Developer: “I’m Not A Big Fan of 60 FPS”, Character Performances Can Start To Feel Too ‘Swimmy’

The current generation has been subject to much debate and controversy regarding frame rates and resolution. Both current generation consoles although capable enough, have struggled to deliver 1080p and locked 60 frames per second. Some games were close to reach that standard, but it’s something that we haven’t seen consistently happen.

GamingBolt recently got in touch with the founder of Pencil Test Studios, Mike Dietz, and asked him about his take on the 1080p and 60fps dilemma, and whether their upcoming game Armikrog is going to run at that standard across all platforms.

“Armikrog will run in HD, but we’re only supporting 30fps,” he said to GamingBolt. “Stop motion requires you to hand craft every single frame of animation, so moving from 30 to 60 fps literally doubles the amount of animation production! Personally, as an animator, I’m not a big fan of 60fps. It’s definitely smoother, and it’s great for camera moves, but very often character performances can start to feel too soft and “swimmy”. I’ve animated at 24, 30 and 60fps and 60 is my least favorite.”

This is an interesting reply by Mike but one that makes sense. Choosing between 30 or 60 frames per second is a subjective matter but from a developer perspective it depends on how much resource and time they have available on hand. In an age where time is gold and deadlines are to be met with extreme quality analysis, it’s no wonder that developers these days stick to a solid 30 frames per second, and pump up other visual effects such as physics and resolution.

Armikrog, a point and click adventure game is due for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, Wii U and PlayStation 4 platforms. Stay tuned for our full interview with Mike in the coming days.