Hello guys, recently i read a topic in this site about what is a stylized effect, and i really liked the discussion. So now i make this thread to a topic that is really important and we need to share more information about it: When an effect begins being non-production ready? What do you think a “Non-production ready” particle effect is? What are the main reasons of an effect being non-production ready (we have the most famous one being a mesh with tens of thousands vertex and polygons count, but except this one, what else?) And this gives us a new branch: when a mesh starts being too heavy for an effect? So many questions… Spill out the beams!
It’s hard to define what makes an effect production ready. I think it all depends on the game and on what platforms the game will be on, is the game third-person, first-person, or top-down? is there a day/night cycle? Things like making an effect work in all different kinds of lightning, look good from all angles and not have too much overdraw. These are some of the things that I think make up a production ready effect.
Does any part of it keep me up at night?
1 Like
As already said, it’s clearly depend on the game you are working on.
If the only thing of your game is a tiny planet and you want to do some fancy things on it, I guess it’s ok to spend all you vertex count on it…
Every game have their limitations, but in most of the case, you want to avoid Overdraw and take care of .ms like, every time. And also depending of the system, like VR, which need constant 120FPS, or at least 90 FPS. Better ask your Technical Artist, or if you don’t have one, your Main Developer, to see the budget allowed.
But well, you have to be logical too, and think about optimised effect at every step of the creation !
In general, framerate drop is the ennemy, so be aware of what could cause it and be the hunter 