Streamlining Game Performance

A Behind-the-Scenes Look for Gamers and Unity Developers

Hey everyone, it's William here! It’s been a while since I gave you a peek behind the curtain. I’ve been busy working on things that might not be immediately visible when you’re gaming, but trust me, they make a world of difference. Today, I want to shed some light on how we've been enhancing game performance, particularly in relation to stationary objects.

Simplifying Stationary Objects

You might not know this, but the game world is filled with various objects, some moving and some not. For this conversation, let’s focus on those that stay put—like, say, a banana on the ground.

Before we tweaked the system, that banana would just stay there in the game world, even if you were nowhere near it. It’s like a tree falling in the forest; it makes a sound even if no one is around to hear it. But these stationary objects took up valuable computing power.

So, what did we do? We made it so that objects far from the player "disappear" and then "reappear" when you get closer. This little trick frees up computing power to make the game more responsive and action-packed near your character.

Choosing the Best Approach

We experimented with a few ways to do this. First up, we tried a straightforward approach. The game would continuously check how far objects were from the player. If an object was far enough away, it would vanish from the game. Though it was more efficient than leaving everything as is, the constant distance-checking ate up some computational resources.

Next, we considered something a bit more complex—a method using a spatial data structure called a "Spatial Quadtree." Without getting into jargon, this would map out where every object is and selectively 'turn on' objects near the player. It sounded good, but Unity, the engine we use, already has some of this functionality built-in. Why reinvent the wheel?

The Solution We Landed On

So, we arrived at our final solution, which makes use of Unity's built-in features. All stationary objects are now initially "turned off" and replaced by a simpler "memento" object. This memento springs to life when it gets close to the player, thanks to a trigger field around your character. We even put these mementos in their own 'layer' within the game code so they don't interfere with anything else.

We had a few hiccups, like an issue where the trigger field broke if your character went into ragdoll mode. But we worked around it by detaching the trigger from the player and having it follow you around.

What’s Next?

We've still got work ahead of us to make the game even better. This system works great for static objects, but moving items like NPCs and vehicles are a different story, managed by other systems. We’re exploring ways to make this system even more efficient.

So, there you have it! A look into the tweaks and changes that go into making a game smoother and more enjoyable. Whether you're just a fan of gaming or deep into Unity development, I hope you found this glimpse into the process insightful.