Capcom says DmC: Devil May Cry feels like it's 60 FPS (but it isn't)

DmC: Devil May Cry will run at 30 FPS instead of 60, but Capcom says it's employed some visual trickery to imitate the smoother frame rate.

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DmC: Devil May Cry is going to be locked at 30 frames per second on consoles, a shift from DMC4's buttery 60 fps. But Capcom has told fans it will still look silky-smooth, thanks to some animation and control trickery that fools your eyes into feeling like it's seeing more frames than it is.

"During the course of the development of Dragon's Dogma we did a lot of experimentation and happened upon some techniques for working with Unreal Engine, some fairly elaborate techniques, that allow for a controller responsiveness that gives the player the feel of 60 frames per second," game director Hideaki Itsuno told Eurogamer. "At 30 frames per second there's a technique where you take advantage of the brain's ability to fill in the blanks. So even though you have it running at 30 frames per second, you create the motions and the poses in such a way that the brain will naturally fill in what would have been the extra frames."

He also said that the game has made some "adjustments" to button responsiveness, which also helps maintain the smooth feeling.

Apparently the developer chose to settle for 30 fps as an artistic consideration, so that it could make a more detailed city for Dante to occupy. Technical art director Stuart Adcock said that the Unreal Engine's limitations would have resulted in "very static environments and less combat effects" if they had pushed it to 60 fps.

The game isn't due until 2013, but a demo is coming before its launch.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    November 5, 2012 4:00 PM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Capcom says DmC: Devil May Cry feels like it's 60 FPS (but it isn't).

    DmC: Devil May Cry will run at 30 FPS instead of 60, but Capcom says it's employed some visual trickery to imitate the smoother frame rate.

    • reply
      November 5, 2012 4:13 PM

      ummm 30fps will never feel like 60... not to the trained eye anyways.

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      November 5, 2012 4:13 PM

      Feels like on disc DLC...but it isn't
      Feels like Survival Horror...but it isn't

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      November 5, 2012 4:22 PM

      So basically rendering loop locked at 30fps and input/simulation loop locked at 60fps. Animation interpolated takes into account input frame delay. And heavy use of motion blur, as a post process and/or as a set of "blur swipe" sprite effects.

      OK thanks Capcom for the PR speak attempting to turn a limitation into a selling point.

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        November 5, 2012 4:33 PM

        Artistic consideration ;)

        rofl consoles

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      November 5, 2012 9:24 PM

      So, in other words it looked like shit when you tried to do 60fps and decided it wasn't worth it.

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      November 5, 2012 9:51 PM

      LOL, the guys that design these games must not be gamers themselves.

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        November 5, 2012 10:28 PM

        I'm guessing most of the console market isn't hardcore gamers anymore, a huge majority of the population plays games. I also assume most of these people don't even know how to properly connect the system (I don't know how many times i've gone to someone's house with a 50+" HDTV with all their hardware connected through RCA or coax) and when they are connected correctly I doubt most of them know how to get their TV's into a gaming mode that disables motion interpolation and all the other features that introduce delay.

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          November 6, 2012 8:47 AM

          It would have been more fun to see them sell the game first and then see if there gamers would have noticed it wasn't 60fps... I guess just saying it is the nicer way of doing it, even though its not a great selling point for most.

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      November 6, 2012 9:51 AM

      I pride my self on being a pc gamer and can very much assure my eye would detect the effect if this technique makes it to the pc version, but I very much doubt your average 12-15 year old console gamer is ever going to notice or care, especially with such an over complicated explanation of a freaken blur effect.

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