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PlanetSide 2 launches Operation: Make Faster Game
It's easy for most players not to think about optimization. Games run the way they run, and you turn down options until you strike a balance between graphical prettiness and acceptable framerates. But developers spend a lot of time thinking about these things, and that thinking is precisely what's informing the new major development project for PlanetSide 2. Tech director Ryan Elam explains what this means in a letter to the community about what the team is planning to do with the game. Elam explains that at this point the team feels that the core game mechanics are where they need to be. What the game does need is to trim out bits of visual fluff and effects that force the game to run more slowly than it should. So the developers are working on simple ways to do that, like slowing the rate of updates on adjacent players to speed up large battles and simplifying the physics engine to not render changes that players cannot see or interact with. For a full list of the optimization projects, take a look at the letter. [Thanks to Gustavo for the tip!]
SOE talks Forgelight engine, PlanetSide 2 Player App
This is a noteworthy week for PlanetSide 2, as SOE is releasing Game Update 05 and with it a bundle of fixes and features that include Empire-specific rocket launchers and account-wide Station Cash unlocks. SOE is also turning on double XP and double Station Cash for Easter weekend. Furthermore, firm has produced another episode of Behind the Battlelines, and this one boasts technical director Ryan Elam and senior art director Tramell Isaac extolling the virtues of SOE's in-house Forgelight game engine. SOE is also gearing up for the reveal of its PS2 Player App for Android and iOS devices. The app allows for continuous connectivity and strategizing and will be showcased at this week's GDC event in San Francisco. Finally, SOE has published a few PS2 statistics for the month of February. You can view them, as well as the Forgelight video, after the cut. [Source: SOE press release]
