DEVBLOG: Performance optimizations

Time for a quick behind-the-scenes update on BLACKSUITE and what we’ve been working on lately.

Performance First, Destruction Next

We’ve always planned to bring destruction to BLACKSUITE – from shattering glass as you dive through windows, to explosive grenade blasts launching props in cinematic slow motion. But before we could go all-in on destruction, we needed to ensure the game runs smooth as butter… even on lower-end PCs.

Polycount optimizations

We did a full optimization pass on our art assets:

• Reduced polycounts where possible – same visual quality, with higher performance.

• Rebuilt and verified LODs across the board.

• Cleaned up legacy assets, replaced inefficient models.

This alone gave us a noticeable performance boost, especially in areas which had lot of objects scattered around.

Culling experiments

We kept going and started to implement object culling using pre-made frustum culling tools. We thought this would be fairly straightforward work, but to our surprise, we found that the existing tools didn’t play nice with moving objects and our other code. We replaced the pre-made tools with our own solution, which turned out to be the right decision and is working nicely.

Some work still to be done

Our cinematic VFX (muzzle flashes, smoke, etc.) play a huge role in delivering the over-the-top action movie vibe. But we’ve noticed that some effects are still heavier than we’d like, especially when multiple players are going wild with explosions and gunfire.

During our next performance optimization pass, we’ll be tackling VFX optimization.

Thanks for reading – and stay tuned for more updates. If you like what you’re seeing and want to help shape the future of BLACKSUITE, don’t forget to wishlist the game!

— Team BLACKSUITE