When it comes to framerates in a game, how slow is still acceptable? I thought I’d get some opinions on this. I’ve been trying to keep my project playback speeds above 30 fps, but sometimes it dips below that and that’s got me concerned. So how slow is -too- slow?
I’d consider not playing it below 12-15 fps. Sometimes an event will slow things temporarily. However I’ve always had fairly lowend hardware and am perhaps overly tolerant of lousy framerates.
AC
It varies game to game. In an RTS, 10-15fps is fine. In a racing game or shooter, less than 60 is all but unacceptable. Go with what feels right for your game, and have other people playtest it too!
I’d say above 30 most of the time is okayish for a shooter or racing game, but kind of on the low side. Remember your game will also run differently on different hardware, so if you have a powerful machine and are getting 30 fps you have a lot of optimization to do. Also, sometimes the built player runs a lot faster than the editor. I’m not sure if you are aware of that.
haha this conversation is similar to the audio question of eq- how much is too much? the answer is always use your ears!
It totally depends on what you’re going for.
Too slow = interferes with experience. It’s best to not worry about speed but more about speed acceleration. If you’re game changes speed dramatically enough to interfere with gameplay, you have a problem. Some games need to feel fluid, and low poly count is necessary. Others can have consistent skipping if the skipping doesn’t force a player to make bad gameplay decisions.
Just make sure people playing your game like the way it feels, and make it easy for them to choose the right graphics level for their setup. FPS is mainly used as a tool to find out what happens at the extremes of gameplay.
If you’re pushing 60 FPS no matter how many objects are on the screen, you can add more visual elements if you wish! If its 70 FPS when you’re walking around but 5 when someone starts shooting at you, then you need to optimize multi-object stuff more. Use it as a tool to get the feel right.
Also, don’t read into FPS too much. Just because you have 70 FPS on your high end graphics card, doesnt mean an integrated chip , like a macbook graphics card, will translate to 40 FPS lower. Every graphics card has its own strengths and weaknesses, and nothing can substitute for trying your game out on another computer and seeing how it feels.
my 2 cents
=-Adam