Insomniac dev: new Ratchet & Clank likely 'last 60fps game'
- — 31 October, 2009 08:39
With their work on two of Sony's most prized franchises--Ratchet & Clank and Resistance--Insomniac has made a name for developing well-received, good-looking games. The company has reached that end in two very different ways, creating bright environments with cartoony characters moving at 60 frames per second (fps) for the former and more action-filled scenes at 30 frames per second in more subdued environments for the latter.
It seems as though the company's future might lay in creating games with lower framerates, as a blog post from Mike Acton, the Engine Director at Insomniac, hosted on the developer's official website (discovered on NeoGAF), discussed how hitting the high-water mark of animation has had little to no effect on a game's reception from reviewers or customers.
In terms of reviews, Action references a survey taken by Insomniac shows that while a direct correlation exists between graphics scores and overall scores, that higher framerates do not lead to higher graphics or overall scores. It seems as though the only media cited in this example were those that include separate scores for various categories, which would disqualify many outlets like GamePro, 1UP, GameSpot, and Games Radar. We've sent a question to Mike regarding that topic.
Moving onto the thoughts of the general public, a poll revealed that over 60% of the gamers did not care about framerate as long as the gameplay wasn't affected, and only 16% would refuse to purchase a game that had a framerate lower than 60fps. Acton argued that the nature of the poll probably inflated the latter choice, since gamers who care more about the topic are more likely to contribute their opinion.
Acton concludes with a few statements on the topic of framerate. Noting that reception is rarely based on peak framerates, but more dependent on framerate consistency, Acton states that the importance of high framerates has lessened as of late and closes his post with the (literally) bold statement:
Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time will probably be Insomniac's last 60fps game.
