The devs explained in a talk why their shooter not only looks great but also runs on a GTX 1070. The secret lies in optimization, which a small team can achieve.
What shooter is it about? The developers introduced their new shooter Shadow Project
on Reddit, which is set to be released on Steam in 2026. It is said to be a story-based, tactical first-person shooter set during the Cold War.
In an “Ask us Anything” on Reddit, they revealed details about their game. Their secret as to why the title runs well even on years-old hardware? Optimization. Something that many teams often neglect. A good example of this is Borderlands 4, which has suffered from performance issues since its release.
Optimizing a game is easier in a small team than in a large studio
Why is the game so well optimized? The developers emphasize in their post that their new shooter runs smoothly at 60 FPS even on a GTX 1060, a 10-year-old graphics card. The reason for this is very good optimization.
Their main argument for why optimization works so well in their team is primarily a matter of team size: In a small team – like their own – one person can retain full control over the engine and technical decisions, allowing for more focused work, better performance, and more flexible development.
In large studios, on the other hand, many people involved with the engine lead to more complex processes, unclear responsibilities, and less efficient workflows, so optimization often takes place only at the end of development.
Small teams can work more directly and efficiently, while large ones must expect more coordination and chaos. Furthermore, the developer explained that he works alone on the engine, which means full control and knowledge of all technical aspects.
However, he also admits that early optimization works very well in a small team but is hardly practical in large teams. He writes on Reddit.com:
But when more people work on the engine, it gets really chaotic. This is to be expected and will likely never be fully resolved, but it has the downside that workflows are not always followed 100%. Therefore, teams usually save optimization until the end. They do this because if it is done at the beginning and people do not stick to x and y, everything has to be traced back. That’s a waste of time and leads to even more bloated development.
As soon as you are in the final stage of production, the renderers or whoever else starts the hectic sprint to get the game to market. In 90% of cases, that’s far too much work for the number of people assigned, and that leads to miserable releases. Most studios will not delay a game just because it doesn’t run on an RTX 2070 or a weaker graphics card. There is a debate about whether it should be this way or not, and there are good arguments on both sides.
According to developers, one can achieve 60 FPS in Full HD with a GTX 1070 on low settings. With FSR, one can almost crank the settings up to “High” and achieve the same stable frame rate as on “Low.”
A well-known developer shows what is possible when a game is properly optimized. The improvement in the FPS rate is remarkable. And this shows that it is worth releasing a game optimized for the market. Because the lack of optimization is a problem that many modern games face: A developer shows what the secret of a good PC game on Steam is: optimization
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