But isn't that going to make development on the xbone substantially higher than the ps4?
How should devs handle ports between consoles? *spawn
- Thread starter onQ
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But isn't that going to make development on the xbone substantially higher than the ps4?
We also have Joker telling us some games definitely got capped on XB360 for maintaining parity. That's always been the double-edge to cross-platform titles - more software for more people, less use of platform specifics. Given the similarities of development and that XB1 is both less powerful and harder to use, there's probably more scope for devs to throw in a little extra for PS4, but only regards a setting or three, like the...
#PS3_GRASS_LEVEL = 1
#XB360+GRASS_LEVEL = 3
...on some current-gen games.
To the casual gamer, perceivable difference won't be significant to sway opinion. However, this thread is about how developers handle development, rather than what the market repercussions are.
Every platform has pros and cons. This thread about how developers handle the differences. If a platform has some advantages like amazing CPU power, but it's a considerable investment to utilise those advantages versus utilising the rival's, chance of a dev actually taking advantage of those platform specific advantages are reduced. In the case of next-gen, given the broad similarities between architectures (PS4, XB1 and PC), it seems to me from a business POV that the cheapest, most direct development path would be 'target a 6 core Jag + 12 CU platform and dial up for more CPU and/or GPU for other platforms.' Getting into the specifics of working your engine to XB1's idiosyncrasies is likely going to decrease ROI. Exclusives will likely want to do that, but I'm not sure cross-platform will. Of course, with games using middleware, those middleware vendors can refine their engine per platform, improving utilisation of more esoteric features/functions.
upnorthsox
Veteran
So then in your view the PC version also gets castrated down to the XB1 version? What if most of the sales come from PC/PS4?
I agree, it was just that only one of the dev comments was quoted which was that it was being forced, when the article had two devs saying different things.
May end up similar but the reasons behind it is totally different, and this is about development as shifty said.
With middleware, as I said I believe they'll have to take into account for esram, no choice.
For in house cross platform titles, I also think there's also no choice. How much time is spent on making the best of it during one title, or improving its use in next title based on what is learned should be interesting.
The level of complexity and difficulty is far from cell in development terms.
I think that all things considered, driver maturity, architecture, that the XB1 line up is looking very good and actually bodes pretty well. Development hasn't been so bad that they are laughable.
I would've expected PS4 line up to look a lot better in comparison to XB1 given none of those _issues_. But we are still months away from release and a lot can happen in that time.
Shame that we haven't seen any multiplatform titles shown on every platform yet, that may be where PS4 has a good head start, with maybe XB1 catching up after first round.
That's already the case. You tend to target the lowest common denominator to maximise potential buyers. A game that requires hardware most people don't have, whether the latest PC GPU, or iPhone, or Android, you lose most of your potential customers. Current iPad games are 'castrated' to iPad 2 levels. You just go the path of least resistance in supporting higher resolution and framerates and extras (grass, particles, etc.) on better hardware, but you don't put in effort in exploiting it, unless you going for a flagship title. Most games that are cross-platform on PC are capped to certain limits of design enforced by PS360 and lower-end PC hardwares.
Bagel seed
Veteran
PC version usually comes out later and sells less. There's obviously still incentive to cater to PC gamers with optimized versions lest they want to sell even less copies on there. There's no worry of it hurting PS4 or Xbone sales, not that there ever really was in the PC vs console context.
One of the things Cerny talked about during several of his talks about the development of PS4 was time to triangle. He also said GPU compute would most likely become more important in year 2 or 3. My hunch is that we won't see much of a difference at launch, most developers will take advantage of the ease of PS4 development to afford themselves more time to achieve similar results on XB1. Later on and with first parties of course we'll see the differences.
It should be noted however that the whole notion of superior is relative, I could just as easily say the XB1 version of a game is superior due to its support of VR and motion controls. Of course coming up with scenarios that actually improve gameplay are not simply gimmicks is harder to quantify. If we use Vita as a reference much of the additional functionality feels like its been bolted on so a project manager could check something off the list rather than actually do something needful.
It should be noted however that the whole notion of superior is relative, I could just as easily say the XB1 version of a game is superior due to its support of VR and motion controls. Of course coming up with scenarios that actually improve gameplay are not simply gimmicks is harder to quantify. If we use Vita as a reference much of the additional functionality feels like its been bolted on so a project manager could check something off the list rather than actually do something needful.
Bagel seed
Veteran
MS responds to the article, via Kotaku
http://kotaku.com/report-ps4-is-50-...m_source=Kotaku_Twitter&utm_medium=Socialflow
http://kotaku.com/report-ps4-is-50-...m_source=Kotaku_Twitter&utm_medium=Socialflow
shredenvain
Regular
article
For those of you referencing the latest article from edge magazine about driver quality and performance. Something about the info in this article makes me think that all the anonymous qoutes
from developers are from pre gamescom and post e3. We are 2 months from launch with the time it takes to bug test and manufacture the software do you really think this is current info?
At the end of the article they qoute a dev saying sonys drivers are trash also. With everything we've heard from marc whitten and albert p about new driver performance and the same from sony guys do you think we are having this much trouble from the driver side this close to launch?
I think this info is at least a month or to old.
For those of you referencing the latest article from edge magazine about driver quality and performance. Something about the info in this article makes me think that all the anonymous qoutes
from developers are from pre gamescom and post e3. We are 2 months from launch with the time it takes to bug test and manufacture the software do you really think this is current info?
At the end of the article they qoute a dev saying sonys drivers are trash also. With everything we've heard from marc whitten and albert p about new driver performance and the same from sony guys do you think we are having this much trouble from the driver side this close to launch?
I think this info is at least a month or to old.
Billy Idol
Legend
Finally a good MS PR response..."we let the games do the talking".
But at the end the situation could be the same, driver improvements for Xbox One DevKits could give some performance, but PS4 drivers could be improved too.
shredenvain
Regular
I completely agree. Im just questioning why edge is trying to imply that these are the current state off affairs with both consoles this close to launch. If what they are saying is the current situation then everything is looking bleak for third party launch titles on both systems at launch.
I think its possible edge has been collecting these qoutes from anonymous developers for quite some time and are waiting for opportune times to release them for the most impact.
Its so hard to believe qoutes from unknown people because leaving out names and sources is a convenient way to convey a message without having to provide proof that what is said is even true.
Example unknown developer says " microsoft is having yeild issues with kinect's dedicated silicon"
“The clock speed update is not significant, it does not change things that much,”
I would say that this is pretty recent.
shredenvain
Regular
Im new here and i dont wanna get banned.
So last response on this subject. Im not saying its not recent.
Im just saying they provide no real reference of time .
The post doesnt specify what upclock the gpu upclock was revealed aug 2 over a month ago
All im trying to say is by not giving any specifics on the sources or timeframe in which they were said
these dev qoutes could be from several different moments in time.
Why would you be worried about getting banned? you haven't done anything wrong.
But seeing that the upclock was last month & for him to say that it didn't change much should let you know that this is from a recent talk.
Certainly this is the first thing I thought of. With the PS4 you essentially have a PC with a middling CPU a good GPU with lots of GDDR5 attached to it. With the XB1 you have a similar setup but with a more exotic memory system attached to the GPU. There would seem to be a bit more synergy between the PC and PS4 (surely that was what Sony was thinking ) and therefore many programming resources could be reused/repurposed.
Of course the XB1 is the most likely target owing to it's LCD status (something MS was surely thinking ) but in terms of teams if it starts development on the PC the PS4 port would be relatively easy to do.
Since the systems are practically the same, when handling ports the devs are presumably going to use the same code base for each version. In a straight run like this you have a significant bandwidth, CU, and ROP advantage with the PS4. The Edge article give samples where the ESRam in the xbone will provide an advantage. If the majority of games are built around the same few engines as they were this generation, then will we ever see this actually being used outside of 1st parties?
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