teh Forum

Bart Kijanka – CTO Gas Powered Games

GD: A lot of attention has been paid to NVIDIA's support of Pixel Shader 3.0 - can you specifically think of anything PS 3.0 can be used for that can't be done in PS 2.0?

Bart: Currently it appears the impact of 3.0 on developers will be minimal. Therefore it's unlikely the consumer will see significant benefits from 3.0 for quite some time, especially since the improvement of 3.0 over 2.0 isn't as great as 2.0 over 1.0.


GD: Is there ever a need to use 32-bit precision over 24-bit? I'm looking for an example where 32-bit precision shows an obvious superiority over 24-bit - both are considered "Full precision" by the current DX9 spec.

Bart: We don't have an identified need for 32 bit precision at this time.

GD: As a developer, how much are you influenced, if at all, by the likes of NVIDIA's "Way its meant to be played" or ATI's "Get in the Game" programs?

Bart: We like to ensure our games work on the majority of video hardware regardless. The card vendor certification initiatives seem to affect marketing more than development.


GD: How far away do you think we are until we see PS3.0 and 32bit Precision support become relevant as a "must have" feature in graphics cards?

Bart: Several years. I expect it won't be a "must have" until 3.0 shader support is present in 80% or more of the installed user base.


GD: As a gamer, would it be more important for you to buy a video card with the utmost in performance and supported 24bit precision and PS2.0 or one slightly behind in performance but had PS3.0 and 32bit precision support?

Bart: Highest performance wins.

... sort of disagree with much of this...

The rest of the article is here : http://www.gamers-depot.com/interviews/dx9b/001.htm

Hmmm.... I'm going to say that because Gas Powered's engine is not as advanced as some of the others in the article, that the comments are skewed accordingly. If DS or DS2 looked like Far Cry or UT2004 then maybe I'd agree.

Bart's last name is Kjnka? Is he Swedish?

I have to think that even if PS3.0 does become the de facto standard it won't really be necessary to spend the kind of money it takes to jump in now for a few years if the only upgrade is the PS3.0 spec. But then again, J3RK has always been a earlier adopter than I have.

... Polish.

PS3.0 looks good to me and I already have a game that makes use of it. 32 bit precision is also nice. Both of those are good things in my opinion. If there's one more minor detail level I can max out because of a new video card then I'm all for it. I don't get a card every three to six months anymore, but when a new architecture comes out, I have to get it.

that Bart doesn't actually play video games and he doesn't really do any real programming anymore ever since Dungeon Siege was shipped. They are just putting him on the spot because of his title thinking he would know the most about it at his company.

Those web interviews are just questionaires that are emailed and filled out by the participant at their liesure. Bart isn't the person that should have done that interview since he doesn't work with it every day. If he was smart he would have had James answer it and then he could take all the credit for it! hehe

Well, PS3.0 turned out to not be that cool anyway. Well, displacement maps are cool, but no major engine will use that completely for another year anyway. The rest of what NV was hyping was crap, and ATI is still going to be the best card to have anyway. Typical situation, I just wasn't expecting them to hype crap with the year they had. I still think it stems from the 3DFX people they hired. They've been infected with unfounded arrogance and the belief that people will buy it simply because they put their logo on it. (The card isn't that bad, but the company is.) So Bart's comments weren't too far off the mark in that light. 32 bit precision is cool, but I don't see that being a problem until people start making many-pass shaders.

... some people will buy it because NV makes it.

that humans are stupid....damn those stupid humans to hell...

... are aware of that... I try to block that from my brain when at all possible. Best not to think about it.