343 Industries had to pull off some rather impressive technical wizardry to get Halo 5: Guardians, its latest first person shooter, running at 60 frames per second. According to a recent public statement, it seems that Havok Technology – recently purchased by Microsoft – helped to achieve that goal.
As the statement says, “343 Industries worked closely with the team at Havok to integrate Havok AI to help bring to life the game characters. The Havok Physics effects are used throughout the environment to lend the title an immersive physicality that helps draw players deeper into the compelling Halo universe.”
According to 343 Industries director of engineering David Berger though, “In creating Halo 5: Guardians, the team pushed the Xbox One hardware to maintain a steady 60 frames per second for lightning-quick reaction times and visceral gameplay, and Havok’s efficient toolset helped us to reach that goal. Every element of this game had to be truly epic. The graphics, sound, music, story, AI and multiplayer features were each a massive undertaking, and our collaboration with Havok gave us a robust toolset to round out the features to create something that gamers won’t forget.”
There are plenty of other factors though – enemy frame rates were kept at 30 FPS, the resolution supported dynamic scaling when the action got too heavy and other compromises were made. Nonetheless, Halo 5: Guardians is in 60 FPS. What do you think of the game thus far? Let us know in the comments.
