When it comes to Killzone: Shadow Fall, Guerrilla Games is developing it so that the single player will run at 30fps, while the multiplayer is going to be at 60fps, with both outputting at a native resolution of 1080p.
During Eurogamer Expo today, Lead Designer Eric Boltjes explained that multiplayer is actually going to run at 60fps “a lot of the time,” meaning that when the action ramps up, it will dip below the 60fps mark. Speaking to Eurogamer, Eric elaborated on this by saying, “The reason for that is tricky,” before continuing:
Running 60 has become this Holy Grail. Suddenly people think if you run 60 your game is better. Technically, that’s not really true. But what it does do is it makes decisions go from input to on-screen a lot easier.
So, having a constant 60 is not actually better than having a ‘lot of the time’ 60. It sounds weird, but it’s actually true. Because usually in the moments where we’re going to drop framerate, either you’re already dead or it’s too late anyway.
After comparing Killzone: Shadow Fall to other PS4 games in the genre by saying, “I think our game, graphically, especially multiplayer, looks a lot more detailed and vibrant than a lot of the other games we are in direct competition with,” Boltjes added:
We didn’t want to make any graphical concessions. We didn’t want to say, we can run at 60 constantly if we just half the resolution and take out all the destructibility and remove all the glass, for example. We didn’t want to do that. We wanted to keep it really pretty and try to make it 60.
It’s just we can’t go out and say we’re always 60, because that’s lying. We’re very close. And I challenge anybody to notice, without Digital Foundry looking at it, that there are large drops.
As for the single player at 30fps, that’s because “graphically single-player is even a step above multiplayer” and “there’s even more destructibility.” They ultimately landed on 60fps for multiplayer due to a shorter reaction time, but it’s a lot longer in single player. That isn’t to say AI is stupid, “but because you simply have more time to react. We said we don’t need 60, and we want the graphical push.”
Killzone: Shadow Fall launches alongside the PS4 this November.
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