e740, ATI, XScale, Varium, etc

[Dan East]

[Emudude]

[Robotbeat]

I think that a delayed release of Varium would be a good idea for the e740 (as long as something can be available... a demo? it's not THAT important, I guess). If you think you can optimize Varium for the e740, it would be more worth your time (in my opinion) to do that instead of releasing a Varium 1.1 version with a few minor updates. I mean, more extra people would buy it if you released it for the e740 than if you just released a revised version of Varium. Anyways, I hope that you release the game (for the other devices) soon and that you will be prosperous. Good luck!

BTW, gaming is not the only reason to buy a PPC. There's also connectivity and a bunch of other stuff.

[Robotbeat]

I just got my e740! (and I'm glad I choose it)

Now, you have a REAL reason to release Varium for the e740... I got it. ~~~~~

Anyways, I hope that you release the game for the e740, but I'll get by without it, I guess.

I am willing to help you, if you need the help. (although I don't think that you do because of randall's e740 or whosever it is) I will be busy having fun and stuff and encoding movies for my e740...

Merry Christmas, everyone! And, if I don't get another chance, a Happy New Years, as well!

[Emudude]

Read this........

[randall]

That article doesn't provide any information of value. We already know what the OEMs, Microsoft and Intel "should" have done. We are concerned with the devices that have already shipped and continue to ship with these flaws.

The e740 certainly won't be the last device to ship with such severe performance issues.

So even if Microsoft, Intel and OEMs buck up and do what they should have done all along, we still have to deal with the devices that are already on the streets. Its too late for those devices, and now its become our responsibility to get our games to run on them.

[brendan]

[James S]

Well the e740 redlines at 4 thousand, where as everything else revs up to 6. You're shifting at 2 thousand, whereas Varium is working with much more power and has to shift late.

[Sergey Chaban]

[randall]

I don't know anything about CounterSheeps development, but I've seen the screenshots and news blurbs. Voxel and sprite-based cartoons. Looks like a hell of alot of fun.

Variums basic foundation has been "complete" for quite some time. We knew performance issues were going to occur at key points in the development cycle- adding AI, Sound/Music, Network, special FX. All those cause the game to slow down to a measurable extent. So we had those elements running within a month of develoment- and have been accounting for them every since.

We still have a ways to go before the game is actually finished, though. But this is why these problems popped up so early for us. I know there are alot of other developers out there that add in Sound/Netcode/SpecialFX at the last minute because they feel those are unimportant to performance. For certain engines, that is true. That is NEVER the case when working with polygons.

When AI was finally implemented in Snails (about a week before the first demo last December)- the framerate dropped below 10 FPS. And it was VERY noticeable. I think I popped a cork on that one (I usually do)

Once the engine has been optimised, it is my responsibility to be sure that the content is optimised as well. Dan brings Variums framerate up, I knock it back down with more content. As long as we can stay within the 17-20 FPS range, we'll be okay.

The Singleplayer game has a much higher threshold content-wise. We don't have to account for the drop in framerate that occurs with the netcode/multiplayer. Singleplayer isn't nearly as heavy with the gunfire, and the positioning of units can be spaced a little farther apart.

In Multiplayer, there is far less control, so EVERYTHING must be optimised. In Singleplayer, we only optimise the areas that need it (speaking strictly from the content side of things).

[sponge]

[randall]

[sponge]

[brendan]

[Robotbeat]

Insulting the abilities of a gaming engine? Coming from one of the Snails developers? Snails is ALL cartoons and no voxels or 3d or anything, so that wouldn't seem likely. That is one of the downsides of communicating using text... sarcasm is often less easily detected, and people are more readily misunderstood and often unintentionally offended.