What is optimization, we all know. It generally means that a job has been improved. At least, it is used in this sense in many fields, especially in computer science. However, when it comes to the game world, it is not enough for optimization to offer only the best, a well optimized game has to aim and implement the best in many different systems.
If you’re reading game reviews on platforms like Steam, ‘Not well optimized game. ‘ ‘The game optimization is bad. You’ve seen sentences like ‘. Although these comments often indicate that the game performance is not good enough, it may actually point to a software error in the game. Let’s take a closer look at what optimization is, what it does, and what’s the effect of optimization on the game experience in detail.
What is optimization?
If we examine it in terms of computer science, optimization is the shortest way to do a process. As a result of this shortcut, the hardware can deliver the required work well without overloading it. This situation is considered reasonable most of the time, but it is not enough in the game world to reach a transaction result as soon as possible.
Games have minimum system requirements, while there is often no limit set for the maximum. This means that the game in question runs smoothly on countless devices that fall between the minimum and maximum. In order for the game to offer this, it has to offer the best, which is called game optimization.
A poorly optimized game means a bad gaming experience. However, this does not always mean that the game performance is bad. A game that should offer the best between minimum and maximum systems may have software problems. But the area that causes the optimization problem is often the graphics of the game.
Factors affecting game optimization:
- Image quality
- Lighting and shading
- Extra effects
Image quality:
In order to make a game optimization comparison, an evaluation is often made over 1920×1080 resolution, but during this evaluation, resolutions such as 2K and 4K should not be overlooked. Image quality comparisons in today’s modern games can get a little more complicated.
Methods such as FXAA or SMAA that focus on the final image, rendering method with slight offsets per frame, per-pixel editing methods such as MSAA and methods such as TXAA, which includes all these methods; They form the basis of game optimization, even if they have different consequences in terms of cost and sampling.
Lighting and shading:
Movement of lights shaped on details such as dynamic light cycles and terrain deformation in a game, changes in light intensity, player movements and related terrain changes, light behaviors and shadows; Creating surfaces and atmospheres that respond realistically to light, as well as forming the basis of game optimization, is one of the main factors that determine the cost of the game.
Extra effects:
Image quality, lighting and other effects not counting shading are also extremely important in terms of both cost and optimization. Bokeh effects that create depth of field, out-of-focus image parts and similar image features are more suitable for computers with minimum and maximum hardware, the better the game optimization will be.
How should a well-optimized game work?
For a while, we come across options such as low, medium, high, very high and ultra in the graphics settings of the games. These are graphics presets and are often viewed positively as guiding even if they don’t exactly offer the player what they want. During development, the focus is on the medium preset. Accordingly, the lower and higher settings are determined.
After setting a medium standard, the game team works on it, aiming to capture a quality image and smooth performance at all levels. Even if everything seems fine, it is often the player who does not understand these technical details that makes the final decision. Unfortunately, the result is often a low-performance game.
The game developer can add a small detail during the software so that the games learn the values of the device such as GPU, CPU. Knowing the system level of the device, the game should offer its own graphics option accordingly. Thus, the game will display the game optimization level at the highest level by presenting an accurate image on all minimum and maximum systems.
A similar problem occurs with PC versions of console games. The graphics setting is set to medium by default, but the obvious cross-platform differences result in an unoptimized game. Of course, players with the necessary equipment can change these settings, but it is clear that many players have optimization problems due to ignorance or lack of equipment.
Is it that hard to optimize the game?
In fact, it is not correct to say that game optimization is difficult or easy. Because it is a situation that changes according to each game developed. However, there is a situation that even adding a single code sequence that will strengthen the optimization during the writing of some games does not provide enough efficiency against the time spent.
To summarize, the result of the effort spent on optimizing the game is often not worth the effort. Because it’s not easy to get the right performance on each and every one of a wide range of hardware. However, it should not be forgotten that some of the game developers spend the least time and cost on optimization.
Although Dying Light is a successful open world game with animated characters and realistic light cycle, many players said that they can play this game almost 55% below the standard resolution values. It is known that Deus Ex: Mankind Divided has a similar MSAA problem. Metro 2033, on the other hand, was one of the games that got full marks in terms of optimization, although it was not expected.
We answered the curious questions such as what is the optimization that directly affects the game performance, what is it for, what is the effect on the game experience, and we talked about the details you need to know about the subject. You can share the games that you missed because of the optimization problem in the comments.
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