Better performance vs better gameplay

Newbie & Debugging Questions
#1

So i have these two algorithms that deal with the collision in my game.

method one activates only the top layer of blocks for collision. This saves literally does not drop the frame rate at all and can be used in rendering many blocks at one time. On the other hand, I can’t update the terrain collisions without a serious drop in the frame rate.

method two has all of the blocks activated for collision at on time. This enables me to update the terrain in real time but cuts the overall frame rate in half and cannot be used with rendering a lot of blocks at one time. It also helps world generation times.

It is also important to say that this is a really unoptimized version of my game. All of the blocks are still being rendered at one time.

My question is which method should I use method 1 or method 2. I don’t need any code or anything.

Thanks

#2

I think that no matter how good your gameplay is, bad performance will prevent the player from fully appreciating it.

#3

Just go for maximum gameplay experience and then optimize it…there should be no reason to have performance problems making something unplayable for a 2d game like yours (I assume you’re talking about “Stickman…”?)

#4

Why not both? 8) Give them on option to turn on all the bells and whistles but default it to the most playable. It is hard creating code/design that can scale quality up and down without huge hits in between the levels. Sure turning the max particles up/down or something is easy but making it so the game will dynamically spawn more or less particles given the setting is hard.

#5

I think it depends how much your performance is being hindered; if it is to the point of being unplayable or horribly choppy on ‘average’ hardware, then I would be prioritizing performance over gameplay in this case. “The frame rate drops by half” is irrelevant providing that you are still hitting around 60FPS, or at least so that player-perceived performance is still good/smooth. No matter how good a game is, if I can’t get decent performance out of it, either due to hardware or the software itself, then it will remain in its box (…well, back in the days when games still came in boxes…).

You’ve mentioned that your rendering is still ‘un-optimized’. If you are having serious performance problems then perhaps try sorting that out before doing anything drastic with the rest of your game. And as always, like many others frequently mention on this forum, avoid premature optimization if there is no real need for it. You can just end up digging a bigger hole for yourself in the long run.

Cheers,
nerb.