File size and Polygon count
Rendering time
Video below explains the constraints simply,
File size and Polygon count
File size and polygon counts are 2 of the main constrains in games design, these factors determines if the the game you have created can be run on the system you are aiming for.
Polygon count
Simply speaking, a polygon is a 2D shape in terms of 3D modelling the Polygons are individual shapes that are put together in order to create a model. Polygons will be used no matter how complex or simple the 3D object is, it is the simplest form of a 3D model similar to an atom. Polygons will always be used to create a 3D object. The Polygon Count is the total number of polygons that is shown in the model or scene that has used a 3D application to create. The polygon count is much more important than it may seem, To run a game with a high polygon count will require a system that requires more power. For an example a PlayStation 3 wouldn't be able to run some of the new games released for play station 4 with the same graphics settings, because the play station 3 does not have the required power to process more polygons, or simply not as powerful as the play station 4.
When making of a model or scene using a 3D application, the computer processor would need to calculate the position of each vertex and polygon that makes up whatever has been created on the application.So when the number of the polygons increase, This is what will require the processing power, in order to render all the polygons.
File size
File size can be a very important factor to consider when it comes to video games when working with hardware with limited storage capacity. In the case of running a game with a big file size in hardware with lower storage capacity the developers will have to compress the file size. which has been the case with the majority of new games. But compressing the games tend to use more CPU when the game running because everything in the game will have to be uncompressed before being used which uses CPU. Even witch file compression some games tend to take up a lot of space depending on how much contents is on the game, some of the new games like GTA V takes up to 60GB. This is why games run better and look better on PC than on consoles. Th newer the games get the older the hardware of consoles get because of them not having the ability to upgrade hardware, so developers of the consoles has to work with the hardware that they have got rather than trying to make something the best they could. When looking at PC, developers can make the best they can with little to no constraints because the PC is up gradable and they can add settings to lower the detail and other factors so that people with lower end computers can run them. So constraints like file size holds back developers from making the games for the best of their ability.
Rendering time
In 3D modelling, rendering is adding color, lamination and shading to a 2D and 3D wireframe to create lifelike images on a screen. There are 2 types of rendering, real time rendering and pre-rendering.rendering. Pre-rendering is images that has already been rendered, this rendering method is done for movies and cut scenes of games.Real time rendering is done in games, his rendering method renders objects on the spot. This kind of rendering is heavily graphically intensive so it requires more power than a pre-rendered movie.Constraints like Rendering purely falls on the hardware that the developer is working with, in games most of the load of rendering falls on the Graphics card (GPU). So the graphical detail and the amount of objects is limited according to the hardware the developer has to work with. The rendering time in a game determines how many frames the second a the game can handle, the more detail and polygons it will be hardware heavy to render which is reduce the number of frames in the game for the consumers who are playing on systems with lower end hardware.
