ⓒ Alena Darmel
But surprisingly, some (but not all) of the new games I’ve seen don’t run smoothly. What’s going on? Do I need to upgrade again? Or is it that some game developers haven’t optimized their games to run smoothly on my PC?
Negligence of game developers
In fact, I already have the view that developers are doing nothing. Recent releases are not properly optimized. In the past, developers did amazing things with their games.
My first computer was a Commodore Amiga 500. It was my dad’s basic computer that I bought for my summer vacations, and I spent a lot of time on it for a few years before I got an x86 PC.
When I bought it, the Amiga ran on a 512KB RAM module, but it needed 1MB to play the best games. So my dad spent a lot of money at the time to update it to 512KB.
The Commodore Amiga 500 computer was released in 1987. 2.6 million units were sold worldwide. ⓒ Bill Bertram 2006
I still feel awe at what the developers were able to accomplish with just 1MB of space. SWIV, the spiritual successor to the horizontally scrolling shooter Silkworm, has been captivating me all summer.
From cutting edge graphics to non-stop action gameplay, SWIV is on par with the best modern indie shooters out there. Not bad at all for a game from 1991. So how did the developers manage to do this in a game designed for 16-bit computer platforms?
Eurogamertells an interesting story. In short, SWIV’s developer, Sales Curve, had to break the mold to write the game code in a unique and different way. One of those ideas had to do with the game’s background.
In a time when almost all games used tile-mapped backgrounds, the developer decided to use a sprite-based level editor instead, allowing them to place color palette changes that scrolled in sync with the background.
And it supported the game’s unique premise of a single, uninterrupted attack, rather than a level loading with each new difficulty level.
It also features adaptive difficulty based on how long the player has survived, meaning the game gets progressively more difficult without having to pause the game and load a new level.
SWIV was a fantastic game, but more importantly, it fit the Amiga 500’s specifications perfectly, requiring no fancy components to fully enjoy the game.
The latest games that waste resources terribly
Comparing the performance achieved with SWIV to today’s modern games that struggle to run even with more powerful CPUs, GPUs, and RAM, highlights the problems with current game optimization methods.
There are many examples, but the first game that comes to mind is Gotham Knights. The recommended Steam specs for this game are an Intel Core i7-10700K or Ryzen 5 5600X, an RTX 2070 or AMD Radeon RX 5700XT, and 16GB of RAM.
However, in reality, the game ran into CPU optimization issues that caused the frame rate to drop significantly even on slightly more powerful PCs, with the game using up to 78% of the CPU.
Gotham Knight ran slowly on my PC, despite it being above the recommended specs. ⓒ Dominic Bayley / IDG
Other unoptimized games simply fall into the category of poorly ported PCs, with issues that come with console games, such as poor keyboard and mouse controls or field of view issues.
There is no excuse for poor performance. If the developer believes the game is ready for PC and you buy the game by meeting the recommended specifications, then the game itself should run buttery smooth, except for a few common issues.
Even famous developers are bad at optimization
Bethesda has given us many enjoyable games. Even Bethesda’s latest open-world MORPG, Starfield, is a game that has suffered from optimization issues from the beginning.
Many games have issues when they first launch, but Starfield’s issues could have been better publicized.
When players who experienced issues like inconsistent frame rates and minor stuttering asked why the game wasn’t optimized for PC, the developer in charge said, “You may need to upgrade your specs.” Answered.
However, I still experienced issues even though I ran the game on an AMD Ryzen 5600 with 16GB of RAM and a GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. Gamer’s ReviewIt’s an excuse that’s hard to believe when you look at it.
In the case of Starfield, the optimization problem could simply be attributed to the developers trying to create something groundbreaking and, in the process, creating a game with higher requirements than expected.
However, some gamers have pointed out that the game is heavily dependent on the CPU when running, and that it may not be properly optimized. Either way, gamers don’t need to put up with the inconvenience.
Starfield is a great game, but some gamers have experienced serious optimization issues. © Dominic Bayley / IDG
The reasons for poor optimization in other games are a bit more unclear. Fast processing times? Slow porting? These are valid questions for developers.
Even if the recommended specifications are set too low, one cannot help but suspect that it is some kind of shady sales tactic used to attract attention.
A game is a failure in itself if it’s not optimized, but no gamer wants that to happen.
editor@itworld.co.kr
