Ghost of Tsushima is out today; thus, the internet is abuzz with first impressions from players. From the combat to photo mode, Sucker Punch’s latest title is the talk of the town. What doesn’t seem to be receiving enough mention are the incredibly fast load times. Apparently, load times between a player’s death and returning to the world were once so quick that Sucker Punch felt the need to artificially lengthen them. The main goal in doing so rested in allowing players a chance to read through some of the tips that appear on screen.
Tips during downtime in Ghost of Tsushima are similar to those in other games. Players will gain insight about combat, story-related details, and more. According to Lead Engine Programmer Adrian Bentley, the team noticed reloads were so fast that players were unable to read any of the information. During late development phases, Sucker Punch opted to extend the load times to “more than a fraction of a second.” Interestingly, Ian Walker, the Kotaku writer who spoke with Bentley, says there’s still only time enough to get through a tip or two.
It all sounds rather impressive. And this level of loading speed isn’t exclusive to the moments following death sequences. Walker notes that fast-traveling in Ghost of Tsushima is remarkably quick, too. Bentley divulged how the studio accomplished such a feat by explaining the following,
Our art teams did an amazing job pushing their assets to fit in our aggressive performance and memory budgets. They accomplished a huge amount especially considering the size of our team. As an example, one of our 200m x 200m terrain tiles only usually takes up around 2 MB (compressed) on disc, including all the terrain and foliage placements. It’s easier to load a lot of data when you keep it compact.
Ghost of Tsushima is in stores now for the PlayStation 4.
[Source: Kotaku]
