Posted by It was all bush when I first began playing video games. Over time, we transitioned to color displays and went from 8-bit to 16-bit to 32-bit, and now we have a consolidated situation with fantastic games. In this article, we’ll discuss five technical developments that bring revolution to PC gaming.
The Use Of Colours On Screens
These days, playing video games with color displays and simultaneously displaying millions of hues might feel natural. But things weren’t always that way.
In the past, everyone had to tolerate playing their games on a screen only available in black and white. And things began to alter after the shift to 16 colors occurred significantly.
Video games had a significant evolutionary leap with the introduction of the VGA standard, which supports up to 256 colors and drastically altered PC gaming. These early stages in evolution were remarkable, but later ones followed.
The Democratisation and Standardisation Of 3D Graphics
Some video games ventured to use 3D visuals in the early 1990s. The outcomes were, however, quite subpar since everything was still in its infancy.
With the introduction of 3D graphics accelerators, everything started to change in this regard. They were followed by games that demonstrated the full power of 3D visuals, including Quake GL, Quake II, the first two Tomb Raider iterations, Resident Evil 1 and 2, and Half-Life.
Video game games were raised to a new level after that, and this development that is more than solidified now was sparked by the appearance of games with more open situations, intricate geometry, and realistic finishes.
Programmers Have Tamed 3D
From flat, vaguely defined environments, video game makers had to transition to organic, richly detailed worlds. And a lengthy time of adjustment was necessary throughout this procedure.
Raw hardware power was insufficient to bring us to where we are now. Also, the requirement of other technical advancements, like improved management of lighting and shadows and better visual depiction of these aspects inside the new worlds, were necessary to increase the degree of realism in the games.
And all of this is a direct consequence of the excellent work of highly qualified professionals.
Dual-Core Processors For More Complex Games
With the respective debuts of Intel’s Pentium 4 processor with HT technology and, primarily, the introduction of the AMD Athlon 64 X2 chip, another significant stride in the advancement of computer video games was made. They are both among the first dual-core processors made for the mass consumer market.
Moreover, this significant technical advance paved the way for the creation of computer games with more depth and complexity in terms of physics and artificial intelligence.
Dedicated Sound Cards
In the beginning (in my time, which proves I’m old), certain whistles and synthetic sound signals sparked our imaginations by requiring everyone to come up with a meaning for what they heard.
The advent of dedicated sound cards and the heyday of integrated sound solutions in the second half of the first decade of the 2000s forced games to permanently ditch PC speakers in favor of stronger speakers and more sophisticated audio sequences.
The strange noises I just described above are a consequence of the 8-Bit restriction in video games. New audio technologies make lots of things possible. These technologies allow you to play creative music, incredible sound effects, and noises that greatly enhance the immersiveness of the game experience.
So that’s all from this blog post. I hope you like this article on five technical developments that bring revolution to PC gaming.