Porting From PC to Console Is Doing Things Backwards, Says Rage Dev

[WanderingFool]

Reading this article, I had the feeling that there will be outcry from the snobbish PC elites... and while it would be awesome for them to tailor each version of the game to its platform, this is a more realist view, and I agree with it.

 

[SergejH]

I don`t know, how to say, but did you even played W2? I was really surprised, that it was on PC, because it playes like a console-only RPG (nothing bad about that, i love it and no, curently i don`t own any console)

 

[Wolfram23]

Guess I'll be plugging my PS3 controller in to play RAGE, then... Well, ok, I'll give M+K a try first of course. Maybe I can do both... I don't like driving with a keyboard.

Anyway, kind of obvious news I guess. And the good news is Carmack likes PCs and I have at least some trust in Carmack's genius.

I think we PC gamers need to show them what's up and buy the shit out of this game (assuming it's worth it) just to say to devs "Hey, we're an imporant market and shouldn't be ignored!" Pirating good PC games is not the answer. At all. I'm also hoping BF3 is a smashing success on PC.

 

[Treblaine]

Just don't blame pirates when no PC player buys a console port

I can tell you right now I won't be purchasing it, yet have plans to play it.

id wants to play the backstabber game, well they can live by that path. Battlefield 3 is proof enough of just how much shit they are full of.

On a somewhat related note: people who think piracy is a way of "teaching developers a lesson" are absolute morons who have absolutely no clue how the industry works.

 

[NezumiiroKitsune]

The concentration of smug self-entitled whining and infantile name-calling in this thread is reaching toxic levels.

I expect most games are lead on the 360 now. I've been assuming this for at least 3 years now, maybe longer. Doesn't mean I won't buy it on my PC / PS3. Not sure what the point in this press release is; if he'd just said nothing people would go on living in a bubble of narcissistic ignorance.

Maybe all he wants is to steer sales toward console, which could have been more subtly done. Especially since this elicits the "I'm so betrayed" response and stimulates childish revenge piracy.

 

[dyre]

Hmm, I thought the devs were pro-PC, from some stuff I read earlier. Meh, I'll probably be playing Deus Ex 3, then The Old Republic when RAGE comes out anyway

If you want to make games for children then console is the way to go, if you want to make games for intelligent mature gamers then PC is the way to go. As we can clearly see with such games as the Witcher 2.

The Witcher 2 was developed with a console in mind through and through. I do not see how it helps you make your point.

Woah, can you elaborate? The Witcher 2 is pretty hardcore PC stuff

 

[SNIPERFOX ft. Harry P.Ness]

Just don't blame pirates when no PC player buys a console port

I can tell you right now I won't be purchasing it, yet have plans to play it.

id wants to play the backstabber game, well they can live by that path. Battlefield 3 is proof enough of just how much shit they are full of.

on the EA forums, i though DICE said they were developing BF3 with PCs on mind.
eh, atleast carmack is being honest. i'm not bothering getting the game anyway, not an iD fan.

 

[bombadilillo]

Just don't blame pirates when no PC player buys a console port

I can tell you right now I won't be purchasing it, yet have plans to play it.

id wants to play the backstabber game, well they can live by that path. Battlefield 3 is proof enough of just how much shit they are full of.

Me TOO! Gamefly baby.

In all seriousness I think its deliciously ironic that PC gamers get ports because the market is smaller, in effect less sales. How to pc gamers respond? By pirating the game because in "protest" which srinker the pc market leading to more ports.

Its hilarious to watch the downward spiral. Crysis: the bastion of PC glory and dominance. Crysis 2: console love on a bun.

 

[MadX]

Just don't blame pirates when no PC player buys a console port

I can tell you right now I won't be purchasing it, yet have plans to play it.

id wants to play the backstabber game, well they can live by that path. Battlefield 3 is proof enough of just how much shit they are full of.

on the EA forums, i though DICE said they were developing BF3 with PCs on mind.
eh, atleast carmack is being honest. i'm not bothering getting the game anyway, not an iD fan.

I think the point he was trying to make is that it's perfectly possible to make a game port to consoles from pc rather than the other way around.

 

[bombadilillo]

I thought he said the opposite?

http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/06/08/e3-2011-carmack-pcs-an-order-of-magnitude-more-powerful-than-consoles/

http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/06/08/e3-2011-why-rage-will-run-better-on-pc/

http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/06/08/e3-2011-our-john-carmack-interview-covers-rage-the-pc-and-gamma-corrected-anti-aliasing/

"?Now that we?re looking on PCs that have ten times the horsepower of the consoles I?m making a large change in my direction? he says. ?we should be focusing on building things efficiently on the PC and deploying on the consoles.?"

If you watch the whole interview he is very clear that PC's are 10x more powerful and its shocking how mediocre the difference is given that difference in hardware. Of course it will look better on PC, everything does. The difference is NOT EVEN CLOSE to what you would expect from 10x superior hardware.

It was a good interview he talked a lot aboiut development cycles and how shooting for top teir graphics can hamper your development.

 

[Jordi]

I don't have any problem with focusing on consoles as the primary platform. But unfortunately what this usually means is not "we will focus only one third of the energy on PCs", but "fuck PCs, you guys are getting a crappy port".

If you want to reduce the input, graphics and options - I guess it makes sense to work on the easy version first.

Actually, if you have any intention of doing both versions right, I think it is a lot better to develop primarily for PC (but with a controller). Basically the PC needs extra features/complexity and it is far easier to make a console version from a PC game than the other way around, because you can just fix most of the settings at whatever will work for that console.

The control scheme is a little different of course, so I understand they want to get that right on consoles first. However, I don't think there is any reason why they can't also keep the PC (and keyboard + mouse) into account when developing the game.

 

[Stickey Jackson]

I understand and respect that consoles heavily outweigh myself and other PC gamers when it comes to buying power, but (and this might be a little selfish), I can think of a good reason why porting from console to PC is a bad idea: It won't take advantage of what the PC has to offer.

I agree. I feel that from a graphics standpoint it would be advantageous to start by developing for the most powerful piece of hardware first, then tone down the effects for the less powerful pieces of hardware. In this case everybody wins as they're respective hardware is getting pushed to its limit. What we have now is the xbox being used as the lowest common denominator, and with all due respect after seeing dx11 textures and tessellations, the textures of a lazy console port just look ugly.

 

[Antari]

Thats really nice for them. I'm happy in not being their customer ever again.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

If you want to reduce the input, graphics and options - I guess it makes sense to work on the easy version first.

Then you can just do a half-hearted job on your port, still get some sales and keep your profits.

Funny, didn't Quake 4 bomb almost as badly as Dai-Katana?

You're a **** and I can't stand you.
Every one of your posts makes me want to hit you.
If I knew you in real life I would have hit you by now. You need somebody to hit you, really badly.

Your hatred tastes like the purest nectar.
And you're the one who keeps reading my posts.

 

[Maleek]

Goodbye ID...I enjoyed your quake & doom franchises but here is where our paths end after 20 years.

 

[SNIPERFOX ft. Harry P.Ness]

I find it ironic, because they are developing the game on a PC!

 

[Woodsey]

If you want to reduce the input, graphics and options - I guess it makes sense to work on the easy version first.

Then you can just do a half-hearted job on your port, still get some sales and keep your profits.

Funny, didn't Quake 4 bomb almost as badly as Dai-Katana?

You're a **** and I can't stand you.
Every one of your posts makes me want to hit you.
If I knew you in real life I would have hit you by now. You need somebody to hit you, really badly.

... wait, what? Also: bye bye.

Just don't blame pirates when no PC player buys a console port

I can tell you right now I won't be purchasing it, yet have plans to play it.

id wants to play the backstabber game, well they can live by that path. Battlefield 3 is proof enough of just how much shit they are full of.

on the EA forums, i though DICE said they were developing BF3 with PCs on mind.
eh, atleast carmack is being honest. i'm not bothering getting the game anyway, not an iD fan.

Its not Carmack saying it - in fact he said virtually the opposite in an interview recently.

It doesn't personally make much sense to me. I mean, yes, its a bigger market share, but surely its better to make something that is astounding and simply hold the console versions at lower settings, instead of trying to bolster things here and there at the end?

 

[SergejH]

I understand and respect that consoles heavily outweigh myself and other PC gamers when it comes to buying power, but (and this might be a little selfish), I can think of a good reason why porting from console to PC is a bad idea: It won't take advantage of what the PC has to offer.

While there have been a couple exceptions (Chronicles of Riddick being a good example), most of the console -> PC ports I've seen have a noticably different feel than a straight PC-developed title. For example, Mass Effect 2 has the spacebar do about five different functions, rather than allowing us to map all those functions to separate keys. Nothing gamebreaking, but frustrating nonetheless. What -is- aggravating is how low resolution the textures can be in the game, especially on characters. It looks fine on an HDTV, but it looks cringe-worthy on a PC.

If you develop a game for the console with plans to port it to PC later, what business incentive is there to optimize the port with better visuals and customizable controls to take advantage of modern PC's? I can't think of any, as most of your sales will be on console anyway. And that's my problem. If you're going to do multiplatform development, tailor the game to each platform and utilize each platform's strengths.

As far as i know, low resolution textures won`t be a problem in this case, thanks to their new engine (i think its TECH 5 or something), which can draw textures with HUGE resolution (is 128 000 x 128 000 pixels enough?) almost with no impact on memory requirements, which is problem in most console games. Also, this engine most probably like previous versions will be open-source and fully customizable even for regular guy like me And i doubt, that they release exact same versions on consoles and PC.

 

[Popido]

Ofc its easier.

Its pretty fucking annoying to start cutting your work to pieces once you have perfected it.