If consoles are just glorified PCs now, how is it that a game designed for PS5 or X-Box Series X alone better than one that is designed to be cross platform?
In: 19
Multiple ways:
* Every time you draw a different object with different “settings,” (reflectivity amount, textures, etc.) you have to do something called a “draw call.” The more draw calls, the slower things run, so 3D artists will merge multiple objects into one, and programmers will figure out ways to “batch,” things together so you can draw a scene using fewer draw calls. This usually makes things messy (especially on the 3D art side) so it’s done as late as possible in development.
* In the middle of development things are very fluid, so you often don’t know what objects are going to be seen from what angles, and the player’s intended path through a level might change on a whim. As the game starts to solidify towards the end however, developers can go in and remove unseen detail, as well as put loading and level transitions in certain areas where you won’t notice them which helps cut down on memory since smaller chunks are loaded at once.
* There’s also the basic programming stuff, such as processing data once and then caching it (once again, easier later in development once you know exactly when and where data will be needed) and trying to balance memory VS. performance based on what you need more of in that moment. Like 3D art, this can sometime mean making the code messier and less modifiable for the sake of saving a few operations here and there.
In short though, optimization is basically just “whatever needs to be done,” and can be be millions of different things.
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