How PS4’s limitations have influenced The Last Guardian’s design

With The Last Guardian, Fumito Ueda has spoken about how the PS4's technical limitations influenced the design of the game. He says that he "keeps returning to similar ideas" for his games due to these constraints.

[Steptoe]

Dramatic title yes?

[Eonjay]

He was asked about it by Edge and he replies:

"In a videogame, it’s necessary to think about the limitations of what can be presented with a game console, how convincing that presentation can be, the cost of realizing it, and how consistent it can be with the game design. That’s probably why I keep returning to similar ideas.

These technical constrains could be viewed as detrimental to the scope of the project, but I would also argue that they perhaps inadvertently, assist in focusing the core tenant and narrows it down to what it should and should not be."

So the perfect answer.

[never4get]

Wasn't PS3’s limitation, influenced The Last Guardian’s design?

[Rookie_Monster]

Hope this game have a Neo mode. Limitations issue solved.

[TWB]

If the limitations influenced the game design (like they are discussing here), no, it wont do jack.

They would literally have to redesign the game.

[rustyspoon80]

So a game that was due on ps3 is now being influenced by ps4's limitations. Will we ever see this game?

[GortJester]

My thoughts exactly.

[PaleMoonDeath]

2016 apparently, I'll believe it when it's literally on the shelves of my local Game store.

[NextGenCeo]

+100

[jjb1981]

PS8K+ Turbo Elite Gold edition MAX ... Just kidding, I've been waiting for this game foreva!

[corroios]

This title is wrong.

[PaleMoonDeath]

Gotta get dem clicks somehow.

[IWentBrokeForGaming]

You mean how PS3 did? What's there to complain about with the move to PS4?... Seriously!

[Fishy Fingers]

I suppose the Devs (and consumers) expectations/plans increased with the move from PS3 to PS4.

The PS4 is as 'limited' by today's standards as the PS3 was in its day.

[WickedLester]

As is the case with all consoles of every generation. And the merry go round keeps turning.

[JackBNimble]

The game was in development for the ps3 , are you suggesting the ps4 is as limited as the ps3?

[rainslacker]

He's just saying that consoles have limits(as a whole), not that the PS4 is underpowered or has limitations. Cited that games have to be designed around these limitations, which is true of any game design regardless of platform. Same would hold true for PC, based on the min spec required to run a game. He wasn't really complaining, just giving a fact of game design, and then saying when limits prevent him from doing something, he keeps it in mind when there are fewer limits on future games.

[Mulando]

Lol, sometimes the limitation is the mind of the developer ...
PS2 was to limiting
PS3 was to limiting
PS4 is to limiting
... what the hack... maybe the idea of the game isn't that good ... or maybe the producer should speak to other developers.

[Pandamobile]

Every platform has limitations.

[nitus10]

Maybe they will be happy with an 8 core i7 @4GHz plus 32GB of RAM @3200MHz plus a 1TB SSD as well as a high-end graphics card with 8GB DDR5 and capable of outputting at 4K resolution or maybe 8K is their goal. We all know the average gamer can afford that. /s

Too many excuses, bring out at least a playable demo otherwise, I am not holding out much hope for the game.

[trywizardo]

it was a fucking PS3 game,and the last demo on PS4 it looked like a PS3 game,so PS4 is over powered for shit like this .

[DanteVFenris666]

It looked nothing like a PS3 game.

[MrSec84]

I find this hard to believe when you have a range of games from No Man's Sky, to Dreams coming to the platform.
The actual game can be executed on this hardware, hell lots could be done on last generation hardware as well so the idea that you have to make the game with similarities to previous games you make because of hardware limitations sounds pretty bogus.

Artists painting a scene only have a finite sized canvas, amount of colors to paint with, really it's your creative vision that is the limitation as far as creating something fresh.
There's such variety and with the advent of the indie games scene I find it increasingly hard to even believe that cost is a factor today, just time and a person's imagination or experience with the tools and ability to learn new things are the way more limiting issues surrounding game developers today.

Sure you can't push all games to 1080p 60FPS on modern consoles, but you can make almost any concept you want using the hardware available.
Even 1080p 60FPS can be achieved within vast open landscapes, developers just need to think about how they design their worlds and just how much is really needed to be drawn per frame to make for an immersive experience for the player.

[DanteVFenris666]

Cost is always a factor. Have you ever seen these big games and their credits? That's where the cost imagine them paying every single one of those people. Plus the small cost of tech. The big cost is in the skilled labour. Some programmers are paid 130 K, some artists more, leads even more.

Indies can do it for cheap because recently a lot of game engines have free offerings for them, and the small team can all agree to work for free until the game releases. When there games start selling that's when they start paying eachother regularly

[Pancit_Canton]

Click bait title..

[SmokingMonkey]

How (insert any system here)'s limitations have influenced (insert any game)'s design

[Majister-Ludi]

Technically it would be the ps3 that influenced originally but w/e. If they originally planned for a ps3 release I don't understand how ps4 could possibly limit the game. Still unsure about this game.

[dcbronco]

Very misleading headline. While I have always believed this game is nothing more than a tech demo that went into full scale development based on ohs and ahs, the headline is a fabrication. Not at all what he said.

[TheTwelve]

When you consider the concept of this game, and what the gameplay would have to be in order for this to be good, I can understood what this man is trying to say.

[2pacalypsenow]

Limitations of what? that it cant match up to a ever evolving pc? newsflash consoles will never matchup to PC's performance wise, and they dont have to, but this gen everyone is obsessed with 1080p/60fps

[rainslacker]

Even PC's have limits. A game is designed around a base spec even on PC, and that spec is where the limits are set. It's a fundamental part of the design process to know the limitations, and keep them in mind when developing a game. Being over-ambitious tends to cause a lot of back peddling, and wasted time implementing things that don't work well.

[Master of Unlocking]

With all due respect to Mr Ueda and the games he makes (I truly love Ico & Shadow of the Colossus), his games, and most japanese games in general, are far from being the titles that push the envelope the most from a technical point of view. I've learned to take the words from some japanese devs like him, H. Kojima, or K. Yamauchi with a grain of salt when it comes to the technical scope of their games. Remember when Hideo Kojima was trying to explain some of the shortcomings of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots by saying "when you've been promised something that can go on the moon and you realize it's just a very advanced airplane you have to make do" or smthg, well, MGS4's limits were sure as hell not the PS3 since it wasn't pushing that system to its limits (closed-off and short levels with lots of loading times, some poor textures in the environments, lots of installs...) Uncharted 1 had gone way further ahead 1 year before for instance. Naughty Dogs would have credibility to say the PS3/PS4 have limits that are stopping them from going all out, or Sony Santa Monica Studio, japanese devs, not so much. Don't get me wrong, I loved MGS4, Ico, SofTheCol., GT and plenty other japan-made games, but some of those devs are well-known to not be able to resist running their mouth whenever some blogger points a mic at them. Bottom of the line is, wait til you,ve eaten everything that´s on your plate before claiming you could eat more. Just sayin ´

[medman]

Every gaming device, even the mighty pc, has limitations currently. Where is the real news?

[WelkinCole]

First time I saw my first living breathing colossi I wondered how it was possible on the PS2.

[iTechHeads]

This is pretty much a PS3 game.
I doubt the PS4 has limited this game at all.

The problems this game has have nothing to do with the consoles its coming to, its the people developing it.

[DanteVFenris666]

I don't know how anyone can say this looks like a PS3 game. Did you see that creature. It's fur. That was crazy. If you can show me the PS3 demonstrating the same thing on a monster of that scale then I'll have no choice but to agree. But there isnt

Then there's some who confuse art style and graphics. Something can be technically worse but look better then something with all the fancy whistles if you prefer certain artstyles. Then again what even are graphics? The amount of polygons? The lighting? The amount of animated fur? Its just a fancy term for "this looks good" but maybe we both have a different perception on that.

[DivineAssault]

Misleading title. Clickbait whores

[MilkMan]

Come on man! This game was supposed to be for ps3, now it's on ps4 wtf bro?!
Stop with the feature creep and get this game out the door already.

[proskopos]

this is excuses.....if they cant...just give it to NAUGHTY DOG

[DanteVFenris666]

Naughty dog has zero experience in giant monster creation. If anything the God of war team should do it. But you'd probay end up brutally killing your pet in the first sequence if they did

[madpuppy]

frankly, I would rather play 8 Days.

[Tobsesan]

So the game was made for PS3 and you are telling me the PS4 is too limited???? I can smell a delay right here...

[Dixiedevil]

After Uncharted 4, talk about the constraints of the system seems a little less the system and more the skill of a dev team. Don't get me wrong, I've played and loved all of his games but Naughy Dog kinda moved the goal posts.