Lightspeed Studios is a global growth studio owned by Tencent. As a part of GDC in San Francisco final month, the studio held its personal summit with ten lectures overlaying the newest methods in recreation growth. PocketGamer.biz was current throughout the talks about Lightspeed Studios’ tech methods, together with Fan Zhang’s speak, entitled “PUBG MOBILE: Efficiency Optimization on Cell Platform”.
His speak lined the challenges of: aggressive video games requiring increasingly more gamers; cellular gadgets are fragmented and numerous, with over 22,000 fashions out there; and the proportion of these gadgets that are low-end is over 55%.
After his lecture, we sat down with Fan Zhang, engine crew lead of PUBG Cell. With 9 years of expertise in cellular recreation growth, he’s labored on a wide range of video games, primarily concentrating on cellular recreation efficiency optimization and real-time rendering. We spoke about these challenges and the instruments which are out there to the builders of PUBG Cell immediately.
Unreal, RenderGarden and different instruments
Let’s get straight all the way down to enterprise – what’s the largest optimisation problem dealing with a recreation like PUBG Cell? “The problem is the various gadgets we have now out there,” he stresses. “We need to be sure all of the gadgets provide a superb efficiency and a superb expertise.”
Zhang continues: “Primarily, we have now two steps to sort out that. One is, we’ll break up the engine performance into completely different modules, and measure the efficiency of the modules independently. We’ll additionally develop a selected in-house software to assist for testing these performances. We have now a set of instruments we use for varied functions. Firstly, this in-house software, which we created for ourselves, is principally for monitoring the efficiency of the GPU, the CPU, the temperature. As soon as we discover an issue, we use the profiling software to diagnose the precise features of modules. We additionally use instruments from Samsung, and even RenderGarden to determine rendering issues.”
The problem is the various gadgets out there. We need to be sure all gadgets provide good efficiency
Fan Zhang
As a result of PUBG Cell is “a practical art-style recreation”, Unreal is the apparent alternative of 3D engine. But in addition, confirms Zhang, “Unreal can be higher acting at supporting an enormous world form of recreation.” In his GDC lecture, Zhang spoke at size about instruments for optimising Unreal. He recognized 4 key methods to do that: loading much less and easily, drawing much less, light-weight rendering, and ticking easily.
“Our present angle is making an attempt to make it possible for the sport might be suitable on as many gadgets as we will,” he tells us afterwards. “We have now completely different methods for decrease and better stage gadgets. So [my advice] for different builders: if they’re making a aggressive recreation and try to achieve as many gamers as we do – we advocate they comply with our complete, complete technique. But when they’re making an attempt to be a extra visually interesting product, they may select a distinct strategy, as a result of these would possibly deliver higher visuals, however at the price of efficiency.”
Lightspeed Studios at GDC 2023
What challenges nonetheless lie forward? “There are three points of what we’re making an attempt to do in the mean time,” reveals Zhang. “One is: with PUBG Cell itself, they’re nonetheless including options. There’s a pure distinction between the brand new options and the efficiency. We’re nonetheless making an attempt to maintain the efficiency good whereas we’re including extra marketing campaign pages.”
He continues: “The second is for the engine optimisation itself. We’re nonetheless making an attempt to do extra optimisation to deliver higher efficiency. There are high-end gadgets the place we’re making an attempt so as to add a couple of new graphic options. We’re making an attempt to make it look good, however that may add a efficiency price. We’re nonetheless investigating the compromises!”
Lightspeed Studios is most well-known for co-developing PUBG Cell alongside Krafton. Nonetheless, it has created over 50 video games throughout a number of platforms and genres for over 4 billion registered customers. There’s extra about its work on the official web site. Different talks by its representatives included showcasing AI-based options, together with “Wobbledoll”, a self-developed, machine-learning technique for producing high-fidelity movement, and an unique have a look at the upcoming open-world cellular survival recreation, UNDAWN. Fan Zhang’s colleague Richard Li lectured a couple of new XPR methodology for optimising and scaling open-world video games, and PocketGamer.biz interviewed him right here.
