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Killzone: Shadow Fall, the PS4 exclusive launch title, will run at 60 frames per second in multiplayer, doubling the framerate over the 30fps single-player mode, Guerrilla Games lead designer Eric Boltjes has revealed.
During a Eurogamer Expo developer session Boltjes said that multiplayer hits 60 frames per second “a lot of the time”, but does drop on occasion.
“Running 60 has become this Holy Grail,” explained Boltjes in a follow-up interview with Eurogamer. “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.”
He explained that the team puts graphics quality ahead of FPS.
“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.”
Boltjes said that the extra time players have to react in single-player means 60fps isn’t required, allowing for more graphical bells and whistles instead.
“Graphically single-player is even a step above multiplayer,” Boltjes explained. “There’s even more destructibility.
“We analysed what 60 brings. 60 in multiplayer is really important because your reaction time is a lot shorter. In single-player it’s actually a lot longer. It’s not because our 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 will launch alongside the PS4 on November 29, and will also be available bundled with the console.
Source: Eurogamer
