Jan-Jaap Fahner (Principal Tech Programmer, Guerrilla B.V.)
Pass Type:
All Access Pass, Core Pass
Topic:
Programming
Format:
Lecture
Vault Recording: TBD
Audience Level: Intermediate
Horizon Forbidden West presents a complex challenge of packaging and loading massive quantities of game content. We present an algorithm for deterministically analyzing the graph of game content to generate space-efficient content packages, allowing for any combination of content to be loaded and unloaded at any time with a minimal number of read operations. The process is fully automatic and requires no modification of artists’ workflow or content setup. We will also present our techniques for incremental graph update during content development, and discuss the tradeoff of on-disk data duplication for faster load times.
Takeaway
We will present our algorithms for graph analysis, graph update, and content package layout, and how they are applied to data management in Horizon Forbidden West. These algorithms can be applied to other game engines to generate space-efficient content packages and simplify content loading and unloading systems. Attendees will learn how graph analysis of game content can reduce duplication, help their games fit on disk, and load content efficiently at runtime.
Intended Audience
Any engineer interested in game content loading, asset analysis or content packaging for release.