This November 25, our liminal-spaces fever dream recreation Swimming pools is coming to PlayStation 5 and PlayStation VR2. To say we’re excited is an understatement of the 12 months; we’re truly buzzing in regards to the prospect of seeing our recreation popping out in a couple of days of this submit being printed. Other than seeing our recreation seem on a console that a number of us have grown up with, what actually excites us is seeing how folks will react to the PlayStation 5 and PS VR2 particular options that we carried out. That’s one thing we’re actually excited for, and I assumed that it could be a reasonably cool factor to inform you extra about on this very submit. So, what makes the PS5 and PS VR2 variations of Swimming pools particular? Include me and I’ll present you.
Immersive DualSense controller options
We needed to make the expertise in Swimming pools as actual and immersive as it might probably be (wanting someway making a chlorine scent come from the DualSense controller). To offer you a sense of immersion, we made the many of the DualSense controller haptic suggestions. First, we needed to provide every floor that you simply stroll by itself “feeling”. You possibly can really feel refined vibrations on every footstep you’ll take, and each floor has its personal haptic really feel and depth. In some locations, your footsteps will really feel gentle and regular, whereas in some you’ll really feel resistance. Strolling in water additionally creates several types of suggestions relying in your depth and motion velocity. It would sound like a small factor, however it actually lets you be “there”, virtually smelling that chlorine within the swimming pools.
Controller haptics are additionally used to intensify distinctive areas and occasions within the recreation. For instance, at one level it’s possible you’ll come throughout a seemingly bottomless pit from which you’ll be able to hear a distant snarl-like sound emanating. You’ll really feel the echoing sound by way of your controller speaker, whereas the haptic impact depth scales naturally primarily based on distance to that pit. Whereas creating these kinds of haptic moments, we have been conscious that a few of it’s possible you’ll need to modify them to fit your tastes. So haptic depth could be adjusted or toggled on/off within the settings menu based on your private style.
Profiting from the PS VR2
After we began our plans on bringing Swimming pools to PS5, we determined early on that the PS VR2 mode needed to benefit from the options. As soon as once more, we have now this cool {hardware} that may suck you into the world of our recreation simply that little bit extra – let’s make full use of it! The PS VR2 model is a brand new customized model of the sport, tailor-made straight for the {hardware}. It takes full benefit of eye-tracked foveated rendering, in order that we can provide you most visible high quality and efficiency. This can be a actually nice characteristic because it permits us to make Swimming pools look as actual as it may be, whereas maintaining an amazing efficiency on the similar time – a minimum of 90 FPS with out reprojection. It’s all about making the sport look good and play good.
Now, though it might sound a bit banal to say this, we’re extraordinarily pleased with the PS VR2 model. Between you and me, we needed to rebuild many of the visible points of the sport from the bottom up with the intention to obtain our goal efficiency. Just about, we needed the foveated rendering to work as greatest because it might, and with the intention to do this, we wanted to create a customized resolution for our water visuals. So we locked ourselves in, received deep into the code, and we’ve discovered a ton on shader programming. It was a number of onerous work, however we’re actually pleased with what we achieved. The entire studio hopes that if you submerge, stroll in, or simply gaze on the water results, you’ll assume “hey, that appears good”. For those who do, it’s all been value it to us.
Thanks a lot for spending a little bit of time with us and seeing our thought course of on how we are able to make the Swimming pools expertise as immersive as it may be on PlayStation 5 and PS VR2. Additionally, it’s value mentioning that you simply’ll solely want to purchase the sport as soon as, and also you’ll get entry to each modes.
Swimming pools is popping out in only a few days, on November 25, and you may play the demo proper now on PlayStation Retailer. We hope to see you there.
