.

[Biggzy (Hassan)]

@KageMaru

Oh yeah a lot of that work will definitely apply go Fable. Recent job postings stopped mentioning Unreal 4, so there’s a good reason to think they’ll use Forza Tech for Fable. The codebase is ever-evolving and shared between Turn 10 and Playground. Both studios also have some amazingly talented engineers with an engine that’s already highly optimized. The bigger hurdle, and likely a major focus for them now, is developing the tools and systems to support an action RPG.

I wonder whether the rumours about Fable having engine issues were true. It is suspected they initially went with UE4 due to job listings, but it now seems they have gone with Forza tech. It wouldn’t surprise me, if true, it was due to the issues you can encounter in building an open world with UE4, something that Forza tech has shown it can do all but in a racing game.

[andrew_schmidt (HaloGaming08)]

@peter42O

…t does it wow me? No. Not even close. But very few games thus far this generation have. The biggest issue with the visuals in Halo Infinite are the trees. Instead of going with pine trees that are tall and skinny, they should have went with shorter trees that are more “full”. On the ground, it all looks good but in the air or fly overs, it looks empty and barren which I believe is mostly due to the trees. If the trees were shorter and more full, I think this wouldn’t be the case. But it is what it is. Since I have no attachment whatsoever to Halo, all I care about is that the combat/gameplay loop, audio and story/characters are all excellent. If I get those three aspects at that level, im perfectly fine with the visuals being the way they are because the rest of the game will make up for it.

to be fair halo has a lot of physics and other things going on espesically since its on such a way bigger scale not to mention its based on xbox one hardware someone i know who has a thing for game design explained why infinite doesnt look as good as say horizon forbidden west and i quote him he outright said if infinite did look as good as forbidden west he said gureilla would be embarrassed this was even before e3

[No-1HoloLens-Fan]

@Senua

… image1267×509 80.8 KB

That possibility is simply beyond my imagination.

Another advantage of having Gamepass business model and 23 studios

More time for polish and no rush games

[No-1HoloLens-Fan]

@Senua

It is just capitalism for you. No other studios except first party ones from Microsoft and Sony will take a genuine interest in delivering quality releases. I don’t think that’s a financial viability/profitability for third parties.

Maybe Gamepass could help in this

1. Target your game without Gamepass in mind for launch. If it’s good at launch, release

2. Not good at launch and having financial struggles, make a deal with Gamepass at that moment

3. Get your stability back and use extra time to polish the game

4. Announce delay, with news of launching day one with Gamepass

5. Media will forget delay and talk about Gamepass. And final product will be well polished