Dev Journal #8: The Benefits of 64bit

[h2]2GB of RAM is enough[/h2][p]In MY day, a megabyte was a lot of RAM, so when designing Elemental, the 32-bit memory limit meant nothing to me. I knew what it was, but it was such a gigantic number (4GB, but 2GB in practice) that I didn’t consider the ramifications of the design. This was going to be a PC-only game, so what did I care?[/p][p]Ah younger, naive me. I wanted to make Master of Magic, but I wanted an RPG world where every unit, city, and being was unique. Every character had their own story. We’d never made a land-based game (Galactic Civilizations, Sins of a Solar Empire), so terrain textures meant nothing.[/p][p]Anyway, I won’t recount, again, the trials and tribulations ahead. What it did mean is we had to pick and choose the features from the design that could fit without constantly crashing.[/p]

• [p]War of Magic had the dynasty system and messing with the terrain was a core game mechanic (ala Populous), but that used up too much RAM.[/p]
• [p]In Fallen Enchantress, we saved RAM by getting rid of the per unit spell books and magic storage. It wasn’t a lot, but it simplified things while also making the game play better. City Specialization was also enjoyed by players (Conclave, etc.) and Champions could go on their own paths.[/p]
• [p]In Sorcerer King, we made a kind of light strategy/RPG game, but were able to have crafting and each unit in the game have its own inventory and not just champions.[/p]

[p]So now we, can bring them together.[/p][p][/p][h2]64bit Paradise[/h2][p]It’s amazing how many problems just go away with having what amounts to unlimited RAM (from the perspective of this game anyway). No “garbage collection” process where one wrong timing causes the game to crash. No sudden “out of RAM” issues because the player MIN/MAXED in a way we didn’t expect. All kinds of performance benefits because we’re not having to constantly take things in and out of memory.[/p][p]The current build does use around 5GB of RAM. That’s far more than we could have fit in the original game, but by today’s standards, it’s pretty small.[/p][p][/p][h2]Modding[/h2][p]Modding becomes a lot more interesting because more RAM means more mod stability.[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][h2]🏆 Feature Comparison Matrix[/h2][p][/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h2]Early Access Update[/h2][p]So we have decided to do an early access for the game, but we have also been listening to the feedback and concluded the game needs more of a visual uplift before then. Originally, the visual uplift was essentially going to take the source art from 2009 and use that in its native resolution (i.e. much higher than what was in the game), but it was, to be clear, still graphics from 2009, even if it higher resolution. Elemental: Reforged isn’t a sequel. It’s a remastering of all 3 Elemental games into a single cohesive design, or at least that was the intent.[/p][p]Nevertheless, we are going to spend more time on the graphics because expectations matter and we want to meet them as best we can. We’ll have more news soon, but hopefully before Halloween.[/p]