When the Xbox One X was first announced, Microsoft made a big deal about how “Project Scorpio” would be the next big step in gaming. It would deliver 4K gaming to the world and as projects like Forza Motorsport 7 were revealed, it seemed like native 4K (and maybe 60 FPS with it) would become a reality. Since then, we’ve had plenty of games utilize a dynamic resolution or deliver 4K but at 30 FPS.
The question has now become whether the Xbox One X is capable of natively rendering graphically demanding games at 4K. Will shortcuts like checkerboard rendering have to be used? What is the best solution? As Voofoo Studios (which developed Mantis Burn Racing) marketing and PR manager Sean Walsh, technical director Mark Williams and 3D artist Ben Exell discussed with us, there’s a place for checkerboard rendering when it’s required.
“I certainly think it does – we managed to do 4K with very little work, and I believe there is room to spare, so with a bit of time and effort I’m sure even the most graphically demanding game can be tuned to natively render at 4K.
“We’re even doing anti-aliasing at 4K, and there is a good argument to say that this is possibly not needed – indeed we took it out of the PS4 Pro version. Checkerboard will always have a place though, and for relatively static or slow-moving scenes, it can look imperceptible to true native 4K, while at the same time freeing up some rendering resources for additional and possibly more interesting effects.”
At the end of the day, optimization and performance appear to be the most ideal pursuits. As developers spend more time with the console and the Xbox One nears the end of its shelf-life, it will be interesting to see how its hardware is leveraged.