Forspoken – Lead Graphics Programmer Discusses Ray Traced Shadows and Ambient Occlusion in New Video

In the lead-up to Forspoken’s release, Luminous Productions has released a new video featuring lead graphics programmer Keiji Matsuda. Matsuda spoke at GDC 2022 about the use of ray tracing and other techniques to improve the open-world title’s visuals. In this Creator Interview video, he discusses his GDC talk – check it out below.

Along with ray-traced shadows and ray-traced ambient occlusion, significant changes were made to the Luminous Engine’s global illumination. One interesting technique is Reversed-Z, which improves the precision of distant sights. Regardless of how far objects were, they would be drawn in the proper order.

There’s a lot more to glean so it’s worth checking out the full video below. Forspoken was previously confirmed to have a Performance Mode for 1440p/60 FPS gameplay, a Graphics Mode for 4K/30 FPS and a Ray Tracing Mode. It’s currently slated to release on October 11th for PS5 and PC. Rumors claim it could be delayed again if Square Enix is confident in releasing Final Fantasy 16 this year instead.