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My first thoughts when reading the headline were: how to integrate FPGA power into making new games. Which it is not, but still very awesome. Anyway - if one

My first thoughts when reading the headline were: how to integrate FPGA power into making new games. Which it is not, but still very awesome. Anyway - if one would try to actually use FPGAs for developing a new game - would there be any benefits? I mean programming it, will probably the main hurdle. But if one would be good at it - and ignoring for a moment that the typical gamer does not have an FPGA around, would there be actually benefits when programming a new game? I thought about in the combination with a normal gaming computer. Using the FPGA for complex simulations like physic? Would that make any sense?

ejolto 6y ago
You can't just ignore the fact that the average gamer doesn't have an FPGA. For such a game you would have to ship the FPGA with the game, making it prohibitively expensive.
- hutzlibu 6y ago
  Well, you could ignore it, if you would be developing a new gaming console with an integrated FPGA unit.
  - megameter 6y ago
    It's just never worked out to justify itself by the stakeholders who would approve such a thing. The standard gaming hardware configuration has always tended towards a little bit of general purpose computing capability plus a very focused specialization in graphics. And the standard incentive structure of game production tends towards a rapid deployment of assets authored in general-purpose content creation software, not a game driven by new algorithms. These things drive away from the experimental places where FPGAs could shine - unique ways of creating audio and video signals, customized inner loop optimizations, etc. The first thing everyone will be asking is "OK, but how do I make it portable?"
    - girvo 6y ago
      Sure, you’re completely right, but as a hobby project it would be pretty neat!
pjc50 6y ago
> Using the FPGA for complex simulations like physic? Would that make any sense? The graphics card is specialised for this and has better cost/performance. Graphics cards basically are specialised gaming hardware optimised as much as possible for that use case. Trying to teach games programmers to use FPGA tooling would be a spectacular disaster. Oh, and FPGA toolchain-targeting is to a specific device; you probably don't remember the early days when games would target a specific model of 3DFX card, but that's what you'd go back to. Upgrade your hardware and you need recompiled versions of all your games. The one case where it might make sense is if you focus on latency to a brutal extent. DisplayPort on one side of the FPGA, wired game controller (NOT USB) on the other. A unique experience that's hard for normal systems to replicate.
- hutzlibu 6y ago
  I have never really done low level programming, so excuse my ignorance. (for example I was not aware "FPGA toolchain-targeting is to a specific device", which is a very great hurdle only maybe enabling something like this in game consoles) I know that gpu's are mainly optimized for games, but aren't they still general purpose computing units? (which is why nvidia put a special physics unit into their GPU's) So the idea as I understand it, is with FPGA's your logic is directly in circutry - which in theory beats general purpose units. So my actual question would have been, if this would allow for more complex simulations. Because most advancement in games just seem to be in making them look prettier, but not more complex and just faking complexity. But I really like the idea of an advanced voxel engine, for example. But by your input it seems FPGA's as of today, are probably not the way to get practical improvements there and rather focus on the GPU.

ejolto 6y ago

You can't just ignore the fact that the average gamer doesn't have an FPGA. For such a game you would have to ship the FPGA with the game, making it prohibitively expensive.

hutzlibu 6y ago
Well, you could ignore it, if you would be developing a new gaming console with an integrated FPGA unit.
- megameter 6y ago
  It's just never worked out to justify itself by the stakeholders who would approve such a thing. The standard gaming hardware configuration has always tended towards a little bit of general purpose computing capability plus a very focused specialization in graphics. And the standard incentive structure of game production tends towards a rapid deployment of assets authored in general-purpose content creation software, not a game driven by new algorithms. These things drive away from the experimental places where FPGAs could shine - unique ways of creating audio and video signals, customized inner loop optimizations, etc. The first thing everyone will be asking is "OK, but how do I make it portable?"
  - girvo 6y ago
    Sure, you’re completely right, but as a hobby project it would be pretty neat!

pjc50 6y ago

> Using the FPGA for complex simulations like physic? Would that make any sense? The graphics card is specialised for this and has better cost/performance. Graphics cards basically are specialised gaming hardware optimised as much as possible for that use case. Trying to teach games programmers to use FPGA tooling would be a spectacular disaster. Oh, and FPGA toolchain-targeting is to a specific device; you probably don't remember the early days when games would target a specific model of 3DFX card, but that's what you'd go back to. Upgrade your hardware and you need recompiled versions of all your games. The one case where it might make sense is if you focus on latency to a brutal extent. DisplayPort on one side of the FPGA, wired game controller (NOT USB) on the other. A unique experience that's hard for normal systems to replicate.

hutzlibu 6y ago
I have never really done low level programming, so excuse my ignorance. (for example I was not aware "FPGA toolchain-targeting is to a specific device", which is a very great hurdle only maybe enabling something like this in game consoles) I know that gpu's are mainly optimized for games, but aren't they still general purpose computing units? (which is why nvidia put a special physics unit into their GPU's) So the idea as I understand it, is with FPGA's your logic is directly in circutry - which in theory beats general purpose units. So my actual question would have been, if this would allow for more complex simulations. Because most advancement in games just seem to be in making them look prettier, but not more complex and just faking complexity. But I really like the idea of an advanced voxel engine, for example. But by your input it seems FPGA's as of today, are probably not the way to get practical improvements there and rather focus on the GPU.