How does game “optimization” work? Are people sitting there changing lines of code to more “optimal” ones? What is “optimized”?

Question

The recent The Last of Us for PC made me realize I had no idea what’s meant by “optimizing” a game.

Same with optifine in Minecraft improving performance. How do these things work to just make games use fewer resources?

In: 158

Answer 1

All of these explanations have been very helpful for a tech enthusiast like me who hasn’t worked in IT in over 15 years and needs some refreshers. Thanks for the question, OP. Thanks for the responses, everyone else.

Also, if you guys would rather understand the *REAL TRUTH* about game optimization and how it’s all a big conspiracy perpetrated by Infinity Ward, the developers of Modern Warfare II, then head over to the MWII subreddit where none of these reasonable comments will go over very well.