[bob1029]

The power consumption of modern gaming is getting a bit out of hand. This AI stuff is taking it to the next level.

Ray tracing and other forms of real time global illumination are extremely resource intensive approaches to lighting a scene. Every client machine has to figure out how to light everything every single frame. Contrast this with baked global illumination where the cost is incurred exactly once and is amortized across potentially millions of machines.

We need more things like baked GI in gaming. This class of techniques makes the development iterations slower and more deliberate, but it also produces a far more efficient and refined product experience. I'd be very interested in quantifying the carbon impact of realtime vs baked lighting in gaming. It is likely a non-trivial figure at scale. Also bear in mind that baked GI is why games like the batman series still look so good in 2025, even when running on period hardware. You cannot replace your art team by consuming more electricity.

[nh23423fefe]

It doesn't seem like moralizing about resources matters for velocity or capability.

> You cannot replace your art team by consuming more electricity

This isn't true.

[johnnyanmac]

>It doesn't seem like moralizing about resources matters for velocity or capability.

Not until the Hype bubble pops. Then suddenly it'll be all that matters when you no longer have nigh limitless resources.

>This isn't true.

This project is interesting, but it is not making a great arguemnt for this.