nathanielbabiak 2024-12-09 01:44 (Edited)
I've got a new 3D engine. (I've been working on for over three months!) But, the loading times are horrendous.
Initialization of the 3D engine takes 3.5 seconds. Thankfully, this only happens once, when the cartridge boots.
Initialization of each 3D object takes 0.9656 seconds. The cartridge can hold up to 64 3D objects (shared between all levels).
So what I'm thinking is, I load a few of the objects when the cartridge boots, and then a few level-specific objects get loaded at the start of each level. I figure most folks would be OK with a long boot time, since it's going to save some time loading each level, right?
For example, suppose there's 16 objects needed for the very first level... What sort of load times are you willing to accept:
from boot to game title screen? What amount (from 3.5 to 18.9 seconds) would be too much?
for loading the first level? What amount (from 0 to 15.4 seconds) would be too much?
Timo 2024-12-09 14:26
Knowing your back catalogue, I'm sure I will be impressed anyway :)
I agree that loading times are important when you actually start a game to play it, but in LowRes NX I would forgive any loading time. A loading progress text/bar might be useful though!
SP4CEBAR 2024-12-09 17:31 (Edited)
Many popular games have worse loading times than those you described. Most people will accept them—as long as you can convince them that the game is still running. So, I suggest adding a loading screen.
nathanielbabiak 2024-12-09 21:21 (Edited)
Guys, come on, of course it will have a progress bar!...
I'm thinking more-so about dev. agreements like Nintendo or Sony would've required in the 3rd/4th/5th generation of consoles. They didn't want another video game crash of '83, so they established minimum quality requirements for a bunch of factors related to UX.
Honestly I think you're both discounting how long 18.9 seconds feels. I'm going to target 10 seconds for boot and another 10 seconds for loading each level... I think?
SP4CEBAR 2024-12-10 12:40 (Edited)
How long it feels depends on the loading screen, for example:
nathanielbabiak 2024-12-10 16:30
You know, that's a good point... I might try to create something that takes up the time, just so that it feels like it's going faster.