Digital Foundry and other media outlets including ourselves went hands on with a preview version of the forthcoming Yoshi’s Crafted World for the Nintendo Switch which is due out next month. There were three levels on offer and you can read our preview here. The team at Digital Foundry examined the technical aspects of the playable build and have reported their findings in the video down below. Here’s a quick summary of their findings courtesy of Equanimity from Reset Era:
- Offline global illumination
- Aggressive depth of field
- Docked – Dynamic resolution averages around 576p, some counts 675p
- Portable – Dynamic resolution averages around 396p, some counts 495p
- No advanced anti aliasing
- Performance: 60fps 99% of the demo stage, few minor frame skips are evident when turning the camera to look at the other side of the stage
- Great load times and responsive controls
Developer Good-Feel extends its yarn-themed games with a new Yoshi release – a first-party Nintendo title based on Unreal Engine 4! Is the Epic middleware a good fit for a Nintendo game? Can the tech deliver the signature locked 60fps seen in the majority of Switch first-party games? A demo is available now – we’ve played that *and* seen some more levels.
Thanks to those of you who sent this in!
The game didn’t look like it was 1080p, but I was surprised that the resolution is actually that low. Still looks good though, Unreal Engine has for sure some nice antialiasing. However, hope they can bump it up to 720p at least.
I think he mentioned(didn’t see it today) that there weren’t any AA? I think it’s artstyle with sharp cardboard edges and colours that just makes things very markedly.
Nice bit of info, BUT i actually found the soundtrack quite catchy.
Dah da da da da daa daa!
Yeah, I actually kinda liked that tune. Still curious to hear what the other music in the game will be like, though.
Really surprised that the resolution is technically not hd. I didn’t notice it wasn’t and the switch is obviously capable of it so I wonder if it was a conscious decision to make it slightly fuzzier for the crafted look.
Unlikely. Unreal Engine 4 is just really demanding, and it’s unlikely that they would have been able to pull off a 60 FPS at higher resolutions using the engine. I’d say if they just wanted to make it look “fuzzier” then the lower resolutions would actually be counterproductive, because higher resolutions make it easier to convey the material and texture of an object.
If Nintendo gonna develop on Unreal more, maybe they should stop being so scummy and release the games on pc, because their cheap hardware holds these engines back.
Seems scummy since most games don’t even use all the Nintendo hardware gimmicks, hell even Wii U had a build in mic ( I could talk with people on MH U3 ) So why are they limiting us ?
They already be very busy developing for iPhones. Mario kart will come soon, maybe next gen should release software games for Pc since the control gimmicks don’t matter anymore. ( this Miyamoto philosophy about controls is already gone for 2 gen consoles )
You’re correct. Even if they did decide to try to convey fuzziness by rendering at lower resolutions, they would only want to do it to Yoshi and other objects made from a fuzzy material. You wouldn’t want to do that to the cardboard houses for example.
Yes and No.
Games like Snake Pass shows that even Cartoony Art Styles can be a challenge for the Unreal Engine 4 on Switch, however, polygon counts play a HUGE factor in Render times and with Yoshi’s Crafted World, I feel they could easily have it at 720p docked with no issues at all due to the lower polygon count and the aggressive FOV (Field of View).
So though its seems like the Switch wouldn’t be able to handle this game at 720p, the fact i maintains a smooth 60fps at close to 720p does show they can bump it up a little higher.
The reason it’s low resolution is because the Switch isn’t capable of rendering the game at higher. Just because the chips system display engines are capable of 1080p (they’re actually capable of Ultra HD) doesn’t mean that it can always render at those resolutions. It all depends on what it’s trying to do at a given resolution.
I don’t like that Nintendo start using Unreal engine.
Zelda Link’s awakening also runs on that engine and the games start all look like each other with the lighting and depth of field effects.
Sure you can make an World of Warcraft on unreal or Ocarina of time, but something feels off and not Nintendo at all.
If they gonna male main Zelda games on PC engines, I’m out, magic gone.
Now go home and get your Shine-box.
At the 10:00 mark .. the song, sounds familiar to me …
I really did not like this demo, IDK why they felt compelled to change the Wooly World engine for Unreal but it was a terrible choice, not only is the engine causing technical limitations because it’s so excessively demanding, but also the visuals are objectively inferior, the excess aliasing and background blurring are uncanny considering how smooth everything was in the previous game.
It’s strange the game isn’t even HD while docked. I didn’t even notice, just assumed it was 720p. I will say though, Woolly World definitely looks better visually. That’s Unreal engine for ya.
Wow, really a Game developed by a subsidiary of nintendo from one of the most important IP in the year 2019 and isn’t even in HD (720p) what a waste, the game looks great to be honest, but i knew that the Tegra X1 on the switch isnt enought fot today standars, Hopefully the go with a Powerful machine for the next gen. or start to consider bringing ther games to other platforms
Here’s a little fun fact for you.
Crysis 3 was actually capable of running at 30fps in 1080p on the exact same chip that is inside the Nintendo Switch. It’s more down to the use in Hardware than limitations really. Some developers have crafty ways of tricking the engine into running on lower end hardware through the Blueprints, so it could be as simple as changing a few settings in UE4’s blueprint software.
It was VERY apparent to me that it was rendering at a lower resolution, in fact in handheld mode it looks almost out of focus at times but those resolutions are still surprisingly low.
The things this guy talks about are things that most normal gamers will never even notice or pay attention to. For me, it looks beautiful, and that’s all that matters. When it comes to frame rate, I NEVER notice what other people talk about with games.