Obsidian Reveals How The Outer Worlds Was Held Back by Console Limits

Obsidian Entertainment’s The Outer Worlds won numerous accolades but there would have been more to the game had current-gen consoles not held development back.

As the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One near the end of their life cycles, the consoles tend to show signs of age especially when running graphically intensive games. Speaking to No Clip’s Danny O’Dwyer (thanks, Pure PlayStation), game designer Brian Heins revealed that the developers had to cut down a section of The Groundbreaker and reduce the number of NPCs as they ran out of memory budget.

“It kind of breaks my heart a little bit there’s not a lot of people moving around on Groundbreaker,” said Heins. “That was basically because when we got the art pass and lighting pass, we had to actually pull back on the number of actual characters on the Groundbreaker to fit on consoles because we didn’t have the memory budget both for the number of different character appearances and also the AI pathing.”

The Outer Worlds utilizes a system to turn aspects of the game “on and off” in order to manage the hardware limitations. For example, when players enter the bar on Groundbreaker, the NPCs inside the bar are turned on right before they enter, and everything outside the bar is turned off.

The Groundbreaker originally had three levels. Heins revealed that he trimmed them down to a single level because not only would three levels have been a lot of work on the art side, they would have been hard to fit on consoles. As a result, areas like the Medical Bay were relocated from those levels to the central area of the Groundbreaker.

The full interview is 30 minutes and delves into The Outer Worlds‘ quest design and writing so make sure to check it out.

Posted: Apr 22, 2020 10:20 am
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2020/04/18/outer-worlds-ps4-limitations/

Comments

GossipPosted: Sat. Apr 25, 2020

Cent They released it on the switch which is pretty surprising to me. The game doesn't look so great graphic wise if you watch the trailer in the nintendo shop lol.

Oh man I could only imagine what playing ti would feel like lmao. Talk about disappointing.

IntPosted: Fri. Apr 24, 2020

Cent
Int
Gossip Nobody told them to release it on these consoles lmao they could of waited. This game was too short imo anyways.

That honestly makes no sense to me either, like why not just wait anyway? - I mean they will always be behind PC's but that's how it is.

I suppose either way they were going to release it on console anyways. I think they're just saying they could have done way more on PC which is obviously true. They act like the steam release coming later this year won't be good when it's more than likely gonna be 10x better.

I feel like they should of waited for next gen though like why would they release on the trash consoles.

CentPosted: Fri. Apr 24, 2020

Int
Gossip Nobody told them to release it on these consoles lmao they could of waited. This game was too short imo anyways.

That honestly makes no sense to me either, like why not just wait anyway? - I mean they will always be behind PC's but that's how it is.

I suppose either way they were going to release it on console anyways. I think they're just saying they could have done way more on PC which is obviously true. They act like the steam release coming later this year won't be good when it's more than likely gonna be 10x better.

IntPosted: Thu. Apr 23, 2020

Gossip Nobody told them to release it on these consoles lmao they could of waited. This game was too short imo anyways.

That honestly makes no sense to me either, like why not just wait anyway? - I mean they will always be behind PC's but that's how it is.

CentPosted: Thu. Apr 23, 2020

Gossip Nobody told them to release it on these consoles lmao they could of waited. This game was too short imo anyways.

They released it on the switch which is pretty surprising to me. The game doesn't look so great graphic wise if you watch the trailer in the nintendo shop lol.

GossipPosted: Thu. Apr 23, 2020

Nobody told them to release it on these consoles lmao they could of waited. This game was too short imo anyways.

CentPosted: Wed. Apr 22, 2020

This would always be the case with any game. What do the expect to be on par with PC? It makes no sense. Even the next gen consoles won't be on par with PC.

IntPosted: Wed. Apr 22, 2020

9nty
OGTrey079 To be honest that will be the case every console generation

This is hat I was thinking as well. I can see they will limit the ps5 sales then add more sales for the ps5 - it's the same with the older consoles as well I don't get it.

100%, consoles are always going to be behind PC's no matter what and it's a shame but what else can they do?

9ntyPosted: Wed. Apr 22, 2020

OGTrey079 To be honest that will be the case every console generation

This is hat I was thinking as well. I can see they will limit the ps5 sales then add more sales for the ps5 - it's the same with the older consoles as well I don't get it.