In a world increasingly hooked on high-quality video games, technical issues like graphics lag, jumpy visuals, and rough character motion can cripple the gaming experience. Technological behemoth, Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Company, has just published a patent - US20230316541A1 - promising to tackle some of these challenges in their popular game, 'Honor of Kings.'
At the root of this issue is the exceedingly complex task of tracking and displaying objects in a three-dimensional virtual world. The way a character runs, jumps, or launches an attack requires complicated calculations that can often lead to overuse of computing resources. As a result, the game slows down, breaking the immersion for the user.
Another bump in this challenge-ridden road is the concept of draw calls - essentially a command to the computer to draw a specific object. The more objects in a scene, the more draw calls the computer has to handle at once. As a result, with each additional moving part in a scene, the potential for hardware lag increases.
However, TENCENT's newly patented method significantly lowers the quantity of draw calls, and in doing so, mitigates these problems. The chief way it achieves this feat is through replacing each virtual object with a 'tracking primitive' - a simpler representation of the object. These primitives are easier for the computer to handle, meaning less strain on computing resources. The process for rendering these primitives is illustrated in the various figures provided in the patent.
Once successfully utilized, this technology could transform the world of video gaming. Picture snag-free motion in the most crowded of scenes, characters moving smoothly across the battlefield, and dramatically improved virtual reality experiences.
However, while this patent certainly shows promise, it's important to note that there is no guarantee that this method will be implemented in the marked products. Like any patent, it represents an idea that may or may not see the light of day in a future product or application.
P.S. Remember, while the potential is awe-inspiring, the nature of patents is that there's no guarantee of market realization. It's exciting to ponder the possibilities, but only time will reveal the real-world applications of this potential game-changer.