Bugfix/Changes: Bro Bang Version 0.8.26 published | Capped Frame Rate

I've made a change... And most players will be happy about it. Some players won't be... But in the end, everything is fairer now. And a few players will laugh at the following sentence:

With Bro Bang version 0.8.26 (which is online since a few minutes) I have capped the frame rate at 30.

Why?

Now follows a thematic treatise that actually goes beyond the topic of this article, but if we're already talking about game development here, then it doesn't hurt to write a bit of a explaining...

Everyone is talking about games with 60, 120 or even more frames or computer with a higher possible frame rate... Allegedly, there are even players who find 30 frames jerky and/or claim to be able to perceive more than 60 frames, which sounds strange at first. However, scientific research is currently revealing that the eye and perception can adapt to higher frame rates through training.

Normally, 24 to 30 frames are sufficient to provide the eye with a smooth moving image - at least this is still the common opinion and perception. This is the reason why films are usually broadcast at 24 FPS and TV programs at 30 FPS.

Even though 24 or 30 frames should theoretically be sufficient for a smooth picture, there are definitely differences in the presentation of images: motion blur. Let's use an easy-to-understand example in which I deliberately simplify the values to keep the example understandable without having to do a lot of math:

In a shooter (as an example of a game in which fast action sequences happen and you should react quickly), bullets fly at high speed. The projectile has a path to fly, regardless of the frame rate. In our example, we take a flight distance of 100 meters. This path and the time required, let's say 1 second, always (should at least) remain the same - regardless of the frame rate. Your graphics card tries to map the path of the projectile (provided the game actually uses projectiles and does not just send beams/rays. [A modern shooter does not send beams/rays, but shoots an object that can be influenced by the game physics - i.e. a "projectile"]).

Let's imagine that your PC only has one frame per second. Consequently, the entire trajectory (100 meters) would be graphically contained in the frame. How the game interacts with this can vary. What could happen is described below - at least a few versions. We will work our way from the worst case to the "most acceptable solution".

A) The worst case scenario: if the movement of the projectile is not time-dependent, but is based on the number of frames. In our example, the projectile would then move leisurely towards the target if it was programmed to fly 1 meter per frame. Consequently, you would have 100 seconds to move the target in order to avoid a hit. A very bad solution for a game in most cases.

B) You would only see a "snapshot": a representation of how the bullet is at a certain point in the frame. With 2 frames, you would theoretically see the bullet briefly (0.5 seconds) in 2 places before it hits. Result: rather okay, but unintentional in many games.

C) This would result in a single long line of 100 meters. If your PC had 2 frames per second, this line would theoretically only be half as long, as your graphics card displays the first 50 meters in the first frame and the last 50 meters in the second frame. The result is motion blur. You can now extrapolate this and understand how the "typical movie" motion blur occurs. And this is also the variant that is used in many or maybe most games.

A graphical representation with a high number of frames therefore reduces motion blur and appear "sharper" on the same screen pixel resolution. Ideally, however, all relevant things in the game are frame-independent. In practice, however, a game is always frame-dependent to a certain extent. (You can certainly take issue with this formulation.) If only because various processes are processed one after the other - and here we are back to the dependency on frames or the speed at which your computer can send the commands from the CPU to the GPU, how quickly they are processed and how quickly you can react to them. At this point, it would become really complex with an exact representation of this and how you can counteract it as a game developer. But the fact is:

So players with a fast PC/high frame rate have a certain advantage in many games if the game consists of fast, competitive movement. (Let's not talk about multiplayer games now, where the difference in frames & calculation time of your own computer can have an even more serious impact on the game if the frames/image content is not matched/synchronized on a master server).

Bro Bang is basically not frame-dependent - but to a certain extent it is, as we saw in example C. Since Bro Bang is a competitive game where speed & fast reaction is needed... and I know that some players have at least a theoretical advantage (I hate to say it...), I had to fix that advantage/difference. Whether a player with a high framerate is personally capable enough to use this advantage is another matter. But he has an advantage - which is created by the computer. But in Bro Bang the player with the best skills and the best tactics should win (yes, Bro Bang also has a lot of tactical aspects) and not the player with the most awesome computer. Consequently:

Long story (yes, oversimplified in parts) but a short result of that:

The frame rate was capped at 30 frames in version 0.8.26.

Furthermore, I went going through all game-relevant movements and checked how they are calculated.

So this is all about equalizing the game - from both sides. To decouple powerful computers from their advantage and to process the processes in such a way that low-performance computers get a game flow that is not dependent on the weak processing speed. But of course I can not speed up old com... wait a mi... no. Maybe. Yes I could, but I would have to check if this low-tier-graphics are coupled with other advantages. I will think about... Ultimately, to decouple the time component from the computing capacity. Blah blah blah... is anyone reading this far or could I basically be talking about my dog now or sentence constructions mobody understands? Be that as it may:

Do you have any questions? Have you discovered any bug or sub-prime behavior? Report it - and I'll reward your report. As well as constructive criticism.

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