Xbox One X Hardware Was Even Better Than Expected; Both XB1X and PS4 Pro Have Their Own Advantages, Says Dev

Are you lot a massive train buff? Would you dear to build and handle your own railway network? Railway Empire could be the right game for you and it's coming out soon.

Developed by Gaming Minds Studios, a German software business firm based in Gütersloh which recently released Grand Ages: Medieval, Railway Empire is not only coming out on PC but likewise on consoles (PlayStation 4 and Xbox One) shortly. With the January 26th, 2018 launch fast approaching, we were able to prepare a quick interview focused on the game's console ports - including a comment on the feasibility of a port for the Nintendo Switch. Enjoy!

In that location aren't many games in this genre on consoles. Was it hard to port Railway Empire on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, peculiarly with regards to controls and UI?

As we take developed a few strategy games on consoles before, nosotros are in known territory here. Designing a UI for both mouse/keyboard and controllers is indeed a hard task that requires a lot of work, especially for the UI designers and programmers. We spent about the same amount of time coding for the user interface as we did for the residue of the game's systems! This shows how much effort we put in this central chore. Thankfully, I think it was worth it, as player feedback has been groovy then far.

The game is listed as Xbox One Ten enhanced on Microsoft's dedicated page. Can you share your impressions on this newly released console every bit a programmer and the technical specs of Railway Empire running on the hardware?

Microsoft sent u.s.a. a development kit for the Xbox I X very quickly, and so we were able to add back up in time for release. Truthfully, the hardware was even more powerful than we expected. For the loftier-end PC version, nosotros added native 4K support – including a high dpi user interface and high detail textures for virtually objects. On the Xbox 1 X, we were able to implement all of this, rendering 3D scenes in native 4k with our maximum quality antialiasing solution at 30 fps. So we are very happy with the results.

The game is coming out on PlayStation 4 too. Will it characteristic back up for PlayStation 4 Pro and if then, how does it compare from a technical standpoint with Xbox One X?

On PlayStation 4 Pro nosotros support native 4k rendering as well. In order to achieve this, we had to modify the antialiasing solution a chip to reduce the GPU load. Both loftier-spec consoles are slap-up and accept their own advantages.

In terms of graphics settings, how practice the PS4 Pro and Xbox I X stack against loftier-cease PCs?

On consoles, we hardwired the graphics particular settings then the game runs equally good every bit possible at a steady 30fps. However, on PC the user can freely choose which quality they want. On a high-end PC, the game runs at about 200fps on 1080p displays with maximum detail settings. When rendering in 4k this is reduced to most 50-70 fps (depending on the quality of the GPU).

Finally, is in that location any chance that you might look into porting Railway Empire to the Nintendo Switch as well or is that out of the question?

We like the Nintendo Switch also. I retrieve the game would be overnice on that platform and it is tempting to try it…but there are enough of obstacles in the way, and the CPU workload is very high. And so information technology's not out of the question. Allow's see what the futurity brings. 😉

Thank you for your time.