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I have a question for video game graphics experts: Assuming a game has stealth mechanics, why do some games let you shoot out almost every light (Ghost Recon W

I have a question for video game graphics experts: Assuming a game has stealth mechanics, why do some games let you shoot out almost every light (Ghost Recon Wildlands, GTA 5), while others don’t (Far Cry 5, Cyberpunk)? Is it a technical decision that needs to be made early on in the game process? Perhaps being able to shoot any light out involves more work for world and mission designers?

vorpalhex 6y ago
I'm an amateur but I'd have to guess it's the difference between static lights (often baked into the level itself) and dynamic lights (flashlights, moving lights, etc) that are computed at play time.
tomc1985 6y ago
As the other comment alluded, lighting is traditionally static. This is because all the lighting would be calculated during development and be "baked in" to the level. Up until dynamic lighting became feasible (doing it real-time is very expensive computationally) the games that had shootable lights had to resort to clever programming, at the very least, to get it working And in any case it takes additional logic to make a light be destroyable, in addition to needing the proper flags to be set in the level design process. I can't think of very many games where all lighting is truly dynamic like you are thinking, and up until recently a lot of graphics cards could not handle more than a few dynamic lights at a time When DOOM 3 released, part of its technical wow factor was how it was able to get dynamic lighting working using early 2000's graphics tech. I remember being blown away watching the light change as an overhead lamp was being affected by physics
- hypertexthero 6y ago
  Thank you, this makes it clearer. I think Ghost Recon Wildlands and GTA 5 do it well in the sense that lights that would clearly be destroyable by a bullet are indeed destroyable, from lamp-posts to car headlamps to light bulbs. If a light needs to be fixed, at least it helps for the source to be designed to look like it has metal grating around it or something. I remember DOOM 3 blew me away, too. Those zombies you could only see with the flashlight in the first level. Scary! I played it to the end with lights off with my brother and we both got jump-scares regularly!
c0de517e 6y ago
Depending on the engine, yes, it might need to be made relatively early. But in practice it's, as everything, design. Some games want to have that element in their gameplay, some do not, it changes things a lot as lighting is used to make things visible (obviously) and to steer attention, it's a fundamental part of level-design, so things change considerably in terms of the game you're playing based on if you want to allow lighting to change or not.

vorpalhex 6y ago

I'm an amateur but I'd have to guess it's the difference between static lights (often baked into the level itself) and dynamic lights (flashlights, moving lights, etc) that are computed at play time.

tomc1985 6y ago

As the other comment alluded, lighting is traditionally static. This is because all the lighting would be calculated during development and be "baked in" to the level. Up until dynamic lighting became feasible (doing it real-time is very expensive computationally) the games that had shootable lights had to resort to clever programming, at the very least, to get it working And in any case it takes additional logic to make a light be destroyable, in addition to needing the proper flags to be set in the level design process. I can't think of very many games where all lighting is truly dynamic like you are thinking, and up until recently a lot of graphics cards could not handle more than a few dynamic lights at a time When DOOM 3 released, part of its technical wow factor was how it was able to get dynamic lighting working using early 2000's graphics tech. I remember being blown away watching the light change as an overhead lamp was being affected by physics

hypertexthero 6y ago
Thank you, this makes it clearer. I think Ghost Recon Wildlands and GTA 5 do it well in the sense that lights that would clearly be destroyable by a bullet are indeed destroyable, from lamp-posts to car headlamps to light bulbs. If a light needs to be fixed, at least it helps for the source to be designed to look like it has metal grating around it or something. I remember DOOM 3 blew me away, too. Those zombies you could only see with the flashlight in the first level. Scary! I played it to the end with lights off with my brother and we both got jump-scares regularly!

c0de517e 6y ago

Depending on the engine, yes, it might need to be made relatively early. But in practice it's, as everything, design. Some games want to have that element in their gameplay, some do not, it changes things a lot as lighting is used to make things visible (obviously) and to steer attention, it's a fundamental part of level-design, so things change considerably in terms of the game you're playing based on if you want to allow lighting to change or not.